Wide Receivers Most Likely to Rise in 2026:

Tetairoa McMillan, CAR: The reigning AP Offensive Rookie of the Year enters his sophomore season as the unquestioned star of the Panthers' young attack. The eighth overall pick in last year's draft commanded 122 targets last season, which he converted into 70 receptions, over 1,000 yards, and seven touchdowns. Only Emeka Egbuka from that same rookie class was even close to as productive. In fact, the next four most productive rookie pass catchers were all tight ends (Tyler Warren, Harold Fannin Jr., Colston Loveland, and Oronde Gadsden). So, what should we expect in 2026?

This isn't a sexy answer but... more of the same with a moderate uptick sounds about right. It's a fitting one since McMillan's game-in/game-out production wasn't that sexy either. He topped 20 points only once all season (25.0 in Week 11 vs. Atlanta) and double digits only four other times. His median 2025 outing looked like this: eight targets, four receptions, 60 yards, and 7.3 fantasy points. Kinda meh, right? Well, here's Jameson Williams' by comparison: seven targets, four receptions, 66 yards, and 7.4 fantasy points. They scored the same number of touchdowns (seven).

Saying McMillan compares favorably to last year's WR10 isn't the most ringing of endorsements. I get it. Here's why I like him better than his Detroit counterpart heading into 2026, however. He is, as I led with, the unquestioned star of the Carolina offense. Where Williams is competing with Amon-Ra St. Brown, last year's WR3, McMillan is competing for touches with the likes of Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, and John Metchie in Year 2. Only Metchie is new to the squad. It's possible 2026 draftee Chris Brazzell II would have made things interesting, but he's out for at least half the campaign (LCL tear). Trust Tet this season.

Drake London, ATL: Even setting aside Atlanta's glaring concerns at the quarterback position, London is an obvious Top 10 Riser candidate for 2026. His fourth NFL season wasn't necessarily his best, but it was also his briefest (12 games played after missing only one his first three years) and his most efficient on a per-game basis. The former Trojan averaged 11.2 FPts/G and 13.5 yards per reception in 2025, both career highs.

Moreover, he was the anti-McMillan, of sorts, authoring three explosive performances (100-plus yards and a TD) and a nuclear one in Week 9 vs. New England (118 yards and THREE scores). When he wasn't going off, he was still commanding a lot of targets, garnering 15 in the season opener vs. Tampa. It all added up to a solid WR17 performance on the season.

OK, so that quarterback situation is more than a little concerning. The less-than-dynamic duo of Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix potentially caps anything and everything the Falcons are hoping to accomplish this season, despite some next-level weapons like London, Bijan Robinson, and... Kyle Pitts, apparently? That said, I'm not convinced Tua, at least, couldn't be a decent fit for London, who does most of his damage in the intermediate space (average targeted air yards in 2025: 10.8).

Tagovailoa, who will presumably start while Penix continues convalescing, pairs above-average accuracy (67.7% in 2025) with below-average efficiency (6.2 adjusted yards gained/attempt). Put another way, I think he'll get the ball to London a lot, though the latter's per-touch impact could be corroded.

I haven't mentioned London's WR counterparts down in Hotlanta because... well, go look at the depth chart yourself. Yikes! If you like unquestioned WR1s with a high-floor target share and guaranteed red-zone work, London is definitely your guy.

Christian Watson, GB: There are so many reasons not to close out the 2026 Risers series with this guy. He's never commanded more than 66 targets or tallied 700 yards in a season. He's never finished higher than WR25. Most damning of all, he's never made it through a year cleanly, having missed 20 of his 68 regular-season games (~30%). In sum, all he's done since entering the league in 2022 is ooze upside and not really deliver on that promise. I should say... not yet.

Watson enters 2026 healthy (that wasn't true in 2023 and 2025) and as the clear alpha in the Green Bay WR room. Gone are Romeo Doubs, Jordan Love's seeming security blanket, and also Dontayvion Wicks, now the WR2 in Philly. With them went about 130 targets and 85 receptions. That's a lot of production to replace, even accounting for the fact that Love throws the ball quite a bit less than his peers. I'm not convinced that will be the case moving forward, mind you, especially if Josh Jacobs ends up being disciplined by the league, which could happen any day now.

Though it's totally fair to expect a breakout from Matthew Golden (major sleeper alert!) and that Jayden Reed and Tucker Kraft will help fill the void in Green Bay, Watson still has the highest ceiling of any Packer pass grabber. Know how we know this? When he's really cooking, the former NoDak State star scores more fantasy points per target than almost everyone. In his rookie year, he was WR1 on a per-target basis (1.86 FPts/Target, and WR2 Jaylen Waddle wasn't close). Last year, he was WR2 (1.77), behind only New England's Kayshon Boutte. It's a big leap of Cheesehead faith, but... I think Watson puts it all together this year.

Next: Quarterbacks