Fantasy Football Draft Targets: Calvin Ridley, Drake London, Brandin Cooks (2023)

We need to look at the wide receiver landscape for the 2023 season. Some players are changing to better and worse situations, others are primed for a breakout year, and as you move along in the draft, you want to find the right guys to help you to a championship.

We know Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, A.J. Brown, and Stefon Diggs are no-brainers, but let’s look at other must-have wide receivers for the 2023 season.

Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
Draft Targets for Every Round: Early | Middle | Late
Fitz’s Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
Expert Consensus Fantasy Football Draft Rankings

2023 Must-Have Wide Receivers

All ADP and rankings are for PPR format.

Calvin Ridley (JAC): ADP 51 | WR 21

Ridley hasn’t seen the field since October 2021 due to stepping away for personal reasons and a one-year suspension for sports gambling. He had started to become fantasy relevant the year before, finishing 2020 as the WR5 and has 26 touchdowns in his first three seasons. He’s an above-average route runner, leading 2020 in deep targets.

Drake London (ATL): ADP 61 | WR 28

London’s rookie season did not light the world on fire, but now with a whole training camp to work with Desmond Ridder, they can build a better connection.

London had better results with Ridder as his quarterback. With Ridder, London had two of his best receiving yard performances, no less than eight targets, and his second-best weekly fantasy finish. He grossed the third-highest team target share in the league, and that’s the volume you want on your roster.

Brandin Cooks (DAL): ADP 98 | WR 43

Cooks has a history of success with six 1,000-receiving yard seasons, finishing in the top 20 in each. Although the overall stats don’t reflect it, there was no regression in his abilities last season, as he finished 13th in target separation vs. man, according to PlayerProfiler.

CeeDee Lamb will be the primary target for Dak Prescott, but Cooks will still have his fair share of opportunities. If he’s not the primary concern for opposing defenses, this means potential mismatches.