Ranking AFC West wide receivers: No one comes close to Davante Adams

Heading into the 2023 season, the Las Vegas Raiders have one of the best wide receiver corps in the AFC West. Led by one of the top targets in the NFL, Davante Adams, the Raiders’ trio of wideouts is one of the best in the league. But, individually, how do they stack up against the rest of the division?

1) Davante Adams

After leading the entire NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns and ranking third among wideouts with 1,516 yards last season, there’s no ambiguity about this one. Adams was also incredibly efficient a year ago 2.45 yards per route run, via Pro Football Focus, which was sixth-best at the position and, shockingly, just his third-best personally. In other words, that figure was really good compared to other NFL wide receivers but just run of the mill for him individually.

2) Keenan Allen

Injuries limited Keenan Allen to just 10 regular season games last season, but he still managed to put up 66 catches for 776 yards and four touchdowns. He also didn’t record a drop for the first time since 2016 when he played in just one game. While the 31-year-old is getting up there and not the same player he used to be, he’s still a tough cover and has posted 1,000-yard campaigns in four out of the last six seasons.

3) Mike Williams

Despite playing in fewer contests than the three receivers ahead of him, Mike Williams managed to finish fourth in the division with 895 receiving yards during the regular season in 2022. He also established himself as one of the best contested-catch wide receivers in the league with 15 contested grabs—tied for seventh among NFL wideouts—at an AFC West-leading rate of 57.7 percent. In his six-year career, Williams has 84 contested catches at a 53.5 percent clip.

4) Jerry Jeudy

The top of this list certainly struggles to stay healthy but somewhat quietly Jerry Jeudy finished second in the division last year with 987 receiving yards and six touchdowns despite missing two games. He was also fantastic after the catch with 6.1 YAC per reception, the sixth-highest average among receivers league-wide.

5) Jakobi Meyers

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Our first newcomer! After signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent, Jakobi Meyers has racked up 235 catches, 2,757 and eight touchdowns over the last four years. His 803 yards and six scores would have ranked sixth and tied for second among AFC West wide receivers last season despite the Patriots’ offensive struggles. Meyers is also coming off back-to-back 800-yard campaigns and could be even more productive in Las Vegas since Adams will be the primary focus of opposing defenses.

6) Courtland Sutton

Courtland Sutton is another nightmare to cover on 50/50 balls. At 6’4” and 216 pounds with a 35.5-inch vertical, he has little to no issues going up and high-pointing the ball and that’s part of the reason why he has 23 contested catches over the last two seasons, including 14 a year ago which was one behind Williams and Adams for the top spot in the AFC West.

7) Hunter Renfrow

Heading into last fall, Hunter Renfrow would have been much higher on this list as he was coming off a 1,000-yard and nine-touchdown performance, but he struggled to stay healthy in 2022 and those figures dropped to 330 and two. Still, he’s a shifty route-runner who can break ankles on short to intermediate routes and can be productive when on the field with at least 600 yards in his first three seasons despite being a fifth-round pick.

8) Marquez Valdes-Scantling

The pickings are slim this far down the list, but Marquez Valdes-Scantling is one of the best deep threats in the AFC West as he led the division in both yards per catch (16.4) and average depth of target (14.9). Both of those figures were more than a full yard ahead of anyone else, and Valdes-Scantling finished tied for 15th among receivers league-wide with an impressive 98.7 PFF grade on deep targets.

9) Tim Patrick

Tim Patrick tore an ACL in training camp last season which, obviously, kept him from participating in any games and off the stat sheet. However, he did have about 1,500 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2020 and 2021 combined to go along with 16 contested catches.

10) Kadarius Toney

There’s a steep drop-off from Patrick to Kadarius Toney as the latter hasn’t been terribly productive during his first two NFL seasons. Toney does have plenty of potential though and wasn’t traded to the Kansas City Chiefs until late October last year, so he could be in for a breakout performance with a full year in Andy Ried’s offense. The former first-round pick was a human joystick in college and can impact the rushing attack as well.