Ranking Most Underrated WRs in NFL Ahead of 2025 Season

Wide receivers are dominating the NFL in the modern era like never before. With rule changes that limit downfield contact and protect them from vicious hits, these pass-catchers are being utilized in more dynamic and creative ways every season.

While few would doubt the impact a quality receiver has, the sheer number of them—teams tend to keep at least five on their active rosters—coupled with the versatility of the position, makes it understandable that some great players end up flying under the radar.

With that in mind, let’s highlight six of the league’s most underrated wideouts heading into the 2025 season and rank them using a combination of past performance and projections for the upcoming campaign.

No. 6: Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers

AP Photo

The Green Bay Packers boast one of the NFL’s deepest receiving corps. While that’s certainly a benefit for quarterback Jordan Love, the large number of mouths to feed can make it difficult for individual wideouts to stand out in Titletown.

Despite the competition, Romeo Doubs has been doing his best to carve out an important role within Green Bay’s system. Following his fourth-round selection in the 2022 draft, the Nevada product quickly developed into a reliable downfield threat who consistently comes up with contested grabs.

Doubs broke out as a sophomore with 59 catches for 674 yards and tied for a team-high eight receiving touchdowns. While his 46/601/4 stat line in 2024 wasn’t as impressive, the wideout recorded those numbers in just 13 games.

His efficiency metrics all saw a boost last season as well, with Doubs achieving career-best marks in yards per reception (13.1), yards per target (8.3) and receiving success rate (59.7).

While Doubs may not ever become a star who puts up 1,000-plus yards on a yearly basis, he’s a crucial piece of the Packers scheme and has helped the club reach the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

No. 5: Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

AP Photo

Jakobi Meyers has quietly evolved into one of the NFL’s most consistent receivers. Despite coming into his prime on an offensively challenged New England Patriots squad and subsequently joining a Las Vegas Raiders organization hindered by its own quarterback woes, the big pass-catcher has been a steady contributor for a half-decade and counting.

Meyers entered the league with little fanfare as an undrafted free agent in 2019. After a slow rookie campaign, the NC State product put himself on the map with a 59-catch, 729-yard effort in Year 2 and has consistently improved every season since.

After playing in the shadow of Davante Adams during his first year in Sin City, Meyers had a chance to show his chops as a No. 1 WR following his superstar teammate’s departure. He rewarded the club with an 87-reception, 1,027-yard, four-touchdown performance, a season that Pro Football Focus graded out as the league’s 24th-best in 2024.

While Meyers isn’t the type of player an offense can be built upon, he’s a perfect complementary piece. He may lack speed and athleticism, but he has the size, hands, route-running skills and blocking ability to fit into nearly any system and thrive.

No. 4: Xavier Worthy, Kansas City Chiefs

AP Photo

During Day 1 of the 2024 draft, the Kansas City Chiefs pulled off one of the event’s shrewdest maneuvers by trading up to No. 28 to secure speedster Xavier Worthy. By trading with the Buffalo Bills for that draft slot, the back-to-back Super Bowl champions not only added a much-needed burner to their receiver room, but also denied their biggest in-conference threat a chance to land the talented Texas product.

The move began paying dividends quickly during a season in which top wideouts Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown both missed large swathes of time with injury. While Worthy took some time to get adjusted to the professional game, he finished his notable rookie campaign by playing in all 17 games and putting up 638 yards and a team-high six touchdowns on 59 catches.

Worthy’s numbers could have been far more impressive had he seen a larger workload early in the year. The dynamic wideout only saw 75 percent or more of Kansas City’s offensive snaps once between Weeks 1-13 before going on to average an 82.1 snap share in the team’s last four meaningful contests in Weeks 14-17.

Worthy’s production rose with his increase in playing time. During that four-game stretch to close out the year, the blazing-fast receiver caught 26 balls for 231 yards and two scores. Extrapolated across an entire 17-game season, that production would have resulted in 111 receptions for 982 yards and nine touchdowns.

Given that fantastic end-of-season run and subsequent playoff showing—Worthy was one of the Chiefs’ best players during their run to the Super Bowl, catching 19 of his 21 targets for 287 yards and three scores in three postseason contests—it would be surprising if Worthy doesn’t go ballistic during his upcoming sophomore season.

No. 3: Khalil Shakir, Buffalo Bills

AP Photo

Khalil Shakir was touted as one of the major steals of the 2022 draft after the Buffalo Bills snagged him on Day 3 that year, but it took some time for the receiver to start realizing his immense potential.

Shakir shook off an underwhelming rookie campaign (which saw him catch just 10 balls for 161 yards and one touchdown) to become a steady contributor in the Bills’ passing offense in 2023. Still, Shakir’s 39/611/2 stat line left something to be desired going into a pivotal Year 3.

The departure of Stefon Diggs proved to be the catalyst Shakir needed to start knocking on the door of stardom. With a receiver who accounted for a whopping 314 targets between 2022-23 now gone, Shakir was poised to emerge as Josh Allen’s favorite target in 2024.

Shakir answered the call and went on to lead the team in nearly every major receiving category, including targets (100), receptions (76) and receiving yardage (821) while tying for second in receiving touchdowns (four).

What Shakir lacks in athleticism and build is more than made up for in his relentless motor, dialed-in focus and intense competitiveness. He’s been unafraid to attack the teeth of the defense at full speed and takes advantage of his low center of gravity to make quick cuts and create windows for Allen to squeeze the ball in.

One of the most underrated parts of Shakir’s game is his ability to put up huge yardage after the catch. Opposing defenses have trouble bringing Shakir down once he possesses the ball, evident by his hefty 597 yards after the catch in 2024—the second-best mark amongst receivers behind Ja’Marr Chase last year.

Shakir should only get better with another offseason to prepare as the reigning MVP’s favorite weapon. Expect Shakir to finally slip the underrated label and break out as one of the NFL’s stars with his best effort yet in 2025.

No. 2: Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings

AP Photo

Despite playing second fiddle to one of the NFL’s best receivers and working with five different quarterbacks across his first two seasons, Jordan Addison has found a way to dominate for the Minnesota Vikings.

Addison started living up to his first-round billing immediately after entering the league, posting a sensational rookie stat line of 70 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns. The wideout helped make up for the extended absence of Justin Jefferson—who missed seven games in 2023—and didn’t miss a beat when star quarterback Kirk Cousins was also lost for the year, finding success with a revolving door of signal-callers that included Nick Mullens, Joshua Dobbs and Jaren Hall.

While Addison didn’t build on those strong Year 1 metrics, he still slashed a highly respectable 63/875/9 in 2024 despite missing two games with injury and contending with a fully healthy Jefferson for targets.

There’s little Addison can’t do, although his production is certainly tempered by the presence of elite skill position teammates. Whether he’s burning corners deep in single coverage or slipping into the defense’s soft spot for easy touchdowns, the talented wideout has managed to produce at an extremely efficient rate while still allowing Jefferson and tight end T.J. Hockenson to get their star-caliber numbers.

Now set to work with yet another new starter in second-year passer J.J. McCarthy, Addison projects to continue setting the standard for No. 2 WRs in 2025.

No. 1: Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers

AP Photo

Jauan Jennings

Jauan Jennings faced long odds of having a breakout season in 2024.

Initially buried on the depth chart behind stars such as Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, the little-utilized fourth-year wideout was not expected to become the reigning NFC champions’ most important receiver.

That is exactly what happened, however, as Jennings stayed relatively healthy and vastly outperformed expectations during a down Super Bowl hangover season in the Bay Area.

Jennings capitalized on his team-high 113 targets, reeling in 77 catches for 975 yards and six touchdowns—second to only Kittle and well ahead of third-place Samuel in each of those categories. It marked a massive improvement over the 78-catch, 963-yard, seven-touchdown stat line that Jennings had put up in his first three seasons combined.

While health was kind to Jennings during a campaign in which Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL and first-round rookie Ricky Pearsall got off to a slow start due to an offseason gunshot wound, he deserves merit for seizing his opportunity and proving to be more than capable of serving as a No. 1 receiver despite his seventh-round draft status.

With Samuel now gone and Aiyuk still rehabbing his injured knee, the door remains wide open for Jennings to build upon his breakout season. The rapport the wideout established with quarterback Brock Purdy should only grow as the battery gets a full training camp together to prepare for a bounce-back 2025 campaign.