3 ‘must-have’ fantasy football wide receivers in 2023

Our “must-have” series provides an in-depth breakdown of three players at each position that you need to draft for the upcoming season.

Welcome to the next installment of my fantasy football “must have” players for 2023. Each article for every offensive position will focus on three different players and have an in-depth breakdown of why these players can be considered difference-makers for the upcoming season.

Each positional breakdown will have one player with an early average draft position, one with a middle ADP, and another going in the later rounds (ADP courtesy of FantasyPros’ consensus at the time of writing). This way, you can consider one of these players no matter your preferred draft strategy.

On that note, here are my three must-have fantasy football wide receivers for the 2023 season. 

Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers 

Average Draft Position: 57.5 (End of round 5), WR23 (FantasyPros) 

Rationale: It is a completely new era in Green Bay. 

Aaron Rodgers is off to New York and the Jordan Love era has begun. Love has been sitting for the past two seasons and will finally get the chance to prove himself. Lucky for him, he has a wide receiver that can take any football to the end zone despite where he catches it. Christian Watson should be drafted as your WR2 and here’s why: 

1. Big play ability 

Watson makes BIG plays. Last season, he averaged 14.9 yards per reception (11th in NFL) and was tremendous after the catch. He also had 6.7 yards after the catch per reaction and of the receivers who played at least 10 games, he ranked 11th in that category for receivers just behind Jaylen Waddle at 6.9 yards after catch per reception.

Not only that, but Matt Lafleur also designs carries for Watson to make big plays. He had 7 carries for 80 yards (11.4 per carry) and two additional touchdowns, which puts him ahead of Justin Jefferson, and D.K. Metcalf in their rookie seasons. He reminds me of A.J. Brown in his rookie year with the Titans — an incredibly efficient receiver and if they received more volume, could explode. He’s clearly a player that can win you a week with a single touch of the football. 

2. Increased target share 

What really hurt Watson last year was his lack of target share. He finished as the WR35 in half PPR leagues because he had a target percentage of 12.1%. Believe it or not, the player with the highest target percentage on the Packers last season was Allen Lazard at 18.6%, and he’s left Green Bay to join Aaron Rodgers in New York.

Aaron Jones will still be a big part of the Packers’ passing game, but Watson should be the clear number-one wide receiver with only Romeo Doubs and Jaylen Reed to compete against. If that target percentage could be where Lazard was last year, he will have a very strong fantasy season. 

From Weeks 11-18, Watson was the WR12 in half-point PPR. While Love likely won’t be as consistently good as Rodgers this season, Watson still should finish as a top 20 wide receiver and even has a shot at the top 10. I would take Watson as early as round 4. 

Other Wide Receivers I love in this range: Jerry Jeudy

Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings

Average Draft Position: 96.7 (Round 8), WR39 

Rationale: It feels like every single year there is a rookie wide receiver that bursts onto the scene. 

Last year, Garrett Wilson finished as the WR19 in half PPR. In 2021, Ja’Marr Chase finished as the WR5. In 2020, Jefferson finished as the WR6. In 2019, A.J. Brown finished as WR15. The list goes on and on and there’s a good chance that a rookie wide receiver will break into the top 20. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Quentin Johnston, Zay Flowers, and more all have arguments, but I think it’s Addison that has the best chance to crack that top 20. His ADP may also continue to drop after the recent speeding incident making him more of a bargain. 

1. Vacated targets 

Jefferson is the king of targets not only on the Vikings but in the entire NFL. However, there are still targets to be had in this offense. Adam Thielen has left town and leaves 111 targets for Addison to clean up. With Kevin O’Connell as head coach, the Vikings went from an extremely run-heavy offense to having the 4th most passing attempts last year with 643. Hockenson may also eat into some of that but there is an opportunity for Addison to shine. 

2. Vikings defense + overall talent 

a. When a team is losing late in games, they are forced to pass as running the football continues to allow the clock to run. The Vikings allowed 25.1 ppg last year which was 5th worst in the NFL. For the 2023 season, Profootballnetwork has them ranked as the 7th worst defense in the NFL. This team will continue to need to pass and Addison has a great profile coming in. Addison has great route running ability for a rookie and big play potential. He’s in line to be the best rookie wide receiver for the 2023 season. 

Other wide receivers I love in this range: Elijah Moore

Nico Collins, Houston Texans 

Average Draft Position: 149.0 (Round 12), WR59 (FantasyPros) 

Rationale: This is a deep sleeper that you can take at the end of your draft that has a chance to be a WR3. Nico Collins is a big-bodied receiver at 6’4” and 214 pounds who could be a surprising steal for fantasy squads this season.

1. Vacated targets 

Very similarly to Addison, there are 93 targets that have left town with Brandin Cooks now with the Dallas Cowboys. The Texans signed Robert Woods but he’s now 31 years old and on his third team in the NFL. Collins only played 10 games last year but had 66 targets. If he could get to around 120 targets on the year, which is within the realm of possibilities, he could definitely finish as a WR3 or better. 

2. Year three receivers + camp reports

Year three is often a make-or-break year for receivers. Last year, Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Gabe Davis, Jerry Jeudy, and Brandon Aiyuk all set career highs in their year three season. According to Rotoballer, “He’s (Collins) reportedly been Stroud’s favorite target in offseason OTAs and minicamp.” Continue to follow the news in training camp, but Collins has some good upside at an almost nothing cost. 

To sum things up…

Personally, I want to draft at least one elite wide receiver in rounds 1 or 2 to solidify my WR1. But if you start out strong at running back and miss out on Chase, Jefferson, Kupp, and Tyreek Hill, I love Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown in round 2. From there, I want at least one but I should be able to get two of the following receivers: Watson, Jeudy, Addison, or Collins. You may be able to even get Watson/Jeudy as your WR3 with Addison and Collins as your WR4/5. I would love that for my fantasy football team this year, and you should too.