East Coast people know. There is no feeling like a random warm day in February. It’s enough to provide you with hope that better days are ahead, and we got the fantasy football version of that with the NFL schedule being released.
Now that we know who is playing whom and when, we have new data to analyze and projections to run. In terms of the NFC West, some big-name players picked up value in sneaky ways while others lost some steam.
How the 2026 NFL Schedule Release Impacts NFC West Fantasy Football
Seattle Seahawks Fantasy Football Schedule Analysis
Sam Darnold had the best bye week encore performance at the position last season (27.2 in Week 9 at Washington), and he could well come out of the bye firing this season, giving you a bump as you prepare for the postseason.
- Week 13 at 49ers
- Week 14 vs. Cowboys
- Week 15 vs. Giants
The backfield is a work in progress, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is something of a one-man show as far as the pass-catching corps is concerned for us. The schedule order does little to impact how I rank Seattle’s stars, though I do like them getting some of the toughest games (Patriots and Broncos) out of the way early while the road game against the Rams comes after our season is over.
Darnold isn’t a fantasy starter for me to open the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were a viable streamer for the stretch mentioned above, and that could be the difference between you qualifying for the postseason and not.
Los Angeles Rams Fantasy Football Outlook
This team has “buy low” written all over it.
The Rams are a veteran team that will naturally operate with a big-picture view. They’ve got a pair of tough road games early (Broncos and Eagles), and they might well struggle to put up the type of fantasy numbers that we want.
Be patient if you have them; be aggressive if you don’t.
Coming out of the Week 8 bye last season, Los Angeles turned its focus toward its top two receivers in a huge way. Davante Adams scored 23 fantasy points against the Saints immediately after the off week, the fourth-best game by a WR following its bye for the season. In that game, Puka Nacua pitched in 22.8 points, the fifth-best game in such a spot.
Together, that duo combined for half of Matthew Stafford’s completions and 55.2% of his passing yards in that win. They were both top-20 producers at the position in three of four games coming out of the bye, and if they come out of the Week 11 bye this season firing like that, it’s not hard to see this offense very much impacting how your standings look.
Nacua is my WR2 this season in all formats, and that’s not going to change. Adams is the interesting player. I’m skeptical of his value sustaining due to his reliance on touchdowns last season, but if his value tanks early, there’s certainly a world in which he can be had at a bargain by midseason.
I’m not going to draft Adams at cost, but I’ll be tracking. Plug him into our FREE Trade Calculator after a few dud games and see if you can create a fair offer to acquire him at a discount with the stretch run in mind.
San Francisco 49ers Fantasy Football Projections
The 49ers enter 2026 as an interesting fantasy team. Under Kyle Shanahan, they’ve maximized value at just about every turn: from Brock Purdy’s development to Christian McCaffrey’s extended run of excellence, this team has been one we can count on.
That said, Purdy battled turf toe last season, CMC touched the ball 413 times, George Kittle is on the shelf, and while the Mike Evans add looks good on paper, his best ball is behind him.
I have some concerns about this team returning value the way early ADPs are hoping, and its schedule doesn’t make me feel any differently.
That run during the fantasy playoffs is brutal. The Chargers, Chiefs, and Eagles all graded 11th or better in terms of PFSN NFL Defense Impact grading last season, marks that were fueled by their ability to limit the damage when allowing opponents to get into scoring position.
They were all top-10 red-zone units a season ago, and that could undo some of what makes this 49ers offense so fantasy-friendly (top five in both red-zone trips and red-zone TD rate last season).
QB Red Zone Fantasy PPG, 2025
- Brock Purdy (QB23 in non-red-zone PPG)
- Trevor Lawrence (QB14 in non-red-zone PPG)
- Josh Allen (QB3 in non-red-zone PPG)
RB Red Zone Fantasy PPG, 2025
- Christian McCaffrey
- Jonathan Taylor
- Josh Jacobs
That’s a scary thought for a team that relies on efficiency more than raw volume. If Purdy’s touchdown equity takes a hit in December, Mike Evans is at risk of not being playable, and CMC carries even greater risk than we already had assigned to a player entering his age-30 season who is coming off a 413-touch campaign.
I’m not looking to overextend for any member of this offense in redraft leagues, and I’d bet on me having all meaningful pieces ranked behind the industry ADP this summer. Take a spin on our FREE Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator and you’ll get a feel for where I’d draft their primary weapons. There is a decent floor to chase, but if the ceiling lowers, I think you can do better at cost more often than not.
Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Football Schedule Breakdown
There are two ways of looking at the 2026 Cardinals, and your point of view will dictate if you want to bet on them or not in the fantasy world.
With a tough opening two months of the season, we could be looking at a two-win team as Halloween passes, one that wants to see what Carson Beck has to offer at the quarterback position.
Maybe that works out, but my guess is that you’re drafting the pass catchers on this offense with the hope that Jacoby Brissett holds onto the starting gig as long as possible. Beck impressed at Miami last season, but asking him to come in during the season and solidify the value of three pass catchers in addition to a rookie running back feels optimistic.
That is certainly within the range of outcomes, and if you believe this is the most likely outcome, drafting Marvin Harrison or Michael Wilson as a weekly starter isn’t wise.
But if you believe in this team, the receivers aren’t being drafted high enough. Harrison’s pedigree is elite, and we did see him post consecutive games with double-digit targets and a score last season before injuries put an end to his productive days in 2025. Wilson became a modern-day version of Calvin Johnson after Brissett took over and posted four top-10 finishes over the final seven weeks of the season.
If they can pull off an upset or two early, this offense could level up with the balance that Jeremiyah Love is expected to provide, thus making late-season home dates with the Jets and Raiders awfully enticing.
I stand by where I have both Wilson and Harrison ranked, but remember that rankings are largely an exercise in mean outcomes. There is a wide range of outcomes for everyone attached to this offense, and while I’m more on the pessimistic side (early struggles and a Beck learning curve), I’m not blind to the idea that the peak version of this team could return two top-30 receivers.
That said, I don’t have either ranked as such.
