Fantasy Football 2024: Deep dive into who should be WR1 overall, making the case for Puka Nacua (2024)

Who should be the No. 1 Fantasy wide receiver this season? And is that player even considered the best receiver in theNFL? It's a fascinating topic this year in Fantasy and reality, and hopefully, we'll give you some clarity to the biggest decision you might have to make in Round 1.

Welcome to the Elite Eight. These are the consensus top eight receivers in our CBS Sports rankings:CeeDee Lamb,Tyreek Hill,Justin Jefferson,Ja'Marr Chase,Amon-Ra St. Brown,A.J. Brown,Garrett WilsonandPuka Nacua. You can make a strong argument that all of them should be selected in the first round this season -- they're that good.

But who should go first of those eight receivers? And do all of them have the chance to finish as the best eight receivers this season? There are certainly other contenders to the throne, includingMarvin Harrison Jr.,Chris Olave,Drake London,Jaylen Waddle,Michael PittmanJr.,Davante Adams,Mike Evans,Brandon Aiyuk,Nico Collins,Deebo SamuelandCooper Kupp, among others.

We've identified these eight as the best of the bunch either based on what they have done or what they should be able to accomplish this season, which you can read about in-depth in this article. And based on the inexact science of a Twitter/X poll with more than 3,000 votes, the best Fantasy receiver this season should be Lamb (32.5 percent), followed by Hill (29.4 percent), Jefferson (24.2 percent) and Chase (13.9 percent). That happens to be our order as well.

However, as far as what the population on Twitter/X think about who is the best receiver in theNFL(non-Fantasy), the winner is Jefferson with an overwhelming 56.8 percent of the more than 3,000 votes. Hill was second (22.1 percent), Lamb was third (13.4 percent) and Chase was fourth (7.8 percent).

We'll break this into eight parts that you can find on CBSSports.com/FantasyFootball in the coming days. Today, we'll focus on Part 7 -- featuring Puka Nacua and his case to be the No. 1 wide receiver in Fantasy for 2024.

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Puka Nacua, WR, Rams

• 2023 stats: 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns on 160 targets
• Stats that grab you: In 2023, Nacua set the NFL rookie record for receiving yards, which was previously held by Bill Groman in 1960 (1,473). And he broke the record for most receptions by a rookie, which was just set in 2021 by Waddle (104). ... Nacua played the first four games last year without Kupp, and Nacua averaged 23.8 PPR points per game over that span. In 12 games with Kupp, Nacua only averaged 15.7 PPR points per game, but he did have six outings with at least 18.7 PPR points when Kupp was healthy. ... Despite all of his success during his rookie campaign, Nacua also led the NFL in drops with 13, which was one more than Hill had last year.
• Quote to note: "The biggest word that always comes to my mind is blessed. Obviously, everybody comes into the NFL with dreams and aspirations. Playing football my whole life, to be in this moment is what you really dream of. You picture it as sweet as it can be. You boost yourself up to 99 in Madden and give yourself all the best ratings. You provide yourself with the skills necessary. For it to kind of come together in real life and kind of right before my eyes each week, it just seemed like when I thought it was the best in the world, it seemed to get better the next week. I'm so excited, and I can't wait for what's in store." -- Nacua to CBS Sports at the Pro Bowl about his breakout rookie season in 2023
• The breakdown: Fantasy managers are going to question if Nacua can repeat his rookie numbers, or if 2023 was just a fluke for the fifth-round NFL Draft pick from Utah. We were excited about Nacua as a rookie, but he far exceeded everyone's expectations, especially when Kupp was out. Now, if Kupp is back to being the No. 1 receiver for Matthew Stafford and can stay healthy all season then Nacua could see a dip in production. But Kupp, 31, could be at that point in his career where he's no longer an elite talent, while Nacua is a star on the rise. It might be hard for Nacua to average 17.6 PPR points per game again in his sophom*ore campaign, but there's too much upside to ignore, even with Kupp back at 100 percent.