Jaylen Waddle just inked a three-year, $84.75 million extension with the Dolphins, making him one of the richest wide receivers in all of the NFL. Could a No. 2 receiver possibly be worth that money? Lucky for us, Stokastic’s FREE Best Ball Rankings are LIVE, and we can use those to see if Waddle is $28.25 million-a-year material as an Underdog Best Ball fantasy asset by comparing him to the other highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL. Let’s take a look at Waddle’s place in the Underdog Best Ball wide receivers rankings.
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Jaylen Waddle’s Underdog Best Ball Wide Receiver Ranking
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These days top-notch wide receivers are making crazy money, and they will continue to do so. As such, the current WR market is not necessarily indicative of WR value — in the same way that Kirk Cousins being the highest-paid quarterback changed in, like, two years.
That said, Jaylen Waddle is not considered the best receiver on his own team yet is the fourth-highest-paid WR by average annual value (AAV) and third highest by guaranteed money. So where does he stack among the top 5 wide receivers in terms of Underdog Fantasy Best Ball rankings? The following are the five richest receivers in order of the AAV of their current contract.
A.J. Brown Best Ball Ranking
ADP: 10.1; Stokastic Overall WR Rank: 8
To A.J. Brown, the richest man in town.
Real money probably matters more to Brown than Underdog projections. That said, his team’s offensive philosophy is the main reason Brown’s Underdog ranking falls well below his salary. It’s a simple fact that the Eagles are a run-first team, especially around the goal line. So though Philadelphia has two top-20 receivers in our rankings, Jalen Hurts is the guy scoring the touchdowns when in close — as long as the Tush Push is legal.
Plus, you know, DeVonta Smith is also really good and commands attention himself. He and Brown are 12 slots apart in the rankings and roughly 30 points apart in Underdog Best Ball projection.
Amon-Ra St. Brown Best Ball Ranking
ADP: 6.1; Stokastic Overall WR Rank: 4
Amon-Ra St. Brown was the big cash-in guy this offseason before Waddle, and his Underdog projections are a bit more in line with his real salary than Brown’s. St. Brown is the No. 5 player overall in our projections and the No. 4 receiver, partly because he has a good quarterback and also because his team’s receiving corps is not what Brown or Tyreek Hill have to share.
Plus, St. Brown scored 10 touchdowns last year despite his teammate in Sam LaPorta matching him in that regard. Any regression from LaPorta and St. Brown will be cleaning up this season.
Tyreek Hill Best Ball Ranking
ADP: 3.2; Stokastic Overall WR Rank: 2
Unsurprisingly, Tyreek Hill blows his teammate out of the water both in terms of ADP and Underdog Best Ball projections. The number of receivers considered better than Hill on an individual basis (independent of quarterback) is at most, what, Justin Jefferson? But Jefferson is catching passes from a rookie who threw 22.1 passes a game in college, so…
Only CeeDee Lamb is higher than Hill in our Underdog rankings, and only Lamb and Christian McCaffrey rank higher than Hill, period. Now, the gap in fantasy point projection between Hill and Lamb is quite high since, you know, Hill is sharing targets with (now) another of the five highest-paid receivers in football. He is still comfortably the No. 2 receiver in our rankings, about 12 projected points ahead of third-place Ja’Marr Chase.
Jaylen Waddle Best Ball Ranking
ADP: 27.1; Stokastic Overall WR Rank: 19
The man of the hour.
You probably didn’t need me to tell you that Waddle is not quite at the level of the other top receivers here. But as they say, you do not pay for past performance. This contract is an upside move for a Dolphins team that is trying to build the fastest gun in the AFC East.
Waddle at No. 19 in our Underdog rankings is comfortably ahead of No. 20 in Smith, and projection-wise he is very close to Michael Pittman Jr., D.J. Moore and Davante Adams, who occupy the three slots ahead of him. There is definitely upside here given Miami’s gameplan, though again, sharing the field with Hill is a limiting factor.
Davante Adams Best Ball Ranking
ADP: 18.9; Stokastic Overall WR Rank: 16
Speaking of Adams, he is clearly one of the most talented receivers in the NFL. He is also going to be 32 this year and will best-case scenario be catching passes from an improved Aidan O’Connell. At least as likely a scenario is Gardner Minshew stepping in when O’Connell is benched.
But hey, Adams is still great on his own as a top pass catcher on his team and worth the money the Raiders are paying him, and he slots in 16th in our Underdog rankings, a hair behind Mike Evans and Nico Collins.
