MARTIN: Who is the Best Wide Receiver in the NFL?

In the NFL, every season is new, and players emerge every year. 

One position that sees new players emerge heavily is the wide receiver position. Wide receiver is a completely dependent position, where you have to depend on your offensive lineman to block for you quarterback, and then let your quarterback throw the ball accurately to you. With all this dependency, some players still find a way to thrive and become lethal and important to their team. A lot of times, you hear the term “number one receiver”, and many believe you can not win a championship without one. Today, I will be seeing who is the best one in the NFL as of right now. 

Obviously, you can not always look at stats and say that is the best player, but stats do give an indication of how dominate that player is. My best receiver in the NFL right now is Julio Jones. In a close second was Deandre Hopkins, and a close third was Davante Adams. 

My formula for the best wide receiver is simple, how much do you produce, how consistent are you, and how do you matchup with the opponent. Julio Jones is literally the top of the top in all those categories that I use to choose my best receiver in the league. Jones always comes through for his team, as he has had a 1,000-yard season every year of his career except for two seasons. Those seasons he did not even play 16 games as he was injured. His consistency level is through the roof as he has been a Pro Bowler eight straight seasons. Where he separates himself the most is his skillset. Jones can make the jump ball contested catches, he can run the deep speed routes, and the short to immediate routes. For some reason, the Falcons do not target him in the red zone like other teams do their great receivers, that is why a lot of season his touchdowns lack. 

My close second Deandre Hopkins is not far off at all. Hopkins is a great producer, and he has done it most of his early career with mediocre quarterback play, until Deshaun Watson came. He is very consistent and may have the best hands in the NFL. He literally had a season where he caught 115 passes and did not record a drop the entire season. His skillset is great, I just do not see him as much of a burner but that is fine. He may be the best at contested catches, and he runs every route in the route tree. I believe Jones may have him in the aspect of getting behind the defense. 

Davante Adams is emerging and is my third receiver. He has always produced well, but not at the elite level to until this year. He leads the NFL in touchdowns this season and is the best route runner in the NFL to me. He literally wins his route at the line of scrimmage with his releases, and if he gets as consistent as Jones and Hopkins at the elite level, he would be my best receiver in the NFL one day.

But for now, it is still Julio Jones, the 6’3” freak running a 4.39 with no weaknesses that has played at an elite level for a decade. 

– De’Vante Martin is a sophomore mass communication major from St. Joseph, La.