Fantasy takeaways from the 2024 season continue today and as we move to the wide receiver position. Whether you won a high-stakes fantasy championship or are a recreational player who won your home league, be proactive. The NFL calendar is year-round. Savvy fantasy players are on top of past season results, coaching movement, and free agency. The targeted focus today will be on wide receiver positional trends and data. It is a grind but it’s necessary for the best chance to build a championship roster for the 2025 fantasy season.
There are two wideouts to discuss and see where the data points us in preparation for 2025. Consider what the data is telling you and analyze if the aforementioned players will return their draft value. A successful fantasy player will avoid buying all the risk on a player or paying for said player at his ceiling.
Fantasy Wide Receiver Takeaways From The 2024 Season
Jerry Jeudy Finally Lived Up To His Draft Capital
Jerry Jeudy, as our readers know, exploded last season and finished as the overall fantasy PPR WR13. Entering last year, Jeudy had been a huge disappointment in both fantasy and reality. Before 2024, he averaged just over 10 fantasy points per game and 52.75 catches per year over his four NFL seasons. Those are far below what the community expected from him after being taken with the 15th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He arrived last year and went nuclear after Week 7. After diving into the data, Jeudy’s season was far more impressive than his 90-1229-4 receiving stat line.
After Amari Cooper was traded to Buffalo in October, Jeudy put up numbers comparable to the league’s top alpha wide receivers. His per-game targets rose from six to just under 1o. Target share rose by almost 6% up to 23.8% and he was top-10 in PPR points per game. That means he provided the coveted consistent weekly scoring. Beyond that, his 18.53 fantasy points would have made him the overall WR4 behind only Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Amon-Ra St. Brown. That is some serious company. Jeudy goes as the current WR31, with an ADP of 67.9 in the latter half of round six.
If Jeudy can come close to last year’s late-season fantasy output, we can get ourselves a sixth-round wide receiver with a WR1 finish within his potential outcomes. Second, Cleveland retained head coach Keven Stefanski and hired Ken Dorsey as their new offensive coordinator. Dorsey will be an integral part in helping revamp the Browns’ offense that ranked last in the NFL in points scored. Dorsey comes over from Buffalo and knows what competent quarterback play looks like, which is vital to any potential success by Jeudy.
Courtland Sutton Is A Fantasy Wide Receiver To Have Shares Of In 2025
The next wide receiver to touch on is the Broncos’ Courtland Sutton. He finished last season as a top-15 wide receiver and a player we want a piece of in 2025. Denver quarterback Bo Nix improved exponentially as the season progressed and finished as the overall QB7. One of the parts within Sean Payton’s offense that you want to be invested in is his alpha wide receiver. Sutton plays the Mike Thomas role in the Payton system and people in fantasy circles know how powerful an asset that is. From 2016-2019 Thomas averaged 150 targets, 117 catches, and had 32 touchdowns. During that same time frame, his finishes were as follows: WR7, WR6, WR6, and WR1.
Getting back to Sutton, he finished 2024: top-12 in receiving touchdowns, top six in expected receiving touchdowns and top four in both end-zone and red-zone targets. After Week 5, Sutton averaged 17.82 fantasy points per game. For reference, that per-game average was behind only Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Sutton with an ADP of late third to fourth round is a great value and is the best option in a tier that includes Davante Adams and DK Metcalf.
Main Photo: Tommy Gilligan – Imagn Images
