Kevin Szafraniec utilizes RotoViz’s Advanced Stats Explorer to uncover hidden trends at the wide receiver position from the first 16 weeks of the 2025 NFL season.
Following a strong 19.3-point performance against the Buccaneers in the fantasy semifinals, Tetairoa McMillan now finds himself on the cusp of being a top-12 fantasy WR as his rookie year nears its conclusion.
It is also somewhat ironic that McMillan claimed the lead in fantasy scoring among rookie WRs away from Emeka Egbuka while playing against Tampa Bay, as the players have seemed to swap trajectories over the course of 2025.
Although Egbuka still has a chance to reclaim the PPR crown among this year’s crop of rookie pass catchers, his recent decline in production now has the edge firmly in McMillan’s corner.
Before we get into the latest information available in the Advanced Stats Explorer, just a few quick reminders about the article.
- Early in the offseason, I updated my deep dive into the past six years of wide receiver data available in the Advanced Stats Explorer and broke it down into four separate articles: Routes and Targets, Intended Air Yards, Yards After the Catch and Evasion, and Catchable Targets, Drops, First Downs, and Touchdowns.
- When working through the six-year sample, I found that the 90th percentile and above generally included most of the top 24 wide receivers for each metric in any given season. The 75th percentile and above included the top 55 to 60 WRs in any given metric per season. Given that these two cohorts easily fit into a typical 12-team fantasy league, they will be referenced throughout the article.
The number of wide receivers who earned a target in 2025 increased to 226 in Week 16, up from 222 in Week 15.
