• Marvin Harrison Jr. can forge an elite connection with Kyler Murray in Year 1: Arizona vacated 155 targets from 2023 in the form of Marquise Brown and Rondale Moore, and Harrison will be the primary beneficiary.
• Rome Odunze may have a tougher path to targets: The Bears traded for Keenan Allen and already have DJ Moore in tow, meaning it’s unlikely Odunze will be fellow rookie Caleb Williams’ top target as a rookie.
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Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes
Rookie receivers hit the ground running in the NFL each year, with Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams the standout in 2023. At least one rookie wide receiver has cracked 1,000 receiving yards in the regular season in each of the past five seasons, and it is often as much about the situation they land in as much as their talent.
With that in mind, we are ranking the 10 best landing spots for rookie wide receivers from the 2024 NFL Draft.
Kyler Murray is back to full health, so Harrison has both a competent quarterback to catch passes from and a clear path to a huge target share despite the Cardinals’ late-offseason addition of Zay Jones.
Arizona vacated 155 targets from 2023 in the form of Marquise Brown and Rondale Moore, and Harrison will be the primary beneficiary.
Landing in a situation where you get to catch passes from the best quarterback in football is always a good thing, and we saw last year that Patrick Mahomes has no qualms about heavily targeting a rookie, with Rashee Rice getting 100 passes thrown his way in 2023.
A potential suspension looms for Rice and Marquez Valdes-Scantling departed this offseason, so 100 or more targets are very much on the table for Worthy, even after the addition of Marquise Brown on a one-year deal.
The determining factor for Nabers’ rookie outlook is which version of Daniel Jones the Giants get in 2024. If it’s the player who earned PFF passing grades above 70.0 every year between 2020 and 2022, then there’s the opportunity for Nabers to make a big impact on a team where Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson tied for the lead with 76 targets in the 2023 regular season.
There’s a world where Coleman can have the best season of any rookie receiver, landing on a roster that traded away Stefon Diggs and his 159 regular-season targets last year.
The concern here is that Khalil Shakir’s emergence down the stretch and the signings of Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency could lead to the Bills sharing those looks instead of Coleman being the top target right away.
The Chargers’ top three players in 2023 regular-season targets all departed this offseason, headlined by the trade of Keenan Allen, who racked up 145 targets last year.
The change in offensive coordinator to Greg Roman as part of new head coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff indicates that Los Angeles will lean more on the run, but there should still be enough of a passing attack for McConkey to make an impact when paired with Justin Herbert, who has earned a 77.5-plus PFF passing grade in all of his NFL seasons.
Calvin Ridley’s departure in free agency leaves 132 targets up for grabs in Jacksonville. While the rookie Thomas will face competition from Gabe Davis and Christian Kirk at wide receiver and Evan Engram at tight end, he could be Trevor Lawrence’s top target right away.
The LSU product faced competition for targets in college, too, sharing an offense with Malik Nabers, and still averaged 17.3 yards per catch and 2.61 yards per route run in 2023.
The Bears traded for Keenan Allen and already have DJ Moore in tow, meaning it’s unlikely Odunze will be fellow rookie Caleb Williams’ top target as a rookie.
That being said, the Bears drafted Odunze in the top 10 for a reason. His place in an impressive trio will likely give him some matchup advantages at various points throughout his rookie season.
Demario Douglas was the Patriots’ top target in 2023 as a sixth-round rookie, seeing 76 targets, and this is a receiving corps from which Polk can, and arguably should, become the No. 1 receiver right away.
He averaged 2.29 yards per route run and dropped just 5.5% of his catchable targets in 2023 at Washington.
Being the No. 3 receiver in the Cincinnati Bengals‘ offense has had a floor of more than 70 targets in each of the past three seasons, meaning that Burton can have a big role from Day 1 if he can win that spot.
The Alabama product dropped just 2.9% of the catchable targets he saw in college and is coming off his most productive season, averaging 2.75 yards per route run.
The Steelers traded away their No. 2 wide receiver in Diontae Johnson, and the rumored trade for a top target has yet to materialize. While it’s tough to see Wilson supplanting George Pickens as the top target in Pittsburgh as a rookie, his path to the No. 2 spot is relatively clear.
That means that 80 or more targets is not out of the question for Wilson, and the Steelers’ quarterback situation is likely to be better in 2024 than it was in 2023.
