AFC North 2024 roster rankings: Wide receivers

With training camp less than a month away and every roster in the league all but set, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate all four rosters in the AFC North, the only division in which every team finished with a winning record above .500 in 2023.

Up next in this multi-part article series ranking each individual position group are the wide receivers.

1.) Cincinnati Bengals

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Depth chart: Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones, Trenton Irwin, Andrei Iosivas, Cole Burgess, Kendric Pryor, Kwamie Lassiter II, Shedrick Jackson and Tre Mosley

The Bengals have one of the top wideout duos in the league spearheading their group. Chase has been among the best players at the position since he burst on the scene as a rookie and has been voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three years in the league. He is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the third year in a row with a team-leading 1,216 to go along with a career-high 100 receptions on 145 targets and seven touchdowns.

Higgins missed five games due last year due to injury but had posted over 1,000 receiving yards in back-to-back years from 2021-2022. Both as a rookie in 2020 and when Chase has missed time or been hampered with injuries, Higgins has proven he is capable of being a No. 1 receiver who can have monster games and make clutch plays in crunch time. Despite being limited to just 12 games and 11 starts in 2023, he still managed to record a respectable 42 receptions on 76 targets for 656 receiving yards, five touchdowns, and a career-high yards-per-catch average of 15.6.

Behind them, the Bengals have some young, promising talent highlighted by Burton, who is a third-round rookie with first-round playmaking potential. They also have Jones and Iosivas who are very athletic second-year pros and Irwin who has been one of quarterback Joe Burrow’s most reliable chain moving targets underneath over the past two seasons.

The remaining five players on the roster are a collection of undrafted rookies and former undrafted free agents who have just one career reception for two yards and only seven game appearances between them. If the Bengals were to keep seven receivers on the roster, special teams would likely be the biggest determining factor in who makes the team from this bunch.

2.) Cleveland Browns

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Depth chart: Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman, James Proche II, David Bell, Michael Woods II, Jalen Camp, Ahmarean Brown, Jamari Thrash, Jaelon Darden and Matt Landers

The Browns have been loading up on veteran and young talent at the position for the past few years and now find themselves with the deepest group in the division. Headlining the bunch is Cooper who despite being a five-time Pro Bowler, is somehow one of the more underrated wideouts in the league given his consistent production and clutch playmaking ability. He quietly recorded career highs in receiving yards (1,250) and yards per catch (17.4) in 2023 to go along with 72 receptions on 128 targets and five touchdowns.

This offseason, they upgraded at their No. 2 spot by trading for and extending Juedy. While the former first-rounder of the Denver Broncos has yet to live up to his top-15 pick billing, he has thrived as a complementary threat to a true No. 1 since entering the league and will continue in that role in Cleveland. After he posted career-best numbers across the board in 2022 including nearly 1,000 receiving yards, Juedy’s stats dipped in 2023 but his totals of 54 catches on 87 targets for 758 receiving yards and two touchdowns were still solid.

Behind them is a host of talented young pass catchers with the most notable being Moore, who the team traded for last offseason and posted career-highs in 2023 with 59 catches on 104 targets for 640 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tillman and Bell were third-round picks in each of the last two years and will continue to provide good depth. Thrash is a rookie this year who was picked in the fifth round out of Louisville.

Proche II is a four-year veteran and former Raven who is among the cluster of former late-round picks and undrafted free agents vying a one of the final spots on the roster.

3.) Pittsburgh Steelers

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Depth chart: George Pickens, Van Jefferson, Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin III, Scotty Miller, Quez Watkins, Marquez Callaway, Dez Fitzpatrick, Jacob Copeland, Jaray Jenkins and Duece Watts

The Steelers have long been known for having an eye for drafting high-quality-to-elite talent at this position, which is why they would normally be up higher on this list. However, after trading away their lone Pro Bowler, Diontae Johnson, this offseason and bringing in a trio of veterans who are solid No. 3 to borderline No. 2 options in Miller, Watkins, and Callaway, having Pickens as an ascending true No. 1 wasn’t enough to put them ahead of Cincinnati or Cleveland.

Despite having to deal with one of the most underwhelming quarterback situations in the league for the second year in a row, Pickens was even better in 2023 than he was as a rookie. He started 16 of 17 games and recorded career highs across the board with 63 receptions on 106 targets for 1,140 receiving yards, five touchdowns and a league-leading 18.1 yards per catch as he continued to establish himself as a dominant and dangerous threat on the boundary.

Given the Steelers’ penchant for drafting and developing at the position, expectations should be high and projections optimistic for Wilson as a rookie. He was the No. 1 receiver on the reigning national champion Michigan Wolverines and recorded 48 catches for 789 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior in 2023—all of which were career highs.

They still have Austin III who possesses blazing speed and dynamic playmaking ability but had a relatively quiet second season after missing his entire rookie year with injury. He played in all 17 games but posted just 17 catches on 30 targets for 180 receiving yards and a touchdown to go along with 11 carries for 57 rushing yards and another score.

Jefferson is two years removed from being the second-leading receiver on a Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams team but has yet to come close to the career totals he set that year. Miller also had the best season of his career on a Super Bowl-winning team but that was in 2020 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even though his team didn’t come out on top in the big game, Watkins also comes with Super Bowl experience having been on the Philadelphia Eagles when they came up short in 2022.

Callaway’s best season came in 2021 when he led the New Orleans Saints in targets (84), receiving yards (698) and touchdowns (six). Fitzpatrick spent all but one game on the Steelers practice squad last season while Copeland, Jenkins and Watts were undrafted free agents last year who will be vying for practice squad spots this year.

4.) Baltimore Ravens

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Depth chart: Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, Devontez Walker, Tylan Wallace, Deonte Harty, Malik Cunningham, Sean Ryan, Keith Kirkwood, Dayton Wade, Isaiah Washington and Qadir Ismail

The reigning division champs are no strangers to ranking near the bottom of most wide receiver rankings although they got a brief break from that last year after remodeling their depth chart. After letting a pair of multi-time Pro Bowlers at the position walk in free agency albeit a diminished Odell Beckham Jr. and a gadget guy who was primarily a return specialist in Devin Duvernay, the Ravens find themselves in last place on this list.

However, their ranking isn’t indicative of a lack of talent. Still, rather the absence of a larger sample in the case of Flowers, proven durability for Bateman and NFL experience altogether for Walker who was taken in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

The only wideouts on the roster with proven pedigree over time and defined roles are the two veterans in Agholor and Harty. With Agholor, he is a solid and well-rounded option who can be a reliable chain-moving possession receiver and a viable deep threat who can also make contested catches. Meanwhile, Harty will slot right in and is perhaps an upgrade over Duvernay given the more recent success as a returner and lack of injuries.

Flowers didn’t waste any time establishing himself as the Ravens’ No. 1 receiver as a rookie and finished the season as the holder of several franchise records. The 2023 first-rounder led the team in targets with 108, receptions with 77 and receiving yards, to go along with five touchdown catches and 56 rushing yards on eight carries and another score on the ground. He has the potential to not only be the Ravens’ first player at the position to reach 1,000 receiving yards in 2024 but also enter the conversation as one of the best young wideouts in the game.

The Ravens believe in Bateman so much, that they signed him to an extension this offseason even though he has yet to play a full season since entering the league as a first-rounder in 2021 due to injuries. His flashes of explosive playmaking ability were enticing enough to warrant further investment and is poised to reward them for it and make a name for himself this upcoming season.

Walker is a big play waiting to happen who could carve out a nice niche for himself as a dangerous vertical threat as a rookie with the chance to prove he is capable of doing more as the year goes on. Wallace is entering the final year of his rookie deal and has been a special teams ace both on coverage units and most recently as a returner in 2023.

The rest of the receivers on the roster are undrafted rookies or former undrafted free agents with intriguing skill sets and talents. They will have to ball out in training camp and the preseason to beat out Wallace for the sixth and likely final spot on the final depth chart.