The wide receiver position has never been more important, with a total of 17,811 passes thrown last season, per Pro Football Reference.
Some teams get it. Some teams don’t. Here are five that could use some help.
Carolina Panthers
Adam Thielen finished with 615 yards to lead the NFL’s 30th-ranked passing offense despite missing seven games with a hamstring injury last season. Xavier Leggette, the team’s first-round pick in 2024, scored four touchdowns but managed only 31.1 yards per game.
Tetairoa McMillan, the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft, caught 84 catches for 1,319 yards and eight touchdowns with Arizona last season and may need to approximate those numbers for Carolina to contend in the NFC South.
Cleveland Browns
While most fans have been focused on the team’s quarterback situation, the Browns have quietly put together one of the worst wide receiver groups in football. Jerry Jeudy is the exception after leading the team with 90 catches for 1,229 yards, but his three-touchdowns-per-season average could be better.
Cedric Tillman had three scores in his second year with the Browns but managed only 339 yards, 317 more yards than fifth-round pick Jamari Thrash had in 2024. Diontae Johnson had 357 yards for Carolina before being traded to the Baltimore Ravens, who released the erratic receiver after watching him make one catch in four games before refusing to enter a game against Philadelphia.
Houston picked him up, but let him go after catching three passes for 24 yards in two games. A former Pro Bowler with the Steelers in 2021, Johnson clearly has talent but could do Cleveland more harm than good in 2025.
New England Patriots
New England passed for a league-low 176.1 yards per game last season with 30-year-old tight end Hunter Henry leading the team with 66 catches for a career-high 674 yards. DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte, both sixth-round picks in 2023, weren’t far behind with 621 and 589 yards, respectively, but each had only three touchdowns.
Ja’Lynn Polk, the team’s second-round pick in 2024, had two scores but caught just 12 passes in 15 games. This year, the Patriots are hoping 31-year-old Stefon Diggs can jump start the team’s passing game after suffering a torn ACL with the Texans last season.
Las Vegas Raiders
Like New England, Las Vegas’ leading receiver was also a tight end, first-round rookie Brock Bowers, who led the position with 1,194 yards in 2024. Former Patriot Jakobi Meyers led the team’s receivers with the first 1,000-yard season of his six-year career (1,027) but got little help with 539 yards from Tre Tucker.
Second-round pick Jack Bech did little in three college seasons before breaking out with 1,034 yards for TCU in 2024 and figures to be the No. 3 receiver on a team without much depth at the position beyond fourth-round pick Dont’e Thornton Jr.
Tennessee Titans
Tennessee made Cam Ward the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft but did him no favors at the wide receiver position. Calvin Ridley led the team with 1,017 yards last season but had only four scores. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine had nine touchdowns but only 497 yards, with 98 yards coming on one play against the Vikings in Week 11.
Tyler Boyd didn’t find the end zone at all and looks nothing like the player who caught 513 passes for 6,000 yards in eight years with the Bengals.
Ward can only hope new addition Tyler Lockett can regain the form that earned him a pair of Pro Bowl appearances (one for special teams) in 10 seasons with the Seahawks.
