The best fantasy football wide receivers don’t always come from the top of the rankings; yes, they’re predominantly found towards the top-end of the rankings, but you’ll find a ton of undervalued receivers rise to the top and intrepid drafters will take advantage of situations where the market weighs a particular situation too negatively and that creates a buying opportunity thanks to deflated average draft position (ADP).
Finding these market inefficiencies is a major key to fantasy football success. Look at Stefon Diggs in 2020, where he was priced into the fifth and sixth rounds only because he changed teams from Minnesota to Buffalo. Or Keenan Allen, who had been insanely productive, but the Chargers drafted somebody named Justin Herbert, who people didn’t know when he’d be starting. These are just a couple of examples of how good players can find themselves much lower in the rankings than they should be.
Let’s take a look at a few undervalued wide receivers who can overcome the market pushing them down to be massive values in 2025.
- Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2025 Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football ADP
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Undervalued Fantasy Football Wide Receivers
Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI) | ADP: WR18
Marvin Harrison Jr. is a bit polarizing for sure. Look, at the end of his rookie season, the results weren’t bad for a rookie: 21% targets per route run (TPRR) and 1.63 yards per route run (YPRR). His inflated average depth of target (aDOT) of 14.2 yards was slightly problematic, but earning 114 targets at that aDOT was nice.
The vibes at the top of the Arizona target tree aren’t the greatest for trying to prognosticate the Cardinals going forward. Watching this team last season, it rarely felt that Harrison nor Trey McBride were the 1A. It felt like both were the 1B at times. The hope is that Harrison’s aDOT can come down a little bit, and Harrison can be used around the formation rather than with just a 26% slot rate last season.
Most alpha wide receivers are used in a ton of different alignments to get them open, get them in advantageous matchups and exploit holes in the defense. The Cardinals seemed very content to stick him on the outside and just keep him there. Let’s hope the utilization for Harrison expands in 2025, because if it does, we’re going to laugh at his WR18 placement as one of the biggest bargains of the offseason.
Jaylen Waddle (WR – MIA) | ADP: WR27
Jaylen Waddle’s production and efficiency fell off a bit last season thanks to the musical chairs at quarterback and the lack of consistency in the run game. The entire offense was out of sorts, leading to career lows for Waddle across the board.
After two seasons of 2.59 and 2.63 yards per route run, he went down a full yard last season to 1.53. In the second half of the season, the entire Dolphins’ offense was built out of short, get-the-ball-out throws to tight end Jonnu Smith and running back De’Von Achane. The offense was fine, but ultimately broken in terms of wide receiver production thanks to Waddle being hurt and Tyreek Hill being hampered by a wrist injury.
While the threat of a Tua Tagovailoa concussion always looms, Waddle is a clear bounce-back candidate at wide receiver as one of the near-elite options at the position in terms of target-earning with three straight seasons of at least nine yards per target. Waddle’s talent never went anywhere, and now he’s going rounds after his second-round price tag over the last few seasons. This is as fruitful a “buy the dip” moment as you’ll get on a talented, efficient and, most of all, productive wide receiver in a good offense.
George Pickens (WR – DAL) | ADP: WR30
Before George Pickens’ trade to the Cowboys, the scribes were hard at work writing the obituaries for DK Metcalf and Pickens in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense with an (at the time) unnamed quarterback at the helm. Of course, signing Aaron Rodgers to pair with everybody’s favorite offensive mastermind, Arthur Smith, will usher in the dawning of a new era in the Steelers’ passing game. The prophets foretold this.
Pickens has a new lease on his fantasy life for 2025, and he’ll get every opportunity to help fulfill the promise thanks to pairing his immense talent with his newfound situation in the heart of Texas. Not only that, but with CeeDee Lamb playing in the slot in 3-WR sets and then playing the Z-receiver spot in 2-WR sets, 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. That is a great thing if you’re banking on Pickens beating his ADP.
In Dallas, we could see targets shake out similar to the Philadelphia Eagles trio of pass-catchers: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert. Even better, there will be much more potential 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.
The best-case scenario for Pickens this season is that he and Lamb condense targets so much that they shut out Ferguson from the majority of the target-earning, and Prescott stays healthy. Thanks to a run game that, on paper, leaves a lot to be desired, the Cowboys’ offense has the look of an offense that will be extremely dependent on the passing game. 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. As the WR30, it’s wild that the expert consensus rankings (ECR) have 29 wide receivers over him.
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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
