• Tyreek Hill laps the competition: His 3.72 yards per route run average was more than half a yard greater than the next-best wide receiver.
• Nico Collins enjoyed a breakout 2023 season: Collins earned an elite PFF grade after not surpassing a 75.0 mark in his previous two seasons.
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Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Before we go full steam ahead into free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft, we’re taking one last look at the top players in the NFL at each position.
Here were the top 20 wide receivers in the NFL by overall PFF grade in 2023.
Click below to view other positions:
1. Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins: 93.4
Hill ultimately couldn’t break the record for most receiving yards in a single season after his hot start to the year, but it was still an impressive effort. His 3.72 yards per route run average was more than half a yard greater than the next-best wide receiver.
2. Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers: 91.5
The 49ers' top wide receiver in 2023, Aiyuk was one of only three wideouts to average more than 3.00 yards per route run in the regular season, with his 3.01 mark ranking third at the position. He finished the year with just two drops from 86 catchable targets.
3. Nico Collins, Houston Texans: 91.4
Collins ranked second in the NFL with an average of 3.11 yards per route run in 2023. It was a career year for the third-year Michigan product, who dropped just four of the 130 catchable passes thrown his way and forced 22 missed tackles on 126 receptions.
4. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions: 91.2
Only one wide receiver in the NFL saw more targets than St. Brown’s 190 in the regular season and playoffs, with the star receiver averaging 12.7 yards per reception despite his average depth of target being just 8.0 yards. That was boosted by his ability to make people miss in space, forcing 21 missed tackles on 141 receptions across 19 games.
5. Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings: 91.1
Injuries limited Jefferson to just 10 games in 2023, which brought down his overall numbers, but he was still one of the best receivers in football. His 2.91 yards per route run average ranked fourth in the league in the regular season, and he forced 10 missed tackles on 68 receptions.
6. CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys: 90.9
Lamb saw 197 targets over the regular season and playoffs in 2023, more than any other player in the NFL. He turned that into 144 receptions for 1,859 yards and 12 touchdowns. Lamb dropped just 4.0% of the catchable passes thrown his way and forced 20 missed tackles on those 144 catches.
7. Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins: 90.3
The second Miami Dolphins receiver in the top 10, Waddle didn’t match his raw numbers from last year but did set a career high in PFF grade for the season. His 2.52 yards per route run average, including the playoffs, was also a high mark for his career.
8. Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams: 90.2
Nacua, a fifth-rounder out of BYU, set NFL rookie records for yards and receptions in the regular season before having the best game of his career in a playoff loss to the Detroit Lions, with nine receptions for 181 yards. He did drop 10.2% of the catchable passes thrown his way in 2023, something he’ll look to improve upon in 2024, but is already a top-10 wide receiver in the NFL.
9. A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles: 90.0
Brown remains one of the best receivers in the NFL after an impressive 2023 season that saw him drop just 3.6% of the catchable passes thrown his way, a career-best mark. He put together an incredible stretch of play during the season, picking up 125 receiving yards and earning a PFF grade of 85.0 or better in six straight games from Weeks 3-8.
10. DJ Moore, Chicago Bears: 89.4
The Bears winding up with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft is the headline of their trade-down from the top slot last year, but an underrated aspect of the move was adding Moore. In his sixth season out of Maryland, he set career highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns. He provides whomever the Bears quarterback is in 2024 a top target at the position.
11. Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers: 86.3
Allen didn’t feature after Week 14 in 2023 but was on pace for a career year in terms of yards at 31 years old. He did set a career high with a 2.36 yards per route run average, showing that the production was very much still there despite his age.
12. Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers: 85.4
Arguably the best short-yardage receiver in the NFL, Deebo Samuel enjoyed another impressive season in 2023. His 33 missed tackles forced on receptions in the regular season and playoffs were the most in the league, while his 8.7 yards after the catch average also ranked first among wide receivers.
13. Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals: 85.3
The injury to Joe Burrow undoubtedly impacted Chase’s production in 2023, but the fifth overall pick from the 2021 NFL Draft still averaged more than 2.00 yards per route run, something he has achieved in every regular season of his career. He continues to be underrated after the catch, forcing 17 missed tackles on 100 receptions in 2023.
14. Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs: 84.9
For all the talk about the Chiefs' wide receivers this past season, the rookie second-round draft pick quietly developed into a good second option for Patrick Mahomes throughout the season. He dropped just 2.8% of the catchable targets thrown his way in 2023 and racked up 262 yards in the playoffs, trailing only Travis Kelce and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
15. Tank Dell, Houston Texans: 83.4
The rookie Dell was putting together a solid year before sustaining a season-ending injury in Week 13. He finished the year having averaged 2.22 yards per route run, trailing only the Rams' Puka Nacua among rookies at the position.
16. Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints: 82.5
Olave in two NFL seasons has already proven himself to be a top-20 player at the position. He has earned PFF receiving grades of 82.9 in each of the past two years and is coming off his second straight campaign with a yards per route run average above 2.00.
17. Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 81.5
One of the most consistent wide receivers in football over the past decade, Evans put together one of the best seasons of his career in 2023, turning 79 receptions into 1,255 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season. His 18 contested catches were tied for the most in his career in a single season since 2017.
18. DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans: 81.0
Now 31 years old, Hopkins had his best season of the past three years in his first campaign with the Titans. His 2.09 yards per route run, 75 catches and 1,057 yards were all personal bests since his 2020 season with the Arizona Cardinals.
19. D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks: 80.0
Despite the Seahawks adding Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Metcalf still had one of his most productive seasons in the league. His 2.04 yards per route run average was his best mark since the 2020 season.
20. Amari Cooper, Cleveland Browns: 79.9
A 265-yard day against the Houston Texans in Week 16 boosted Cooper's season, but even without that, he would have still racked up more than 1,000 yards. He averaged 2.21 yards per route run on the year, the second-best mark of his career and the best since his 2019 season with the Dallas Cowboys.
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