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Who are the Highest-Paid Wide Receivers in the NFL?

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Once an afterthought in a run-dominated league, wide receivers have become some of the NFL's biggest stars in this millennium. Typically brash athletes who can break a game open with their speed and great hands, wide receivers have started to get paid like the difference-makers they are.

Given all that, and with one of the biggest-name WRs, Stefon Diggs (who we ranked the fourth-best in the league a few years ago), in the news this week for being dealt from the Buffalo Bills to the Houston Texans, we thought it was time to share the list of the 10 highest-paid wide receivers for this coming NFL season. Please note that there's a few ways to categorize salaries in the NFL, as some have big-money deals that are not guaranteed, others spread signing bonuses around, etc. For the purposes of this piece, we're going with the 12 highest-paid in "cash ranking," ie, what these stars will take home this season.

All stats via Spotrac.

12. Tyreek Hill, Dolphins, $19.765 Million

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"Cheetah" first made his mark as a Kansas City Chief, and now he's hoping to help the Dolphins reach the same heights Kansas City has achieved recently.

9. (tie) Chris Godwin, Buccaneers, $20 Million

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A 2017 draft pick out of Penn State, Godwin reached the public consciousness as one of Tom Brady's favorite targets on the Super Bowl LV-winning Bucs, and he's only gotten better (and richer) since.

9. (tie) Cooper Kupp, Rams, $20 Million

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Injuries brought Kupp back to earth a bit since his record-setting 2021 campaign (145 catches for 1,947 yards!!!), but he's still one of the best wideouts in the game and his teammate, Paka Nacua, says Kupp is on a "revenge tour" this season.

9. (tie) Amari Cooper, Browns, $20 Million

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Cooper has bounced from the Raiders to the Cowboys to the Browns, and one thing's been certain at every stop: Amari is going to make big plays for his team.

8. A.J. Brown, Eagles, $20.76 Million

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The Eagles acquired Brown from the Titans before the 2022 season to take their offense to another level and Brown has delivered with two straight huge statistical seasons.

7. Tee Higgins, Bengals, $21.816 Million

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Higgins has come into his own as a wide receiver and the 25-year-old's value is being shown in this year's contract, which represents the "franchise tag" the Bengals put on their star pass catcher earlier this offseason.

6. Deebo Samuel, 49ers, $21.922 Million

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The rare wideout who is big and strong enough to double as a running back, the 6' 0", 216-pound Samuel is as fun to watch as he is hard to tackle.

5. Stefon Diggs, Texans, $22.52 Million

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It seems appropriate to show the aforementioned, and fashion-forward, Diggs, off the field since there are no pictures of him as a Texan yet and he seems destined to be the most-talked-about receiver of the offseason (for off-field reasons).

4. Mike Evans, Buccaneers, $23 Million

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The other half of an elite wideout tandem in Tampa with Godwin, listed above, Evans is a veteran receiver who has never had less than 1,000 yards in a season and is heading into his 11th NFL campaign, all with his beloved Bucs.

3. Keenan Allen, Bears, $23.1 Million

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A long-time Charger, Allen was somewhat shocked when he was traded to the Bears last month in a salary shedding move by Los Angeles. The Bears, almost certainly drafting a quarterback with the first ovall pick in this month's draft, will be thrilled to have the veteran Allen and his six career 1,000-yard seasons along to help QB1 get acclimated.

2. Calvin Ridley, Titans, $25 Million

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One of the splashiest moves of the NFL offseason has been the Titans big-budget free-agent signing of Ridley, a 29-year-old who most think has plenty of mileage left in him since he has only played 66 career games in five seasons.

1. Michael Pittman, Colts, $28 Million

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There's very little chance anyone but Colts fans and the hardest-core NFL followers would have guessed who'd be number one on this list, but that's how it works with contract timing. Pittman was a second-round pick of the Colts in 2020 and was eligible to sign a mega-bucks extension this offseason and fortunately enough for him, Indianapolis was happy to oblige.

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