{"id":868264,"date":"2026-04-17T09:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868264\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:27:33","slug":"mike-ds-nfl-draft-wr-rankings-saints-have-options-to-add-a-playmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868264\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike D’s NFL draft WR rankings: Saints have options to add a playmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 wide receiver class has a host of intriguing names, many of whom should be in play for the New Orleans Saints if they opt to add talent at the position. So how does WWL Radio’s Mike Detillier see the class stacking up? <\/p>\n

Hear Mike D break down his top 5 WRs in the player above, and hear his 2026 NFL draft notebook daily on WWL and Audacy. Can’t see the embed? Click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"TraneBrought to you by TRANESOUTH: It’s hard to stop a Trane1. CARNELL TATE, WR, Ohio State\"2025INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – DECEMBER 06: Carnell Tate #17 of the Ohio State Buckeyes makes a catch for a touchdown against the Indiana Hoosiers during the first quarter in the 2025 Big Ten Football Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 06, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why: \u201cWatching [Tate] on film, man, he does a great job working the chalk, the sideline routes. He is sort of built along the lines of Courtland Sutton, to me, coming out of SMU. He\u2019s not quite as tall, not quite as thick, but they have a lot of similarities in their game. He is a well-versed and well-taught route-runner. He gets into and out of his cuts and breaks very smoothly, very little loss of speed. He is a contested catch receiver. He\u2019ll go up and high point it, make the catch and sort of fight off the defensive back. He\u2019s no speedster by any stretch of the imagination. You don\u2019t want him running 4×400, he\u2019s not the anchor guy there, but he\u2019s got some giddy-up after the catch to pull away from you once he can get started. Interesting player, because he was really never the No. 1 guy there, with Jeremiah Smith, but man, he is a talent, and he is somebody who is tough, resilient, catches the ball well in traffic and he\u2019s got solid run-after-catch skills.
…<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the world of him as a player. I think he\u2019ll always be in that good to very good range as an NFL player, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that, especially in this draft class, if you\u2019re looking to upgrade your WR unit and the other thing, he\u2019s available every Saturday. That counts.\u201d <\/p>\n

Projection: Top 10<\/p>\n

2. JORDYN TYSON, WR, Arizona State\"NorthernTEMPE, ARIZONA – AUGUST 30: Wide receiver Jordyn Tyson #0 of the Arizona State Sun Devils runs during the first half against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Mountain America Stadium on August 30, 2025 in Tempe, Arizona.Photo by Chris Coduto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why: \u201cThe No. 2 guy and he would be No. 1 if he was healthy. … We\u2019ve talked about [Tyson] literally since last summer and interviewing Sam Leavitt all the way through to now. If he\u2019s healthy, there is no doubt he is the most gifted pass receiver in this draft class, but you also cannot ignore availability or inability, and he did try to play through that hamstring and then pulled the hamstring on the other leg afterwards and he\u2019s fought that over and over again.
…
“Very smooth and electric guy, and you can see how he comes out of his cuts and breaks, no loss of speed, he eyeballs it really well. Every once in a while he\u2019ll have a concentration drop, but that\u2019s not part of his game and he\u2019s a big-play athlete, too. He\u2019s got some stretch ability, speed-wise. Man, I think the world of him as a player, but I would have to have my doctors really, really take a long look and give me all the info you can on him. … If you were the GM, you\u2019re putting your job on the line and picking him? You\u2019ve got to have the medicals first clear you and say hey, everything is fine, we\u2019re good with it. If that\u2019s the case, then you\u2019ve got to think about it.<\/p>\n

Projection: early to mid first round<\/p>\n

3. MAKAI LEMON, WR, USC\"UCLALOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 29: Makai Lemon #6 of the Southern California Trojansruns a reverse during a 29-10 USC win over the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why: \u201cTremendous slot player at USC, very confident, tough, hard-nosed guy, exceptional route-runner and he corkscrews you into the ground as a route-runner. He gets open and then he\u2019s not the biggest guy in the world, but he tries to run over you. Not only run past you, but run over you. Very aggressive out in the open field after he catches the football. He has a wide array of wide receiver moves. You can see he\u2019s worked with people that know how to teach route-running and he\u2019s a very interesting player from the standpoint of how to use him, either out wide or in the slot. He was really effective in the slot for the Trojans last year and also on the reverse plays, because man, once he gets a head of steam rolling he can get past you if you don\u2019t respect his speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projection: mid first round<\/p>\n

4. OMAR COOPER JR., WR, Indiana\"CollegeATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 09: Kaelon Black #8 of the Indiana Hoosiers leaps over Dillon Thieneman #31 of the Oregon Ducks and Omar Cooper Jr. #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the second quarter in the 2025 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 09, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why: \u201cHe was an Indiana guy start to finish, nice size, thickly built, catches the ball well in traffic. You can see he is a hands catcher. There\u2019s nothing up against the body. It\u2019s out front or up. He makes the catch. He is underrated as a runner after the catch, where he can scoot around you and he can make a big play, but his toughness, his ability to work the chalk is very good and also man, he\u2019s not scared to go over the middle and when he catches it he bullies you downfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projection: mid first round (14-20)<\/p>\n

5. KC CONCEPCION, WR, Texas A&M\"TexasBATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA – OCTOBER 25: Wide receiver KC Concepcion #7 of the Texas A&M Aggies scores a touchdown during the second half of a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on October 25, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Photo by Tyler Kaufman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why: \u201cHe was a dynamic return guy there. I had one of his coaches at the Manning give me a long speech about his run after catch skills and that\u2019s on KC Concepcion. Here\u2019s my deal, catch it first. He had way too many drops for a guy who is so talented and I know he doesn\u2019t have bad hands, it\u2019s concentration and also he wants to run with it before he catches the ball. First things first, catch it, KC. We know you\u2019re talented.<\/p>\n

…
“He is an elusive guy. He has gotten much better as a route-runner, and he was one of these guys at State, he would almost come to a slowdown before the cut and the break. I saw a big difference when he went to A&M, they really worked with him on getting out of the cut and break a lot smoother, a lot quicker and man, you\u2019d better grab him and grab him good, because the one thing he can do is get away from you in traffic or a guy gets his hands on him. Man, he somewhat kind of scoots away. He also really helps you in the return game. The one negative with him, way too many drops for a guy that is super talented and can help you two ways. He can play outside, he can play in the slot and then the return game. He is a big-play athlete, he just has to be more consistent catching the football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projection: Late first round<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 wide receiver class has a host of intriguing names, many of whom should be in play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[4955,7,117774,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-868264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-detillier","11":"tag-new-orleans","12":"tag-new-orleans-saints","13":"tag-neworleans","14":"tag-neworleanssaints","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116419339652222953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}