As NFL offenses become increasingly focused on the pass, the demand for young, talented wide receivers can only go up. Unfortunately for teams interested in pass-catchers this year, Scouts Inc. ranks only three wide receivers within its top 32 and does not place a single wide receiver in its top 10. Playmaker Score, which is Football Outsiders' statistical system for projecting college wide receivers to the next level, has a similar read on this year's class, even as it disagrees with traditional scouting on particular players.
According to Playmaker Score, this year's top wide receiver prospects are mediocre for top prospects, but there are also several wide receiver prospects from relatively low-profile schools who could be good additions in the second, third and fourth rounds.
Playmaker Score is based on a statistical analysis of all Division I wide receivers drafted from 1996 to 2016. Its primary output projects the average number of regular-season receiving yards that the wide receiver will gain per year over the course of his first five NFL seasons. For more on how this is calculated, click here for the methodology.
Below, we take a look at some of Playmaker's top prospects in the 2019 NFL draft, along with some similar prospects from previous drafts. Our similar historical prospects are based on former players who were similar in their Playmaker statistics, so you might see us compare two physically dissimilar players because they were similar statistically.
Note: Players are listed in order of their projected average receiving yardage.
