NFL Draft Odds: Betting The First WR Taken 2023

• Quentin Johnston is favored to be the first WR taken in the NFL Draft with +175 odds.
• Jordan Addison has +240 odds to be the first WR taken in the draft.
• There are +350 odds for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to be taken as the first WR drafted.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Odds on the 2023 NFL Draft are up and all throughout NFL betting sites. One of the most popular NFL Draft prop odds to bet on are which player will be selected first at a specific position.

Looking at the wide receiver position, NFL online sportsbooks are favoring Quentin Johnston from TCU to be the first WR taken off the board.

First Wide Receiver Taken In NFL Draft

• Quentin Johnston +175
• Jordan Addison +240
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba +350
• Jalin Hyatt +375
• Zay Flowers +500

There are several teams with first-round draft picks that could use help at wide receiver including the Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, and New England Patriots to name a few. What these teams have in common are that they have young quarterbacks that are still proving themselves but have yet to build on their receiving corps.

The Falcons have Desmond Ridder, the Titans with Malik Willis, and the Patriots have Mac Jones. The Houston Texans are in prime position with both the 2nd and 12th picks in the first round  to which they could take both a QB and WR.

Three Way Race Between Johnston, Addison, Smith-Njigba

Starting with Johnston, his NFL Draft odds sit at the top being that he is coming off of a career-high season (1,069 rec. yards) and National Championship appearance at TCU and all that came with their preseason backup QB, Max Duggan.

Of the five receivers on the odds board, Johnston is the bulkiest at 215 lbs and the tallest as he stands at 6 foot 4 inches.

Looking at Jordan Addison, he is one of the premier big-play threat players in the draft having averaged two straight seasons of 14+ yards per reception and seven games of 120+ yards in those two seasons as well. He also led a stacked USC Trojans receiving room with 59 receptions, 875 yards, and 8 touchdowns even after missing three games on the year. All of them came with three other receivers having recorded 600+ yards on the season.

That said, it doesn’t matter what situation he is going into, he'll produce quality numbers regardless.

With the third longest odds to be the first receiver taken, Jaxon Smith-Njigba might have the best possible chance and being that player given that he is from Ohio State alone, a feeding ground for NFL wide receivers. Receivers including, Michael Thomas, Terry McLaurin, Garret Wilson, Curtis Samuel, and Chris Olave are all out of Ohio State.

The only downside to Smith-Njigba is that he missed all but three games in the 2022-23 season with a hamstring injury. However, in the 2021-22 season, he was top-3 in the nation with 1,606 receiving yards even while sharing the field with both Wilson and Olave.