2023 NCAA Football Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings

By Kreighton Rahn
Updated November 3, 2023

2023 College Football DFS Top-30 Wide Receiver Rankings Through Week 9

The Huskies are Still the Best Fantasy Offense in College Football

If you go strictly by points per game, USC is the best offense in the FBS. Washington is 2nd, though, and the Huskies are the clear #1 offense from a fantasy perspective. It's all because of senior quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

Both he and USC quarterback Caleb Williams are making noise as 2023 Heisman favorites, and both are top-5 FanDuel DFS fantasy quarterback options. Penix has led his Washington Huskies to a 5-0 start and the #7 ranking in the latest AP Poll. That's the highest mark for any Pac-12 team, but they've got #8 Oregon this weekend.

Both Washington (46.0 PPG) and USC (51.8 PPG) put up insane offensive numbers, but Penix spreads the love far more than Williams. Williams often opts to run the ball himself, meaning no one is getting fantasy points except for him. Penix rarely runs, which means nearly every single offensive play for the Huskies is a mutually beneficial pass attempt in which both the QB and WR prosper.

Nobody has a finer-tuned passing game than these Huskies. Their 446.4 passing yards per contest are first in the FBS, which means some of their receivers are absolutely going off in the fantasy department.

It's only logical, right? There needs to be someone talented on the other end of that throw, and the Huskies have a trio of top fantasy wide receivers who've emerged as game-changers in 2023. Rome Odunze (2nd), Jalen McMillan (3rd), and Ja'Lynn Polk (14th) all rank inside the top-15 in the FBS in FanDuel fantasy points per game at the receiver position. Penix has thrown for more yards than any other quarterback in college football, so it makes sense his receivers are at the top of their positions, too.

Rome Odunze is a 6'3 junior from Las Vegas, NV, and was the overall leader in fantasy points accrued this season among WRs until a leg injury knocked him out of the Michigan State game. He's missed a couple of contests, but is going to be back for Saturday's huge matchup against the Ducks. He's snagged 27 passes for 544 yards, which is just over 20 yards per catch. He's also scored 4 times. He still ranks 2nd in the FBS in fantasy points per game, even though he's only played about 2 and a half games.

Odunze balling out in 2023 and leading the Huskies in receiving should come as no surprise. As a sophomore in 2022, Odunze caught 75 passes for 1,145 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Jalen McMillan is a junior from Fresno, CA, who is in his 4th season in purple. He was also a 1,000-yard receiver in 2022 and is on pace for another banner year in 2023. He's already got 311 receiving yards off 20 receptions—3 going for touchdowns. He, too, has been injured for a couple of weeks but is also reported to be coming back for Washington's huge top-10 matchup with Oregon.

Ja'Lynn Polk is a sophomore out of Lufkin, TX. This is not his first year in Seattle, either, catching 41 passes for 694 yards and 6 scores last season as a redshirt freshman. He's on pace to blast those numbers out of the water in 2023—already going off for 468 yards and 4 touchdowns on 26 catches. OC Ryan Grubb has also used Polk in the sweeping running game, which the speedster turned into a 27-yard touchdown back in Week 2 versus Tulsa.

Do not be afraid to draft multiple Huskies receivers into your DFS lineups. With as much as Washington throws the football, there are plenty of targets to go around. The 5th-year senior Penix has already completed 133 passes through 5 games and averages over 15 yards per completion. He eclipsed 4,600 passing yards in 2022 and is actually on pace for more in 2023—already sitting at 1,999.

NCAA DFS Top-30 WR/TE Rankings

The Art of Drafting Productive Pass Catchers in College Football DFS

The drafting process for picking receivers hinges on the game type—cash game or large-field tournament.

Cash games are all about avoiding busts. Above average scores will get the job done, there’s no need to swing for the home run.

Possession receivers who attract lots of targets every game—especially on third down—almost never turn in empty performances. These receivers are guaranteed targets in nearly any type of game flow.

Whether ahead or behind, shootout or stalemate, snow or rain—possession receivers will get their targets and will be involved in the scheme. 

Receivers who accumulate the bulk of their yardage and touchdowns on huge chunk plays are much more unpredictable and should be avoided in cash games. These deep threats make excellent tournament picks however as connecting on a few 50+ passes can lead to monster scores, which are required to take down a large-field tournament.

Stacking a quarterback with one or two of his top receivers is a popular tournament strategy. If one does good the other is guaranteed to also have a good night.

Of course they could both fizzle out. This is why the stacking strategy is reserved for tournaments. The risk of a double dud is too great to employ this strategy in cash games.

Research Pays Off When Scouting for Good Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Looking at the pass defense statistics for the opponent is vital. Many of the top teams in college football have a shutdown corner who specializes in taking away one side of the field from the quarterback.

The presence of a good secondary or pass rush can alter play calls and cause a top receiver to see fewer targets than he’s accustomed to. Likewise, some secondaries seem to always get gashed by quality receivers.

Taking note of how coaches tend to use their personnel in different situations pays big dividends. Some coaches get more conservative in big games while others open up the playbook.

Having a feel for how the game will progress from a play-call standpoint can help identify undervalued and overvalued options at receiver.

Don't Ignore Tight Ends – Especially from Iowa

Just because receivers are the most popular options to fill FanDuel’s pass catcher slot doesn’t mean tight ends should be ignored.

Many schools—such as Iowa—always seem to produce good tight ends and use them heavily in the passing game.

Tight ends who receive consistent targets in all parts of the field are great cash game options. This special breed of tight ends function as a possession receiver in the offense and get lots of looks on 2nd and 3rd down.

A tight end's stock elevates even higher if his quarterback likes to look for him in the red zone. Hauling in 6 or 7 passes including a couple of TDs is an amazing day by any measure.

Tight ends who receive targets in the red zone only can be a play in GPPs but should be avoided in cash games. The likelihood of a dud performance is too high due to a low target rate.

Unlike the running back and receiver positions in which defense-versus-position stats shouldn’t be ignored, such stats for tight ends are unreliable in the college game.

There are too few good tight ends in college football for teams to put together much of a sample in how they fare defending them. The sample size is too small.

Defense-versus-tight-end stats are the least predictive team defense stat in college football.