Thanks to the surge in fantasy football’s popularity, skyrocketing contracts and the proliferation of pass production across the league, the wide receiver position has become one of the most popular positions in football.
We are living in a golden age of stars at the position. Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase and Amon-Ra St. Brown are just now entering their second contracts. Veterans like Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams and Mike Evans are still putting up elite production.
All that star power means there are receivers around the league who probably don’t get their proper due.
The term “underrated” can be a bit ambiguous, so we’ll look to avoid players who either earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod last year or have multiple Pro Bowl selections. We’ll also look to the latest fantasy football consensus Point Per Reception (PPR) rankings from FantasyPros to get a sense of how receivers are perceived.
Based on past production, potential upside, supporting cast and role, these receivers are too overlooked for what they bring to the table.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 54
Brandin Cooks doesn’t even seem to be appreciated by the teams he has played for throughout his career. The 29-year-old has six 1,000-yard seasons on his resume and has never been to the Pro Bowl in 10 seasons and he’s been traded four times.
Cooks has been a useful player at every stop despite tying the record for the most times a player has been traded.
He has used his 4.33 speed to become a premier deep threat and a high-end No. 2 receiver wherever he has been. He’s moonlighted as a No. 1 option at times in his career, but his true strength lies in being a really productive deep threat specialist.
Cooks still ranks relatively low here because his prime is likely over. He failed to hit 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his career in 2023. He still ended up compiling 54 receptions, 657 yards and eight touchdowns as Dak Prescott’s No. 2 option, though.
His 59.3 percent success rate was the second-highest of his career, showing that he still has something left to offer a Cowboys offense that will need him to continue to produce.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 124
Jauan Jennings is one of the ultimate examples of where fantasy football and the real thing diverge. Jennings is never going to be a fantasy factor. Outside of the one-off week where he breaks off a big play or scores a touchdown, he just doesn’t have a ton of production.
In three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers he’s never had more than 416 receiving yards in a single season. He’s scored only seven touchdowns and he’s started only seven games in his career.
But plenty of coaching staffs would love to have Jennings on their roster. After all, there are only so many receivers who can also serve as a lead blocker on run plays:
Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey give the Niners one of the most star-studded offenses in the league. However, Jennings’ willingness and ability to do all the dirty work, block in the run game and still make tough catches when called upon makes him an underrated cog in the unit.
Jennings isn’t likely to ever become a fantasy star or even a full-time starter for the Niners. But his blocking and chain-moving as a receiver make him a valuable piece of their offense.
It’s no wonder they gave him a two-year contract extension worth $15.4 million.
Fantasy Rank: No. 123
Kalif Raymond is another role player who helps his team win football games, even if it isn’t flashy in the box score.
There are plenty of reasons why Raymond goes overlooked. He’s 5’8″, 180 pounds. He was undrafted out of Holy Cross and he was a late bloomer in the league. He drifted around the league from 2016-2020 before he did anything of note.
He’s been a quietly productive player since signing with the Detroit Lions in 2021, though. He had 48 receptions for 576 yards and four touchdowns as a 27-year-old.
Going into his age-30 season he’s been a reliable performer. He’s not even close to being the focal point of the offense, but when the Lions need him to come through, he usually does. He was more involved in the offense early in the season while Jameson WIlliams was serving his suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy.
His 35 receptions for 489 yards and a touchdown weren’t much, but his 65.9 percent success rate was the fifth-highest in the league. Raymond’s greatest strength is his ability to get open.
According to ESPN Analytics, he had the third-highest “open score” in the league based on player-tracking metrics. Only Keenan Allen and CeeDee Lamb were ranked higher.
Raymond provides critical depth and a receiver who can usually move the chains when called upon.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 71
The Green Bay Packers have a slew of young, promising pass-catchers to develop along with Jordan Love. Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft have all shown promise.
Don’t leave Dontayvion Wicks out of that discussion.
The Packers have built their receiving corps through the draft. They didn’t take a pass-catcher in this year’s event, but all six of those young pass-catchers were taken in the 2022 and 2023 drafts. Wicks has the lowest draft capital of all of them as a fifth-round pick, but he shouldn’t be counted out to climb up the depth chart.
Wicks dispelled one of the bigger knocks on him that dropped him to the fifth round. Despite running a 4.62 40-yard dash, he played much faster on the field. According to Joseph Ferraiola, Wicks’ play speed was closer to 4.47 based on the Linear Play Speed Adjusted 40 Model.
That kind of play speed with his 6’1″, 206-pound frame gives him the ideal size and speed combination to become a viable long-ball threat for the Packers for years to come.
Wicks came in ninth in ESPN Analytics’ overall receiver rankings based on player-tracking data. That’s just below Tee Higgins and just above Puka Nacua. His highest scores came from his ability to catch the ball and gain yards after the catch.
The Packers have an ascending offense, and Wicks has the tools to become a household name along with the unit.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 42
Courtland Sutton picked up his only Pro Bowl appearance back in his second year in the league in 2019. Since then, public opinion on him has faded. He’s not hit the 1,000-yard mark since then.
But context matters. The Broncos offense also hasn’t finished higher than 19th in yards since he was drafted in 2018. The quarterback play and coaching have been questionable at just about every turn of Sutton’s play.
When you watch just how many acrobatic catches Sutton brought down last season, it becomes evident that he’s still a special player. The 6’4″, 216-pounder was especially dangerous in the red zone last season, hauling in a career-high 10 touchdowns.
Health and team context have held Sutton back from becoming the star he could be in the right situation. The Broncos and the receiver have reportedly reached a “stalemate” on new contract talks, but playing hardball with the receiver could be a dangerous game.
It will be hard to find a receiver who is more quarterback-friendly than Sutton. Per Player Profiler, he was 20th in contested-catch percentage and offers a huge target for a young quarterback like Bo Nix to rely on.
If Nix can orchestrate Sean Payton’s offense and the Broncos get Sutton’s contract situation figured out, he could get some of the recognition he deserves.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 61
The Buffalo Bills traded away Stefon Diggs and let Gabe Davis leave in free agency. Their faith in Khalil Shakir likely played a role in those decisions.
The 2022 fifth-round pick was an ascending player in his second year in the league. After Joe Brady took over the role of offensive coordinator for the Bills in Week 11, he snagged 20 passes for 363 yards in seven games.
Shakir’s rise in the offense coincided with Diggs’ decline in production, signaling a trust in Shakir that should only grow as Josh Allen moves on without his top two targets. Throwing the ball to Shakir was already good business for the quarterback. Allen had a 133.6 passer rating when targeting Shakir.
The 6’0″, 196-pounder can be tough with the ball in his hands. but he also has the polished route running to consistently get open.
The Bills offense will look a lot different in 2024. Josh Allen will have to carry the passing attack without an elite No. 1 wide receiver. Shakir might not completely take that role, but he’ll show everyone that the Bills passing attack will be just fine.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 30
Terry McLaurin is one of a handful of receivers who have eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in each of the last four seasons. The others didn’t have to deal with the sheer amount of quarterback turnover that Scary Terry has seen in Washington.
A rundown of the quarterbacks who started games for the Commanders over the last four seasons doesn’t strike fear in the hearts of defensive coordinators. A 36-year-old Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke and Sam Howell highlight the list.
Regardless of who has thrown him the ball, he’s been a reliable target who could make plays downfield. He was eighth in the league in deep targets and 13th in air yards.
McLaurin has only earned one Pro Bowl appearance. His 2022 season earned him the nod from voters, but that campaign wasn’t really much better than any of his other seasons.
The good news for the 28-year-old is that his days of going from quarterback to quarterback might be coming to an end. With the Commanders drafting Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick, they have a promising blue-chip prospect to build around.
McLaurin is going to make life easier for him as a legitimate No. 1 receiver who is too often forgotten.
Fantasy Ranking: No. 31
There are some flaws in conflating fantasy rankings for actual rankings of receivers, but putting George Pickens outside of the top 24 feels like a mistake regardless of the context.
In fact, it shouldn’t be all that shocking if Pickens winds up in the discussion as a top-10 wide receiver in the league if he takes the next step in his third season. Pickens is on pace for that kind of start to his career.
The former Georgia Bulldog showed some of that promise in his rookie season. Coming off an ACL tear that kept him out for much of his final collegiate season, he had 52 receptions for 801 yards. He followed that up with his first 1,000-yard season, catching 63 passes for 1,140 yards.
His 18.1 yards per reception led the league with Brandon Aiyuk not far behind at 17.9. Aiyuk is definitely getting his due. His role in a dynamic Niners offense has most of the league understanding just how good he is.
The same isn’t true for Pickens. He put up his production in a fledgling Steelers offense with Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph getting him the ball.
Pickens is a bit reliant on his deep ball ability right now. But there’s room for him to expand his game and grow into a truly dominant alpha receiver. ESPN Analytics uses its player-tracking data to give receivers a score for their ability to get open, catch the ball and gain yards after the catch.
It’s a good way to look at what a receiver does independent of the quarterback. Pickens came in eighth, just behind Diontae Johnson and Keenan Allen as a 22-year-old second-year player.
Expect Pickens to gain some respect in a revamped Pittsburgh offense.