The 2026 NFL Draft has wrapped up, and preparations for the 2027 NFL Draft are underway. Specific to the wide receiver position, five receivers ended up selected in the first round this April, with eight going in the first two rounds.
Many have touted the 2027 class as one of the most loaded draft classes in recent memory. Though there's a lot that can change between now and next April, but as of right now, there's a lot to be excited about with next year's group, particularly at the wide receiver position.
Having ranked the ten best quarterback prospects between the 2026 and 2027 draft classes already, I figured doing so with the wide receivers would be a worthwhile exercise. This is how the top ten wide receivers combined from this year and next year stack up against each other.
The No. 30 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Omar Cooper Jr. joins a New York Jets team with plenty of opportunity to make plays as a rookie. With Garrett Wilson alongside him, Cooper projects as the team's WR2, and though the Jets also have a talented tight end tandem between Kenyon Sadiq and Mason Taylor , he should see plenty of targets in 2026.
For my money, Cooper was the best YAC receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft. His agility and full-field vision allowed him to make defenders miss in space at a high level at Indiana, but his dense frame and physical running style let him run over tacklers and stay upright through contact. He's a coordinated weapon with tremendous ball skills and strong hands. If Cooper can continue to develop as a route salesman in the pros, his ceiling with the Jets is very high.
Cooper had some talented wide receivers alongside him on Indiana's national championship team. In addition to Elijah Sarratt, a fourth-round pick this year by the Baltimore Ravens , Cooper was also joined by Charlie Becker, who was quiet in the first half of the season but exploded in the second half. He projects as the Hoosiers' WR1 going into 2027.
I don't have Becker higher on this list because he didn't have any catches as a freshman and only had 70 receiving yards through his first seven games as a sophomore. That said, his final stretch in 2025 was special enough to warrant a top-ten ranking. He's a sure-handed weapon who won 76.5% of his contested-catch reps last year, bringing new meaning to the "50-50 ball" phrase. He has strong hands and a prototypical 6'4″, 209-pound frame, but for a bigger receiver, he's fluid working across his body and can bend the stem as a route runner. With a full year as a starter for Indiana, I think Becker will soar.
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After a stellar freshman year in 2024, Ryan Coleman-Williams appeared as the cover athlete alongside Jeremiah Smith on the EA Sports College Football 26 video game. Coleman-Williams' 2025 campaign didn't live up to expectations, but he heads into 2026 as Alabama's likely WR1 with another offseason to develop.
The big concern with Coleman-Williams is the drop issue, as he's dropped 14.9% of his career targets going into 2026. He's also skinny for a 6'0″ weapon, weighing in at roughly 178 pounds. But he's such a dynamic athlete with top-notch vertical speed, impressive explosiveness coming out of his cuts as a route runner, and the ball-tracking skills to make him a potential human highlight reel any time the ball is thrown his way. The athleticism and ball skills are already there for Coleman-Williams; if the consistency catches up, he'll be a first-round pick in 2027.
After three seasons at Colorado, battling for playing time as a backup before stepping into a bigger role with poor quarterback play in 2025, Omarion Miller heads to Arizona State for his senior campaign in 2026. The flashes were there from an early age, as he tallied seven catches for 196 yards and a touchdown against USC as a freshman, but the circumstances for him to shine provided an uphill battle.
Miller is already a proven deep threat, averaging 19.0 yards per catch in his career with an average depth of target of 13.6 yards. The 6'2", 210-pounder not only has ideal size for the wide receiver position, but his ball-tracking skills and coordination in the air make him an elite jump-ball winner. He'll need to clear up his drop issues, as he has a tendency to make the hard catches look easy and the easy catches look hard. I'd like to see some sharper cuts out of his breaks, but Miller's stem work is already up to par with an early-round draft profile. If he gets better QB play to work with in 2026, he has serious first-round potential.
Auburn didn't see much team success across the 2024 and 2025 seasons, but they had a stud wide receiver in the form of Cam Coleman. Now heading to Texas for his junior year, Coleman projects as not only the WR1 for a national championship contender, but also one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft.
If Coleman declares for next year's draft, he'll be just 20 years old when he's selected. He's a big weapon at 6'3" who can win above the rim with his large catch radius, his muscular frame, and some of the best ball skills in college football. He had to adjust to plenty of underthrown balls at Auburn, which shouldn't be as much of a problem working with Arch Manning on the Longhorns. He bends the stem well as a route runner, and while he doesn't offer much after the catch, he offers good leaping ability and straight-line speed. He's a safe first-round bet at this stage and carries top-15 upside if he continues to develop as a route technician.
Texas A&M was headlined by two undersized speed receivers in their impressive 2025 campaign, providing Marcel Reed with the firepower to compete in a loaded SEC. With Concepcion now in the NFL as a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns , Mario Craver now projects as the standalone WR1 on the Aggies' roster.
Craver is one of the most explosive weapons in college football going into 2026. His straight-line speed is tremendous, as is his agility as both a route runner and a ball-carrier after the catch. He's a creative runner in space, he's an intelligent route runner who can adjust the tempo of his routes to exploit different coverage looks, and he has much better hands than the average undersized weapon. Craver obviously is small at wide receiver and won't excel in contested situations in the NFL. That said, if you know how to use him, he has elite speed weapon potential.
The Philadelphia Eagles figure to be moving on from A.J. Brown , with the New England Patriots figuring to be the prime landing spot. Assuming they make that move, it'll open up big opportunities for Makai Lemon, their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. He led USC in receiving yards in each of his last two seasons, outperforming the likes of Ja'Kobi Lane, Zachariah Branch, and Duce Robinson during his time with the Trojans.
The 2026 NFL Draft's leader in career yards per route run, Makai Lemon is a sure-handed slot receiver who comes polished and ready to contribute right away. He's a crafty route runner who sets up the stem well by attacking leverage points, he's crisp coming out of his breaks, and his athleticism helps him make defenders miss and stretch the field vertically. Nobody's going to mistake Lemon for a big-bodied 50/50 ball dominator, but he's a bonafide playmaker, nonetheless.
If Carnell Tate played for just about any other college football team during his time at that level, he likely would've been the bonafide WR1. He found himself in the shadows to an extent playing at Ohio State, but the NFL took notice of him, as he was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the No. 4 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Armed with a large catch radius and a tall frame, Tate is a difficult receiver to stop above the rim. He attacks the ball like a power forward, high pointing the ball at its apex and boxing out defenders at the catch point. His deep speed on tape looks much better than his 4.53 40-yard dash at the Combine, and he works the stems well as a route runner to create subtle separation. Tate has serious WR1 potential and could reach it in Tennessee.
Were it not for injuries, Jordyn Tyson could have been the top wide receiver taken in the 2026 NFL Draft. A two-time first-team All-Big 12 performer, he led the charge for Arizona State as Sam Leavitt's undisputed WR1 when healthy. Even in spite of his health issues, he was a top-ten pick, projecting as an impact starter for a New Orleans Saints team on the rise.
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I saw Tyson as the most well-rounded receiver prospect at the top of the 2026 NFL Draft, making him my WR1, though he ended up as the second receiver off the board. He's a bigger receiver at 6'2″ and 203 pounds, but he's also a shifty route runner who can sink his hips going into his transitions and accelerate out of them. He can win above the rim, and he can make defenders miss in space. Tyson will have to battle with Chris Olave for touches on the Saints, but I see a world where both of them become 1,000-yard receivers on that team.
There's a reason Jeremiah Smith has been the subject of Julio Jones comparisons. It's usually hyperbole to compare a draft prospect to a future Hall of Famer, but when you're a two-time All-American with elite physical attributes and over 2,500 receiving yards between your first two collegiate seasons at a blue-blood program, those comparisons are right on the money.
It's not often you see 6'3", 223-pound wide receivers with elite speed who can create separation with nuanced route work, but that's exactly what you have with Smith. He's a rare combination at the collegiate level of a physical specimen who isn't just an athlete; he's a football player, and a really good one at that. He's only just decent after the catch, but that feels like nitpicking. Smith is a tremendous talent and projects as one of the best wide receiver prospects to hit the NFL Draft in the last 15 years.
KC Concepcion, Texas A&M, 2026
Denzel Boston, Washington , 2026
Germie Bernard , Alabama, 2026
Nick Marsh, Indiana, 2027
T.J. Moore, Clemson, 2027
Antonio Williams , Clemson, 2026
