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Who should be the No. 1 Fantasy wide receiver this season? And is that player even considered the best receiver in the NFL? It's a fascinating topic this year in Fantasy and reality, and hopefully, we'll give you some clarity to the biggest decision you might have to make in Round 1. 

Welcome to the Elite Eight. These are the consensus top eight receivers in our CBS Sports rankings: CeeDee Lamb, Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson and Puka Nacua. You can make a strong argument that all of them should be selected in the first round this season -- they're that good.

But who should go first of those eight receivers? And do all of them have the chance to finish as the best eight receivers this season? There are certainly other contenders to the throne, including Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, Drake London, Jaylen Waddle, Michael Pittman Jr., Davante Adams, Mike Evans, Brandon Aiyuk, Nico Collins, Deebo Samuel and Cooper Kupp, among others.

We've identified these eight as the best of the bunch either based on what they have done or what they should be able to accomplish this season, which you can read about in-depth in this article. And based on the inexact science of a Twitter/X poll with more than 3,000 votes, the best Fantasy receiver this season should be Lamb (32.5 percent), followed by Hill (29.4 percent), Jefferson (24.2 percent) and Chase (13.9 percent). That happens to be our order as well.

However, as far as what the population on Twitter/X think about who is the best receiver in the NFL (non-Fantasy), the winner is Jefferson with an overwhelming 56.8 percent of the more than 3,000 votes. Hill was second (22.1 percent), Lamb was third (13.4 percent) and Chase was fourth (7.8 percent).

But we're not talking about waiver-wire options here. These are the best receivers in the NFL -- the Elite Eight -- and we want you to know why they should dominate the position in 2024. 

We'll break this into eight parts than you can find on CBSSports.com/FantasyFootball in the coming days. Today, we'll focus on Part 1 -- featuring CeeDee Lamb and his case to be the No. 1 wide receiver in Fantasy for 2024.

CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys

  • 2023 stats: 135 catches for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns on 181 targets
  • Stats that grab you: From Week 8 on last season, Lamb averaged 9.2 receptions, 115.8 yards and 1.0 touchdowns on 12.6 targets per game. Over that span, he averaged a whopping 28.5 PPR points per game. ... In 2023, Lamb set the single-season record for the Cowboys in receptions and receiving yards, both previously held by Michael Irvin in 1995 when the Hall of Famer had 111 receptions for 1,603 yards. ... Lamb's receiving yards last year ranked eighth all-time in NFL history, and he became the fourth player in NFL history with at least 125 receptions and 10 touchdown catches in the same season, joining Antonio Brown (2014 and 2015), Marvin Harrison (2002) and Cooper Kupp (2021). 
  • Quote to note: "He's got the whole package. Let's start with the mental component of it. He has a very high understanding of how to play the position. He's been extremely productive. You look at his path as a professional. He's been everything we thought he could be individually. But now, the responsibility of that development of bringing others with him. I look for him to embrace that leadership role more moving forward. And his physical tools speak for themselves. His dynamic with the ball in his hands is unique. He just gives me tremendous flexibility schematically to move him around, and there's really nothing that he can't do from the route tree. And he has such a great connection with Dak (Prescott), which is so important if you look at the great quarterback-receiver duos that go through this league. Dak and CeeDee now are in that realm." –- Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy to CBS Sports about Lamb at the NFL owners meeting
  • The breakdown: Lamb was exceptional in 2023 from his bye week to the end of the season, and hopefully that can be replicated all year. His floor is likely the 17.7 PPR points he averaged in 2022, but no one is drafting him as the No. 1 Fantasy receiver for those stats. Given the Cowboys potential issues in the run game (Ezekiel Elliott was brought back to replace the departed Tony Pollard) and the lack of elite weapons in the receiving corps (Brandin Cooks, who turns 31 in September, is the No. 2 receiver), Lamb should again dominate targets from Prescott. Lamb, 25, is also in his prime and could be playing for a new contract this offseason if a deal isn't reached before Week 1.