Pre-Combine 2026 Rookie WR Rankings & Tiers (+QBs in Comments)

The last few months have focused on the Deeper Dive series, but now all 38 Deeper Dives are released on the Podcast, Substack, & DynastyFF Subreddit.

My Combine Review will hopefully release on Monday or even Sunday afternoon depending on how quickly I can throw it together.

The full post for today's post including my reviews on the 2025 Season for the AFC West & NFC East can be found here: https://cjfreel.substack.com/p/155-pre-combine-wr-rankings-afc-west

The Substack has also come out with new material like a Wildly-Too-Early 2027 Tiers list, which is available on Substack or through the Fantasy for Real podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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Tiers are listed with the first player in each Tier because Reddit makes it difficult to break up a numbered list.

PRE-COMBINE “FINAL” WR RANKINGS

1. (TIER 1) Makai Lemon, USC
2. Carnell Tate, Ohio State
3. Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State
4. (TIER 2) K.C. Concepcion, Texas A&M
5. Denzel Boston, Washington
6. (TIER 3) Antonio Williams, Clemson
7. Ja’Kobi Lane, USC
8. Zachariah Branch, Georgia
9. Elijah Sarratt, Indiana
10. Omar Cooper Jr., Indiana
11. Ted Hurst, Georgia State
12. Chris Bell, Louisville
13. Chris Brazzell II, Tennessee
14. Germie Bernard, Alabama
15. Malachi Fields, Notre Dame

Honorable Mentions (A-Z): Aaron Anderson (LSU), Skyler Bell (Connecticut), Malik Benson (Oregon), Deion Burks (Oklahoma), Jeff Caldwell (Cincinnati), Bryce Lance (North Dakota State), Eric McAlister (TCU), Brenan Thompson (Mississippi State)

This is discussed in more detail on this Week’s Fantasy for Real podcast.

Keep in mind as this is still very early on in the process, differences between Tiers are far more significant than the rankings within the tiers. When we talk about “Talent versus Situation,” in this case valuing Situation over Talent would be drafting players outside of their Tier, not outside of their Order.

There really isn’t too much controversy within the Top 5 WRs, particularly keeping the first note in mind. Makai Lemon is one of the few higher-level players where the Combine matters a great deal; Lemon’s exact measurements in particular will be important to avoid any significant Red Flags. Not being the greatest athlete is fine, but Lemon likely slips below at least Tate if he pops a Red Flag for Height or Arm Length. Jordyn Tyson is, frankly, easy to rank last because of apprehension regarding his injury history. It is my belief that – fair or not – Tyson is fairly likely to slip at least a little bit in the Draft as it will be hard for a GM to tie their occupation to the health of someone who is constantly injured. Ranking K.C. Concepcion above Boston is controversial as Boston seems to have a higher ceiling in many rankings lists, but they are very close in my own grades with each player having a clear set of Pros & Cons. Denzel Boston is strong at the catch point, but I simply don’t trust him to beat coverage as frequently as a player like Concepcion.

Antonio Williams remains at the top of the Day 2 tier, as while he is a player who has never been spectacular, his consistency, reliability, and team-leading statistics all give me confidence in a former-top Prospect who has dealt with injuries throughout his career. Ja’Kobi Lane seems like someone likely to fall as we get closer or beyond the Draft. In contrast to a player like Williams where his firm grade comes from confidence in what he is and can be, Lane’s grade comes from being highly variable and putting value into that potential long-term ceiling. Omar Cooper Jr. seems to be rising the quickest among this tier, but he is a player where the value comes too much from flash & not enough from consistency. That can be developed at the NFL level, but proving that consistency is what I find is constantly underrated at the WR position, and Cooper’s mediocre surface statistics are significantly aided by dominant performances against Indiana’s worst opponents. Malachi Fields appears to be the next hottest name on the list, but he ranks as the closest player here to a Day 3 Grade on my own board. While Fields has size, build-up speed, and explosive play ability, his overall performance has been good-not-great at best throughout his CFB Career. While there can be excuses for Fields in 2025, there were ultimately players even on his own team that performed and produced better in 2025, so even within his environment, the 2025 was not too impressive. And as a 5th-Year player, even if the season had been elite, Fields would still suffer at WR in particular from a massive Red Flag.

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Questions & Comments welcome,

C.J.