3 Wide Receivers Experts Love to Draft (2023 Fantasy Football)

It all comes down to this. All of the offseason fantasy football draft prep. All of the mock drafts. All of the time you’ve spent preparing for your 2023 fantasy football drafts will come down to the next few weeks. Are you ready? As always, we’re here to help. Our analysts have put in the work to identify players they are targeting in drafts. You can find a few of their favorite fantasy football draft picks below. And for all of their targets and avoids, check out our articles from each analyst.

Pat Fitzmaurice: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
Andrew Erickson: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
Derek Brown: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)

Must-Have Fantasy Football Draft Picks

Christian Watson (WR – GB)

At this point, I should get “Christian Watson stan” tattooed on my chest. My love for Watson is never-ending. After a slow start last year due to injuries and the need to develop a rapport with his rookie-hating pouty former quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Watson’s talent finally bubbled to the top. In Weeks 10-18, Watson had six games in which he played at least 80% of the snaps. In those games, he earned a 23.4% target share, 42.9% end zone target share, and a 26% target per route run rate. He rolled up 3.07 yards per route run during that string of games. Watson ranked 14th in open score last year, immediately behind Garrett Wilson. If Jordan Love hopes to have a successful season as the new starter in Green Bay, he’ll need to lean on Watson heavily. Watson has monster WR1 upside.

-Derek Brown

Drake London (WR – ATL)

As a rookie, London had a 29.4% target share. He also had a 32.4% target rate, meaning he was targeted on 32.4 of all his pass routes and averaged 2.07 yards per route run. Yes, London’s target share spiked after TE Kyle Pitts got hurt during the latter part of the season. But there’s really no one in the Atlanta offense other than London and Pitts who will see a lot of targets this year. And London is just scratching the surface of his abilities. He turns 22 later this month, and London wasn’t even of legal drinking age when he showed up at the Falcons’ training camp a year ago.

-Pat Fitzmaurice

Diontae Johnson (WR – PIT)

Diontae Johnson is slated for a massive bounce-back campaign. He didn’t score last season – likely a fluke – and that’s being held against him. Even though DJ ranks: 5th in total targets (460), 7th in receptions (281) and 9th in target share (25%) over the past 3 seasons. Johnson’s ability to command targets based on his 28% target share and seventh-ranked 137 targets in 2022 suggests he is a prime candidate for positive regression in many facets. His combined downfield targets and red-zone targets were the most of any player not to score in 2022. Those trends don’t tend to carry over from year-to-year. Buy-low on the WR15 in expected fantasy points per game from last season. His WR30 ADP is insulting.

-Andrew Erickson