Wide receivers are no longer just a long-term investment -- they can make an immediate impact on an NFL team's passing game. Every NFL draft since 2019 has had at least one wide receiver hit 1,000 yards in his rookie season, including three last season.
The 2024 Playmaker Score projections for the wide receiver class came out very well. We had Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. as the top receivers, ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr., and both finished top two in rookie receiving yards. The main errors were having Ladd McConkey too low and Ja'Lynn Polk too high compared with their rookie performances.
Do not expect as much out of the 2025 class, however. This is not a strong wide receiver group. Last year, 13 receivers had a Playmaker Score of at least 400. There are four for the 2025 class, and one of them might not even play full-time wide receiver in the NFL.
Playmaker Score, done annually by Nathan Forster, analyzes the player's peak college season along with other variables -- including ESPN's Scouts Inc. rankings -- to project a player's receiving yards per year in his first five NFL seasons. Below, let's take a look Playmaker's top WR prospects in the 2025 draft, along with similar prospects from previous drafts. Similar historical prospects are based on players with similar Playmaker statistics, so there might be two physically dissimilar players compared because they were similar statistically.
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Day 2 sleeper pick
Day 3 sleeper pick
Full Playmaker Score rankings
Methodology: How it works
