The NFL draft is near, and it\u2019s time to look at wide receivers. With the market for quarterbacks being down this year \u2013 it\u2019s not one of the better quarterback classes in recent draft memory \u2013 finding quality receivers who can help a quarterback becomes more of a priority for NFL teams. We have seen some big transactions involving wide receivers in recent weeks, most notably the Miami Dolphins grabbing Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs. Teams will be looking for high-end talents at this position, making it one of the more fascinating storylines of the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 \u2013 Drake London, USC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The best receiver in the draft is clearly London, who suffered an ankle injury two-thirds of the way through the 2021 season but looks fully healed and ready to go after a successful pro day workout earlier this month. London is big, strong, able to win 50-50 balls, and a very precise route-runner. Though not having blazing speed compared to other receivers, he simply gets open all the time. He wins one-on-one matchups and uses a lot of tools to gain leverage against opposing defensive backs. He might not be an incredible home-run hitter on deep balls, but he is going to be a receiver who regularly makes the 12-yard catch on third down and eight to keep a drive alive. He figures to go in the top 20 for sure, and very probably in the top 10 to 13 players taken in the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 \u2013 Garrett Wilson, Ohio State<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ohio State Buckeyes have multiple NFL-level receivers, and Wilson is the best of the bunch. He destroyed Michigan State late last season and is an electric playmaker. People might wonder why he is behind London in the rankings; the answer is that he had a much better quarterback last year, Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud, compared to what London had at USC. Wilson had a lot more resources surrounding him. He\u2019s going to be a dependable wide receiver in the pros mostly because he can separate from corners with his speed, but also because he isn\u2019t limited in the kinds of routes he can run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 \u2013 Jameson Williams, Alabama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alabama Crimson Tide might have won the national championship last season if Williams had not gotten hurt. He was the best receiver on the Tide one year after DeVonta Smith won the Heisman Trophy and was a top-10 NFL draft pick. Williams probably won\u2019t go in the top 10, but he is a first-round-caliber receiver. Teams would be crazy to pass on him if he\u2019s available late in the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 \u2013 Jahan Dotson, Penn State<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The very speedy Dotson is great at getting off the line of scrimmage, finding an open spot in the defense, and then settling down and creating a clear and accessible target for his quarterback. Dotson did well despite the injuries to Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford this past season. His ability to thrive in an offense which was limited shows how much he can do even when defenses are game-planning to stop him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 \u2013 Chris Olave, Ohio State<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The other elite Ohio State receiver isn\u2019t as good as Garrett Wilson and will probably suffer in the draft as a result, but whoever gets Olave will gain a superb playmaker with speed, reach, and good instincts. The main thing here is for a team to not overreach and take Olave in the top 20. Late first round or early second round are good times to get him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The NFL draft is near, and it\u2019s time to look at wide receivers. With the market for quarterbacks being down…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22254,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22245\/revisions\/22254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}