2025 season · Receivers and tight ends, 24 qualifiers

Contested Catch Rate Leaders

Contested Catch Rate — 2025 NFL leaders, updated Aug 13, 2026. Puka Nacua (LAR) led the league in contested catch rate at 61.9%, ahead of 23 other qualifying players. Based on verified 2025 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring.

A contested target is one a charter judged to have a defender in position to play the ball. The catch rate on those is the closest thing receiving has to a measure of winning at the catch point, because it throws away the uncontested balls and leaves only the ones somebody had to take away from a defender. The samples are small by construction — contested targets are a minority of anyone's workload — so the top of this board describes a skill more reliably than it ranks one.

Contested Catch Rate, 2025 NFL season
#PlayerCont Catch%CatchesCont
1Puka NacuaWR · LAR61.9%1321
2A.J. BrownWR · PHI54.8%1731
3Chris OlaveWR · NO50.0%1224
4George PickensWR · DAL50.0%1122
5Ja'Marr ChaseWR · CIN50.0%1632
6Jakobi MeyersWR · JAX50.0%1122
7Juwan JohnsonTE · NO50.0%1020
8Kyle PittsTE · ATL50.0%1020
9Nico CollinsWR · HOU50.0%1020
10Trey McBrideTE · ARI50.0%1836
11Alec PierceWR · IND42.3%1126
12Jauan JenningsWR · SF42.3%1126
13Tee HigginsWR · CIN41.2%1434
14Elic AyomanorWR · TEN40.0%820
15Harold Fannin Jr.TE · CLE40.0%820
16Michael WilsonWR · ARI39.3%1128
17Courtland SuttonWR · DEN38.5%1026
18Keenan AllenWR · LAC38.5%1026
19Drake LondonWR · ATL34.5%1029
20Justin JeffersonWR · MIN33.3%1030
21Romeo DoubsWR · GB33.3%721
22Davante AdamsWR · LAR29.6%827
23Brian Thomas Jr.WR · JAX27.3%622
24Wan'Dale RobinsonWR · NYG25.0%520

Contested targets are a small share of any receiver's season, so the qualifying bar here is low and the samples behind these rates are correspondingly thin. Read the volume column alongside the rate.

New to this stat? What contested catch rate means.

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