Calvin Ridley leads top free agent wide receivers
As NFL free agency gets set to open, there will be a number of productive wide receivers on the market for teams to consider signing.
While none of this offseason’s available wide receivers will approach the expensive contracts of the highest-paid players at the position, the players available could be welcome additions for whichever teams decide to sign them.
It should be noted that the Cincinnati Bengals’ Tee Higgins and Indianapolis Colts’ Michael Pittman received the franchise tag on Tuesday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mike Evans agreed to a two-year contract, taking the highest-profile player off this list.
Here are the top free agent wide receivers for 2024:
1. Calvin Ridley
After Ridley was dealt to the Jacksonville Jaguars by the Atlanta Falcons in 2022 while serving a season-long suspension for gambling, he emerged as one of quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s favorite targets in 2023. Ridley posted a team-high 1,016 yards receiving. It was his second career 1,000-yard receiving season (1,374 yards in 2020). His eight receiving touchdowns were second to the 10 he had as a rookie in 2018. While the Jaguars could attempt to retain Ridley, a few other teams likely will pursue the productive receiver.
2. Marquise Brown
A 2022 draft-day trade reunited Brown with quarterback Kyle Murray, who were college teammates at Oklahoma. Brown was coming off his first 1,000-yard season, but he was not able to reach that statistical plateau during his two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. Brown could be an enticing option for a team looking for a bona fide deep threat.
3. Gabe Davis
Davis, a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft, emerged as a dangerous complementary piece to Stefon Diggs in the Buffalo Bills offense. His most notable performance came in the epic 2021 AFC divisional playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, in which Davis had eight catches for 201 yards and four touchdowns.
4. Curtis Samuel
Samuel is another complementary piece, having played opposite Terry McLaurin – his college roommate at Ohio State – with the Washington Commanders for the previous three seasons. He posted back-to-back 600-yard, fourtouchdown seasons in 2022-23 in Washington.
5. Darnell Mooney
Mooney, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft, played well beyond his draft status during his four seasons with the Chicago Bears. He posted a career-high 1,055 receiving yards in 2021. With D.J. Moore in tow and a massive offseason rebuild on the horizon in Chicago, it’s likely Mooney will be available for other teams to add.
6. Odell Beckham
Once one of the NFL’s premier wide receivers, Beckham is a shell of his former self after two ACL injuries. He signed a one-year deal in 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens and posted decent numbers (35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns). However, that’s a far cry from his first few seasons with the New York Giants, during which he posted four 1,000-yard receiving seasons in five years. He joined the Cleveland Browns in 2019 and had another 1,000-yard season. That marks his last 1,000-yard season.
7. Tyler Boyd
With Higgins receiving the franchise tag, that likely means Boyd will not be retained by the Cincinnati Bengals. Boyd posted back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2018-19, which came before Higgins joined the team in 2020. Boyd was at best the third target in the Bengals offense behind Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, and he’ll want to land with a team where he’ll have a bigger role.