What if Shaquille O’Neal had a jump shot? What if Superman were immune to Kryptonite? What if dogs could talk?
As a society, we can only handle so much. If any of those things occurred, life as we know it would be different. Entering 2025, “what if Trey McBride had touchdown equity” was the fantasy football version.
And then it happened.
Should You Draft Trey McBride in Fantasy Football?
McBride was the 55th overall pick of the 2022 season, and after a slow rookie campaign, he’s been one of the very best options at a position that is traditionally difficult to fill. The Cards have just 19 wins since drafting McBride, but he’s cleared 1,100 receiving yards in consecutive seasons despite being the primary focus of every defense.
In our fantasy world, the elite volume has had McBride labeled as a lineup lock since assuming the lead role. The elevated floor holds tremendous value in a onesie position, yet we were left wondering about his ceiling.
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Over three seasons, he scored on just 2.7% of his receptions, a rate that was difficult to comprehend given his excellence elsewhere on the field. Water found its level in 2025: 8.7%.
Jacoby Brissett is set to enter 2026 as the starting QB, and this team added firepower in the offseason. With the offensive environment improving, it’s hard to truly gauge the ceiling of this well-rounded weapon.
McBride’s Redraft Fantasy Football Value
It was no secret last season that Brissett, not Kyler Murray, was what fantasy managers wanted, and now we enter the season with that being the plan. Murray is now a Viking, and while Gardner Minshew was added in addition to Carson Beck being drafted, McBride enters 2026 with the highest floor/ceiling projection of his career.
Michael Wilson took a huge step forward under Brissett late last season, and Marvin Harrison Jr. showcased some of the upside that his pedigree suggests we should expect, but there is no question as to who the most reliable pass catcher is in this offense and who stands to gain the most should this team level up.
If you want to poke a hole in McBride being a mid-second round pick, the case rests more in the usage of Jeremiyah Love. The Golden Domer was drafted third overall, which not only puts him at the top of this depth chart but also could change the way Arizona goes about its business.
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In 2025, the Cardinals dropped back to pass on 70.8% of their red zone snaps. Not only was that the highest rate in the league, but it was also only the fourth time since 2018 in which a team reached 70%.
That’s what allowed McBride to post the game’s greatest floor (he was a TE1 in 14 of his 16 games during the fantasy season) in the sport while also making good on the upside we assumed him to have.
There’s natural regression to bake in here if for no other reason than consecutive historically good seasons are tough to do. A change at quarterback could happen at the worst possible time for us, introducing significant risk to this profile. There is also a world in which these receivers earn volume at a higher rate this season, and that could take some food off the plate of McBride.
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All of that could happen, and it’s still hard to see McBride sinking your team. There is an opportunity cost to consider here, and if you’re more comfortable with a Tier 3 running back or receiver, you certainly can build a winner that way (Ashton Jeanty and George Pickens types).
The case for the Tier 1 tight ends is similar to that of the quarterbacks: there’s a level of comfort that comes with locking them, and they are great, but there’s only so much upside to chase at cost.
McBride’s Dynasty Fantasy Football Value
McBride is an elite option in all formats. That said, he is more appealing at a cost in redraft than in dynasty. That take has less to do with him and more with the trajectory of the position as a whole. McBride is entering his age-26 season with plenty of production ahead of him, but some of the young guns in recent drafts have more long-term support.
Brock Bowers has no real target competition, and the real hope is that the team has its franchise QB set to begin developing. Colston Loveland came on strong last season, holds an age edge, and is going to grow alongside his QB of the future.
With the roster as it stands, it’s very reasonable to expect this season to be McBride’s best over the next 3-4 seasons. That’s not the case for Bowers and Loveland, giving them more appeal in specific roster builds.
He’s great, and he’s going to continue to be great. Part of the math when it comes to his value, however, is his value over replacement, and that appears more likely than not to work in the wrong direction over the next few seasons.
