DFS Army’s Gthom breaks down wide receiver rankings 7-through-12 for the 2022 fantasy football season (prior to the NFL Draft).
- QB rankings 1-12
- RB rankings 1-6 and RB rankings 7-12
- WR rankings 1-6
- TE rankings 1-6 and TE 7-12 rankings
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Oct 17, 2021; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) makes the catch and runs the ball for the game winning touchdown in overtime at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
7. CeeDee Lamb (WR) Dallas Cowboys
Cee Dee Lamb finished the 2021 season with 79 receptions, 1,102 yards and six touchdowns; this was good enough to be the WR18 overall. The 3rd-year player should level-up in the world of fantasy football in 2022. Surely, he will need to score more than his previous seasons’ 12.1-FPPG in order to finish this high, but given the personnel changes in Dallas, Lamb has the ability to do it.
Lamb is a 23-year-old 1st-round draft pick from 2020 and the Cowboys are trusting him to become the alpha receiver for their offense. In Lamb’s previous two seasons he had at least 70-receptions, 935 receiving yards and five touchdowns, plus he was able to make the Pro Bowl in 2021. An increase should be expected for all of Lamb’s stats in 2022.
Understanding Lamb’s 2022 projections requires you to understand what the Cowboys have done at the receiver position this off-season. First, they traded their top receiver in Amari Cooper. Cooper captured 15.9-percent of the Dallas’ target share and finished the season with a 68/865/8 stat line. Those targets and touchdowns have to go somewhere and Lamb makes the most sense.
Second, you have to examine fellow teammate Michael Gallup, who tore his ACL on January 2nd of this year. Because of this injury, Gallup is going to miss some games in 2022. The Cowboys anticipate Gallup will miss two-to-three games, barring no setbacks. Unless Dallas drafts a receiver for more depth, Lamb will once again get a bump in targets and red zone looks.
The biggest issue with Lamb was the volatility that he carried each week. In weeks 1-through-8, Lamb only busted twice. But in weeks 9-through-18, Lamb busted six times. Having a receiver bust in eight games is far from ideal. However, Lamb flashed his ceiling potential on two occasions: first in Week 6 when he scored 31.6-fantasy points, then again in Week 10 when he scored 25.6-fantasy points. In order to improve, Lamb must maintain consistency and that should happen now that Amari Cooper is out the door.
Dallas’ offense has been elite for fantasy over the last several seasons and in 2022, Lamb could be the best player on their offense. Look to take Lamb around the WR7-mark, but do not over-reach to take him higher than this because he is a downgrade from anyone mentioned in the top-6 WR list.
8. A.J. Brown (WR) Tennessee Titans
While injuries have complicated his previous two seasons, A.J. Brown will enter year-four with a desire to take the next step towards fantasy football dominance.
Unfortunately injuries prevented Brown from playing in four games last season. Despite missing four games, he was able to finish with 63 receptions for 869 yards and five touchdowns. This equated to an average of 11.5-FPPG.
Brown has never been a beacon of consistency for fantasy. He could go out and leave you a big ‘ole goose egg, or he could go off for 30-fantasy points. The volatility of Brown is likely attributed to his team’s style of offense: give the ball to Derrick Henry until the opposing defense stops you. The truth of the matter is that Brown is not the best player on this offense, and that will continue into 2022.
Despite playing second fiddle, Brown’s role is still valuable for fantasy. In 2019 he finished as the WR15 and in 2020, he finished as the WR11. Other than injuries, there is no reason that Brown cannot return to his 2020 form.
One thing that stands out about 2022, that Brown has never had, is being paired with a good enough teammate to take coverage pressure off of him. Insert Robert Woods, the newly acquired receiver from the Los Angeles Rams. Woods is good enough to be the WR1 for several NFL teams, so he is no slouch. With his new teammate, Brown should be able to get more single-coverage looks and you cannot stop this man one-on-one.
2022 should be Brown’s best fantasy season, barring injury. When drafting him, avoid over-reaching for Brown given his injury woes and his volatile role in a run-first offense.
9. Tyreek Hill (WR) Miami Dolphins
Tyreek Hill finds himself in unfamiliar fantasy territory. While his talent is unquestioned, the risks with Hill lie more within the team around him than the player himself. Nevertheless, this is an athlete who can easily finish as the top wide receiver for fantasy.
Hill has finished as a top-10 receiver for fantasy in four-of-six seasons. The “cheetah” has secured no less than seven-total touchdowns in every season, and as many as 17 in 2020. He has been selected to the Pro Bowl every year and he is a three-time member of the NFL’s First-Team All-Pro.
Despite a full trophy case, only question marks surround Hill: how good will Tua Tagovailoa be? Can Tua get the ball to Hill downfield? Will Jaylen Waddle take too many targets for Hill to finish in the top-12? How good is Miami’s new, first-year head coach? All of these questions are valid concerns which cloud Hill’s fantasy outlook.
The biggest downgrade for Hill would be his upside. Those week-winning moments will be much harder to come by, which should make him fall a few spots in redrafts, best ball and dynasty, when compared to his 2021 ADP.
Fantasy football is about two things: the player’s abilities and the volume of opportunities. Hill is crazy talented, and fantasy stakeholders will have to exercise some faith for Hill to finish this high.
Hill is a player you can slightly reach for in fantasy football drafts, due to his high-ceiling capabilities. But from a risk-management point of view, taking him as the WR9 should be in line with his 2022 fantasy projections.
10. Keenan Allen (WR) Los Angeles Chargers
We know exactly who Keenan Allen is for fantasy and his role within one of the best NFL offenses cannot be ignored. Allen has made the last five consecutive Pro Bowls and since 2017 he has finished around the WR12 mark in each season.
Allen finished as the WR14 overall in 2021. Surprisingly enough, two other skill-players out scored him in fantasy on his own team, Austin Ekeler and Mike Williams. While Williams’ fantasy season makes this fact deceptive, Allen remains the second-best option within this offense.
By drafting Allen you get a fantasy player with an extremely reliable floor, but you do not get a player that flashes his ceiling too often. While only busting twice in 2021, he never scored more than 20-fantasy either.
What Allen can bring is stretches of extremely reliable and solid production. Take a look at weeks 8-through-13 when Allen finished with 16.7, 16.4, 13.8, 15.7, 12 and 19.9-half-PPR points, respectively; consistent production, like that, can be a rare commodity in fantasy, which makes Allen valuable.
If you find yourself with the option to draft Allen in 2022 do not reach for him because he does not bring upside to your fantasy team. With that understood, it is hard to find a better plug-and-play receiver in fantasy. Allen should be targeted as the WR10.
11. Mike Evans (WR) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Another player that is well defined for fantasy football is Mike Evans. While he has played in eight seasons, Evans has achieved at least 1000 receiving yards in each year he has played. He is a touchdown scoring machine too and has scored 13-or-more touchdowns for two consecutive seasons.
Finishing up as the WR8 overall in 2021, Evans amassed 14.1-FPPG. Evans was able to score at least 20-fantasy points in four weeks, while busting in just as many games. Part of the safety-net that drafting Mike Evans can bring is his quarterback, Tom Brady. Brady is hard to shut down and he has shown that he can support two top-end fantasy receivers within this offense.
There isn’t much risk with Evans given his consistency over the years. The biggest weakness in his fantasy game is that he usually needs touchdowns to bring you a solid week. Looking at 2020-to-2021, you can see 12 games where he did not score a touchdown. Out of those 12 games he busted 66-percent of the time. Luckily he scores quite a bit in this offense, but if that were to change, so would his fantasy outlook.
Evans is a great safety net at the wide receiver position. His offense is great, his quarterback is the GOAT and this is a Super Bowl contender for 2022. Evans does not have it in the cards to be the best wide receiver for fantasy, his ceiling is limited on a season-long basis.
Nabbing Evans as the 10th receiver off the board should be one of the safest picks you can make as a fantasy manager in 2022.
12. DeAndre Hopkins (WR) Arizona Cardinals
After flashing multiple years of consistent durability, 2021 found Hopkins hobbled a lot. These injuries derailed Hopkins’ fantasy results and many managers got burned as a result. To those victims: turn the page and forget 2021 because things should be back to normal in 2022.
Hopkins was mainly active in weeks 1-through-8. In this stretch of games Hopkins was the WR10 overall and was putting up 13.5-FPPG. Had he finished last season on this pace, and stayed healthy, he would have likely finished in the top-14 with ease.
The former Clemson product has been nothing less than elite when healthy. From 2014-to-2020, Hopkins finished as the WR12 or better in every season (except 2016). Furthermore, Hopkins has been a top-5 receiver for fantasy four times and the WR1 overall in 2017.
Outside of the risks around his health, Hopkins is one of the best picks you can make at this point in the draft. He has the potential to finish top-5 at the position, and at the least he should be a top-12 overall receiver in 2022. He has a quarterback who is able to support him and the Arizona offense is a high-scoring unit.
There is no one in this portion of the fantasy football draft that possesses a ceiling like Hopkins. Reaching for him would be appropriate but don’t go crazy; he is married to a running quarterback who has yet to reach the 30-touchdown mark, through the air, in a single season. Look to take Hopkins around the WR10-to-12 mark.
