Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings: Puka Nacua Vs. Nico Collins

If you’re looking at the top of the wide receiver rankings this year, you’ll likely see some order of Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, and Justin Jefferson. And probably in that exact order.

But what do you do if those three are gone and you want to snag a wideout in the first round? Do you take Brian Thomas Jr. and hope he repeats his rookie season? Do you grab Amon-Ra St. Brown and hope he continues to eat with Ben Johnson gone and Jameson Williams ascending? Do you draft Malik Nabers and hope he can do great things with Russell Wilson? There are reasons to say no to all of those questions, which leaves us with a decision of Nico Collins or Puka Nacua.

Ranked as WR4 and WR8 in our current rankings, Collins and Nakua present an interesting comparison. But who should win out?

WR Nico Collins, Houston Texans

Collins is the older of the two players at 26 years old after breaking out a little later, but he’s put up back-to-back 1,000-plus seasons despite playing just 11 games last year. The Michigan alum has found the end zone 15 times total over the last two seasons, and represents the Texans lone bonafide receiving threat.

After 104.5 targets over the past two seasons, Collins should see even more looks from C.J. Stroud this season as Christian Kirk,Jayden Higgins, and Dalton Schultz are the next-best options in Houston. And they may need to throw even more with Joe Mixon looking iffy to start the year (if not longer). If Stroud can return to his rookie form after a down sophomore, Collins has a lot of upside this year.

WR Puka Nakua, Los Angeles Rams

I want to love Puka Nakua this year. I really do. He’s an easy player to root for with the way he plays, and he’s a fantasy beast when he plays. We all remember his monster 2023 season (105 catches on 160 targets for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns), and he still played well last year when he was healthy (79 catches on 106 targets for 990 yards and three touchdowns).

But I’m also having a tough time overlooking the fact that Davante Adams will command more balls than the oft-injured Cooper Kupp did over the last two years -- combined with the fact that Matthew Stafford’s back is looking extremely worrisome. A season of Puka with Jimmy Garappolo under center for the Rams doesn’t sound like all that much fun to me.

The Verdict

My heart wants to say Puka here. Collins missed as much time as he did last year and has never put up numbers like Puka did in 2023. But we’re skating to where the puck is going – not where it’s been. And Collins has the potential situation to chase Puka’s 2023 numbers (or at least close to it) if Stroud can hold up his end of the bargain. While I love Puka and would still happily take him on my fantasy team, he’s ranked a full half-round earlier than Collins. And I’d much rather have Collins at WR8 than Nacua at WR4.