2026 Post-Hype Sleepers: Wide Receiver

Under-the-radar pass catchers to target in 2026 drafts!

Jay Felicio
Draft Prep 2 Hours Ago

As we’ve done with our QBs and RBs thus far, let’s start things out by reflecting on last year’s picks. Here are our 2025 Post-Hype Sleeper Wide Receivers in Review:

Keon Coleman made me look S-M-R-T for exactly one week, catching eight passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the season opener against the Ravens. But for the rest of the season, Coleman averaged just 6.4 PPR points per game. YEESH. Coleman finished with 38 receptions for 404 yards and four touchdowns while landing on the inactive list four times, including multiple healthy scratches. The downfield opportunities I coveted disappeared, and Coleman never developed into a consistent target earner despite playing with Josh Allen in one of the league’s best offenses.

Verdict: Miss

Rome Odunze increased his scoring from 8.5 PPR points per game as a rookie to 12.2, finishing as approximately the WR28 on a per-game basis after being drafted around WR34. I’d call that a dub, even if the foot injury prevented a full-scale breakout. He caught 44 passes for 661 yards and six touchdowns on 90 targets in 12 games—a 17-game pace of roughly 128 targets, 937 yards and nine touchdowns. Odunze was 🔥en fuego🔥 to start the season, catching 20 passes for 296 yards and five touchdowns over the first four weeks. Unfortunately, a stress fracture caused him to miss the final five regular-season games and slowed down his scorching start, but the increased involvement and second-year leap identified in the original article both came to pass.

Verdict: Hit

Calvin Ridley. Woof. Ridley caught just 17 passes for 303 yards and failed to score across seven appearances, averaging 6.8 PPR points per game. He battled a hamstring injury before suffering a season-ending fractured fibula in his first game back, but the production was already well below expectations beforehand. Cam Ward’s arm talent was evident, but the rookie struggled with consistency and finished last among qualified passers with 5.9 yards per attempt. Ridley remained a dangerous downfield receiver, proven by his 17.8 yards per catch, but that doesn’t really matter if the targets rarely become completions.

Verdict: Miss

A 1-2 record at wide receiver. 3-4-2 overall. Not my finest work, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. ba-dum-tiss.

If you want to revisit the original article and see the rest of my reasoning, click…………not here……………or here……….or here.

 

Jordan Addison– Minnesota Vikings
(The “A sinking Nine rises all tides” sleeper)

Jordan Addison has been cleared of off-field concerns, yet his ADP still acts like he’s radioactive. Sitting outside the top 40 wide receivers, Addison is the poster child for “not nearly as bad as you think.”

Despite the disgusting play from “Nine that shall not be named”, some positives came out of Addison’s 2025. He set career highs in aDOT, air yards share, and yards per reception. Somehow, Addison still made chunk plays when NTSNBN couldn’t hit a wide-open Justin Jefferson. How about if Kyler Murray wins the job?

Yeah, I think Addison will be just fine.

With an ADP outside the top 100 at the time of writing, Addison is a classic low-risk pick that can reap championship rewards as long as Murray is the starter. Addison finished as a top 24 wide receiver in each of his first two seasons with solid quarterback play. He’s getting drafted well below his floor.

 

Jalen McMillian – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(The “Hey, remember me?” sleeper)

One thing I look for in a post hype sleeper is players who have proven productive on the field over a significant stretch. That was certainly the case with Jalen McMillan in 2024, who stepped up in the second half after Chris Godwin went down with a gruesome knee injury in Week 7. McMillan had to overcome a hamstring issue but came out of the Bucs’ Week 10 bye healthy and fruitful for fantasy managers. From Weeks 12-18 of 2024, McMillan ranked top five in yards per target, was less than a yard behind Mike Evans in yards per reception (13.94-13.04), and tied Terry McLaurin for a league-leading seven touchdown receptions. Those touchdowns accounted for over 40% of Tampa’s offense over that stretch. McMillan missed nearly all of 2025 after a preseason neck injury but returned in Week 15 to lead the Bucs in yards per route run, yards per target, and yards per reception. Some fella named Emeka Egbuka has joined the team since McMillan’s hot stretch to end 2024, but Evans has gone West and Godwin has slowed down significantly entering his age-30 season. There’s little risk drafting McMillan, who at the time of writing is being drafted outside the top 150. He has WR2 upside at the cost of a Big Glizzy from Sheetz.

Marvin Harrison Jr – Arizona Cardinals
(The “Yeah, him” sleeper)

Marvin Harrison Jr.’s year wasn’t quite as bad as you remember it. Well, his performance wasn’t when circumstances were remotely normal. He had the fourth-most end zone targets in the league but had just two touchdowns through the first eight weeks. Kyler Murray and Marv never clicked, and Murray hopping along to Minnesota is the best thing for Harrison long term.

Assumed starter for 2026 Jacoby Brissett certainly had a connection with Michael Wilson last season, but for some reason it continues to go unnoticed that MHJ only played three full games with Brissett under center. Week 7 was the first, and it was not great, Bob. Two catches on six targets for 58 yards. But context matters, and Marv likely should have never seen the field after suffering a concussion just a week prior. But what we saw out of MHJ for the two games after the Week 8 bye is what still gives me butterflies in my tum tum. Weeks 9 and 10, Marv had a combined 22 targets, 10 catches, 129 yards, and two touchdowns. FINALLY. Breakout is HERE… oh… wait. Harrison’s appendix had other ideas. An emergency appendicitis paused his season and threw cold water on his production just when he was heating up. MHJ technically played in three more games, but not really. He hit over 60% of snaps just once.

Honestly, I’m glad that MHJ seems to be “struggling” in the first few days of training camp. That will keep driving down his ADP, and I’ll be able to draft him at an even BIGGER discount. Currently being drafted OUTSIDE THE TOP 30 RECEIVERS (as of July 30th), MJH is being drafted at his absolute floor, and still has puh-lenty of upside. He can do stuff like this.

Do I think Marv has the generational WR1 overall for multiple seasons kind of uber upside expected out of college? Probably not, but being a perennial top 10 receiver is still within the range of outcomes. He’s still just 23 years old, turning 24 in August.

 

 

Photo by Ian Johnson | Adapted by Parker McDonald (@CarbonFoxGFX on Twitter/X)