{"id":606585,"date":"2026-04-14T16:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606585\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:28:11","slug":"ranking-the-2026-nfl-draft-top-15-wide-receivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606585\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the 2026 NFL Draft top 15 wide receivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2025, no position had more players drafted into the NFL<\/a> than the wide receiver position. It\u2019s no surprise, as teams typically carry 5-7 wide receivers and are always looking at finding the next superstar at the position. This year, I don\u2019t think the draft has any superstars at the position, but there are a lot of names who are going to be productive players in the coming years. Here are our top WRs in the 2026 class:<\/p>\n

MORE: Top 10 running backs in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a><\/p>\n

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1. Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State<\/p>\n

If anyone in this draft class turns into a true alpha wide receiver in the league, it\u2019s likely to be Jordyn Tyson. He was an absolute target machine at Arizona State, and it\u2019s easy to say why: much like a 7-Eleven, he\u2019s always open. Tyson runs the complete route tree, and his strong hands allow him to make contested catches. He doesn\u2019t have \u201cfreakish\u201d athleticism, but then again, neither did Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Reggie Wayne, or Jerry Rice.<\/p>\n

2. KC Concepcion, Texas A&M\"\"<\/p>\n

Every analyst out there has different rankings for KC Concepcion, and it\u2019s easy to see why. It boils down to what you value in a WR prospect. If you value a WR who is an explosive athlete with great acceleration that gets himself wide open in and out of cuts, you\u2019ll love Concepcion. If you value a WR who doesn\u2019t drop passes, you\u2019ll hate him. His biggest issue at both NC State and Texas A&M was routinely dropped passes, but that\u2019s something that I believe he\u2019ll be able to fix in the pros. He\u2019s also one of the best return men in this class.<\/p>\n

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3. Carnell Tate, Ohio State<\/p>\n

Death, taxes, and Ohio State wide receivers. Next up in the long Ohio State pipeline is Carnell Tate. He\u2019s the safest wide receiver in this class: he was a big-time recruit out of high school, possesses capable physical tools, and was the utmost professional in his work at Ohio State. The only knock on him is that he was never a WR1, but he played alongside Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith, so it\u2019s hard to use that as a legitimate gripe.<\/p>\n

4. Makai Lemon, USC<\/p>\n

If your team is in need of a slot receiver, you should be ecstatic if they draft Makai Lemon. The 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner may lack the top-end strength and speed to play outside, but he is an incredible slot. He\u2019s the best route runner in the class, and excelled against both man and zone coverage at USC.<\/p>\n

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5. Omar Cooper Jr, Indiana<\/p>\n

Omar Cooper Jr is this class\u2019s best \u201cafter the catch\u201d WR, and this was put to great use in an Indiana offense that heavily utilized RPOs and screen passes. His physicality and elusiveness in both broken and open fields have him drawing comps to Deebo Samuel, but there\u2019s only one Deebo Samuel \u2013 Cooper is about 20 pounds lighter than Deebo and would not hold up if moved to RB in the way that Deebo once did.<\/p>\n

6. Denzel Boston, Washington\"5.<\/p>\n

5. Denzel Boston<\/p>\n

Denzel Boston is what he is \u2013 a big-bodied, strong, contested-catch specialist who will play on the outside. He\u2019s the son of former NFL WR David Boston, and that shows up in his craft \u2013 he\u2019s a great route runner and has incredible hands. But he lacks top-end speed and the accelerative burst to consistently get himself open. This archetype at the WR position has featured some booms and some busts at the NFL level.<\/p>\n

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7. Germie Bernard, Alabama<\/p>\n

After following Kalen DeBoer from Washington to Alabama, Bernard got a full college career playing in the same offense that produced Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, and Ja\u2019Lynn Polk. He has the highest floor of any Day-2 WR, as his savvy as a route-runner and great hands make him NFL-ready. Look for him to excel in an offense that utilizes the middle of the field in the passing game, just like the DeBoer offense.<\/p>\n

8. Chris Bell, Louisville<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very high on Chris Bell as an NFL prospect, but very concerned about his torn ACL that he suffered last season. I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw from him at Louisville this past season. He\u2019s big, and plays big, and still has the quick twitch burst to separate from defensive backs at all levels of the field. But can he still play this way coming off a torn ACL? The medical evaluation will tell us a lot.<\/p>\n

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9. Zachariah Branch, Georgia<\/p>\n

Branch is another receiver in this class who \u201cis who he is.\u201d He\u2019s slight of frame, but incredibly fast at full speed and quick in and out of cuts. He\u2019s an excellent return man and is the fastest man on almost any field he\u2019s on. My worry for him is that he will be pigeon-holed into the same role in the NFL that he was at Georgia \u2013 a designed-touch merchant who lives off of screens and jet sweeps. My comp is that he is Tavon Austin if Tavon Austin played in one of college football\u2019s most unexciting offenses.<\/p>\n

10. Chris Brazzell II, Tennessee<\/p>\n

The hardest team to evaluate receivers for is back at it again with Chris Brazzell. He\u2019s 6\u20194\u201d, blazing fast, and destroys press coverage. But that\u2019s about all that we know about him. As an outside receiver in Josh Heupel\u2019s offense, Brazzell essentially only ran posts, hitches, and go routes. That\u2019s far from the whole NFL route tree.<\/p>\n

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11. Malachi Fields, Notre Dame\"8.<\/p>\n

8. Malachi Fields<\/p>\n

Fields may have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the combine at the WR position. He showed up and was bigger and faster than he appeared on tape. What he did show on tape was his ability to separate against man coverage at any level, and a massive catch radius. His skill set should transfer up to the NFL, and his physical tools are better than we previously thought.<\/p>\n

12. Kevin Coleman, Missouri<\/p>\n

Every year in the NFL draft, there comes a WR who was limited in college by who was throwing to him and the offensive scheme around him. This year, that title may belong to Kevin Coleman. He\u2019s not the biggest or the fastest, but he possesses great hands and showed outstanding knowledge of how to find holes in zone coverage. He was a target monster at Missouri, and it\u2019s not hard to see why. This skill of beating zone should certainly work in the NFL, even if he is not the most physically dominant player.<\/p>\n

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13. Brenen Thompson, Mississippi State<\/p>\n

If you have a need for speed, Brenen Thompson can fill it. He looked and played fast on tape, and the 4.26 40-yard dash at the combine confirmed that Thompson is the fastest WR in this class. The downside is that he is quite small at only 5\u20199\u201d, 164 pounds. But this isn\u2019t a whole lot smaller than DeSean Jackson or Xavier Worthy. That is the archetype we are looking for here.<\/p>\n

14. Antonio Williams, Clemson\"\"<\/p>\n

If you need a slot receiver, Antonio Williams can fill it. He broke out as a true freshman as the slot in Clemson\u2019s offense, and held onto that spot for the entirety of his career. He\u2019s not an elite athlete, but he\u2019s also not small or slow, either, and he\u2019s got a ton of experience in the slot. I don\u2019t think he has the ability to be an outside receiver in the NFL.<\/p>\n

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15. De\u2019Zhaun Stribling, Ole Miss<\/p>\n

In the Lane Kiffin offense, Stribling ran a very limited route tree, but he was incredible in those routes. He has the acceleration to beat man coverage off the line of scrimmage, the speed to win on go routes, the physicality to make contested catches, and the elusiveness to take a 5-yard hitch to the house. The downside is that we simply haven\u2019t seen a whole lot of versatility outside of those traits.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories on The Big Lead\u00a0<\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2025, no position had more players drafted into the NFL than the wide receiver position. It\u2019s no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[17076,133477,136109,64,63,28664,240417,20801,255676,62468,28661,120272,147338,120273,232765,713,593,61007,3373,246787,22812,85,295137,50435,21178],"class_list":{"0":"post-606585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-antonio-williams","10":"tag-arizona-state","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-deebo-samuel","14":"tag-denzel-boston","15":"tag-emeka-egbuka","16":"tag-germie-bernard","17":"tag-jalen-mcmillan","18":"tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","19":"tag-jeremiah-smith","20":"tag-jordyn-tyson","21":"tag-kc-concepcion","22":"tag-malachi-fields","23":"tag-michigan-wolverines","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-nfl-scouting-combine","26":"tag-ohio-state","27":"tag-omar-cooper-jr","28":"tag-rome-odunze","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-tavon-austin","31":"tag-wide-receiver","32":"tag-xavier-worthy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}