Wednesday War Room: Projecting 2026 WR Depth Chart

 

It is not often a team loses its best deep threat, second-leading receiver in receptions, second in touchdown catches and leading receiver in yardage and still walks into the next season with people arguing the room may be better off for it. And yet that is still where Oregon finds itself heading into 2026. The difference now is that the case for optimism has to be framed more honestly. This is not a room that feels stronger because it is deeper in proven veteran bodies. It feels stronger because the top of it may be more dangerous, even if the middle has gotten thinner.

That is the part that cannot be glossed over. Malik Benson is gone after leading Oregon in 2025 with 43 catches for 716 yards and five touchdowns, bringing the kind of vertical stress that changed games even when the ball did not find him often. Gary Bryant Jr. is also gone after contributing 26 catches for 306 yards and four touchdowns. Those were not empty numbers. Benson gave Oregon its most explosive outside threat, while Bryant provided reliability, experience and another veteran option who understood how to function within the flow of the offense. Taken together, those two departures strip real production and real comfort out of the room.

Just as important, Oregon is not only replacing the production lost with the departures of Malik Benson and Gary Bryant Jr. The Ducks also lost three players to the transfer portal in Justius Lowe (San Diego State), Cooper Perry (Cal) and Kyler Kasper (BYU), taking away part of the depth that helped stabilize the room. Lowe had already shown he could handle meaningful snaps, Kasper still offered size and untapped upside despite multiple injury setbacks, and Perry was a younger piece with developmental value after appearing in 12 games as a freshman. None had fully emerged as a featured option, but together they provided valuable layering behind the top line. Without them, the Ducks are not just replacing catches and yards. They are replacing depth that gave the room margin for error.

So the conversation starts where it should have all along, with the three names most likely to carry the room. Dakorien Moore flashed exactly why he arrived with so much hype, playing in 11 games as a true freshman with seven starts and finishing with 34 catches for 497 yards and three touchdowns despite missing four games. Jeremiah McClellan built even more week-to-week dependability into his season, playing in all 15 games, making nine starts and finishing with 38 catches for 557 yards and three touchdowns. Those two are not just promising. They are now central. Oregon no longer has the luxury of viewing them as rising complements to a veteran-led room. They are the room’s returning foundation.

Then there is Evan Stewart, who remains the swing factor that can change the whole emotional temperature of this position group. He missed all of 2025 with the knee injury, but the most recent full picture of him at Oregon came in 2024 when he caught 48 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns while earning all-Big Ten honorable mention. That player does not just help replace Benson. That player changes coverage structures, forces safeties to widen and gives Oregon a true matchup problem on the outside. The room looks very different if Stewart is merely available. It looks potentially elite if he looks like himself again.

The transfer addition matters more now too. Iverson “Strap” Hooks arrives after leading UAB with 72 catches for 927 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025. In a room that no longer has Lowe, Perry or Kasper to serve as secondary layers, Hooks feels less like a nice addition and more like an essential one. Oregon needs him to be an adult in the room from the first day of camp. He does not have to be Benson. He does not have to be Stewart. But he does have to be playable right away, because his presence is one of the few things keeping the Ducks from asking too much, too soon, of their freshmen.

That is where the shape of the depth chart starts to make more sense. McClellan feels like the most natural slot answer because he already proved he can handle volume and work through traffic. Moore has the kind of burst and instant separation ability that can play almost anywhere, but keeping him outside allows Oregon to stress defenses vertically and horizontally at the same time. Stewart, if healthy, is still the most proven high-end talent on the roster. Hooks is the player who can move around and stabilize multiple spots. Those four give Oregon a credible top line. The issue is what happens after that.

Because after those four, the projection turns quickly toward potential. Gatlin Bair finally joins the program after his two-year mission, bringing elite speed and a recruiting profile that made him one of Oregon’s most intriguing long-term bets. Jalen Lott arrives with five-star pedigree and the kind of senior production in Texas that suggests he may push for snaps early. Messiah Hampton adds another highly regarded freshman body, while Hudson Lewis gives the room another developmental option.

That is a fascinating collection of talent, but it is still a collection of young talent. In the earlier version of this piece, there was more room to imagine those players easing into things. With the transfer exits properly accounted for, that runway feels shorter.

That is also why Jack Ressler and Dillon Gresham matter, even if both come attached to uncertainty. Ressler has yet to play since arriving in Eugene because of injuries. Gresham missed all of last season with a neck injury, and Dan Lanning’s comments at the start of spring practice left his future with the program in doubt. Neither can be treated as a certain answer for 2026. Oregon would benefit if either emerged as a viable option and helped reduce the pressure on the younger receivers, but for now, counting on that would be more hope than projection.

I think Oregon can still be better at wide receiver in 2026, but the path to getting there is narrower than the overall talent suggests. The Ducks lost Benson’s explosiveness and Bryant’s steadiness, and they also lost three more players who helped stabilize the room, even if their production was limited. What remains is a group with real top-end talent in Moore, McClellan, Stewart, and Hooks, plus a freshman class capable of raising the ceiling in a hurry.

That makes this group more volatile, but not necessarily weaker. If Stewart returns to form, if Moore makes the expected sophomore leap, if McClellan keeps trending upward and if Hooks proves his UAB production translates, Oregon will have more than enough firepower to make this one of the better receiver rooms in the Big Ten. There is less proven margin for error than the overall talent might suggest. The ceiling may still be higher, but the floor depends more heavily on a handful of very specific things going right.