The best fantasy wide receivers don’t always come from the top of receiver rankings; yes, they’re predominantly towards the top-end of the ranks, but you’ll find a ton of undervalued receivers rise to the top thanks to a beneficial situation, quarterback improvement, overachieving, or other factors.
In 2024, many receivers who were drafted as WR3 options turned in WR1 seasons, with names such as Brian Thomas Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ladd McConkey, and Jerry Jeudy all enjoying stellar seasons. All of the receivers listed finished as a top 12 fantasy receiver and thanks to the inherent chaos of the NFL season, we’ll likely see a group of wide receivers join them as WR3 or later receivers to vault up to WR1 status in 2025.
Let’s look at a few candidates for WR3 that could turn in WR1 potential in 2025.
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Three WR3s With WR1 Potential
George Pickens (WR – DAL) | ECR: WR33
The entire George Pickens thesis has been flipped on its head over the past several weeks. From the end of the 2024 season up until the beginning of May, we were hard at work writing the obituary for DK Metcalf and Pickens in this Steelers’ offense with an unnamed quarterback at the helm before inevitable signing of Aaron Rodgers and everybody’s favorite offensive mastermind, Arthur Smith. Now, with the Pickens trade to the Dallas Cowboys, he has a new lease on his fantasy life for 2025.
Comparing "Expected" vs. Actual TDs for fantasy-relevant players in 2024 via @FantasyPtsData
> Trey McBride, George Pickens, the Vikings backfield, and Chase Brown got unlucky last year and are positive regression candidates
> I'm most worried about James Cook and McLaurin pic.twitter.com/1rNrAWQOLO
— Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) June 26, 2025
If Pickens wants targets, he’s going to get plenty of them. Not just that, but with CeeDee Lamb playing in the slot in three-receiver sets and then playing flanker, the offense is going to be productive with Lamb and Pickens condensing targets in this Cowboys’ passing game. Pickens’ game is all about getting open down the field and he’ll be able to do that with less attention paid to him. After tight end Jake Ferguson, the rest of the depth chart feels very distant from the top options in terms of how many targets they will take.
In Dallas, we could see the targets shake out similar to the Philadelphia Eagles trio of receivers A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and tight end Dallas Goedert. Even better, there will be a ton more passing volume than you could ever hope for in Philadelphia. For an efficient passing game, Dak Prescott is as good an option as any as long as he’s healthy. With the Eagles’ trio, the top-two receivers combine for a large percentage of the targets while the tight end is the clear third target and a huge gap down to the rest of the pass-catching depth.
Pickens’ ADP is likely to climb steadily throughout summer, but I’m very happy drafting Pickens wherever I can get him in drafts if he’s going in the WR3 range. The best-case scenario for Pickens this season is that he and Lamb condense targets so much that they actually shut out Ferguson from the majority of the target-earning and Prescott stays healthy. Thanks to a run game that leaves a lot to be desired, the Cowboys’ offense will be extremely dependent on the passing game this season. That benefits Pickens for 2025 and I want to be as in as possible on an elite talent now going to a great situation for passing volume and increased fantasy value.
Chris Godwin (WR – TB) | ECR: WR27
Chris Godwin produced a career-best per-game pace in just seven games in 2024 before a dislocated ankle ended his campaign. We don’t have to worry about how he will assimilate into the Buccaneers’ offense because despite being a free agent entering March, he signed a long-term deal to stay with the Buccaneers.
2023 saw Godwin playing out wide for most of his snaps for the first time since his second season and last season, he returned to his home in the slot and put up a career-high pace in YPRR (2.36) and TPRR (24.6 percent). Let’s not forget Mike Evans eats in this offense too, plus young pass-catchers like Jalen McMillan and rookie first-round pick Emeka Egbuka, but Godwin is the clear second target for Baker Mayfield as long as he’s healthy.
Godwin clocks in at WR27 in FantasyPros’ Expert Consensus Rankings and he’s a high-end WR3 in 12-team leagues. If he can keep the seven-game pace going from last season in this high-flying Tampa offense, he can be a WR1 again in 2025 even without offense coordinator Liam Coen, who is now in Jacksonville.
Marvin Mims Jr. (WR – DEN) | ECR: WR59
There might not be a more polarizing player in fantasy football to try and evaluate than Marvin Mims Jr. There are so many push-pull elements to describe what he’s done. Why he’s had the role he has had the last few seasons, and trying to figure out what is likely to happen going forward in 2025. But damn it, we’re going to try.
It’s not exactly a state secret that when Mims gets on the field, good things happen. It’s just that, well, he doesn’t get on the field ernough. For context, the average number of total pass routes a top-20 fantasy wide receiver ran in 2024 was 559 routes. That’s on average, 85 percent of their respective team’s dropbacks. Mims was at 196 total routes — 11.5 per game – and 30.2 percent of routes per dropback in 2024. That will not get it done. Under ANY circumstances.
We covered tons of players, but we closed with this fun stat about #BroncosCountry Marvin Mims Jr.
When Mims was targeted and it was NOT a screen pass, Mims averaged:
????17% targets per route run
????6.3% first-read target share
????1.97 yards per route runWhen targeted on-screen… https://t.co/EKQ4wMjKQf pic.twitter.com/JgKWoR682g
— Corbin (@corbin_young21) June 20, 2025
On a per-game basis, Mims did not run more than 50 percent routes per dropback in ANY game last season. He did that just six times in 14 games in 2023 while maintaining his role as a gadget-type, situational wide receiver.
Well, on the chance that Mims DOES earn more routes in this ascending Broncos’ offense, we want to have him on our teams. One big, bright sign of a breakout is efficiency shown in small sample sizes. Doing that consistently in small sample sizes usually leads to more work and utilization. Mims seems to be on that trajectory and the depth chart lends itself to the Broncos giving Mims more opportunities going forward with Evan Engram signed to profile in the slot and Mims playing more on the outside.
Sure, Pat Bryant was brought in and everybody is reading the tea leaves of Bryant wanting to be the next Michael Thomas. They also rotate through other wide receivers, but seeing how productive Mims has been, it’s getting more difficult to keep him off the field. The price of entry for Mims is minimal where it doesn’t break the bank if he’s a miss, but if he hits, he can hit in a major way for fantasy managers in 2025.
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Kevin Tompkins is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Kevin, check out his profile and follow him on Bluesky @ktompkinsii.bsky.social.
