2025-Q1 Rankings Report: WRs

VP discusses 77 WRs ahead of the upcoming CFB season.

If we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and lose it quickly.

- Bernard Law Montgomery, former British military officer

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This is the WR version of the Q1 Rankings, following up on the QBs article that was released here:

2025-Q1 Rankings Report: QBs

I’m using full PPR scoring when quoting points, and while my primary aim is for standard formats, these can be used for bestball also. There are 77 players discussed in this iteration.
      

1. Jordan Tyson (AZST) — Having thought about this more as the offseason goes on, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that Tyson is my WR1.

   He is the only returning receiver who averaged 20+ PPG last year, and what’s more, he’s one of the only players up here whose QB is returning for another year. There just isn’t the uncertainty that we have with others with Tyson, and I appreciate that. This is a ranking with standard formats as the primary focus, but they can also apply to bestball. In this case, however, that would be one deviation: Jeremiah Smith would be #1 in bestball rankings because I feel that the nuclear potential with him is higher, and bestball is really all about upside. But for standard formats, the verdict is clear to me now: Tyson is #1.
   

2. Jeremiah Smith (OSU) — The margin is not huge between Tyson and Smith and as mentioned, Smith would be #1 in a bestball focused ranking. Both he and Tyson feel like the most bulletproof prospects to net at least 15 PPG next year and that’s sort of the measuring stick I use here, not necessarily measuring who has the biggest upside (again, this is with standard formats in mind). It’s easy to get caught up in the hype when doing rankings, but I went back to first principles with this decision; what gave Tyson the edge was: 1) higher PPG average and 2) continuity at QB. There will be a new QB for OSU next season, but I generally trust that whoever plays for the Buckeyes will be competent. We also know that Smith might just be the single best athlete in college football at the moment, so there is that too.