Phil Steele: Top 25 WRs for 2025 NFL Draft ahead of 2024 college football season

Wide Receiver has quickly become one of the most important positions for NFL teams, meaning that more and more teams are looking to find their next star skill players in the NFL Draft.

Ahead of every college football season, Phil Steele releases his magazine previewing the season. Within that 2024 college football preview, he also previewed aspects of the 2025 NFL Draft. That includes the Top 25 WRs who are expected to be available in the draft.

It’s going to be a stacked group of talented WRs in the 2025 NFL Draft and while there’s plenty of room for the list to change along the way, here are the Top 25 available wide receivers, according to Steele.

1. Luther Burden III, Missouri

Luther Burden broke onto the scene in 2022 with an excellent freshman campaign. He then backed that up in 2023 by becoming one of the best wide receivers in the country, with 86 receptions for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. That was good enough to be named First-Team All-SEC.

Thanks to the performance, there are massive expectations for Burden to take another step forward in his third college season. After that, he will have the option to go to the draft. Assuming he does choose to go to the NFL after that, he’s likely going to be a top pick.

2. Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State

The Ohio State Buckeyes consistently have one of the best WR rooms in the country. That’s going to continue in 2024 with a group led by Emeka Egbuka. He’s going to be stepping up to try and replace some of the production that the first WR taken in the 2024 NFL Draft, Marvin Harrison Jr, provided last season.

Egbuka has already proved that he’s a phenomenally talented option for Ohio State’s offense. As a junior in 2023, he had 41 receptions for 515 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games. That was actually a step back statistically from 2022, when he had 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games.

3. Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona

When head coach Jedd Fisch left Arizona, there was concern that top players would leave the program with him. However, plenty of them chose to stay and transition to a new coaching staff and a new conference. That group includes Tetairoa McMillan.

McMillan has been phenomenal in his first two seasons with Arizona. In 25 games, he has 129 receptions for 2,104 yards and 18 touchdowns. With that, he was a Second-Team All-Pac-12 selection in 2023 and made himself look like a top option in the 2025 NFL Draft.

4. Tory Horton, Colorado State

Tory Horton is older than a lot of the other premier WRs available in the 2025 NFL Draft. His college career started back in 2020. At the time, he was with Nevada before he transferred to Colorado State. Along the way, he’s twice been a First-Team All-Mountain West selection.

Horton is coming off back-to-back seasons where he had at least 1,100 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. That consistent production, especially if he can repeat it for a third time in a row in 2024, is the type of thing NFL teams love to see. Certainly, it’s expected that he does have a similar season given his experience and past results.

5. Kaden Prather, Maryland

Kaden Prather is one of several WRs at Maryland looking to have a strong 2024 season. With that, he’s also expected to be one of the best draft-eligible receivers available next spring after he works to impress scouts throughout the season. In particular, he’s impressive thanks to his ideal size and athleticism.

Prior to coming to Maryland in 2023, Prather played for West Virginia. He’s had productive statistical seasons at both schools. In 2022, while playing for West Virginia, he had 51 receptions for 501 yards and three touchdowns. He then went on to have 42 receptions for 666 yards and five touchdowns at Maryland in 2023.

6. Jayden Higgins, Iowa State

The next player on Phil Steele’s list of draft-eligible WRs is Jayden Higgins of Iowa State. He’s coming off a season where he immediately made his impact felt too. In 2023, Higgins had 53 receptions for 983 yards and six touchdowns.

Higgins, like several other WRs who were highly rated by Steele, transferred before going to Iowa State. In his case, he started his career at Eastern Kentucky before making the jump to the FBS level. He proved he can compete at that higher level and now he’s trying to show it wasn’t a fluke.

7. Elic Ayomanor, Stanford

A wide receiver out of Stanford, Elic Ayomanor has only played one season of college football. That’s because he missed 2022 with an injury before making his mark felt in 2023 with 62 receptions for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns. That helped him earn the John Cornish Award as college football’s top Canadian player.

Given that Ayomanor has only played one full college season, how he does in 2024 is going to go a long way in both determining his draft stock and if he even chooses to enter the draft. However, he has clearly shown that he’s a capable receiver.

8. Evan Stewart, Oregon

Perhaps considered undersized for an NFL wide receiver, there has never been any question about the raw talent of Evan Stewart. He was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2022 and the eighth-ranked player nationally, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. Stewart, initially, went to Texas A&M before transferring to Oregon for this season.

In his two previous seasons with Texas A&M, Evan Stewart has played in 18 total games. During that time, he had 91 receptions for 1,163 yards and six touchdowns. Building on that and staying healthy is going to be massive for him with Oregon in 2024.

9. Barion Brown, Kentucky

One of the more interesting WR prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft is likely to be Barion Brown from Kentucky. That’s because he’s known as a weapon on special teams for the Wildcats, even being named a First-Team All-American and a Second-Team All-SEC selection in 2023 in large part thanks to that special teams prowess.

In 26 career games at Kentucky, Brown has 93 receptions for 1,167 yards and eight touchdowns. He also returned four kicks for touchdowns during his career. Three of those kick returns came during his sophomore campaign in 2023.

10. Bru McCoy, Tennessee

Rounding out Phil Steele’s Top 10 draft-eligible receivers going into the 2024 college season is Bru McCoy from Tennessee. That’s after a season where he was only able to play in five games for the Volunteers. However, he has shown his ability in the past, going back to when he played for USC.

At 24 years old, McCoy is going to be on the older side for receivers entering the league. However, in an explosive offense at Tennessee, he has a chance to put up massive numbers and impress teams at the next level. However, a key is going to be staying healthy throughout the season.

Steele’s 11-25 WRs for the 2025 NFL Draft

11. Isaiah Bond, Texas
12. Deion Burks, Oklahoma
13. Tre Harris, Ole Miss
14. Tez Johnson, Oregon
15. Nic Anderson, Oklahoma
16. J. Michael Sturdivant, UCLA
17. Jalen Royals, Utah State
18. Tai Felton, Maryland
19. KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Auburn
20. Ricky White III, UNLV
21. Roc Taylor, Memphis
22. Dillon Bell, Georgia
23. Da’Quan Felton, Virginia Tech
24. Squirrel White, Tennessee
25. Xavier Restrepo, Miami