Three wide receivers were selected with top-20 picks. One week into the preseason, we’re still waiting for one of them to catch a pass.
Two, of course, aren’t even playing. Makai Lemon (who went 20th overall to Philadelphia) and Jordyn Tyson (8th to the Saints) are both out with hamstring injuries. With them missing lots of practice reps, that makes it look less likely they’ll be starting right away.
Especially Lemon. While he’s generally been idle, those reps have been soaked up by Dontayvion Wicks. Wicks didn’t quite take hold in Green Bay, but the Eagles like him – they both traded for him and signed him to an extension. I think it’s plenty fair to wonder if Wicks in 2026 will be more productive than Lemon.
With Tyson, I’m more inclined to wait for him to heal. The Saints don’t have much else at wide receiver after Chris Olave. (I’m not a big Devaughn Vele fan.) And I like the offense. Rashid Shaheed averaged almost 5 catches in his nine games in that spot last year – Kellen Moore will draw up plays to get the ball in the hands of his starting receivers.
Carnell Tate (who went No. 4 in the draft) is the only one of these rookies to actually get on the field so far, but he was underwhelming in his debut, not catching any of the 3 passes thrown his way. The breakdown on those 3 plays …
• They tried to hit him on a quick throw at the pylon, for what would have been a short touchdown, but he was well covered by fourth-rounder Ephesians Prysock. Throw was accurate, but Tate didn’t get open.
• Later, there was a sideline route, where Tate had wiggled free, but the ball was off target. Either the throw was off target, Tate didn’t run the route properly or he and Cam Ward weren’t on the same page.
• The final throw was into traffic, with a defensive back getting a hand on the ball before Tate had a shot at it. But I’m not sure if Tate would have caught it even if that defensive back hadn’t shown up.
Not that these plays demonstrate that Tate can’t be productive, but they serve as a reminder that plenty of rookie wide receivers – even the highly drafted ones – fall short of expectations, particularly as rookies. In this case, Tate is looking like he could be a forgettable cog in a lesser passing game.
Tate isn’t special physically. He ran a 4.53 at the combine, and he’s modestly sized – 6-foot-2 and 192 pounds. In this preseason debut, it took me a few plays to even figure out which Titans receiver he was. Wan’Dale Robinson and Calvin Ridley were the other wide receivers running with the first-team offense, and they’ve got those two receivers they drafted last year.
It’s a trio of rookie receivers that reminds of 2017, when Corey Davis, Mike Williams and John Ross all went in the top 10, and none of them did much of anything in their first year.
A poor preseason, of course, doesn’t disqualify a receiver from maybe being good. Odell Beckham was hurt for all of his first training camp but showed up in October and dominated. Ja’Marr Chase dropped a bunch of balls in his first preseason and dominated. But I don’t get a good vibe coming off these receivers.
At the same time, in today’s game, quiet preseasons are the norm. In the last 10 years, 42 wide receivers have been selected with first-round picks, and only five caught more than 4 passes in their initial preseason. In the chart below, I’ve got them tagged with black dots. Quentin Johnston (who did not have a good rookie year) had the busiest preseason of these guys, catching 8 of 11 targets, including a touchdown).
In the chart below, players are ordered by production in their first season (using PPR scoring). The final column shows their preseason numbers, with targets, catches, yards and touchdowns.
| FIRST-ROUND RECEIVERS, PRESEASON | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | G | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk | Preseason |
| 2021 | Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 17 | 81 | 1,455 | 13 | 306.6 | 5 | 5-1-16-0 |
| 2024 | Brian Thomas, Jac. | 17 | 87 | 1,282 | 10 | 284.0 | 4 | 4-3-93-0 |
| 2020 | Justin Jefferson, Min. | 16 | 88 | 1,400 | 7 | 274.2 | 6 | covid |
| 2024 | Malik Nabers, NYG | 15 | 109 | 1,204 | 7 | 273.6 | 6 | 6-4-54-0 |
| 2021 | Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 16 | 104 | 1,015 | 7 | 247.8 | 12 | 4-3-21-0 |
| 2023 | Jordan Addison, Min. | 17 | 70 | 911 | 10 | 221.3 | 23 | 3-1-22-0 |
| 2020 | CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 16 | 74 | 935 | 7 | 219.7 | 22 | covid |
| 2022 | • Garrett Wilson, NYJ | 17 | 83 | 1,103 | 4 | 217.7 | 21 | 8-6-52-0 |
| 2025 | Tetairoa McMillan, Car. | 17 | 70 | 1,014 | 7 | 213.4 | 15 | 7-2-43-0 |
| 2018 | • Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 16 | 64 | 821 | 10 | 208.8 | 20 | 11-5-56-1 |
| 2023 | Zay Flowers, Balt. | 16 | 77 | 858 | 6 | 206.4 | 31 | 2-2-37-1 |
| 2022 | Chris Olave, N.O. | 15 | 72 | 1,042 | 4 | 202.2 | 24 | 5-4-51-1 |
| 2024 | Marvin Harrison, Ari. | 17 | 62 | 885 | 8 | 198.5 | 30 | DNP |
| 2025 | Emeka Egbuka, T.B. | 17 | 63 | 938 | 6 | 195.7 | 23 | 4-2-26-1 |
| 2021 | DeVonta Smith, Phil. | 17 | 64 | 916 | 5 | 187.6 | 30 | 4-2-19-0 |
| 2024 | Xavier Worthy, K.C. | 17 | 59 | 638 | 9 | 187.2 | 33 | 6-3-62-1 |
| 2022 | Drake London, Atl. | 17 | 72 | 866 | 4 | 184.6 | 28 | 1-1-24-0 |
| 2020 | Brandon Aiyuk, S.F. | 12 | 60 | 748 | 7 | 184.5 | 35 | covid |
| 2018 | DJ Moore, Car. | 16 | 55 | 788 | 2 | 163.0 | 36 | 12-4-75-0 |
| 2020 | Jerry Jeudy, Den. | 16 | 52 | 856 | 3 | 157.6 | 45 | covid |
| 2023 | • Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 17 | 63 | 628 | 4 | 149.8 | 48 | 7-6-83-0 |
| 2024 | Rome Odunze, Chi. | 17 | 54 | 734 | 3 | 146.9 | 49 | 3-1-45-0 |
| 2019 | Hollywood Brown, Balt. | 14 | 46 | 584 | 7 | 146.4 | 46 | 3-3-17-0 |
| 2022 | Jahan Dotson, Was. | 12 | 35 | 523 | 7 | 130.6 | 51 | 2-2-23-0 |
| 2024 | Xavier Legette, Car. | 16 | 49 | 497 | 4 | 125.1 | 61 | 1-0-0-0 |
| 2021 | Rashod Bateman, Balt. | 12 | 46 | 515 | 1 | 103.5 | 70 | DNP |
| 2022 | Treylon Burks, Ten. | 11 | 33 | 444 | 2 | 94.1 | 78 | 7-4-37-1 |
| 2023 | • Quentin Johnston, LAC | 17 | 38 | 431 | 2 | 94.0 | 74 | 11-8-62-1 |
| 2024 | Ricky Pearsall, S.F. | 11 | 31 | 400 | 3 | 93.5 | 82 | DNP |
| 2016 | Corey Coleman, Cle. | 10 | 33 | 413 | 3 | 93.3 | 83 | 6-1-10-0 |
| 2020 | Henry Ruggs, L.V. | 13 | 26 | 452 | 2 | 88.1 | 89 | covid |
| 2020 | Jalen Reagor, Phil. | 11 | 31 | 396 | 2 | 87.2 | 91 | covid |
| 2021 | Kadarius Toney, NYG | 10 | 39 | 420 | 0 | 82.6 | 89 | DNP |
| 2017 | Corey Davis, Ten. | 11 | 34 | 375 | 0 | 71.5 | 85 | DNP |
| 2025 | Matthew Golden, G.B. | 14 | 29 | 361 | 0 | 70.0 | 89 | 3-2-46-0 |
| 2025 | Travis Hunter, Jac. | 7 | 28 | 298 | 1 | 63.8 | 97 | 2-2-9-0 |
| 2019 | N'Keal Harry, N.E. | 7 | 12 | 105 | 2 | 39.4 | 124 | 2-2-36-0 |
| 2017 | Mike Williams, LAC | 10 | 11 | 95 | 0 | 20.5 | 139 | DNP |
| 2022 | Jameson Williams, Det. | 6 | 1 | 41 | 1 | 15.1 | 158 | DNP |
| 2016 | Josh Doctson, Was. | 2 | 2 | 66 | 0 | 8.6 | 170 | DNP |
| 2016 | • Laquon Treadwell, Min. | 9 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 2.5 | 188 | 15-6-62-0 |
| 2017 | John Ross, Cin. | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 | 199 | 3-1-6-0 |
—Ian Allan
