2020 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tiers, Part 2

Yesterday, we took down the first half of the fantasy football wide receiver tiers by ADP, and today we take on the deep boys. These are WR35 and deeper, and if you drafted right, these should be mostly bench guys for you. But, the good news is that wide receiver is insanely deep this year. There are plenty of guys in each of these wide receiver tiers that can help you with your 2020 fantasy football leagues. Remember that these are by average draft position and are designed to help you make decisions at each point in your draft. I say this because some of these wide receiver tiers are a mess because people don’t know how to draft. My favorites in each tier are in bold.

If you want to see tiers one through seven, check out yesterday’s piece.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 8: The Get Your Guy Tier

This tier is four guys who have been touted as undervalued by fantasy football twitter this summer in one corner or another. Brandin Cooks going after Will Fuller was my raison d’etre for a couple of days. In short, he’s been a top-36 WR in his career for the same percentage of games that Fuller has not been a top-36 WR. Get him.

Marvin Jones has the 18th-most fantasy points since he joined the Lions and is annually undervalued, making him a WR2 at borderline WR4 prices. As for Deebo Samuel, his ADP will likely rise soon given that he just returned to practice and was sprinting at 100%. Samuel has an outside shot of being on the field in week one, and taking him at WR37 is stealing.

Diontae Johnson hasn’t gotten a “missed practice for five-straight days” discount, but he was already undervalued to begin with. There are some who see him as the next Antonio Brown. I won’t go that far, but he isn’t a bad upside play. He shouldn’t go ahead of at least one guy in the next tier, though.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 9: Upside Depth

Other than CeeDee Lamb, I’m mostly underwhelmed by this tier. Lamb enters a potent Dallas offense that lost 190 targets and only added him to the offense. He was my favorite WR coming out and has the highest ceiling of any rookie WR. Kirk probably will get his target volume eaten by DeAndre Hopkins this season, but still topped 100 targets last year. Ruggs and Jeudy are probably players getting reminded of rookies after Lamb went off the board, because they shouldn’t be the #2 and #3 rookie WRs off the board.

I’m not big on the other guys, either. Emmanuel Sanders heads to a crowded offense that he might not find himself in… but he could. Darius Slayton and John Brown both face the pain of other, more talented wide receivers being available and on the roster in 2020. Jamison Crowder is the only other guy I would take in this tier and only if he fell, in a PPR league, and if I needed the depth. Pencil him in for another 120 targets for the Jets this year.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 10: Swinging For the Fences

These four dudes are probably people’s last wide receivers in a lot of leagues, given their draft pick value. They’re all upside guys who you can cut if things don’t develop in the first couple of weeks.

We all forget our collective delusion with regards to Tyreek Hill missing time last season that saw Mecole Hardman turn into a priority draft pick. This comes with the price paid by Andy Reid—a second-rounder—to get Hardman. He’s still every bit the speedster he was last season, and it’s highly likely the Chiefs prioritize him over Sammy Watkins.

Sterling Shepard had 83 targets in ten games last season. This feels like a “that’s it, that’s the tweet” moment. Instead, I want to let you know that the Giants shuffled receivers in and out of the lineup for various reasons, but Shep should continue to see that target volume as he led the entire squad (except four target TJ Jones) in yards gained per target.

Mike Williams is due for a season where he puts it together! Except he hurt his shoulder in practice and isn’t likely to be available to start the year. Oh, and the offense is going to be drastically different. He might be a second-contract wonder but his time in Los Angeles has mostly been wasted for the previous top-ten selection.

Jalen Reagor might be the only starting-caliber wide receiver healthy and ready to go for the Eagles in week one next season. He has the potential to be a great player, but we don’t know yet. He’s an upside and volume swing here at the top of round twelve.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 11: Upside Real-Life #2 Receivers

This tier is entirely made up of second (or third) fiddles in what should be at least decent passing games this season. Justin Jefferson gets a crack at Stefon Diggs’ vacated targets. Sammy Watkins’ fantasy football frustrations have been well documented but is still worth a shot in that Chiefs offense.

Golden Tate likely takes a target backseat to Sterling Shepard and/or Evan Engram, but who can forget his high PPR upside years in Detroit and Seattle? He’s the elder statesman of that room, and is due for a lot of targets… or is he? DeSean Jackson is Louis Farrakhan with a 4.3-40 yard dash; I’m not taking him out of principle.

Preston Williams and Curtis Samuel are statistics twitter darlings this season. Williams had a great partial season last year (led the Dolphins in targets) before tearing his ACL midway through the season. The sharps double his fantasy points and extrapolate his rankings from there because everyone always is what they always have been. Curtis Samuel led the league in unfulfilled air yards last season, mostly because Kyle Allen sucks. This year, he’s moving back into the slot, where he absolutely feasted at Ohio State. I love Curtis Samuel’s upside, so take him here. I do not fear Robby Anderson, who will be the deep threat on a team with a team that’s likely going to have a lot more spread than anything else.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 12: “Hey I’ve Heard That Name”

Every player on here is either a legend (Larry Fitzgerald), a guy who went high in the last two drafts (Harry, Aiyuk, Perriman, Pittman), or an annual hype bunny (Lazard, Miller).  Also, Breshad Perriman is there! I’m not too interested in diving into this tier, but Perriman makes a good upside play here. If he can grow on his last five games of 2019, there are plenty of targets up for grabs.

I was a big N’Keal Harry fan, but he is struggling with offseason practice and might be a lost cause.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 13: “Worst Case Scenario, Cut Him Week One”

This whole pile of guys reeks of people throwing a dart at the wall and seeing what sticks, regardless of context. They’re justifying it with a silly phrase “worst case scenario, cut him week one,” which they think absolves them of their takes. Fade anyone who uses it.

Alshon has no timetable for return. Dart. Hunter Renfrow is getting drowned out by the rest of the receivers. Dart. Antonio Brown more like Antonio Clown. Dart. Parris Campbell just got into a car accident. Dart. Dede Westbrook might be the fifth receiving option this season. Dart. It’s not the 2016 Packers anymore (Randall Cobb). Dart.

Get Cobb or Renfrow though. Worst case scenario, cut him week one.

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Tier 14: Get Laviska Shenault

These guys are mostly bums and depth plays. Do you want Matthew Stafford’s fifth receiving option, or Dwayne Haskins’ second? How about Josh Allen’s fourth option, or Joe Burrow’s third? A bunch of depth guys, also Tyrell Williams has a torn labrum.

Now second-round rookie Laviska Shenault with the great improviser Gardner Minshew and an OC just unhinged enough to do it (Jom Gruden’s brother Jay) has some real potential. Shenault was supposed to go in the first round according to numerous mock drafts, but fell well into the second, driving his fantasy price down. He’s a built in the Deebo Samuel mold &  could easily be the #2 pass catcher for an offense that is all upside. He is the only one in this tier worth your time.

If this has you hankerin’ for some fantasy sports, try out Fan Duel! That link lets them know we sent you! It also gets you $5 bonus cash to play with if you make a deposit.

Then, follow Football Absurdity on Twitter!
After that, get free fantasy football advice by joining our Discord!

Finally, if you like what you read here, check out our podcast and our Patreon