1. Antonio Brown -Steelers (Prediction:115 receptions; 1,640 receiving yards; 15 reTDs)
Why? His stats tell us why he is number 1:
-He has had over 100 receptions a season for the past 5 seasons.
-His yardage totals since 2013 are:
1,499
1,698
1,834
1,284
1,533
-His touchdown average since 2013 is 10.4 touchdowns a season
-Finally in the past 6 years he has only missed 6 games total.
If these stats don't show you why he is the number one WR in the league then just watch a steeler game and you'll see why.
2. DeAndre Hopkins-Texans (Prediction:104 receptions; 1,505 receiving yards; 14 reTDs)
Another dominant WR in the league, DeAndre Hopkins has really been the only light on the Texans when it comes to offense. Even when he had QBs as trash as Brock Osweiler, he was still making plays even though it wasn't always pretty. Now with Deshaun Watson on the field, DeAndre Hopkins is once again at the top of the WR list after a spectacular season last year with 1,378 recieving yards and 13 TDs while only having Watson on the field for 7 games!! Just imagine the possibilities of Watson and Hopkins together on the field for a full 16 games!
3. Odell Beckham Jr-Giants (Prediction: 106 receptions; 1,490 receiving yards; 12 reTDs)
Odell has been a big play WR1 ever since his first year in the NFL in 2014, where he not only had the greatest catch in history, but a fantastic rookie season as well (1,305 receiving yards and 12 TDs). Now, 4 years later he is still the Giants go-to-guy. Stat wise, the only year Odell didn't have over 1,300 yards receiving and at least 10 touchdowns was last season due to an ankle injury he suffered in week 4. This injury ended up costing him the rest of the 2017 season. Some people think college stud and Rookie RB, Saquan Barkely, will take away a lot of Odell's looks in the passing game too. Personally, I see the Giants using him at times in the passing game, possibly more than they have in the past, but will it be enough to affect Odell's targets? No, I don't think so. Seeing as how Odell has been targeted 501 times in the past 4 years tells me they aren't going to stray away from him this year. Another thing, the best WR and RB Duo in the game, Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell, are on the same team and Bell has seasons of 105, 94, and 107 targets (2014, 2016, and 2017) when Antonio Brown has 182, 195, and 162 targets those same years. Those are unnatural numbers for a RB, its highly doubtful Barkely would get close to those numbers, but even if he does it still shows us that Odell will be fine. Also, last year the Giants RBs of Orleans Darkwa, Shane Vereen, Paul Perkins, and Wayne Gallman had combined total of 139 targets last season. This was mostly because they didn't have Odell and any other healthy WR on their roster, but still that is almost 1/4 of Eli Manning(571) and Geno Smiths (36) attempts last season (139/607= 22.9%) which means their is plenty of targets to go around. The point is OBJ is an absolute animal and will still be targeted significantly this season no matter how many targets they give to Barkely.
4. Julio Jones -Atlanta Falcons (Prediction: 92 receptions; 1,520 receiving yards; 8 reTDs)
Some might say that Julio should be a Top 3 WR, well I don't fully disagree because he is certainly one of the best WRs in the league, however I say top 4 is still pretty good. Yes, Jones gets more yards than Odell. Jones hasn't had under 1,400 since 2013. Obviously this is very good. The reason is because he doesn't get the TDs he should be getting. Julio has never had more than 10 TDs in a season he has been in the NFL. He only had one season with 10 TDs! This stat makes sense though because when you watch the Falcons offense you rarely see Jones on the field when the Falcons are in the red zone. It makes no sense to me from a fan standpoint because I want to see Julio get as many TDs as he can and its impossible for him to do that when he's not on the field when they are in the redzone. He is a total mismatch and they should be taking advantage of that. Anyways, I still see him getting it done with the yards, just not as much with the TDs.
5. Devantae Adams- Packers (Prediction: 90 receptions; 1,370 receiving yards; 14 reTDs)
Devantae Adams has been in the shadow of WR Jordy Nelson for years. He was never the WR1 on Packers, but still put up freakish numbers (Adams: 997 receiving yards and 12 reTDs in 2016; Nelson: 1,257 receiving yard and 14 reTDs also in 2016). It's 2018 and Jordy was traded to the Raiders, now it's finally Devantae Adams time to shine and boy will he this year. I expect huge numbers from him this year, especially since star QB, Aaron Rodgers is healthy and ready to play again. Even with newly acquired TE Jimmy Graham on the team, Adams has chemistry with Rodgers and will take over as the WR1 and go-to-guy on the team.
6. Keenan Allen- Chargers (Prediction: 103 receptions; 1330 receiving yards; 10 reTDs)
After a terrific season last year (102 receptions; 1,393 receiving yards; 6 reTDs), Keenan Allen showed us that when he is fully healthy he can be electric! Now all he has to do is stay healthy for another entire season. If he can, he will be great again this year.
7. AJ. Green- Bengals (Prediction: 90 receptions; 1,310 receiving yards; 10 reTDs)Last season, Green didn't have the best year in terms of receptions (75 receptions /145 targets). Since this list is on the rankings of the WRs in my top 10 for standard leagues, you'd think this fact has nothing to do with why I ranked him here. Wrong! This affects him because if he would have caught just 10 more of those 145 targets he could have had a an even better year than he had. No duh, but I'm just saying for Green this was a bad year. Seeing as how he had seasons of 86 receptions, 1,297 yards &10 reTDs (2015), 97 receptions, 1,350 yards & 11 reTDs (2012), and 98 receptions, 1,426 yards & 11 reTDs (2013) within the last couple of years, his season of 75 receptions, 1,078 yards & 8 TDs shows us how bad he was last year compared to those other years. The good news is it's a new year, the Bengals offensive line should be improved and John Ross and Tyler Eifert should be healthy again by the start of the season to take some of the defensive pressure off of AJ Green. Overall, I think AJ Green was in a slump last season, however I believe this season he will fix the problems he was having catching the ball and do much better than he did last season (which is saying something because those are not bad numbers at all).
8. Mike Evans- Buccaneers (Prediction: 100 receptions; 1,280 receiving yards; 11 reTDs)
Evans has been putting up the receiving yards every year he has been a Buccaneer (2014-1,051 yards; 2015-1,206 yards; 2016-1,321 yards; 2017-1,001 yards). The TDs haven't been as consistent (2014-12 TDs; 2015-3 TDs; 2016-12 TDs; 2017- 5 TDs), but still pretty good. Although Evans won't have his QB Jameis Winston for the first four games of the season, Evans will be fine. He is still the teams go-to-guy no matter who the QB is and I have a feeling he is poised for a great season this year just so long as he stays healthy.
9. Michael Thomas- Saints (Prediction: 107 receptions; 1,220 receiving yards; 9 reTDs)
Michael Thomas is set to have another great season on the Saints. In his first two years on the team, Thomas has had 2 consecutive years with over 1,000 receiving yards (2016-1,137 yds; 2017-1,245 yds).Other than the fact that the Saints offense as a whole has been geared more towards the run game this past year with RBs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram tearing it up on the field, Thomas will still be an elite recieving threat with a future Hall of Fame Quarterback, Drew Brees, throwing to him. He will definitely have yet another great season ahead of him.
10. Tyreek Hill- Chiefs (Prediction: 82 receptions; 1,200 receiving yards; 7 reTDs)
Known for his speed, over the last two seasons Hill has caused defensive coordinator's headaches as he would sprint past defenders with ease and end up in the end zone on a single play. Hill was considerably undervalued in his first season in the NFL, however when he consistently used his speed to his advantage, pulled in tough thrown balls, and kept making people miss Hill became one of the most electrifying WRs in the game. Hills numbers from last season are as follows: 75 receptions, 105 targets, 1,183 receiving yards, and 6 reTDs with 1 return TD. Although Hill won't have Alex Smith at Quarterback and he has to compete for targets with talented guys such as fellow WR Sammy Watkins, star TE Travis Kelce, and star RB Kareem Hunt, I still think Hills elite speed will make him a top priority in their offense and he will do just as well if not better than he did last season.