During the 2020 NFL Draft, Justin Jefferson watched wide receivers Henry Ruggs III, Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, and Jalen Reagor all come off the board before he was selected by the Vikings with the 22nd pick. If we were to draft the entire class over again today, the only player that would be competing with Jefferson to be the top overall pick would be Joe Burrow.
Fast forward four years, and 2024’s draft brought us another embarrassment of riches at the wide receiver position. So much so, in fact, that the aggregate of talent at the position skipped over comparisons to the 2020 class and went right to the historic 2014 WR class that included Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans, and Davante Adams, just to name a few.
After watching seven WRs go off the board in the first round of the 2024 draft, the vaunted group of WRs did not disappoint. While there were hits across the entire draft, the top of the class proved to be truly historic. Three rookies finished inside the top 13 at the position for the season, while also putting up three of the top-12 rookie WR seasons since 2000. With one of these three rookies’ journeys running parallel to Jefferson’s in more ways than one, will we see him reach the epic heights of Jefferson’s career as time goes on?
