Browns Strike Gold in Round 1: KC Concepcion Has the Upside to Be the Best WR in This Class
KC Concepcion is a name that has been flying up my board all offseason, and the hype train seems to have caught up too. Yet, he still might be valued too low after being selected 24th overall by the Cleveland Browns.
Out of all the positions in this 2026 NFL Draft, Wide Receiver looked to be one of the deepest. There were five WRs taken in the first round of this past draft, falling a little short of the seven we saw taken in that stellar 2024 WR class. There is always going to be a big-two or big-three in WR classes this ‘deep’, but I’ve never had such indecision in terms of where each should be ranked within that top-shelf tier of wide receivers.
Jordyn Tyson flew up big boards to as high as WR1 just before the NFL Draft, eventually being selected 8th overall by the New Orleans Saints. Carnell Tate was surprisingly drafted as high as 4th overall to the Tennessee Titans, and then Makai Lemon landed with the Philadelphia Eagles later in the first round a few picks before Concepcion.
All of these factors have kept Concepcion outside of many people’s top-3 rookie WRs, but I would not be so sure. As of right now, I have KC Concepcion just ahead of Jordyn Tyson at WR3 in this 2026 NFL Class — and for good reason.
Besides Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion really is the only WR within my top-four that I expect to have a true WR1 role right away. He’s on the smaller, but solid side at 5-foot-11, 196 pounds — yet he’s a nightmare for opposing corners to shadow. KC flashes similar explosiveness and twitch to that of a young Stefon Diggs. He is truly dangerous once he gets the ball in his possession.
He does not slow down into his cuts and creates separation easily within the first 10 yards. Once he gets the ball, he is dominant when it comes to creating yards after the catch. This touchdown from Concepcion reminded me of my favorite receiver in the draft last year, Luther Burden III.
Concepcion bursted onto the scene in his first year of collegiate football for the NC State Wolfpack. As a true freshman, he put up 845 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on 72 receptions. The 18-year-old earned himself ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Freshman All-American accolades.
Concepcion’s 33.31% receiving yards market share, 2.21 receiving yards per team pass attempt, and 37.17% weighted dominator rating all contributed to what was a 96th percentile freshman season (per Marvin Elequin). He forced two less missed tackles (18) in 2023 than Luther Burden did in his absurd sophomore season with Missouri.
To put into perspective just how good Concepcion was at such a young age — not even Makai Lemon or Carnell Tate posted a higher percentage of his team’s receiving yards, scrimmage yards per team play, or single season weighted dominator rating in their entire collegiate careers than Concepcion did as a true freshman. He was also just behind both Tate and Lemon in all of those metrics in his sophomore and junior year.
Throughout his collegiate career, KC Concepcion caught 186 receptions for 2,224 receiving yards, 25 touchdowns, and 39 missed tackles forced — with more than half of those receiving yards (1,232) coming after the catch. He accounted for 36.9% of his teams’ receiving yards and touchdowns, ranking in the 76th percentile of WR college dominator ratings. He boasted a 26.7% target share (80th percentile) and broke out at the young age of 18.9 years old (90th percentile). Below is one of many examples of the explosiveness Concepcion provides, with this catch being versus the top corner in this year’s 2026 NFL Draft, LSU CB Mansoor Delane (No. 6 overall pick):
Speaking of, Concepcion has the best dominator rating (0.43) of any Power Conference Receiver under the age of 19 since 2004 — beating out both 2004 Calvin Johnson (0.40) and 2012 Stefon Diggs (0.37).
He also posted the 9th-highest yards per team pass attempt (2.21) of any Power Conference Receiver under the age of 19 since 2004, just ahead of 2021 Brock Bowers (2.17) and just behind Calvin Johnson’s 2004 season (2.42) here.
Amongst this WR class, Concepcion posted the second-highest yards after the catch over expected. This was better than all of the other first-round WRs such as Makai Lemon, Omar Cooper Jr. Jordyn Tyson, and Carnell Tate.
Outside of the best receiver in college football last year, Makai Lemon, Concepcion has the highest career yards per route run compared to the rest of this 2026 class. That includes Tyson, Tate, and Cooper Jr. as well.
In addition to his receiving prowess, Concepcion possesses elite rushing ability for a WR as well. He took 68 rush attempts for 432 yards and 3 touchdowns in his collegiate career, along with 17 missed tackles forced. This is a rather rare trait to have as an upper-echelon WR prospect, and players in the past who had similar combinations of rushing and receiving ability have succeeded.
Concepcion has the most career receiving touchdowns by an FBS player with 400-plus rushing yards, multiple rushing touchdowns, and multiple punt return touchdowns. He’s accompanied by TY Hilton, Antonio Brown, Jeremy Maclin, and Wes Welker.
Concepcion is a dynamic player, one that does not come around too often. He is one of just four early declare WRs to post a single season of 60-plus receiving yards per game and 20-plus rushing yards per game, with 2-plus rushing touchdowns and punt return touchdowns in their career since 2000 (per DevyEusuf):
— KC Concepcion
— Randall Cobb
— Antonio Brown
— Jeremy Maclin
Amongst this 2026 Rookie WR Class, Concepcion had the 6th-highest receiving yards per team pass attempt and 4th-best receiving yards market share (25.51%). Per Marvin Elequin on X, he was also one of just three WRs with a positive experience-adjusted production: Jordyn Tyson (0.52), KC Concepcion (0.14), and Elijah Sarratt (0.13)
KC Concepcion has some of the highest upside in this 2026 NFL Rookie Class. The community’s main worry seems to be the fact the Browns took Denzel Boston just after selecting Concepcion, and the fact Cleveland’s quarterback situation is less-than-ideal. One thing that is certain is that KC is no stranger to poor QB play. No receiver in the draft had a higher off-target rate on throws of 15+ air yards last season than KC Concepcion.
In fact, not a single wide receiver drafted within the first three rounds of the NFL Draft since 2017 had a higher relative uncatchable rate than KC Concepcion. That makes his production even more-so impressive, considering he was racking those numbers up despite the horrendous quarterback play. For those evaluating Concepcion, I’d advise using somewhat of a multiplier for his production with the poor circumstances he was given in his collegiate career.
Denzel Boston is a good prospect in his own right, I just believe Concepcion has more tools at his disposal to surge in value by this time next year. KC can make a push to be the best receiver from this class, it’s just a matter of how much help he gets from his new team.
Regardless, he should be a key part of the offense due to his swiss knife-like playing style. With Cleveland investing into their offensive line in the 2026 NFL Draft by picking Spencer Fano and Austin Barber, you have to assume there will be run packages designed for KC Concepcion to spell the workhorse RB Quinshon Judkins or confuse opposing defenses.
Player comparison-wise — I see both Luther Burden III and Stefon Diggs in KC Concepcion’s game, as you may have pieced together during your 10-minute article binge. He has very similar play styles to both and all have frames in the 6’0, 200 pound range.
Burden was my WR1B post-draft last year, and Concepcion resembles his play-style very similarly. Like Burden, Concepcion is considered an afterthought due to the lower draft capital in comparison to the other wideouts, which allows us to get (somewhat) of a discount on him in Dynasty Rookie Drafts (similar to Burden last year). The community seems to shy away from smaller-sized, yards after the catch-focused WRs for unknown reasons.
I personally drafted KC Concepcion in two different Dynasty Rookie Drafts using a pick 1.06 and pick 1.07. In those leagues, both Tyson and Cooper Jr. were taken before him. As we discussed, I will be taking Concepcion over both of those fellow first-round WRs and Kenyon Sadiq, so 1.07 certainly feels like a solid value for him.
When it’s all said and done, I would not be surprised whatsoever if KC Concepcion ended up being the best wide receiver in this class — I just happened to plant my flag on Makai Lemon and have him ranked slightly higher. Nonetheless, Concepcion is not too far behind if at all:
