Fantasy Football 2026: 21 wide receiver facts you need to know before your draft

Welcome back, fantasy football diehards. Last week, I shared a column with 23 facts about running backs. Today I’ve got a fresh fact set for the wide receiver position, which you’ll want to know if you’re doing best ball or other early fantasy drafts. Not drafting now? Then keep them in the back of your mind for drafts later this summer.

You can access all of my 2026 fantasy football content here.

The wide receiver position is in many ways the engine of fantasy football. It’s the deepest position by a wide margin, and while fantasy league formats and lineup requirements vary, a typical starting lineup includes at least three receivers. Most fantasy teams end up getting more total points from the receiver position than any other.

In my running backs column, I discussed how most of the biggest names at that position have been able to stay on the field across the last two seasons. That hasn’t been the case for receivers. Thankfully, it’s a position with a lot of depth and one where you can often find help on the waiver wire.

Elite running backs have reasserted themselves in the last two seasons and have crept back up to the top of draft boards. But the top tiers of receivers are putting up some eye-popping numbers too. Active players account for eight of the 16 highest receiving yardage seasons in NFL history, and five of the nine highest career receiving yards per game averages.

Let’s get to it. Here are 21 fantasy facts you need to know at the wide receiver position.

1. Puka Nacua is averaging 95.3 receiving yards per game across his three-year career. That’s the most in NFL history
2. Nacua led all receivers in multiple statistics in 2025, including yards after the catch (666), first downs (80), and yards per route run (3.70).
3. College teammates Justin Jefferson (90.1) and Ja’Marr Chase (87.7) are second and third all-time in career receiving yards per game.
4. Amon Ra St. Brown has bucked the injury trend, playing in 83 of a possible 85 games during his five-year career.
5. St. Brown is the safest first round pick in fantasy football. In each of the last four seasons, he topped 140 targets, 100 catches, and 1,150 yards. And in each of the last three seasons he amassed double-digit TDs and finished as the WR3 in Full-point PPR.
6. St. Brown is second all-time among receivers in percentage of targets caught (73.7%), trailing only Michael Thomas, and he’s seen the second most targets in the NFL across the last five seasons (742 total targets, trailing only Chase’s 767 in that span).
7. Chase led the NFL in targets in each of the last two seasons, and the 360 targets he amassed across 2024 and 2025 is the most in a two-year span in fifteen years (Calvin Johnson).
8. Tee Higgins has 21 TDs on 132 catches across the last two seasons, in just 27 games played. That’s a...