A Hater’s Guide to the 2025 Rookie Wide Receiver Class
Welcome to part three of this year’s Hater Series. If you missed it, be sure to check out part one about this year’s quarterback class, and part two looking at the running backs. For the last several seasons I have written my Hater’s guide to the NFL draft. There are several of them, and if you think you’ll enjoy looking back at me trashing picks in years passed, you can find them on my DLF author page. As a pessimist, this is my favorite thing I do every year. The pre-draft process is such a big part of the NFL and arguably even a bigger part of dynasty fantasy football, so when we finally watch the NFL draft and everyone can’t wait to sing the praises of their favorite rookies, all I can think if is all the reasons why they’ll fall flat on their faces. Let’s take a look at this far-too-deep receiver group.
1.08 Tetairoa McMillan, WR CAR
McMillan won the Polynesian High School Football Player of the Year Award in 2021 and then in 2024, he was named the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. He seems to be the greatest Polynesian wide receiver of all time, so, he’s got that going for him.
1.19 Emeka Egbuka, WR TB
Until Mike Evans retires, Egbuka shall toil on your bench each and every week. The Buccaneers are playing for 2027.
1.23 Matthew Golden, WR GB
Golden is 5’11” and 191 pounds and he ran a 2025 combine-best 4.29 forty-yard dash. For that, he earned the Packers’ first-round selection. He is almost the exact same size as Jayden Reed in every measurable. Mecole Hardman ran a 4.33. Romeo Doubs is noticeably bigger at 6’2” and 201 pounds. Christian Watson is 6’4” and 208 pounds while running a 4.38. So what exactly is Golden supposed to bring to this offense that nobody else does?
2.02 Jayden Higgins, WR HOU
Nico Collins is coming off a nice two-year stretch. The team traded for a reliable target in Christian Kirk. Tank Dell has been good when he isn’t being carted off the field. And yes, you can always add weapons but where does Higgins fit when the team only has one football? Collins has averaged 130 targets per 17 games in the last two seasons. Kirk has averaged 113 targets over his career. If CJ Stroud has 500ish attempts, how many of the remaining 240ish targets could go Higgins’ way?
2.07 Luther Burden, WR CHI
Trade for DJ Moore, check. Draft Rome Odunze in the first, check. Draft Colston Loveland in the first, check. What is there going to be for Burden? He is probably fifth in the pecking target pecking order.
2.23 Tre Harris, WR LAC
The Chargers were the ninth-heaviest running team in 2024 and they added a first-round running back in the draft and signed Najee Harris, so I’m sure they’ll run less. More running and with Ladd McConkey already established as the top target in the passing game coupled with Quentin Johnston’s surprise 2024 breakout doesn’t leave much meat on the bone for Tre Harris.
2.26 Jack Bech, WR LV
Although he can play outside as well as the slot, he is probably better suited as a slot receiver. Coincidentally, that was the only spot where the Raiders actually had a decent receiver in Jakobi Meyers.
3.05 Kyle Williams, WR NE
According to NFL.com, Williams has “below-average catch technique and hand-eye coordination”. I’m sure that won’t be a problem at the NFL level for a team that might have one of the worst track records drafting wide receivers.
3.06 Isaac TeSlaa, WR DET
I got all the way to the bottom of this list, to Detroit’s second-drafted receiver, Dominic Lovett, when I realized I completely forgot to include TeSlaa all the way up here at the top of round three, and that’s perfect as he’s an overdrafted forgettable afterthought. He does have dreamy flowing hair though. His hair alone warrants the 32-slot trade-up the Lions made to get him.
3.10 Pat Bryant, WR DEN
I don’t think anyone had a second-round grade on Bryant, so Denver made sure to take him nice and early in round three to be sure to get him instead of waiting three more rounds just in case.
3.15 Jaylin Noel, WR HOU
If I can’t find targets in Houston for Noel’s former Iowa State teammate Higgins, how the hell am I supposed to find targets for him with his draft capital a full round later?
3.23 Savion Williams, WR GB
See Golden, Matthew above. Sprinkle in a little Laviska Shenault and Cordarrelle Patterson.
3.38 Tai Felton, WR MIN
Felton could be the greatest WR3 in the NFL and we will never find out. He is never getting the football in this offense as long as everyone is healthy.
4.01 Chimere Dike, WR TEN
Oh boy, we have our first overreaction to the combine pick. At 6’1” and nearly 200 pounds, Dike tested will in almost everything, and for that sir, you are rewarded with the first pick of day three. He was officially named the Titans’ most questionable pick of the draft.
4.06 Dont’e Thornton, WR LV
He’s a plus-sized version of Tre Tucker. Congrats on two Tre Tuckers.
4.08 Arian Smith, WR NYJ
I’m not even halfway through this mess yet. I don’t know anything about this guy. The Jets are a dumpster fire, it doesn’t matter.
4.26 Jaylin Lane, WR WAS
Look at this depth chart, oof. Jayden Daniels might be the greatest quarterback of all time if he can keep producing with this mess.
4.31 Jalen Royals, WR KC
Based on what we’ve seen in recent history (and not that recent, too) Royals landing with Kansas City ensures one thing: He’s on the clock to be the first player arrested from the 2025 draft class.
4.34 Elic Ayomanor, WR TEN
Here’s a fun list of Canadian wide receivers in the NFL: Chase Claypool, N’Keal Harry, John Metchie, Josh Palmer, Jared Wayne, and now Elic Ayomanor.
4.38 Jordan Watkins, WR SF
He had a nice 2024 season with 49 receptions for 906 yards and nine touchdowns. Wait a minute, in November in a game against Arkansas he caught eight balls for 254 yards and five touchdowns. If we remove that monster outlier, he went 41-652-4 on the season.
5.22 KeAndre Lambert-Smith, WR LAC
If Tre Harris is facing an uphill battle for targets with the Chargers, Mr. too many names, syllables, capital letters and hyphens is certainly facing an uphill battle.
5.30 Tory Horton, WR SEA
Jaxson Smith-Njigba isn’t coming off the field. They brought in Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Horton has a hill to climb as a rookie to get on the field at all. If he can get around the insurmountable talent that is Jake Bobo, he is already their WR4.
6.27 LaJohntay Wester, WR BAL
LaJohntay Wester sounds like one of the players from the Key and Peele East/West College Bowl sketch. Even the good wide receivers in Baltimore don’t do much.
6.32 Jimmy Horn Jr, WR CAR
I fell down a Google rabbit hole. I thought Jimmy Horn was related to Joe Horn, and Jaycee Horn. Turns out he isn’t. Then it links to something called the Joe Horn shooting controversy, and some psych professor named Joseph Horn. And in the end, it turns out his actual father is incarcerated and Deion Sanders might have pulled some strings to get him in a prison closer to Denver so he could see more of his son’s games and they could work on their relationship. So anyway, he’s a sixth-round pick on the Panthers now.
6.37 Tommy Mellott, WR LV
A college quarterback convert to slot receiver. It’s the most unsecret, public love letter Tom Brady could send to Julian Edelman.
7.19 Tez Johnson, WR TB
He’s 154 pounds.
7.22 Ricky White III, WR SEA
Not particularly big, fast, strong, explosive, or a great route runner, He’s on the express train to the practice squad- and Seattle’s receiver depth is garbage.
7.24 Kaden Prather, WR BUF
When you draft Keon Coleman with the first pick of the second round a year ago, why not double down with his doppelganger? They’re both 6’3”, Coleman is nine pounds heavier. Both have arms within 1/8″ of 32 inches, their hands are within 1/8’ of each other. They have essentially the same 10-yard split in the 40-yard dash, although Prather was faster, while Coleman put up better numbers in the jumps. I think I’m trashing the Coleman pick from last year more than Prather. Either way, we’ll get to watch both of them get outplayed by Khalil Shakir and Joshua Palmer.
7.26 Konata Mumpfield, WR LAR
I’m not even going to search for this guy. There were 31 receivers selected this year. He was one of them.
7.28 Dominic Lovett, WR DET
They earlier drafted TeSlaa plays in the slot. Lovett plays in the slot. Amon-Ra St. Brown plays the slot 43% of the time. There is only one slot position, so Detroit has now piled up three bodies to fill it, but it sounds like Lovett is going to be a special-teams guy, so unless you’re in a PPTAGOK leagues (point per tackle as a gunner on kickoffs), he’ll be worthless for fantasy.
7.36 Junior Bergen, WR SF
We close this out with a whimper, with back-to-back special teams players. Bergen is likely the Niners’ punt returner to start the year. At 5’9” and 184 pounds, there aren’t many other roles for the former running back turned receiver in the NFL.
This was a lot of wide receivers – and this was considered a down year at the position too. By this time next summer, some of these guys will be working as bank tellers and coaching flag football on the weekends. Be sure to stick around for the final installment when I take a look at this year’s tight end class.
- Off-Season Mock Drafts: Final Rookie Trends - May 31, 2025
- Off-Season Mock Drafts: Best Ball ADP, Part II: Deep Dive - May 24, 2025
- A Hater’s Guide to the 2025 Rookie Tight End Class - May 22, 2025
