I’ve always loved writing articles like this one, looking ahead a year or more to project what the dynasty landscape will look like. A big part of finding success in dynasty is knowing when to buy low, sell high, and accurately project future production and longevity.
The idea for this piece sparked when I saw Jeremiah Smith drafted as the WR1 overall in a combined Devy/Dynasty startup draft this offseason. To put that in context: the closest thing we’ve seen to that kind of early valuation from a rookie wide receiver in recent years was Marvin Harrison Jr., who was going at the 1-2 turn in startups in 2024. He was the consensus WR5 overall, sitting behind Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Smith being pegged as a potential WR1 overall from the jump is uncharted territory. But is it justifiable? Let’s find out together.
Projected 2027 “Tier 1” Wide Receivers
To kick things off, I figured we should establish the projected top tier of dynasty WRs in 2027. In my opinion, we’re looking at a group of four players, based on the information we have today. Those four guys are Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Jeremiah Smith.
You could make an argument for Malik Nabers jumping back into this tier by next offseason, given how impressive his rookie season was. But with the severity of his knee injury and how cloudy his recovery process has been thus far, I’d like to see the product on the field again before crowning him a tier 1 dynasty receiver.
For this exercise, I’ll leave Nabers out and will stick with the four aforementioned players. Let’s look at each profile to gauge value one year from now.
Ja’Marr Chase (WR – CIN)
Let’s start with the clear WR1 in dynasty today, Ja’Marr Chase. At 26 years old, Chase is in the prime of his career, coming off a 19.6 PPR points per game season. In terms of points per game, he’s finished as the WR5 overall or better in four of five seasons. He’s tied to Joe Burrow, one of the best passers in football, through the 2029 season. The Bengals’ offensive environment is as fantasy-friendly as any system in the NFL when everyone is healthy.
This leads us to the potential downside. We haven’t had this fully healthy offense on the field at once very often, with Joe Burrow missing 16 regular-season games in the past three seasons. It’s unlikely Joe Flacco is suiting up beyond 2026, making the backup QB spot a big question mark in the future. While we can’t project injuries with reasonable accuracy, it’s at least worth noting that this offensive line has failed to protect its franchise quarterback to this point.
Looking ahead to 2027, Chase will be 27 years old and heading into his seventh season. Still likely in his prime, but in the tail end of his career. How many more top-5 overall seasons can we confidently project from Chase a year from now? Two? The age cliff will be quickly approaching.
Puka Nacua (WR – LAR)
Puka Nacua would have a legitimate case of being the dynasty WR1 overall today if he could simply stop being an idiot off the field. From a production and efficiency standpoint, Puka was in a league of his own in 2025. He led the NFL in PPR points per game (23.4), receptions (129), target rate (36.6%), yards per route run (3.79), and EPA (+135.8). He’s firmly established himself as a super elite wide receiver with league-winning upside. 2026 may be Davante Adams‘ last year in a Rams jersey, which could open up plenty of redzone targets for Puka in 2027 and beyond.
The downside? As we mentioned, he’s a bit of a wildcard off the field. 2027 is expected to be Matthew Stafford’s final NFL season, which begs the question: how will Puka fare when he doesn’t have a top 5 NFL quarterback throwing him the football all year? And lastly, Puka has been on record saying he plans to retire by 30 years old. If this proves true, he’ll have four seasons by 2027. I’m not saying we need to be looking that far ahead in dynasty, but if all things are equal when comparing prospects, this could be a factor to consider to break ties.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR – SEA)
JSN had the breakout we were all hoping for in 2025, posting 21.2 PPR points per game, good for a WR2 overall finish. Even more impressive, he did this on an offense that finished 29th in pass attempts. JSN was hyper-efficient all year, posting a 33.8% target rate and 3.72 yards per route run.
We could take this information in one of two ways. The bullish take would be that, if JSN hit 21 points per game in this low-passing-volume offense, imagine what he can do if they simply post league-average volume in the future? The bear case would be that this offense is not radically changing, and it’s unlikely JSN can hit this extreme level of efficiency multiple seasons in a row.
With Klint Kubiak taking the Raiders job, Seattle brought in Brian Fleury from San Francisco as its new OC. Fleury comes from Shanahan’s run-first, heavy play-action system, which is not particularly good news for Njigba. But maybe Fleury has his own ideas he plans to implement; we’ll just have to wait and see.
Jeremiah Smith (WR – Ohio State)
Lastly, we have Jeremiah Smith, arguably the greatest college WR prospect in the history of football. And no, that’s not an exaggeration.
As a true freshman at “Wide Receiver U”, Smith posted an unbelievable stat line of 76 receptions, 1,315 yards, and 15 touchdowns. Even better, he did this alongside Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate, two Round 1 NFL wide receivers. Even Marvin Harrison Jr., one of the top WR prospects we’ve seen coming out of college, failed to produce as a true freshman.
Smith posted nearly identical numbers in 2025 as a sophomore and is the clear favorite for the 2026 Biletkinoff Award. It would take a catastrophic injury for Smith not to be the WR1 taken off the board in the 2027 NFL Draft.
The downside with Smith would be the fact that, as a virtual lock to go top 5 in the NFL Draft, he’ll likely go to a struggling organization like the Jets, Browns, Raiders, or Cardinals. While we all know talent beats situation in dynasty, there may be some frustrations early on with whatever system he’s thrown into.
Conclusion
So, who do I expect the WR1 to be in 2027 dynasty startups? In short, I think the top four could go in any order, but it would not be shocking if Jeremiah Smith were the consensus dynasty WR1 and a top 6 overall player in Superflex startups.
The safe answer here would be that Ja’Marr Chase remains the WR1 in 2027. The floor-ceiling combo he provides in an offense that has to score a billion points to stay competitive is truly special. But Jeremiah Smith brings a level of insulation that these three can’t provide in 2027. He’s nearly six years younger than Chase, five years younger than Puka, and four years younger than Njigba.
If he meets the lofty expectations we all have for him at the NFL level, I can’t see a world where Smith isn’t the dynasty WR1 overall by 2028. Because of this, I can see the dynasty community buying in from Day 1 and pushing Smith up to dynasty WR1 overall before playing an NFL snap.
Now, if I were in a combined Devy/Dynasty startup today, I would rank Smith as my WR4 overall, behind these other three. The cost of waiting a full year before his points begin hitting my roster is not worth passing up on these other three elite options.
Thanks for taking the time to check out this article! If you have any dynasty, devy, or C2C-related questions, I can be reached on X @jim_DFF. #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding #AlwaysBeScouting
