Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Football Week 18 Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Playoff Edition

This game of ours is one of very little separation, and that makes every decision critical. As much as I’d love to help each of you with your specific fantasy football questions (I’ll try — @KyleSoppePFN), that’s a big ask.

What I can give you, every single week, are my takes. My statistical-backed rankings are available, but you, the devoted fantasy manager, need more than simply a number next to a name. You need to know why I stand where I do, and that’s my goal with this novel.

If you have a question, hit me up on X, but my hope is that this extended piece will give you the insight you’re looking for without relying on me landing on your specific question before lineups lock.

You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready — this piece is me staying ready to help you win the week!

Quarterbacks

Aaron Rodgers | PIT (vs BAL)

The Steelers had every chance to clinch the AFC North last weekend in Cleveland, but with DK Metcalf on the pine, they simply had no explosive potential.

Pat Freiermuth had a chunk gain late, but 4.3 YPA was a season low for Aaron Rodgers, and with Darnell Washington now out, along with Metcalf, it’s hard to operate with much optimism this week.

Through the first 1.5 quarters of the loss, 146.2% of Rodgers’ passing yards went to tight ends.

Yes, it’s that bad.

We don’t know what the future holds, but I can’t imagine I’ll be prioritizing any Steeler in 2026. Metcalf is talented, but not the type of player that can carry an offense (ala Jaxon Smith-Njigba), and the QB outlook is murky at best.

Rodgers has four passing scores over his past five games and seems to be playing out the string of his career. He can still perform, but takeover mode is no longer an option, and that means that even the best version of this future Hall of Famer isn’t of interest to fantasy managers.

Baker Mayfield | TB (vs CAR)

Baker Mayfield has thrown a pick in four straight outings, struggling with consistency for the better part of the past two months.

His first interception in Miami last week was a decent decision, just not well executed, and that’s been the story of late: bits and pieces of positive developments that crippling errors have undone.

I think he’s going to be my guilty pleasure in 2026 when I wait to address the position.

In the first half, 55.2% of his yards went to Jalen McMillan, a connection I wasn’t banking on. The Bucs have a plethora of options for him to take advantage of, and we’ve seen him put up monster passing numbers in the past.

Heck, he did it early this season.

From the beginning of 2023 through the end of 2024, he was good for roughly 4,300 yards and 35 passing scores. Why can’t we see that in 2026 with above-average rushing production?

I think we can.

There’s a real chance that he’s a less athletic but more reliable passing version of Caleb Williams, a player who will generate more interest because of his age profile.

We will see where ADP settles, but I’m anticipating being a Mayfield stan for next season.

Bo Nix | DEN (vs LAC)

The Bo Nix experience is truly something.

If you haven’t lived it, I suggest you do it at least once. The rollercoaster of emotions in a game, let alone a season, can be exhilarating. He has five rush TDs this season, and seeing him complete north of 67% of his passes in three of his past four games is certainly encouraging, but don’t mistake that for a flawless profile.

Or anything even close to it for fantasy purposes.

Nix has just one game over his past seven with multiple passing scores, and the growth when pressured just hasn’t been there. His completion percentage and passer rating in such spots haven’t budged from last season, and his YPA when pressured ranks dead last of the 23 qualified QBs over those two years.

The athleticism is what will stabilize his fantasy value (10 games with a 10+ yard rush this season and 3.8 fantasy points per game on the ground for his career). Still, we need to see more consistency through the air, something I think can happen under Sean Payton.

For me, it’s more a question of when, not if. If he can follow the Caleb Williams path under Ben Johnson, we could be looking at a fantasy force next season at a very reasonable price. But development isn’t linear, and that means that counting on Nix in 2026 could result in more picks than moving the sticks.

Be careful, but I suspect the cost will be favorable enough to warrant my interest, given his profile and the pieces in place around him.

Brock Purdy | SF (vs SEA)

There have been two players drafted in 2000 or later to average 8.0 yards per pass with a 6% TD rate through their first four seasons: Patrick Mahomes (2x League MVP, 3x Super Bowl MVP) and Russell Wilson (10 Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl Champion).

Brock Purdy is going to join that list (currently: 8.7 and 6.3%), and until he started dancing around on Sunday night, it’s almost like no one cared.

His playmaking was on full display in the win over the Bears, and while you can nitpick the choreography of his celebrations, the larger point is that he has plenty to celebrate, and that’s kind of been the norm.

This season, Brandon Aiyuk has been a zero, and none of his active WR/TE have stayed healthy. It hasn’t mattered: Purdy has at least three touchdown passes in four of his six games back, and his Niners have won every one of those games.

In 2023, he threw for 4,280 yards and 31 TDs. Last season, he ran for five scores. In December, his full-season pace was near 500 rushing yards. Do all of those things in a single season, and how different is he than 2024 MVP Josh Allen (3,731 passing yards, 40 total TDs, and 531 rushing yards)?

Football snobs can have the “impact of Kyle Shanahan” discussion. This isn’t the time (do it in the offseason, this tandem is too busy winning games) or the place for that. I couldn’t care less who gets the credit: Purdy is a locked-in option in all formats, and if he’s not paid the respect of a Tier 2 QB in your draft, punish them and win a title in 2026.

Easy game.

Bryce Young | CAR (at TB)

Bryce Young has 20+ rushing yards in four straight games, and if this young core of receivers can develop, we could be looking at a weekly streaming option. If you’re in the business of looking way too far ahead and are a Young truther, you’re rooting for a loss this week to pave the way for a second-place schedule.

It doesn’t happen every year, but if there is a player I like to mirror the recent Trevor Lawrence jump, you’re staring at my pick.

C.J. Stroud | HOU (vs IND)

I think you probably would have taken 244 yards and a pair of passing touchdowns from C.J. Stroud a week ago if I told you that was what I said you’d get in Los Angeles against the Chargers.

If I told you he was going to complete all four of his passes for 142 yards and two scores on the first two drives (last 54 minutes: 12/24 for 102 and  2 INT), you’d probably be left wanting more than what he offered for the game as a whole.

That’s what separates the fringe options from weekly lineup locks. There is no doubt that Stroud has what it takes to take that step, but we’ve yet to see it consistently.

It’s not usually as drastic as it was on Saturday (touchdown passes of 43 and 75 yards in the first quarter before giving us basically nothing). Still, only four games with 15+ fantasy points speak to the overarching idea that producing for 60 minutes is a bit above his pay grade at this point.

With Nico Collins in the mix, he has access to the type of game breaker that gives him 2025 Matthew Stafford type of upside, but you’re walking a thin line between MVP candidate and average producer (Jordan Love: just four top-10 finishes this season).

I want Stroud more than you do this summer because I buy the upside of the WRs and am not entirely sold on the idea that running the ball will be a strength of this team. I don’t think Stafford’s stat line from this season is within the range of probable outcomes, but could he be next season what Jared Goff was this season?

I think so, and at cost, as long as he’s giving you a reasonable floor, that’ll be profitable.

Caleb Williams | CHI (vs DET)

Caleb Williams has eight top-10 finishes on his 2025 resume, and I feel like that doesn’t even do justice to his spike in confidence this season. He’s thrown multiple touchdown passes in four straight games (four such games this season prior), and it hasn’t been unsustainable efficiency that’s getting him home.

In fact, he’s succeeding without it (under 61% complete in each of those games).

You could view that as an outlier, or you could take a glass-half-full approach and wonder just how dangerous this kid can be when he gets a firm grasp of this Ben Johnson system.

With the addition of Johnson (not to mention Luther Burden and Colston Loveland), Williams’ yards per pocket completion have soared to 11.9 from 9.8 as a rookie (that’s a 21.4% increase). Little things like that are what make it easy to gush over this team’s potential.

This defense has had moments here and there, but they are going to put Williams in a position to be aggressive weekly, and that’s all we can ask for. I have Williams as a low-end QB1 for 2026, though I’ll admit that QB7-QB12 all currently occupy the same tier.

A top-5 season is within the range of possible outcomes, and it may be available for an awfully reasonable price come draft day.

Cameron Ward | TEN (at JAX)

Cam Ward has four straight games with multiple touchdown passes (zero such games prior), and the Titans allowed him to cut it loose a bit last week (9.3-yard aDOT, his highest mark since Week 5).

Much like Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland, this is a larger conversation for fantasy purposes. Ward isn’t yet ready to be a fantasy asset by himself, and the roster around him isn’t close to viable. He isn’t willing to run, and that’s going to slow down his ability to appeal to us in a meaningful way.

I think what he has shown is more encouraging than his raw numbers suggest, but we are still more than a year away from him being on redraft radars.

Dak Prescott | DAL (at NYG)

It may feel like this has been a strong season for Dak Prescott, and it has been, but isn’t this sort of the status quo?

This is the fourth 30+ pass TD season of his career, and it’ll be his third straight healthy season (min. 13 games) with north of 400 completions. That level of volume creates a floor, and with the dynamic tandem of receivers, it can result in some spike weeks. But without rushing equity, are we sure he’s a lineup lock in 2026?

His per-pass fantasy production has increased by 27% this year from last, but that’s just enough to land him where he’s been for the majority of his career. For me, he’s not a QB1 in 2026: I’d rather take my chances on Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, and Trevor Lawrence, where there’s upside to chase at the highest-scoring position in our game.

In essence, I’m viewing 2025 as his ceiling moving forward, and that’s not appealing enough given the trajectory of the position.

Drake Maye | NE (vs MIA)

If you haven’t heard, this kid is good.

Drake Maye put his name on a list with Lamar Jackson and Peyton Manning in the first half last week during their demolition of the Jets and finished with 1.44 fantasy points per pass, the best qualified passing game since Jackson in Week 17 of 2023.

His skill set (from deep ball touch to athletic feel) is impressive for any player, never mind one on an upward trajectory. Maye has completed a pass with 25+ air yards attached to it in 11 of his past 12 games, and while the big plays are tough to count on, his touch on those passes appears to be generational in the way that peak Russell Wilson’s were.

Looking ahead, it stands to reason that the run game will give this team more balance over time. TreVeyon Henderson is pretty clearly the future of the backfield, and with some NFL reps under his belt, those highlight plays are going to become more of a weekly occurrence.

His gain is Maye’s gain. That may not be your initial thought, but what if I told you that Maye is averaging 9.6 yards per play-action pass? Or that he has 10 TDs and zero interceptions on those passes.

You can’t put him ahead of Josh Allen, but any ranking from QB2 to QB6 is plenty reasonable for 2026. He won’t come cheap, obviously, but there are no red flags that make instant regression something to project.

Geno Smith | LV (vs KC)

Geno Smith suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday, ending what has been a disaster of a season for the 35-year-old.

It does ensure that he finishes with more touchdown passes (19) than interceptions (17), but 10.0 yards per completion is the fourth-worst mark this season (minimum 10 starts). While this is the third time in four seasons he’ll finish with a completion percentage over 67%, the lack of per-throw upside has made him a fantasy capper for those counting on him.

We are more than likely to see a rookie take over this offense, and that, hopefully, can only boost the ceiling profiles to not only Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty but also breathe life into Tre Tucker and/or Jack Bech as streamers in 2026 at the wide receiver position.

Jacoby Brissett | ARI (at LAR)

The good stats, bad team MVP of the season goes to Jacoby Brissett, and it may not be close.

He had the run of QB1 finishes during a stretch in which the Cardinals won one game, and while he was far from good on Sunday in Cincinnati (56.8% complete, seven real-life points scored through the first 58 minutes), he still delivered more fantasy points than his play would suggest was likely.

Fantasy Finishes, Weeks 6-15

• Week 6: QB7
• Week 7: QB12
• Week 8: bye
• Week 9: QB10
• Week 10: QB9
• Week 11: QB4
• Week 12: QB7
• Week 13: QB10
• Week 14: QB12
• Week 15: QB12

Brissett has one year left on his deal, and that makes this an interesting situation. Arizona probably isn’t winning at a high level next season, regardless of what they do at the QB position: do they bring someone in and allow Brissett to keep the seat warm?

If so, you can sign me up for stock in this offense. If not, the receivers take a hit, though I’ll still have Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson both ranked as top-36 receivers regardless.

Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs WAS)

Four times since 2018, a team has won a game without completing a pass in the second half of a game, and two of them are the 2025 Eagles.

Jalen Hurts was held under 190 passing yards for the third straight game and has failed to throw multiple touchdown passes in half of his starts this season. If the Tush Push gets banned this offseason as expected, it’s not hard to drop him out of the top tier at the position, and I’d argue that you could see him fall closer to Tier 3.

This season has been his worst in terms of YPA when throwing the deep ball and as long as this offense is structured in such a way where volume is going to be difficult to come by (no matter the status of the Tush Push, I expect this to be the case), those long passes are a need-to-have for Hurts to flirt with top-5 status at the position.

He’s a winning player and is theoretically entering his prime. His ceiling will be higher than those I rank in his general vicinity, but the mean expectations? I don’t think I’ll have any shares in 2026.

Jared Goff | DET (at CHI)

Talk about a bad day to have a bad day.

Jared Goff was a disaster on Christmas Day against the Vikings: if you can’t live up to the pressure of going head-to-head with Max Brosmer, who can really blame them?

We’ve seen him clear 4,200 yards with at least 30 TD tosses in three consecutive seasons. Still, with virtually no rushing equity, his recent production is about as good as it gets with any regression moving him from fringe starter to average streamer.

This season, his TD% under pressure is at a career-low 1.7%, partly due to a lack of spike plays. Goff has gone consecutive games without a 30-yard completion, and that brings his total for the season to seven such occurrences.

A loss this week will earn the Lions a last-place schedule in 2026, and if they can continue to run hot with the timing of weather games, there’s a path for Goff to return QB10-12 value next season, but I view that as more of a ceiling than a projectable outcome at this point.

He’s my QB3 in the NFC North for 2026 and sits outside of my top 15 at the position in my way-too-early look at next season.

Jaxson Dart | NYG (vs DAL)

Is Jaxson Dart a Tier 1 fantasy QB in 2026?

The unique skill set is obvious, and he’s getting a chance to develop out of necessity.

What do I mean by that?

Well, we’ve seen Sam Darnold rely heavily on Jaxon Smith-Njigba and situations of that ilk, where a QB can lean so much on one player that he has a single point of failure that makes him a risky fantasy option over the course of a season.

Dart is doing his thing with Malik Nabers sidelined and Cam Skattebo on a scooter. In December, he’s completed 15-of-22 passes in play-action settings, not bad given where the offense sits from an on-field talent standpoint.

Josh Allen is his own animal, but would it surprise you at all if Dart was the next best fantasy option at the position?

It wouldn’t surprise me.

Joe Burrow | CIN (vs CLE)

I think we are right back to where we started this season with Joe Burrow, right?

The early-season injury was a buzzkill that likely sunk your team, and the talk about not enjoying the game certainly cast a doubt for a bit, but in his last four games in which Cincinnati has at least scored, he’s given us 260+ pass yards and multiple scores.

It’s a little easy to forget that we are looking at a QB that has cleared 4,400 yards through the air with at least 34 passing touchdowns in all three of his reasonably healthy seasons (over 10 games played).

He entered the season ranked just outside the elite due to a lack of mobility. He was the last QB in Tier 1 for some and the first in Tier 2 for others. It’ll be the same story in 2026: he’s the quarterback version of what Christian McCaffrey was entering this season, in that you’re betting on health and not questioning his skill.

Jordan Love | GB (at MIN)

Jordan Love didn’t play last week with the concussion, and the Packers locked themselves into the NFC’s seven seed, making this week a meaningless one for them.

Career Rates

• 2023: 0.47 fantasy points per pass, 13.4% of points via the rush, 7.2 YPA
• 2024: 0.50 fantasy points per pass, 6.1% of points via the rush, 8.0 YPA
• 2025: 0.49 fantasy points per pass, 6.8% of points via the rush, 7.7 YPA

He’s fine, but is he progressing? Do the Packers want him to progress or is the vision to see him be a high-floor option that guides a team built around the ground game and a stingy defense?

I think Love’s best fantasy seasons are in front of them, though I would be surprised if he exploded in a meaningful way in 2026. You entered this season expecting in the neighborhood of 4,000 passing yards, and 30 touchdowns with marginal running numbers, and I think that’s the right zip code for next season as well.

He’s a low-end starter in deeper leagues or a high-end streamer in shallow ones: a good option with upside, but not a league winner as this system is currently constructed.

Josh Allen | BUF (vs NYJ)

The Bills are in a tough spot to move up in a meaningful way, seeding-wise, and that means we probably don’t see much of Josh Allen this weekend (X-rays on his ankle following the game give Buffalo every excuse they need).

There are a ton of reasons to not play your championship in Week 18, and this figures to be one of many. Be the change your league needs if your playoffs extend this far. Crown your champion in Week 17, and if you still need a sweat, play a DFS contest with the loser paying the way for the winner in 2026.

There’s nothing I can tell you about Allen that you don’t already know. He’s a unicorn that has cleared 3,600 passing yards and 500 rushing yards in three straight seasons, accounting for 123 touchdowns in the process.

He’s matured as a passer, even if we still get the 20+ yard sacks or 30+ yard loss on fumbles that we saw in the loss to Philly last week. He’s completed 75.9% of his third-down passes this season, a career best and well ahead of his 64.9% career rate.

Those are the microgains for a player at this level. I’m not worried about the skill set, but a stat like that allows him to stay on the field, and time is profit when it comes to Allen. He was part of a cluster at the top of the position entering this season, and he’s separated himself as the top fantasy QB for 2026 without much debate.

Justin Herbert | LAC (at DEN)

Justin Herbert’s fantasy points per pass are down from where they finished last season, but the fact that 20.1% of his production has come on the ground (career: 13.4%) is what has me prepared to rank him with optimism for 2026.

We know he has the confidence of his head coach, and that’s huge. The rushing took a step that  I didn’t expect this season (nine games with a 15+ yard dash), and if he can give us 500 yards on the ground in addition to 4,000 through the air in an efficient manner, there’s a real path to him being a top-5 performer in our game.

My only complaint about Justin Herbert resting this week is, I was really looking forward to the next insane throw he had planned for Denver. pic.twitter.com/3QZUVJMlMT

— Tino⚡️ (@TinoFromTheQ) December 31, 2025

They need to sort some things out to optimize him (only eight games with multiple passing scores this season), but if Omarion Hampton can build on the promise we saw this season, why can’t Herbert put all the best of him into a single season?

Take the 38 passing scores for 2021 and add them to the rushing we saw this season: why can’t he be a better version of what Patrick Mahomes was this season?

Kirk Cousins | ATL (vs NO)

It wasn’t a work of art by any means, but Kirk Cousins guided the Falcons to an impressive win over the Rams on Monday night. He was only asked to throw 20 passes, and eight of them went to Bijan Robinson: if you look up “game managed successfully” in the dictionary, his performance last week was exactly what you’ll see.

• Zero turnovers
• Zero sacks

He got Atlanta in position for the go-ahead 51-yard field goal with 21 seconds left. It goes without saying that Cousins’ time as a fantasy asset is done, but he showed in Week 17 that he can execute a basic plan and feed the star player.

That’s more than some teams have as a backup; we know that much.

Lamar Jackson | BAL (at PIT)

Lamar Jackson (back) was listed as doubtful for the majority of last week, and while his status technically came down to the wire, there was never the expectation that he’d suit up.

With a spot in the playoffs up for grabs this week, I imagine they’d have to leave Jackson off the flight to keep him from starting this weekend.

The former MVP has been held under 15 fantasy points in five of his past six and hasn’t looked like himself for most of the season, but Derrick Henry hasn’t exactly had a vintage season, and we saw him break the Week 17 slate.

Is Jackson going to give us a historic performance with the AFC North on the line?

No, not really, but he did turn 23 pass attempts into 207 yards and three scores in the final meeting of 2024, and a top-10 stat line like that is very much within the range of possible outcomes for this week.

Malik Willis | GB (at MIN)

There is no more obvious name to keep an eye on among QBs already in the league who will be changing addresses.

Malik Willis looked the part in the blowout loss to the Ravens on Saturday night, completing 18-of-21 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown on top of two scores and 60 yards on the ground.

The Liberty product isn’t perfect, but he has that fast-twitch reaction that allows him to threaten defenses in a unique way, and he has likely earned himself a pretty penny this season by proving more than competent when in the pocket (22-of-27 for 334 yards and two TDs).

His rookie deal expires when this season ends, and he’ll turn 27 in May. Is he a franchise QB? Probably not. Is he one of the 32 best to play the position with the athleticism that gives him top-15 QB upside if he lands in the right spot?

I think so.

We saw Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Trevor Lawrence all drafted outside the top 100 picks this summer and deliver strong returns. That could be the case here: I’ll be happy to scoop up cheap shares with the thought being that he’s a more well-rounded QB in this range than Justin Fields was: there’s no clear path to failure at the moment.

The “draft two QBs for one spot” strategy has gained some momentum in recent years, and if you wanted to put Willis, pending his landing spot, with a Jared Goff type in the second half of your draft, I’m prepared to green light it.

Matthew Stafford | LAR (vs ARI)

After 2.5 months of essentially flawless football, Matthew Stafford has hit a few bumps in the road coming home, a reminder of just how volatile this sport can be.

You wouldn’t have been wise to bench him for either of his multi-interception games, but the overarching lesson is still there: you’re never done tweaking your roster and building out depth.

Stafford has multiple passing scores in 14 of his past 15 games, but he needs to be that good to matter for us due to a lack of rushing ability. He’s been in the MVP mix for the entire season, and he has just eight top-10 finishes at the position in the fantasy world.

Of course, we all would have taken “just” eight such games over the summer when we were sweating his back injury, though the limitations can serve as a good example of why we prioritize mobility in such a way during drafts.

Stafford has been great, but I’m still siding with athletic QBs in a major way.

If your name isn’t Joe Burrow and you don’t offer upside with your legs, you’re not in my top-12 for 2026.

Philip Rivers | IND (at HOU)

As it turns out, adding a QB off his couch in December is a difficult way to qualify for the postseason.

Philip Rivers is averaging under six yards per pass and is very limited from a physical standpoint, not a surprise given that the peak version of him wasn’t exactly the picture of upside.

All things considered, this team has scored 60 points against three playoff-bound teams, and that’s nothing to scoff at. This roster is ripe with offensive talent, and if they can get league-average play under center, there’s a good chance that everyone attached to this passing game gets drafted closer to the bottom of their projectable outcomes in 2026 than their mean.

Riley Leonard will start this week in a game that means nothing for the Colts. This has been an interesting story to follow, but not particularly useful for fantasy.

Quinn Ewers | MIA (at NE)

He didn’t put up great fantasy numbers against the Bucs (14-of-22 for 172 yards and two touchdowns), but 9.3 yards per pass with both of his scores coming from within the pocket gave us a glimpse at some reasonable poise.

The future of this Miami offense is unknown, and that applies as much to their schemes as it does to their personnel. I don’t see myself having much interest in their QB situation in 2026 unless they make a splash move. Their skill position players are viable, and anything close to average production at the position would give me optimism for all involved.

Sam Darnold | SEA (at SF)

This is a prime example of trusting the process and not the results.

There was a point during the first half of this season where Sam Darnold was viable. By the end of Week 9, he had a pair of four-TD games, a run of four multi-TD pass games in a five-game stretch, and just a general targeting of Jaxon Smith-Njigba that elevated his floor due to the special abilities of his WR1.

He was making this low-volume, slow-moving offense fantasy-friendly.

That’s a dangerous line to walk: we chase volume for a reason.

Darnold has thrown over 30 passes in just two of his past six games and has just six total TDs over his past five. Without rushing upside or attempting stability, this was always a profile that was destined to fail over time.

That time has come. This is a highly successful team that requires very little fantasy production from the QB position. I don’t expect that to change this week or next season.

Roster pieces of this offense, but not the man in charge of steering the ship.

Shedeur Sanders | CLE (at CIN)

Shedeur Sanders completed all six of his third-down passes against the Steelers last week, showing some nice poise for a player who has had a lot put on his plate during the second half of this season.

We got a glimpse of his aggression paying off early last week, layering a beautiful 42-yard pass to Cedric Tillman for a chunk play as he was moving outside of the pocket. It wasn’t the throw you see from first-year signal callers, and while there are just as many pieces of bad film as there are good, I’m not sure how you don’t walk away from 2025 more bullish on Cleveland’s polarizing QB than you were before seeing him take a snap.

In the first half of Week 17 alone, five of his teammates had a 15+ yard reception (Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, Harold Fannin, Brenden Bates, and Isaiah Bond). He’s still not close to rosterable in standard, one-QB formats, but steps are being taken, and that’s good to see.

If the Browns can add some talent and consistency around him, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are looking at a weekly streaming option by the time byes come around next season.

Trevor Lawrence | JAX (vs TEN)

I think I’ve typed it in one profile or another every week this season, so why ruin a streak now?

Development isn’t linear.

Trevor Lawrence has taken longer than we wanted, but the time is now. He’s looked like the uber-prospect he was sold to us as back in 2021 lately, and I recommend leaning into it rather than fighting it.

He ran in two scores last week, giving him nine this season (previous career high: five). That level of versatility elevates him to the low-end QB1 tier for me heading into 2026, as it hasn’t slowed his production through the air (260+ passing yards in three straight).

Taking the step from streamer to lineup worthy doesn’t need to be fancy. Lawrence had eight touchdowns against six interceptions when not pressured last season, a rate that has improved to 22/7 this season.

Dumb it down even further, and you’ll notice that he’s putting less pressure on himself. He has six TDs on balls thrown short of the sticks this season, and that’s six more than he had in his 10 games last season.

You could argue that the WR-WR-WR-TE quartet in Jacksonville is as deep as any in the league. I’m not talking about raw talent, but about the similarity among them and thus their ability to exploit a specific matchup.

It’s taken time, but if you’ve held onto your Lawrence stock, I don’t think this recent run is a flash in the pan. Give me Lawrence in 2026 over Jordan Love for sure, and I might get to the point of ranking him at the top of the Justin Herbert/Bo Nix tier.

Tyler Huntley | BAL (at PIT)

Thank you, sir, you’ve done your job.

Tyler Huntley ran for 60 yards and threw a touchdown pass in the Derrick Henry-sponsored beatdown of the Packers last week, keeping Baltimore’s playoff hopes alive.

The Ravens are playing it close to the vest with Lamar Jackson early this week, but do any of us expect the former MVP to sit?

In the big victory, 45% of Huntley’s targets went to Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews, a reminder that sometimes the best answer is the simplest. Over his past three games, he’s completed 10-of-12 pressured passes, a level of poise that could lead to a bigger payday down the road.

I prefer Malik Willis to Huntley as a Week 17 backup QB, but if he were to get a chance to start, his raw athleticism would be intriguing as a matchup-based play.

Tyler Shough | NO (at ATL)

Can you play?

If so, there’s a spot for you in the league.

Much was made of Tyler Shough’s age entering the draft process, and while I understand that thought, are we sure that’s right?

We know that rookie contracts at the QB position can be as valuable as any asset in the sport, and Shough’s rookie deal will extend through his age-29 season.

By then, there is no guesswork to be done. The Saints will be 100% sure of what they have for better or worse.

They might just have something. Shough is just the third QB in the 2000s drafted outside of the first round to throw for 300 yards in consecutive games (also: 2016 Dak Prescott and 2020 Jalen Hurts), and his ability to escape the pocket has looked more natural than what I expected.

I want to be bullish, but from a fantasy standpoint, I fear that the version of him that we’ve gotten this season is more friendly than what we see in 2026.

The Saints were well aware that this wasn’t a win-now season. As a result, what did they have to lose by letting the 40th overall pick stretch his legs?

Either he’d fall flat, and the Saints would earn a top-5 pick, giving them the ability to take another shot at the quarterback position, or he’d show signs of life and give this team the ability to rebuild in a hurry.

Shough has shown well for himself, and that means that 2026 will likely be viewed as an opportunity to build more than a YOLO gap year. If that’s the case, the volume will dip and take his fantasy stock with it.

He’s got four QB1 finishes this season, and if you set that as the line, I’d take the “under” in 2026. This isn’t an empty profile (36 targets to Chris Olave over the past three weeks shows a basic understanding of how to win at this level on a roster that lacks depth). But I do think there’s a chance the fantasy community overcorrects based on his rookie production via volume, and I don’t anticipate that sticking.

Running Backs

Aaron Jones Sr. | MIN (vs GB)

Too little, too late.

Aaron Jones has cleared 20 touches in consecutive games and bounced back on Christmas Day after getting folded up. His 15.3 PPR points against the Lions weren’t an overwhelming result, but it was his best game since Week 10 and his third-best performance of the season.

He fell into volume with Jordan Mason out, and that’s valuable, but he’s going to finish three straight seasons more than 7% below his per-touch fantasy expectations. And it’s not hard to envision 2026 being a season where Jones’ name isn’t meaningful for most in our game.

He turned 31 early in December and is nearing 2,000 regular-season touches, with his efficiency dipping. That’s not the resume of someone I would draft with any level of confidence, even if the Vikes list him atop this depth chart in the last year of his contract.

Mason is five years his junior and, with him averaging 4.6 yards per carry in his first season with the team, I’ll be labeling him as the top RB on this roster should nothing change in depth chart-wise.

I actually think there is value potential up-and-down this roster: the quarterback play, as a whole, figures to be better in 2026, and that tide can raise all boats.

Alvin Kamara | NO (at ATL)

Alvin Kamara missed a fifth straight game with this knee/ankle injury, and there’s little reason to think that the 30-year-old is going to take another snap this season.

The veteran back is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry and hasn’t earned more than three targets in a game since the first half of October. The one-time fantasy difference maker has been unable to return any value for the majority of the season, and a potentially compromised version of him is unlikely to reverse that trend.

New Orleans has shown some fight down the stretch with a young nucleus. I understand that AK loves this city and wants to finish his career there, but for pure purposes, I think he’s already retired.

Ashton Jeanty | LV (vs KC)

I guess you could nitpick some precision stuff with Ashton Jeanty, but I really think it’s simple: the only thing separating him from our expectations of him four months ago is a little support.

The offensive line gets kills and deservedly so (85.1% of Jeanty’s rushing yards have come after contact), but a little offensive balance wouldn’t hurt either. This is a generational profile, and against a vulnerable Giants defense last week, 43.8% of his carries ended at or behind the line of scrimmage.

He’s got a Raiders problem, and I’m hoping they prioritize giving him a chance to have the impact we all project as possible. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt: he’s over 1,200 yards and has scored 10 times in this mess, and that’s why he’ll easily be inside of my top 10 at the position for next season.

You weren’t wrong in being bullish on Jeanty in a Saquon Barkley/Bijan Robinson-like way; you were just early.

Audric Estime | NO (at ATL)

The Saints are going to be an interesting backfield to watch, as it feels like we are in the middle of an extended Alvin Kamara swan song. Devin Neal was the next man up initially, but Audric Estime filled in for him last week, torching the Titans for 94 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

He’s got 101 carries on his NFL resume, and that’s nowhere near enough to make any broad claims. At the very least, he has my interest for next season. I’m not sold that, like this season, New Orleans gives us a running back to consider every week, but Estime averaged 6.2 YPC during his career at Notre Dame and looked good enough last week to at least get a look this summer.

The Raiders, Browns, Titans, Saints, Jets, and Panthers are in the bottom tier of scoring offenses before there is a tier jump to the Falcons. All of them had efficiency issues on the ground, and that’s in danger of happening to whoever sits atop this depth chart next season. Still, Quinshon Judkins showed us that sheer volume can work, and that’s what I think the best-case scenario would be for Estime if this team gives him a chance to lead.

Bhayshul Tuten | JAX (vs TEN)

Bhayshul Tuten has scored six times on his 88 touches this season, and given the success of Travis Etienne, I think you have to label this season a success for the fourth-round rookie out of Virginia Tech.

That said, this finger injury is going to require some time, and with the playoffs likely on the horizon, Jacksonville is operating with caution. Tuten sat out last week, and he may have played his last regular-season snap of 2025.

Even if he recovers faster than expected, we were looking at 5-8 touches most weeks at full strength. Etienne is a UFA this offseason, and that could open the door for a fantasy viable role in Year 2: lose his name for the final week of this season, but don’t lose track of the profile as you start the prep process for 2026.

Bijan Robinson | ATL (vs NO)

With a huge Week 17 against the Rams, Bijan Robinson has locked in consecutive seasons with over 1,400 rushing yards and 60 catches. Prior to him doing it in back-to-back campaigns, that stat line had only been reached twice in a decade (Ezekei Elliott in 2018 and Christian McCaffrey in 2023).

BIJAN ROBINSON IS THE MOST TALENTED RUNNING BACK IN THE #NFL.

THIS ANGLE OF THIS RUN IS JUST ABSURD.

One of one. Special 😱😱😱
pic.twitter.com/DUlPpelcu7

— MLFootball (@MLFootball) December 31, 2025

He’s excelled, again, with limited help. Through 17 weeks, the Falcons rank in the bottom 10 in passer rating, completion percentage, and touchdown rate. Defenses are designed to stop #7, and it hasn’t mattered: What is possible if they get league-average play at the quarterback position? What is possible if Tyler Allgeier doesn’t take eight touchdowns off his plate?

Robinson is in the 1.01 discussion, and, to be honest, he starts it for me.

Blake Corum | LAR (vs ARI)

After a non-descript rookie season where he was hardly used, Blake Corum ripped off four straight RB2 (or better) finishes in the second half of this season and wedged his way into a consistent role in an offense that has Super Bowl aspirations.

Not bad for a Year 2 back.

The lack of versatility is my concern. Even if you think he pushes Kyren Williams for an even split, he’ll need to be awfully efficient to hit our lineups if one catch every other game is all we can count on (95% of his touches have been rushes this season).

The 5.2 yards per carry from this season will be hard to sustain, but his gain rate moving from 81% in 2024 to 86.4% speaks to an increase in comfort with the game at this level.

Maybe he’s Kyle Monangai to Williams’ D’Andre Swift? There isn’t a clean comparison across the league, and the trajectory changes a bit if Matthew Stafford hangs up his cleats, but Corum was involved last season, and he’ll be roster worthy as more than just a handcuff in 2026; that much I feel good about.

Brashard Smith | KC (at LV)

Brahard Smith caught a touchdown pass on Christmas Day, and while I expect this Kansas City backfield to look different when we kick off next season, Smith may carve out a niche.

As a rookie in an offense that hasn’t been nearly as steady as we had hoped, Smith has earned 31 targets (23 catches) on 88 routes. He caught 39 balls as the featured back at SMU in 2024, indicating that this is a skill set he owns. I’d be surprised if he picks up significant work, but involved in a Tyjae Spears sort of way (8-10 touches per game)?

That wouldn’t shock me, and it would make him rosterable in most leagues.

Breece Hall | NYJ (at BUF)

Sometimes, situation trumps talent, and other times, talent trumps situation.

We got the ladder on Sunday after a month straight of the former.

Breece Hall could very well be one of the 10 best running backs in the sport, but a putrid offensive environment has left him as a fantasy bust for much of this season.

As nice as the 59-yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter last week was, it doesn’t undo the three straight single-digit performances prior, where he failed to gain more than half a yard per carry before contact in all three. It doesn’t undo the fact that he hadn’t had a 20-yard gain in a month or that he was rarely in position to score cheap points in the red zone.

The singular big play was a reminder of what is possible should Hall find himself in even an average offensive environment. The Jets are clearly willing to feature Hall (five touches in an eight-play stretch during their third drive as an example), but if each touch holds only limited upside, Hall can only rise so far up the ranks.

For me, this looks like a bargain waiting to happen if he remains in New York. Any marginal growth could put him back on the RB1 radar, and that won’t be the cost. If he were to be moved, however, the momentum would work with him and make a discount nearly impossible to get.

As things stand right now, I have him labeled as an average RB2, but stay tuned, that’s likely to shift as the 2026 picture comes into focus.

Bucky Irving | TB (vs CAR)

If anyone sours on Bucky Irving because of 2025, sign me up for buying low.

He’s battled health issues and missed the peak of Baker Mayfield’s play this season: he’s essentially only been active for the worst parts of this Bucs season.

Irving earned a season-high six targets last week, a level of involvement that I’m interested in more than fearing the fact that his 14 touches against the Dolphins gained just 33 yards.

Week 17 Running Back Data

• Irving: 54% snaps, 24 routes, 14 touches (two red zone)
• Rachaad White: 47.6% snaps, 20 routes, 4 touches (one red zone)
• Sean Tucker: 6.3% snaps, 2 routes, 2 touches (one red zone)

I expect White to walk this summer, and if we assume that Irving enters 2026 at full strength, asking for 100 scrimmage yards a week is reasonable, and with a player like this, a double-digit touchdown campaign is never far away.

I have a definitive top-10 at the position for next season, and Irving is a part of that tier.

Chase Brown | CIN (vs CLE)

Chase Brown picked a great time to have his first multi-rush TD game since September.

Last September.

This was an uneven season for everyone attached to this offense due to the Joe Burrow injury, but all’s well that ends well, and you should be just as confident entering 2026 in Brown as you were in 2025.

Advanced Profile

• 2024: 0.91 points per touch, 84.4 yards per game, 3.08 YPC before contact
• 2025: 0.93 points per touch, 85.4 yards per game, 3.09 YPC before contact

He has 21 red zone touches in Cincinnati’s last five wins, and that, along with his versatile skill se,t fuels what could easily be a RB1 profile in 2026

You know the risk here: you’re a Burrow injury away from questioning your life choices. But isn’t that the case for a lot of players?

If it matters, I’m risk-averse early in drafts, and I won’t have any reservations about spending a second-round pick on Brown.

Christian McCaffrey | SF (vs SEA)

This season has been about as bad as it gets for rushing efficiency.

Christian McCaffrey has 10 rushing scores.

Brock Purdy missed nearly two months.

McCaffrey has caught 96 passes.

Cockroaches can survive nuclear warfare, healthcare businesses can survive a recession, and McCaffrey’s fantasy stock can survive any surrounding environment.

He’ll turn 30 in June, and that’s going to be mentioned, but his turning 29 last June was viewed as an issue. CMC has played 16+ games in three of the past four seasons: you’ve profited if you’ve taken “the chance” on him.

Is there anything that screams regression?

Not really outside of the fact that it’s just really hard to be really good for really long. He’ll be another hot-button player this draft season, but unless things change in the structure around him, I see no reason to fade.

Chuba Hubbard | CAR (at TB)

The Panthers have shown their hand in terms of which RB they prefer this year (Chuba Hubbard, Week 17: 38.5% snap share with seven touches to Rico Dowdle’s 15), but that option is unlikely to present itself in 2026 with Rico Dowdle hitting free agency.

Is Hubbard anything more than ordinary?

His yards per carry are down essentially a full yard from a year ago, and unless you think this offense skyrockets in Bryce Young’s fourth year.

Color me pessimistic.

If you want Tony Pollard 2.0, I kind of think that’s what you’re signing up for. That profile paid off at the right time this season if you somehow survived a year’s worth of struggles, but that’s not how I play this game.

I’ll pass.

D’Andre Swift | CHI (vs DET)

D’Andre Swift scored a pair of touchdowns in the game of the week, totaling 79 yards in the process and leaving him just three shy of a career high in terms of rushing yards for a season.

His YPC this season sits at 4.9 after posting a 3.8 mark last season, the impact of Ben Johnson certainly being felt, even if none of us are sure that Johnson wants Swift leading his backfield.

The presence of Kyle Monangai capped Swift at 13 carries in three of his four December games, and while he has some pass-catching chops, this passing attack isn’t designed for him to see a handful of looks per game.

He’s an above-average player who is in his prime years (he turns 27 on January 14), but I’m having a hard time seeing him cracking my top 20 for 2026 as a result of touch competition and the desire to lean into a PROE offense.

David Montgomery | DET (at CHI)

David Montgomery has played two more games this season than last: he has 35 fewer carries, 13 fewer receptions, and four fewer touchdowns.

That’s the way to view this season, more than him pushing 900 total yards and eight scores.

This season has been uneven for Montgomery at best, and with Jahmyr Gibbs ascending, it’s hard to imagine a world where he doesn’t see similar levels of decline next season.

He’s an older Tyler Allgeier, and I don’t love the current version of Allgeier for looking ahead.

There is no guesswork for the defense when he comes on the field (over half of his carries have come against a loaded box), and he has 35+ rushing yards in just one of his past seven games.

Montgomery’s age-29 season awaits, and I still think there is gas in the tank for the purposes of the Lions, but not for us. He’ll be a later round pick for me as a handcuff to Gibbs and nothing more in August.

De’Von Achane | MIA (at NE)

Might the Dolphins just be good at executing this run game?

Jaylen left early with an injury, and Quinn Ewers isn’t exactly a feared presence, yet the De’Von Achane/Jaylen Wright tandem picked up 139 yards on 23 carries against a Bucs defense that has been tough against the run and porous against the pass for two years now.

Speed killed with their passing game when it was clicking, and now their run game is succeeding with similarly gifted players who can turn the edge on seemingly anyone.

Achane has had 22 defensive eyes on him for just about every snap over the past two weeks with Ewers starting: 80+ rushing yards and three receptions in both of those contests.

What happens if this offense has some balance?

If he repeats those two games 17 times, he finishes the season with close to 1,400 rushing yards and over 50 catches: that might be a production floor. Say what you will about this offensive scheme, the coaching staff, or the signal caller. Still, I think we can reasonably expect better (“better” doesn’t mean “above-average” or even “good”) quarterback play for this franchise in 2026, and that gives Achane the potential to be Jahmyr Gibbs with less touch competition.

You’re going to have to be aggressive if you want Achane in 2026, and if you’re drafting after me, it’s unlikely you have a chance to grab him.

Derrick Henry | BAL (at PIT)

I know it’s hard to believe, but tackling a freight train in frigid conditions is difficult.

It’s not easy to do it in perfect conditions, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a reason that Derrick Henry peaks at the perfect time for us: “I’m built for this”.

In most weeks, 12.7 fantasy points (PPR) isn’t a bad RB performance … Henry reached that threshold in three of four quarters against the Packers, and the number of bonkers stats is endless.

Since 2019, 12 times an RB has had at least three games with 125 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns: Henry has five of them (nobody else has multiple: Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, Jahmyr Gibbs, Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey).

I could go all day, but they all tell you what you already know. With five multi-rush TD games this season, the soon-to-be 32-year-old is clearly an exception to every age-related trend you want to throw out there.

But let’s not get blinded by the fantasy Super Bowl MVP performance. His second top-10 week this season came in Week 8, and he’s had four games this season in which he’s averaged under 3.4 yards per carry.

The overall numbers look as good as always, but this is a weekly game, and in that sense, there were certainly more swings with the King than in years past. This feels like a microregression profile where we see some slips that the overall boxscore doesn’t catch.

It’s hard to know exactly where the industry will slot him for 2026, but I know I won’t have him as a fringe first-rounder, and that was his going cost this past August.

Devin Singletary | NYG (vs DAL)

Devin Singletary ran for his fourth touchdown of the season on Sunday, but this isn’t a player with much of a 2026 outlook.

He’s signed for another year in New York, and while Cam Skattebo’s health is still TBD at some level, the Giants made it clear that they like the fit of Tyrone Tracy next to Jaxson Dart, and I’m not rostering an RB3 under any circumstances.

They’ve given him reasonable work (10+ carries in four of his past five), and in a game of dead teams, maybe he can score double-digit PPR points for those still playing this week, but he’s going to average a career low in touches this season. I think it’s more likely than not that he finishes 2026 with under 100 opportunities with the ball in his hands.

Singletary has been on the wrong side of this committee sans Skattebo, and while he’s gotten the edge in goal-line work, Tracy is the more explosive and versatile player. If the Giants are going to compete at a reasonable level, something I very much expect them to do in an effort to take advantage of a QB on a rookie deal, this is going to be the Skattebo show with Tracy sprinkled in.

At this moment, I wouldn’t consider Singletary even a viable handcuff: if all 32 teams were in action and Skattebo was out next September, I don’t think he’d crack my top 30.

Emanuel Wilson | GB (at MIN)

Emanuel Wilson hasn’t really gotten the chance to show what he is at this level, and Saturday night was a disaster for all things attached to the Green Bay backfield. Still, we do have a 224-carry sample of him, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt and an 82.9% catch rate across those three seasons.

Malik Willis is the young Packer who is going to generate interest this offseason. But Wilson is entering restricted free agency and could end up catching the eye of a team in a backup sort of role, where he is getting used more than he has up to this point.

Heck, maybe that’s the case if he stays in town. It’s clear that Josh Jacobs has worn down to a degree, and while this coaching staff has leaned into the bellcow mentality of late, maybe we see more of a 65/35 sort of split next season.

I won’t enter 2026 with a standalone projection for Wilson in terms of average-sized leagues, but I think he’ll be draftable if he stays in Green Bay and potentially gain value should a team with a less defined RB room poach him.

Isiah Pacheco | KC (at LV)

We saw Isiah Pacheco featured again on Thursday night (63.6% first quarter snap share, 57.1% for the game), and when looking forward, I’m intrigued by him staying on the field in the passing spots over Kareem Hunt (16-4 route edge against the Broncos).

He’s not a bad play this week, should your league extend into Week 18 due to the matchup and the recent usage trends, but we did see Brashard Smith score last week, and the Chiefs may use this throw-away game to see what the rookie brings to the table.

In terms of 2026 analysis, this is a tough one to handicap. His rookie deal expires when this season does: Do the Chiefs view him as the answer? If so, and he’s getting +65% of the snaps, we could be looking at a solid RB2 that has some RB1 potential if you believe that Patrick Mahomes returns to form for your playoff push.

We have plenty of time to make that decision, but I do think he’ll have a fantasy viable role next year, no matter the jersey he is rocking.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt | WAS (at PHI)

Isn’t it funny how this stuff works?

Jacory Croskey-Merritt captured the hearts of the drafting public in August, but then produced at a rate far below replacement level over the first six weeks.

By the time the fantasy postseason got rolling, he was an afterthought.

So, of course, he ends with a bang.

The man known as “Bill” has been featured in two games this month and has cleared 15 points in both. Christmas’ showing was highlighted by a 72-yard score (his first 20-yard touch in 2.5 months.

I’m not sure I’m buying much in the way of per-touch upside. He doesn’t profile as a big-play hitter, and considering that he hasn’t earned a target since mid-November, versatility isn’t exactly projectable.

Given how little is invested in him (2025 seventh-round pick), I expect Washington to explore him as their lead back next season. He’s shown enough between-the-tackles savvy to be viewed as an interesting project piece, especially if you think that Jayden Daniels looks more like he did as a rookie.

In 2025, 49.4% of his carries have come against a loaded box. If this offense stays healthy, it’s threatening defenses in a variety of ways, and that gives JCM a reasonable path to 1,200 yards and double-digit touchdowns.

Running backs that lack a pass-catching profile aren’t a common investment for me, but if the price is right, I could see drafting him as my third running back in August.

Jahmyr Gibbs | DET (at CHI)

Could this clunky end to the season give us a little discount come August on Jahmyr Gibbs?

I tend to doubt it, but you never know.

In December, he averaged 2.5 yards per carry and has gone an unthinkable three straight games without a 10-yard rush. I’m viewing this as more of an annoyance than anything worth worrying about.

Gibbs is Christian McCaffrey light (89 targets earned this season) and should be in the 1.01 conversation in all PPR formats for the upcoming season. He’s averaged north of five yards per carry in all three of his seasons, and he has more catches this season than he had targets in either of the previous two.

This past August, there was an argument to be made for taking Christian McCaffrey with the top overall pick, but concerns moved him to the middle third of most drafts. The reasons for a minor dip in price are different, but I think Gibbs may follow that trajectory this summer: those who took CMC rode his value to a playoff berth.

James Cook | BUF (vs NYJ)

At no point did James Cook excel on Sunday against the Eagles, and while that might sound like a knock on him, I was actually encouraged by the discouraging performance.

That sentence may sound as if I’ve had a little too much eggnog over the past week, but hang with me here.

In a tough matchup and the division crown still possible, he got 20 carries and four targets. Sean McDermott wanted his best players to decide that game (hence the two-point try at the end and not allowing Jalen Hurts another snap), and it’s pretty clear that he has two players he wants to funnel everything through.

The Packers couldn’t run the ball last week, and they moved away from a traditional ground attack. The same was true for the Buccaneers. In this area of analytics, so many teams are willing to pivot off of a weakness, and I think that’s great. But for these high-end fantasy assets, I can’t have my RB1 being scripted out of a game (Josh Jacobs was banged up, but four carries in an important game is crazy, and nine wasn’t enough for Bucky Irving).

All of these elite backs have a high ceiling. Most have a high floor. There is a special handful that have that profile in terms of usage, and Cook is on that list.

Josh Allen soaks up more equity from his backfield than any other quarterback in the league, and that’ll keep Cook out of my top tier at the position for 2026. Still, he’s very much a threat to lead that next group of backs in scoring, and that makes him a rock-solid pick in the first two rounds.

Javonte Williams | DAL (at NYG)

Javonte Williams (shoulder) is grinding his way to the finish line of his age-25, a breakout with over 1,300 yards and 13 scores.

The former second-round RB will hit free agency this summer, and while I think he may assume a lead role, asking him to repeat a 300-ish touch season probably isn’t wise.

The versatility is nice to have as it makes him a reasonable fit for just about any offense. That said, the sheer volume that made him such a value this season isn’t likely to return should the color of his jersey change.

At the moment, I have him ranked just outside of my top-20 at the position for 2026. The rookie class from this past year is far more appealing to me (forget Ashton Jeanty, I’m talking about a second tier that includes RJ Harvey, Cam Skattebo, and Quinshon Judkins, if he can recover), and that leaves little room for a player like Williams to be penciled in as a weekly starter.

Jaylen Warren | PIT (vs BAL)

With an opportunity to clinch the division last week, the Steelers went with a committee.

I was optimistic that they would show their hand with an early featured role, and while Jaylen Warren did get the first few carries, the split six over the first three drives with Mike Tomlin showing no real interest in picking a lead man.

Kenneth Gainwell capitalized on the competitive/negative game script with a 44-21 snap edge over Warren, running 35 routes to his five. The touches were slanted 12-10 in Warren’s favor, and while he averaged 5.3 yards per carry, I just can’t shake the feeling that Pittsburgh isn’t exactly solid.

We’ve all worked at a company that favors the old guard. Maybe Dan from accounting has had better days, but he’s been with the company for three decades, and they just shoehorn a role around what he can still do.

Warren was the pass-catching back opposite Najee Harris for three seasons, and now he’s basically Najee Harris to Kenneth Gainwell’s version of 2022-24 Warren.

Either they value his versatility, or he has been around, and they craved a sense of stability with Aaron Rodgers coming to town. He was a threat in the pass game early this season (7+ PPR points as a pass catcher in four of his first five games this season), but they’ve transitioned to Gainwell in that regard, and that has me leaning toward them simply not believing that Warren is a plus-asset anywhere.

There are dominoes to fall across the league, but I’d be more likely to buy into Warren if he were to move on.

Jaylen Wright | MIA (at NE)

Jaylen Wright got the five running back touches on Sunday against the Bucs that didn’t go to De’Von Achane, but this team is pretty aware that this is a one-back system (21 touches, 74.1% of the snaps in a game that meant nothing) and that’s highly unlikely to change.

I’d argue that any high-end RB should see his handcuff rostered in most leagues, and Wright has distanced himself from Ollie Gordon down the stretch of this season. I don’t think you have a path at standalone value here, but he’ll be on my top 10 list of handcuff RBs provided that nothing else changes in this offense.

Jeremy McNichols | WAS (at PHI)

We’d know it at this point if Jeremy McNichols was destined to be an asset that matters for us.

He turned 30 years old the day after Christmas and has just 188 career carries. He’s a plus-asset in the pass game, and if he signs in the right spot this summer as a UFA, maybe he impacts winning at the NFL level, but I find it highly unlikely that we are looking at a factor in standard leagues.

Maybe Washington brings him back to complement the singular skill set of Jacory Croskey-Merritt?

It’s possible, and I think that’d be the worst possible case for all involved.

Jonathan Taylor | IND (at HOU)

It looked like a season with record-breaking potential, and even if it didn’t pan out that way, I don’t think anyone is complaining about a season with 20 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 scrimmage yards.

MORE: Free Fantasy Football Start/Sit Optimizer

The rushing success is welcome, but not new. He’s averaging 5.0 yards per carry, and his career rate is 4.9. He ran into some scoring luck this season by way of overachieving pieces net to him and thus the TD explosion, but on the ground, nothing he did this year was really out of pocket.

• 2024: 5.6% of his touches and 8.7% of his yards came as a pass catcher
• 2025: 12.5% of his touches and 19% of his yards have come as a pass catcher

That’s the ticket!

Who is the QB next season for the Colts will drive exactly where I rank Taylor, but he’s going to project as an asset regardless. The current version, Anthony Richardson, is probably the worst-case scenario (a rocket-armed TD vulture), and early 2025 Daniel Jones is the best. I’ll be projecting for somewhere in the middle of those extremes, and that’ll slot him as a Tier 2 RB, one that you can count on, but not one that repeats his counting stats from 2025.

Jordan Mason | MIN (vs GB)

An ankle injury kept Jordan Mason out last week and could keep him on the shelf for a game that means nothing in the standings for either team. The Vikes gave him work early in the season with Aaron Jones ailing, but haven’t called his name in a significant way since late October.

Jones only has one more year left on his deal, and that’s a large part of why I see myself landing shares of Mason this summer. He’s produced 10.6% over expectations through his four low usage seasons, and I’m generally intrigued about what he can offer if fully unleashed.

We don’t know exactly what this offense will look like next year, but I feel good about them needing a stable run game to support iffy QB play. Consider me cautiously optimistic.

Josh Jacobs | GB (at MIN)

I don’t want to say that a running back with north of 2,100 career touches coming off a season with 337 and zero DNPs was destined to have health issues, but we always need to be aware of where specific players sit on the age curve.

I get it, I get it. Christian McCaffrey has been great, and Derrick Henry peaked in this very game, but those are exceptions to a rule that largely holds: volume wears down most in this sport. Whether it is over the course of a season or a decade, eventually those car crashes turn into ailments.

Josh Jacobs has been battling knee/ankle issues this season, and it’s shown over the past two weeks (16 carries for 39 yards with a long run of seven). Game script and time of possession issues were there (Green Bay ran 31 fewer plays than Baltimore in the first 30 minutes), but Jacobs ran only twice for one yard in the first half.

Don’t worry, he rebounded by turning his two second-half carries into two yards after the break.

The Packers only had seven RB carries in the loss, and that’s not going to happen a ton, but this is a good lesson to be reminded of: the age curve is real.

Our minds shift toward the outliers, but there is a risk factor for all these heavily used running backs, and floor potential increases as the importance of the matchup for us increases.

Emanuel Wilson will probably get more work next year than he did this year next to Jacobs. Still, with the veteran having two years left on his deal, you can enter 2026 with the expectation for him to be featured in a way that lands him comfortably inside of the top-15 at the position.

Kareem Hunt | KC (at LV)

Kareem Hunt’s age-30 season had a four-game scoring streak, but it ended with a whimper (16 carries, 17 touches, 60 yards, and zero scores in Weeks 15-17).

This might be the end of his time anywhere close to our radar.

Hunt is a UFA this summer, and while I don’t doubt that he lands somewhere, the odds of him landing a job that matters in our world are low, as he comes off a season averaging under four yards per carry.

This backfield situation is fluid, but as it stands right now, Brashard Smith is the member I anticipate being most interested in, at cost, come August.

Kenneth Gainwell | PIT (vs BAL)

Kenneth Gainwell has earned the trust of Aaron Rodgers (21 catches over his past four games and 76 targets this season), something that stands to pay dividends if you play through Week 18 or (if they qualify) for your postseason leagues.

But beyond that, it might not matter in the least.

Gainwell is just 26 years old, and while he’s yet to be used as anything more than a complimentary back, the fact that he has a 15+ yard carry and a 10+ yard catch in three straight is an interesting profile.

The Steelers have had Jaylen Warren in-house for a few seasons and opted to not only bring in Gainwell, but also scheme parts of their low-octane offense around him. That tells me who this offense is more sold on: Gainwell could project better for me than most in 2026, even if there is a lack of clarity under center in Pittsburgh.

Kenneth Walker III | SEA (at SF)

The Seahawks have looked into extending Kenneth Walker’s role a bit during the second half of this season, but his production has been spotty, and even with that goal, he has two red zone touches over his past three games despite handling 41 touches.

First Quarter Playing Time (Week 8 Bye)

• Weeks 1-7: Walker (51.9%) and Charbonnet (44.9%)
• Weeks 9-17: Walker (71%) and Charbonnet (26.2%)

He’ll be an interesting player to watch as an unrestricted free agent this summer. On one hand, he’s a 25-year-old who has picked up 10+ yards on 14.1% of his carries this season and is in scoring position whenever he touches the ball.

On the other, he has a sub-80% career gain rate and struggles with consistency quarter-to-quarter, nevermind game-to-game. Unless he goes nuts this week, this is going to be his worst season in terms of touchdowns and targets per game. If we get as steep a discount as I think is possible, I’ll be re-upping in 2026 if the landing spot is average.

Kimani Vidal | LAC (at DEN)

This is Omarion Hampton’s backfield to lose. He was drafted to be the leader next to Justin Herbert, and there’s no reason to pivot off that belief.

That said, Kimani Vidal has cleared 17 PPR points in four of his five career games with 15+ touches, and that should land him among the rosterable handcuffs in 2026. Not all backfields are worth securing, but I think this is the exception, given the number of young pieces involved and thus the upside they have access to.

I’ll be interested in Vidal shares as drafts come to an end this summer, understanding that he is a cuttable piece, but also, as things stand now, a viable starter should Hampton get banged up again.

Kyle Monangai | CHI (vs DET)

We may have gotten out in front of the Kyle Monangai stuff a little too far in November after he scored in four straight games. Still, at 4.7 yards per carry this season and with multiple targets earned in each of his past four games, this is a profile that is fantasy-friendly when looking at the larger picture.

He benefited as a rookie from 19.4% of his touches coming in the red zone, a role that allowed him to put fantasy points on the board without a consistent workload.

If the Bears were to opt out of the final year of D’Andre Swift’s contract, we could have a real conversation about where Monangai, in this developing offense, stacks up. As it is, assuming that Swift is labeled as the starter next season, I’ll have Monangai projected similarly to Tyler Allgeier: 9-11 touches a week with a decent level of touchdown equity.

Kyren Williams | LAR (vs ARI)

I think we know what Kyren Williams is after seeing him in this lead role for three years, and I think the Rams do as well. That’s what makes the Blake Corum usage spike this season so interesting: they are telling us that while they like what Williams brings to the table, they think it is optimal to spread the wealth.

Double-digit rushing touchdowns and 30+ receptions are valuable skills, but how much of the Williams profile falls if Matthew Stafford isn’t under center?

His ability to fall forward is a strength (88.7% gain rate this season, a career high), but just 9.4% of his career carries pick up 10+ yards, and that is the dimension they seem to like with Corum.

It’s early, but if you asked me today to guess, I’d say that 10-touchdown 30-catch streak ends for Williams in 2026.

Michael Carter | ARI (at LAR)

The Cardinals opened this season with James Conner, then leaned heavily on the Trey Benson experience.

This was supposed to be a Kyler Murray-led offense with a veteran running back and a high-pedigree receiver: things haven’t exactly worked out as expected, and that makes all data from this season a little skewed, as it’s essentially been a backup plan most of the way.

Week 17 Snap Data

• Emari Demercado: 51.9% of snaps, 7 touches, 4.0 PPR points
• Michael Carter: 44.4% of snaps, 9 touches, 6.3 PPR points

They can’t decide on who their RB3 is, and that tells me all I need to know. Both Carter and Demercado are if-pressed-into-duty types at the pro level and nothing more. If Arizona is reasonably healthy entering next season, I don’t anticipate either of these RBs being of much interest come draft day 2026.

Omarion Hampton | LAC (at DEN)

The 2025 rookie class of running backs is going to be special, and the Year 2 production could be the first real step from them being labeled as good to great.

Omarion Hampton has had a weird first season with the Najee Harris presence and his injury, but he played 83.1% of the snaps against Houston on Saturday and handled 14 of 15 running back carries for the day.

CJ Stroud hit on a pair of bombs early, and to a lesser talent, that’d result in limited production, but the versatile Hampton hauled in all eight of his targets and gave us plenty. He’s cleared eight fantasy points as a receiver in five of his past seven games, and with over 280 touches in each of his final two collegiate seasons, I have no problem projecting him for 300+ touches in 2026.

I’m not saying he’s Jahmy Gibbs, but we saw similar potential in Detroit’s star, and he blessed us with a 300+ touch, 1900+ yard second season. He also scored 20 times, and that feels optimistic, but you get the idea: Hampton has the potential to produce as a top-10 running back as soon as 2026, and I don’t think he’ll be drafted as such.

Rachaad White | TB (vs CAR)

Rachaad White had just four touches on 30 snaps last week and will enter his age-27 season as a UFA.

At under four yards per carry for his career and over three catches per game, his skill set has been defined by the NFL through four seasons. He’s not a feature back in any system, but he’s a viable complement in just about every system.

Where he lands will naturally dictate his value, but I think we know about what to expect. If he’s a part of an offense like Baltimore, where the lead RB isn’t versatile, there’s a path for standalone PPR value. If he lands behind a Bucky Irving type again, his weekly value is marginal at best, and he’s unlikely to handle a full workload should the starter go down.

White is someone I likely won’t touch in 2026 outside of a perfect scheme fit.

Rhamondre Stevenson | NE (vs MIA)

The Patriots had a division title in their sights last week with the one-seed also in play, and they gave three of their four RB carries to Rhamondre Stevenson (33 yards gained, highlighted by a 24-yarder).

We assumed that they drafted TreVeyon Henderson to take over this backfield, but it’s been clear throughout the season that they never intended to hand the keys over to a single back.

Week 17 Snap Data

• TreVeyon Henderson: 50% snaps, 19 touches (four red zone), 8.2 PPR points
• Stevenson: 48.4% snaps, 13 touches (two red zone), 27.2 PPR points

I’d expect these types of shenanigans to continue this weekend and through the postseason, but I have a hard time seeing it sustain through next season. Henderson is unlikely to get the 65-70% role that we are begging for, but a 60/40 split makes for a logical projection and will leave Stevenson as more of a lower-end flex than a reliable weekly option in most formats.

This is an offense to bet on, and in that vein, rostering Stevenson makes sense, but standalone value will be a tough sell.

Rico Dowdle | CAR (at TB)

Rico Dowdle has consecutive seasons with 1,000 rushing yards and some versatility, a profile that is appealing at all levels of fantasy.

He’s coming off consecutive games with 5+ targets for the first time this season, and if he can add that sort of involvement to wherever he calls home in 2026 (UFA this summer), there is lineup lock potential for a player that turns 28 this summer.

Can you name the five running backs, minimum 150 carries in both seasons, with a rush gain rate of 85% and a 10+ yard gain rate of 10%?

That’s an oddly specific stat that you probably haven’t spent any time thinking about, but you know where I’m leading you with it.

• James Cook: 87.2% and 11.5%
• Dowdle: 87.1% and 10.8%
• Chase Brown: 86.4% and 10.3%
• Bijan Robinson: 85.9% and 12%
• Derrick Henry: 85.1% and 12.7%

Whether it is the head of a committee in Carolina or somewhere else, I believe Dowdle will be positioned to return top-20 value in 2026 with the potential to inch up higher should he join a more proven offense that is lacking an RB1.

RJ Harvey | DEN (vs LAC)

RJ Harvey isn’t a finished product, not by a long shot, but we’ve seen the Broncos commit volume to him and his versatile skill set has shone through in a major way.

• Harvey
• Saquon Barkley

Those are the rookies over the past decade who have had a dozen touchdowns, 130 carries, and 50 targets. That’s the type of trajectory we COULD be looking at.

Now, there is a developmental curve to consider, especially when the QB is still coming into his own. You could argue that, of the rookies, Harvey has the best tape when you marry his supporting cast with his on-field work, and that demands he be drafted as a weekly starter without any hesitation in August.

The question is, how high do you draft him?

With Rhamondre Stevenson under contract for another season, I’d prefer him to TreVeyon Henderson. If Breece Hall were to remain in New York, I don’t think that’s a hard case to make. The Derrick Henry conversation could get interesting as well.

That’s about where I think we are next year. I’m in! The schedule will be a tough one, given Denver’s success this season, but they aren’t going to be forced to face the Broncos’ defense, which is obviously a plus.

Saquon Barkley | PHI (vs WAS)

Saquon Barkley’s PPR points per touch this season are down 22.1% from a season ago, and that was the direct result of regression in the big play department.

20+ Yard Runs

• 2024: 16 carries for 698 yards and 7 touchdowns
• 2025: 4 carries for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns

We knew the risk that was involved, and the math would be in 2025. Barkley is entering his age-29 season, and that puts us one Father Time watch at some level, but with the third-best PFSN Elusive Rating score of his career, I’m not going that far.

At times, it’s felt like this season was a disaster. The juice wasn’t there, and the blocking took a major step back.

He’s scored nine times and picked up over 1,400 yards.

I think Barkley will fall out of the first rounds with regularity this summer, and that creates a nice buying opportunity. You can question some of the small details on his profile, but are you worried about his role, his supporting cast, or the offensive environment?

I’m not.

Tony Pollard | TEN (at JAX)

Tony Pollard has another year left on his deal, and that lines him up to be exactly what he was this draft season: a boring click that you make based on volume and volume alone.

I’d think that if they wanted to extend Tyjae Spears (seven touches on 38 snaps last week) over Pollard, we’d have seen it by now, so I’ll enter 2026 expecting something like a 70/30 split of the work, and that’s enough to have Pollard live up to his ADP.

Pollard’s 2026 upside doesn’t rest on him; it’s a Cam Ward thing. If he can level up in a major way, it adds value to everyone attached and opens up the running game as defenses back off the line of scrimmage.

I’m not sure that Ward explodes in a way that allows Pollard to produce at a top-15 level, but I’d bet on him taking at least a small step forward, and we saw down the stretch this season that even marginal gains in that regard stand to benefit the running game.

Travis Etienne Jr. | JAX (vs TEN)

I think we are clear to say that Travis Etienne is a strong asset.

That wasn’t so much the case entering this season. We weren’t sure of the upside of this offense as a whole, and he was coming off back-to-back seasons averaging under four yards per carry.

But if you look at his NFL resume as a whole, the pieces are there, and with this offense seemingly pointing straight up ahead of 2026, why wouldn’t I give him a shot to return RB1 value?

• 2022: 5.1 yards per carry
• 2023: 58 catches (79.5% catch rate)
• 2024: Weird down season
• 2025: 13 touchdowns

He’s cleared 1,300 scrimmage yards in three of four seasons, and while the Jags have depth at the position, he hasn’t given them much of a reason to need it.

This season has been his best in two important areas: yards per carry after contact and loaded man rush rate. With those two stats moving in opposite directions, the path is clear for him to build on the success from this season, not regress.

Bhayshul Tuten will be a factor, but as long as he is more Tyjae Spears than Blake Corum, Etienne could outperform the 2025 rookie class that will enter this upcoming season with more hype around them (TreVeyon Henderson, Cam Skattebo, and RJ Harvey: Ashton Jeanty is his own conversation).

TreVeyon Henderson | NE (vs MIA)

We see NFL teams do this, and it’s maddening.

Is there any question as to who the leader of this backfield is going to be during the peak Drake Maye years?

For me, there’s not. It’s TreVeyon Henderson with a bullet. That said, Rhamondre Stevenson has at least one year left on his contract and up to three if the team doesn’t opt out after 2026.

Regardless of the salary mechanics, Henderson is going to be an asset in 2026, but one that has his upside capped by the roster around him. During his up-and-down rookie season, he’s produced 15.9% over PPR expectations, averaging just under one point per touch.

The difference between him being a fantasy starter and a fantasy star is his role in the passing game. Based on his college resume and the opportunities he was afforded this season, we know he is capable, but with the Pats chasing the one seed, he’s gone five straight without 20 receiving yards and only has one target over his past two games.

I can’t explain that. This isn’t an offense that is loaded with pass-catching options, so I’m optimistic that he can grow into a 50+ catch role next season. Still, there is some risk in assuming such a step will be taken, especially given Stevenson’s status as a co-starter rather than a complement.

Tyjae Spears | TEN (at JAX)

Tyjae Spears has passed the eye test at various points this season, but Sunday wasn’t one of them (seven touches for one yard against the Saints). With a year left on Tony Pollard’s contract, it’s difficult to pencil him in as a meaningful piece for fantasy purposes in 2026.

The Titans have trusted him with double-digit carries just once this season, and while he’s been active in the pass game, there’s only been one instance in which he’s reached 40 yards.

It feels like he is the running back of the Cam Ward era, and that could pay dividends for dynasty managers, but it’d take a lot of change for me to view him as anything more than roster depth next season.

Tyrone Tracy Jr. | NYG (vs DAL)

Tyrone Tracy finished this fantasy season with 14+ carries and multiple targets in three straight games and in five of six. I find his skill set interesting as a former receiver that also has post-contact skills as a rusher (better than average after contact on 65.2% of his carries this season), but make no mistake about it: this is Cam Skattebo’s backfield.

Could Tracy earn a role that sees him touching the ball 6-8 times per game? Sure, but that’s not worthy of standalone value in standard-sized leagues. If you’re like and expecting a reasonable jump from this offense, the value rests in Tracy being a Skattebo handcuff, an RB ready to be a top-20 option should he be featured in any given week.

Woody Marks | HOU (vs IND)

Woody Marks has battled through an ankle issue, and that may factor in, but 3.5 yards per carry this season hasn’t exactly earned him the right to assume that he’s the lead of this backfield in 2026.

I’m operating under the assumption that he is the favorite to do so, and better offensive line play would certainly go a long way toward elevating him to RB2 status consistently.

Given the investments in the passing game, I don’t think that Houston is overly likely to adopt a run-heavy approach, but if Marks projects for 15+ touches per game, he’ll be in the mix as a weekly starter in most formats.

But things need to be cleaned up. Marks was nearly three times as likely to be tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage as he was to gain 10+ yards, and anything close to a rate like that isn’t going to allow him to be a consistent option.

Zach Charbonnet | SEA (at SF)

Zach Charbonnet is coming off a great game that saw him post his first 100-yard game in 385 days and get six of Seattle’s seven RB red zone touches.

For the season, he has 14 more red zone opportunities than Kenneth Walker despite appearing in one fewer game, and he even held a 35-31 snap edge on Sunday, something that works against the recent trends.

This season, Charbonnet’s average touchdown rush length has been 4.1 yards. He’s scored 11 times and has been fortunate to get so many opportunities. But he’s made the best of his role and with Walker being a UFA this summer (Charbonnet has one more year left on his deal), a role extension is certainly possible in his age-25 season.

This is a situation to monitor: as a committee, this backfield has been annoying, but as a single entity, we could be looking at a top-15 option.

Wide Receivers

A.J. Brown | PHI (vs WAS)

A.J. Brown is averaging a career low in yards per catch, due in large part to the chunk plays not hitting as they have in the past (his last 35-yard catch came in mid-October).

Even with all of the drama and low points this season, Philly’s WR1 gave us a fourth straight season with 1,000 yards and seven scores (he’s actually done it in six of seven years). That’s obviously not the baseline you want from your WR1, but if that’s his floor, we can work with that.

Davante Adams, Mike Evans, and other big-bodied receivers have paid the fantasy bills with spike TD seasons due to the ability to box out and win shallow routes to earn short touchdowns. That’s worked in Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, but in Philadelphia, those reps go to the Tush Push until it works (and if it fails, Saquon Barkley is very much an option).

Brown’s age-29 season is on the horizon, and if the Tush Push is banned, is it not possible that he reaches a dozen scores for the first time in his career? Brown isn’t a player I’m circling, but I’m also not actively avoiding him, and given the sentiment surrounding him, I wouldn’t be surprised if that means I land on him with regularity ahead of 2026.

Alec Pierce | IND (at HOU)

Alec Pierce is very good at what he does, but what he does is very limited, and with how defenses scheme to take away the big play in today’s game, he’s at the mercy of his quarterback more than most.

So yeah, when the team drafts a physically imposing athlete that wants to throw the ball through a brick wall, pivots to Daniel Jones, and then moves to Grandpa Rivers, the swings are going to be violent.

Pierce made me look dumb in this space two weeks ago with a multi-TD effort, but made good on my continued skepticism with an air ball over the weekend.

The QB room impacts everyone on this offense, as it would in any setting, but no question stands to lose (or potentially gain) from a revolving door at the position.

In a best-case scenario, I think you’re looking at a 2025 Quentin Johnston season from Piece in 2026. One that comes with tons of ups and downs, ideally with a streak of greatness that you can benefit from. Richardson is the worst-case scenario for most on this roster, but the best possible outcome for a player averaging 20.3 yards per catch this season.

Even in an optimal world, Pierce is a spot start, not a lineup lock. He is the primary vertical option in this offense, so there’s not a ton of competition for those looks, and that makes him rosterable, but asking him to be more than a matchup play is asking for too much.

Amon-Ra St. Brown | DET (at CHI)

The drop issues have been a pain with Amon-Ra St. Brown, fueling a 56% catch rate over his past seven games.

The volume is nothing short of elite (8+ targets in 11 straight healthy games) and with the type of target being consistent year-over-year (aDOT, slot rate, etc.), that can be projected to sustain, so if he can work through some of these concentration issues, a return to top-5 status is certainly possible.

I know there are some bad plays on tape, but I don’t remember hearing this much complaining about a wideout that is working on a 106-1,262-11 season, his fourth straight with over 105 receptions and third in a row with double-digit touchdowns.

Jameson Williams hasn’t developed the way we had hoped, and while this is the Jahmyr Gibbs show, St. Brown is still very much a high-end fantasy producer that deserves first-round consideration.

Is he the reason you win your 2026 league? Probably not, but if you believe you can only lose, not win, a league early, then The Sun God is a safe pick you can rely on.

Brian Thomas Jr. | JAX (vs TEN)

We were too low on Brian Thomas in his rookie season and way too high on him this season. Do we get it just right in 2025?

• 2024 (17 games, 521 routes): 87 catches, 1,282 yards, 10 TDs (22.3% over expectations)
• 2025 (13 games, 443 routes): 86 targets, 658 yards, 2 TDs (11.3% under expectations)

He’s unquestionably talented, and the development of Trevor Lawrence helps with the long-term outlook. That said, the impact of Jakobi Meyers can’t be overlooked, and the tape Parker Washington puts forth every week is impressive.

What the Jags need to determine is BTJ’s role. They ramped his aDOT this season (+23.5%), and it didn’t pay off the way they had hoped. There simply weren’t enough big plays made to offset the dip in efficiency, and by relying on those routes.

The part that has me most worried, however, is his red-zone target rate, which has crashed from 28.6% to 9.4%. His athletic profile is going to give him access to those splash plays, and variance is a part of the deal when going that direction, but if he can’t win inside the 20-yard line, any dreams of a stable fantasy option disappear.

I’m going to settle in with him ranked just outside of my top 20 at the position. The upside is tempting, but the role safety that a Zay Flowers type offers is more appealing given the way I build rosters in the first half of drafts.

CeeDee Lamb | DAL (at NYG)

It wasn’t a strong fantasy finale for CeeDee Lamb in Washington (46 yards on 10 targets), but 82.5 yards and 5.7 catches per game for the season is nothing to scoff at.

Your frustration with an underwhelming season by his lofty standards is misplaced. Part of the issue with Lamb this year is that George Pickens had a great season next to him, so those with Lamb naturally want some of that production.

But more impactful was the injury and just poor scoring luck, neither of which I’d expect to carry over into 2026.

Percentage Of PPR Points Via The Touchdown

• 2020: 25.4%
• 2021: 23.6%
• 2022: 26.5%
• 2023: 30.8%
• 2024: 22.5%
• 2025: 15.9%

Just your annual reminder that no one is immune to the swings of this game, not even one of the five best in the game.

Lamb’s aDOT is up 54.2% this season from last, and that’s at least interesting. I’m not sold we see that stick into next season, but it does stand to reason to believe that those deep targets hold more equity next to Pickens because of less defensive help over the top.

I’ve got a definitive top-10 at the receiver position. Lamb is right in the thick of that: shuffle up and deal them however you’d like, but picking in the middle of snake drafts next season doesn’t seem like a bad spot to be, as it opens you up to scoop a Tier 1 running back first and likely have access to one of those 10 wideouts in Round 2.

Chimere Dike | TEN (at JAX)

Chimere Dike broke Tim Brown’s rookie record for all-purpose yards last week, and while his role on special teams means more to that mark than his value in our game, the fourth-round pick certainly showed enough upside this year to have my interest as a developmental piece next to Cam Ward.

The Titans made him a full-time player for the second half of this season, and he’s rewarded them with 10+ PPR points in three of his past four and three games of 16+ points this season.

There’s natural risk: he’s run 381 routes this season and earned four end zone targets. A bet on Dike is a bet on Ward: if you think the Year 2 leap is real, Dike could be a top-40 receiver as the top option in this offense, but if Ward’s gains are only marginal, you’re going to run into scoring equity issues that have his WR1 as more of a DFS flier than a realistic weekly redraft option.

Chris Godwin Jr. | TB (vs CAR)

Chris Godwin looked like the pre-injury version of himself on Sunday against the Dolphins, catching seven of the eight balls thrown his way for 108 yards and his second touchdown of the season, easily his best performance of the season.

Health is the obvious concern (seven games last season and eight so far this year) as he enters his age-30 season, but the WR core built around him offers more in the way of big play upside than slot competition.

Godwin is a player to watch this postseason: if all health boxes are checked, he may enter 2026 in the flex conversation. It wasn’t a huge sample, but his red zone target rate this year is the second-highest of his career. He’s a decent bet to catch a handful of passes or score weekly, and that creates a nice floor that can help stabilize any fantasy team.

Chris Olave | NO (at ATL)

How does three straight top-10 finishes to round out the fantasy season sound?

Chris Olave said that he was just trying to get Tyler Shough the rookie of the year, but really, you have to think that he’s just in it for us fantasy managers.

He’s looked great all season, and while he benefited from a concentrated offense, the environment as a whole should be better in 2026 than in 2025.

Would you believe me if I told you this was actually the worst yards-per-route season of his career?

His end-zone targets were high (career-high 14), and his slot usage shot back up, but I don’t have many issues with this profile. The 19-yard touchdown last week was symbolic of what he is: a near-impossible single cover that is precise with his routes and always on time.

Olave has cleared 1,000 yards in all three of his healthy seasons, but his TD total this year (nine) was what he totaled in those previous two combined. Scoring variance worked in his favor this season, but good players have a way of making their own luck.

I’ve got New Orleans’ star penciled in as a high-end WR2 next season, a ranking that could spill into the low-end WR1 tier pending the QB situations of a few receivers ahead of him.

Invest with confidence, this is a consistent profile for a player yet to hit his prime.

Christian Watson | GB (at MIN)

Christian Watson found paydirt for 39 yards out on Malik Willis’ second pass of the game last week against the Ravens and finished with another strong outing (5-113-1 with a 24% target share).

Maybe it’s the first name? We seem to say the same thing (at a lower level, of course), for Watson as we do McCaffrey: when he’s on the field, you feel great about the spot you’re in as a fantasy manager.

This was the third time in five games in which the big playmaker has at least 80 receiving yards and a score. He’ll play his age-27 season out in the final year of his deal and see how things play out, but for 2026, how can you not like what you’ve seen?

The 18-yard aDOT this season (16.8 for his career) naturally carries with it risk, never mind the obvious health red flags in this profile. There are plenty of reasons to tread lightly, but the upside is enough to suck me in as long as I can draft two receivers I feel good about ahead of him while solidifying my starting lineup “safer” plays.

Cooper Kupp | SEA (at SF)

The target earnings and touchdown savvy are gone from this profile. That doesn’t mean Cooper Kupp can’t pick up a big third down in a playoff game or even convert a red-zone look into points, but if Seattle had any confidence in him as part of this offense that lacks pass-catching depth, we would have seen it by now.

I don’t trust what teams say, but I do trust their actions, and those have sent a clear message all season long. For that matter, we could have trusted the Rams’ actions by not bringing him back to a must-win team.

Davante Adams replaced Kupp, and he’s obviously had a great season, so blindly fading these moving veterans isn’t the approach. That said, route technicians who lose a step can fall off our map rather quickly, while these wideouts who weaponize their size can hang onto value a bit longer by way of touchdown count, even if the ability to earn targets fades.

Courtland Sutton | DEN (vs LAC)

We went through the Troy Franklin experience early in the season, and Pat Bryant has had his moments, but the true sign of an alpha receiver is that he doesn’t really see his role fade in and out.

He may have finished with just 40 yards on Christmas, but it was his fourth straight game with 10+ targets and locked him into a fourth straight season with at least 14 end zone targets.

If we are nitpicking, I’d love for Sean Payton to experiment with him in the big slot role more often (he’s never in the slot for more than 20% of his routes, which limits this efficiency upside). Still, if Bo Nix is as good as this franchise believes, Sutton’s career 35% deep ball rate leaves him open to some serious spike weeks.

The number of young options on this offense creates the possibility of low-floor weeks, and that’s not ideal. I anticipate having Sutton ranked as a low-end WR2 or high-end WR3, knowing that the final stat line may result in a finish ahead of that, but with the dud weeks factoring into where I position him.

Darius Slayton | NYG (vs DAL)

We are now seven seasons into the career of Darius Slayton, and he’s never averaged under 13 yards per catch for a season.

He also hasn’t scored more than four TDs in a season since his rookie year, which some managers continue to chase.

The name of the game is to get open. That’s literally half of the job description for the position: get open and catch the ball. Slayton’s next 100-target season will be his first, and while the splash plays are fun to watch, the struggles to cross the goal line have limited just how impactful those bombs can be in a given week.

This New York offense has a wide range of outcomes as they prepare for Year 2 of the Dart era, but I don’t think they really have a wide range of fantasy outcomes. Assuming health, this offense is going to funnel through Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo, with the Wan’Dale Robinson and Theo Johnson tandem handling much of the middle-of-the-field action.

How does Slayton grow?

If you want to sell me on him over Rashid Shaheed or Alec Pierce types, I get it. The upside of Dart certainly lends itself to big games here and there, but if you’re drafting him with the thought of him developing into a piece you count on regularly, I think you’re asleep at the wheel.

Davante Adams | LAR (vs ARI)

Davante Adams turned 33 years of age on Christmas Eve, and with 14 touchdowns this season, his stat line doesn’t look a day past 28.

His role as a scoring vulture, however, is tied heavily to Matthew Stafford, another greybeard that you have to worry about in terms of decline (or not playing altogether). Adams has been a yardage liability for the majority of this season (no more than 60 receiving yards in eight of 14 games this season), and those are the profiles I tend to fade.

Give me volume, and I’ll figure out the variance that comes with touchdowns, not the other way around. In past years, lower-end options like Wan’Dale Robinson or even top-shelf options like Trey McBride have been able to survive the volatility of touchdowns because of their rock steady roles in a PPR setting.

That’s not the case here: if you take the cape off of Superman, you’re left with Clark Kent, a handsome reporter who is nice to be around, but not one who is saving the world from impending doom.

Clark Kent doesn’t win fantasy championships for you, and that’s what 2026 Adams figures to look more like. I’m just projecting at this point, but he’s outside of my top 30 right now.

Deebo Samuel Sr. | WAS (at PHI)

Deebo Samuel showed us some of his grown-man abilities on a 41-yard run against the Cowboys on Thursday, a level of juice that was good to see for the soon-to-be 30-year-old.

This offense doesn’t offer enough juice to generate any excitement next to Terry McLaurin for this week, but it’s an interesting spot for 2026 should Jayden Daniels look more like the 2024 version of himself.

Samuel is an interesting part of what could be a bounce-back season, but that will be a market-related decision as he is set to hit free agency. His yards per catch have declined in a significant way in consecutive seasons, and Washington showed no interest in featuring him as a runner the same way that San Francisco had for half a decade.

I’m tempted to think the usage patterns from this season carry over into next season, and as a more traditional WR, Samuel is a low-end flex at best, with his target earning skills showing signs of age.

Put him in a creative system and give us some “best shape of his life” propaganda, and maybe he moves into the 30s of my ranks at the position, but I’m entering the offseason without much interest in buying his stock for the coming season.

DeVonta Smith | PHI (vs WAS)

We have a few of these loaded receiver rooms (Cincinnati and Dallas come to mind) where you can set it and forget it. Own the WR2 in either of those offenses, and you have zero decision-making stress week to week: there will be swings, but you’re comfortable with how the offense functions, and you should be.

That hasn’t been the case in Philly this season. Maybe that changes if we live in a Tush Pushless world, but I’m not sure how you enter 2026 with a lineup lock tag on DeVonta Smith.

Dallas Goedert’s scoring rate regression will help this case, and that’s why I’ll have Smith ranked as a WR3, but he hasn’t cleared 50 receiving yards in five straight and has scored just four times this season (eight TDs in 13 games a year ago).

He killed the Vikings and had strong efforts against two elite defenses (Rams and Broncos) earlier in the season. This isn’t a talent question; it’s a situation one.

AJ Brown has been the superior target earner this season, and if Smith can’t bank on volume or scoring, he’s left in this weird no man’s land for fantasy managers. He’s better than the Rashid Shaheed’s of the world when it comes to making the most out of limited opportunities. Still, he’s much more Jameson Williams/Jordan Addison than he is Tee Higgins/George Pickens.

DJ Moore | CHI (vs DET)

DJ Moore is lining up to be the grizzled vet in this passing attack, and while he should hold nice value to the Bears, I have a bad feeling that he’s going to trend in the direction of Keenan Allen and not really give us what we are looking for.

Even with Colston Loveland/Luther Burden finding their sea legs, Rome Odunze out, and Ben Johnson getting a grasp on what his young core can do, Moore, in important games, has been held under 20 receiving yards in three of his past five games and five of his past eight.

The rushing usage hasn’t been there, and without a unique skill, this is a profile I’m happy to fade in 2026. He’s a good player, but he’ll rank fourth on this team in terms of pass catchers that catch my eye, and that leaves him without a spot on my redraft rosters.

DK Metcalf | PIT (vs BAL)

Steeler receivers tend to save the viral moments for when they leave Pittsburgh, but DK Metcalf got into it with a fan during the game two weeks ago, and is now forced to watch his team battle for the AFC North crown.

The league suspended him after a quick review of what transpired in Detroit, and if we are being honest, this may have saved you from making a mistake.

Metcalf has only four top-20 finishes this season, struggles that have included just one TD catch since Halloween and under 60 receiving yards in nine of his past 10. This is a second straight season in which his red zone usage has fallen off a cliff from where it stood during his heyday in Seattle.

He’s a walking mismatch, and that’s going to make him viable on occasion. But based on how this offense has functioned this year, there’s little reason to think things will change next year for Metcalf, with or without Rodgers under center.

In many leagues, I expect his name to drive up the asking price a round or two above where I’m comfortable. Personally, I think you’re stretching to label him a top 30 option at the position in 2026 (I’m assuming that Rodgers isn’t under center, but his return wouldn’t result in me thrusting Metcalf into the WR2 conversation).

Drake London | ATL (vs NO)

When Bijan Robinson is doing Bijan Robinson things (229 yards and two TDs against the Rams on Monday), his teammates turn into spectators more than contributors, and that was the case with Drake London.

Snaps weren’t the issue (98.1%), and time of possession was essentially a wash, but London earned just a pair of targets on his 19 routes and really did nothing to help you if you were hoping for him to swing your fantasy championship.

Bad games happen, and sometimes they happen at the worst possible time, but this dud shouldn’t stop you from considering him a low-end WR1 in 2026 (or this week, for that matter).

He’s got five WR1 finishes on his resume this season, and that includes three weeks in which he led the position in scoring. His 2.38 yards per route are a career best, and he’s been targeted on over 28% of his red zone routes in all four of his NFL seasons.

A healthy London can be counted on for the 100-1,271-9 stat line that he gave us last season, and I think there’s upside for growth from there. He is a good example of the depth at the position: he probably won’t be a first-round pick in redraft, but it doesn’t take much squinting to see him returning a profit on a second-round ADP if Atlanta can get anything close to league-average play under center.

Emeka Egbuka | TB (vs CAR)

At the beginning of the season, I was certain I’d be fading Emeka Egbuka in 2026. He was scoring weekly, making game-breaking plays every time you flipped on a Bucs game, and earning highly valuable looks with consistency.

I was watching it, and it felt too good to be true. It felt as if he was running pure, and that would bait some people into thinking he was an elite asset from the jump, even with plenty of competition around him for looks.

The idea was that he’d excel through his rookie season, and I’d make the regression case for the encore.

Well, the regression case has come early, and now I find him likely to have a wide range of draft outcomes depending on the specific room.

Weeks 11-17

• John Metchie: 8.6 PPG, 9.9% below expectations, 18.2% target share
• Tre Tucker: 7.0 PPG, 30.8% below expectations, 19.4% target share
• Egbuka: 6.8 PPG, 39.9% below expectations, 22.5% target share

Through the first 10 weeks, Egbuka (16.3 PPG) had him swimming in the same waters as both Cowboy receivers (Pickens was at 17.9 PPG and Lamb 15.1), making this a dramatic fall from grace that I wasn’t prepared for.

Add in the fact that Baker Mayfield was plenty comfortable in targeting Jalen McMillan in big spots over the weekend, and we may be looking at a high pedigree prospect whose value has dipped further than I was anticipating.

I think I’m going to be in?

We will see what the industry does with his asking price, but I still think there is a fantasy WR2 staring us in the face. This is an offense we are going to have a top-10 projection for, and with Mike Evans another year older, it’s easy to pencil in Egbuka as far closer to the version of him that we saw in the first two months than the last two months.

I’ll have him ranked ahead of DeVonta Smith, DK Metcalf, and both receivers in Arizona.

George Pickens | DAL (at NYG)

George Pickens is going to average north of 15 yards per catch for a fourth consecutive season. His move from Pittsburgh to Dallas did not bring a major change in responsibilities regarding the route tree, but as the quality of targets improved, he was able to turn his first season in Big D into the best of his career.

All four of his receptions in Washington on Thursday gained 15+ yards (41.3% of his catches this season, but from 37.3% last season). I have him sitting as a fringe top-15 WR next season, right along with Tee Higgins as the premier WR2s on their own roster that have the opportunity to finish as a top-10 fantasy option in any week.

Can he push CeeDee Lamb for the top role in this offense and thus be ranked as a player worthy of spending a top-24 pick on?

I don’t think so. He’s had a sub 20% target share in three of his past four games, and we just don’t see alpha receivers go through extended lulls like that from an opportunity perspective. I’d 100% believe you if you told me that Pickens will be better than Lamb on a per-catch basis in 2026, but I give the incumbent such an edge in target-earning consistency to overcome that discrepancy.

Personally, these two could finish in the same range when it comes to total points scored per game, but Lamb’s more narrow range of outcomes is more appealing.

Ja’Marr Chase | CIN (vs CLE)

Ja’Marr Chase has hit triple digits in receptions in three straight seasons and has scored at least seven times in all five of his pro seasons. We saw him weaponize his athleticism on the first drive last weekend against the Cardinals (13-yard TD), a nice reminder that he can make plays with the ball in his hands as well as tracking it at its highest point.

Your fun fact for the week: 23.7 PPR PPG in wins this season for Chase is a career high.

His aDOT has been gradually ticking down each year, which is interesting. It ups his efficiency, but, on occasion, results in fewer deep shots than I believe is optimal for our purposes, but that’s nitpicking at the highest of levels.

Give me a healthy Joe Burrow for the majority of the season, and I’ll give you a strong contender for the 1.01 label for a second consecutive summer.

Jakobi Meyers | JAX (vs TEN)

If we give Jakobi Meyers the one-week buffer (he got traded from Vegas in Week 10, just before the Jags traveled to Houston for about as difficult a matchup as it gets), and his floor has been a 20% target share. He’s getting a red zone touch and an end zone target per game over that seven-game sample, and this team has found a different gear.

And by “different,” I mean unbeatable.

With a mobile QB, a viable tight end, versatile RBs, and two other receivers who are capable of making plays, the production ceiling is only so high. Since joining the team, he’s at 12.3 PPG with the majority of his weeks falling in the 11.4-15 point range.

Fantasy managers and Jacksonville are aligned here: Meyers isn’t the driving force behind success, but he’s a big reason that you don’t lose.

Jameson Williams | DET (at CHI)

What’s different?

The hope was that, in Year 4, Jameson Williams would unlock some of the fantasy upside that we believe to be bubbling beneath the surface.

• 2024: 3.5 points per catch, 2.1 yards per route, 13.3% red zone target rate
• 2025: 3.5 points per catch, 1.9 yards per route, 8.9% red zone target rate

The big plays will be there as long as Williams is in his physical prime and playing the majority of his games on a fast track. But seven games with five or fewer targets in a season where we thought Dan Campbell might elevate him to a Tee Higgins level of WR2, where we are excited about starting him weekly?

He’s only been in the slot for 17.9% of his routes (2024: 30%), and I think that’s leaving money on the table. Agree or disagree with the play, but it’s been clear this season that Campbell puts Williams in with the Sam LaPortas and David Montgomeries of the world, not the Amon-Ra St. Brown/Jahmyr Gibbs tier where the offense rides and dies with their involvement.

Jauan Jennings | SF (vs SEA)

If you were watching on Sunday night, you likely saw Jauan Jennings cash in the winning score from 38 yards out (his fifth straight game with a TD) and wondered aloud where he had been for the first 58 minutes of the game.

Having a QB like Brock Purdy at the controls is both a blessing and a curse. I value his efficiency more than you do, and that is why Jennings is going to grade better for me, but a QB that functions the way he does means not (usually) forcing the ball into tough spots.

Instead, this is a beautiful offense that exploits defensive holes. That sounds great for all involved, but it also means that when a tough matchup presents itself, the player that the opponent wants to take away is at serious risk: Purdy will just move on and find plus-expected-value looks elsewhere.

Jennings has been a victim of that lately, with under 55 receiving yards in five of his past six; he’s just running hot in the TD department. He’s posted a sub-20% target share in three straight games: I’ll be entering next season with controlled pessimism. This feels a lot like what we saw from Jordan Addison in his first two seasons in terms of inevitable scoring regression.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba | SEA (at SF)

The Panthers held Jaxon Smith-Njigba without a 20-yard catch, his second such game this season, and kept him out of the end zone. His yards per route were 37.6% below his season average, and he was held under 100 air yards.

That all sounds good, right?

The man earned a dozen targets, caught nine of them, and made three impactful plays during Seattle’s first fourth-quarter drive that allowed them to push their advantage to two scores.

If this is “stopping” him, then I wish the 49ers the best of luck. He caught nine passes for 124 yards against them in Week 1, and that feels like a reasonable projection for this week. I don’t think he has the same game-breaking upside as Ja’Marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson still has Triple Crown potential if the QB position in Minnesota gets ironed out. Still, after that, JSN has as good a case for a first-round grade as any receiver.

Would you prefer him to Puka Nacua if Matthew Stafford were to retire? What about Nico Collins if the recent version of CJ Stroud is here to stay? Malik Nabers with Jaxson Dart?

How the second tier of receivers pans out this summer will be interesting, and I envision myself not hesitating to double-tap the position if I’m picking at the turn of a snake draft.

Jayden Higgins | HOU (vs IND)

Jayden Higgins wasted no time on Saturday to make his presence known, finding paydirt from 75 yards out on CJ Stroud’s first attempt of the week, but the rookie caught just one pass after that, resulting in a fourth straight game with under four receptions.

This Houston situation is going to be an interesting handicap for 2026. Nico Collins is the clear alpha, and Dalton Schultz is going to do his thing, but who is going to be the WR2?

Maybe it’s no one. Maybe we see six Texans earn 4-5 targets like we did last week against the Chargers, and that is what it is (think the WR2 role in Kansas City this season). I think that’s probably the most likely outcome, but both Higgins and Jaylin Noel have flashed at times and deserve to be drafted.

I view Higgins as more of the Collins clone and Noel as the complement. I think highly of Collins, and that puts me more on the Noel train for next season, but I wouldn’t criticize you for going the other direction.

I don’t know what side of that discussion will prove to be the winner when I write this exact column in 12 months. Still, I feel good about what is wrong: not rolling the dice on either at a late round ADP is allowing two of your opponents to have high upside reserves that could develop into weekly flex options.

Jayden Reed | GB (at MIN)

I often say that we don’t know how this Green Bay offense is going to play out, and I stand by that. But you have to be on the field to have my interest, and Jayden Reed, no matter the circumstances, isn’t being given that opportunity, and that doesn’t appear likely to change.

Reed has been on the field for 45.7% of the offensive snaps this season in games he’s been active for, and even if you remove the game in which he left early, his rate (54.7%) is still below his career norm (57.5%).

He’s caught 19-of-22 targets this season and has a 29+ yard catch in three straight games. You can’t tell me that there isn’t something in this profile, but we are pretty clearly in a need-to-see-it-to-believe-it pattern.

Christian Watson has established himself as the go-to option when healthy, and Tucker Kraft certainly proved himself to be a well-above-average threat at the tight end position.

I’ll have exposure to Reed when he falls in drafts this summer, but I’m not highlighting him on cheat sheets; that’s for sure.

Jaylen Waddle | MIA (at NE)

Jaylen Waddle is better than he gets credit for.

He’s been in the shadow of Tyreek Hill and was featured in an offense that was actively trying to hide their QB during the second half of this season. Still, he’s produced ahead of expectations in all five of his NFL seasons, has cleaned up the drops to a degree, and has cleared 1,000 air yards in three of his past four seasons.

We’ve seen his aDOT and slot rates bounce around from game to game, a sign that he is a malleable receiver who can fit the roles his team needs. He’s earned a career-high eight end zone targets this season, with 32% of his targets coming deep down field: there are some alpha tendencies in this profile, and that has me interested.

Of course, we need Miami to figure out its QB position. The ‘Fins have one more year of Waddle at a cheap price tag before his base salary explodes in 2027: they are going to want to show that investment to be a savvy one, and I expect this season to represent a baseline for what his floor is next season (his age-27 season).

Jerry Jeudy | CLE (at CIN)

Jerry Jeudy was responsible for four of Shedeur Sanders’ first 10 completions last week against the Steelers, and that was amazing to see.

One catch the rest of the way.

Jeudy’s value comes in his ability to hit the home run, and while Sanders is pretty clearly the QB most likely to push those buttons on this roster, his WR1 hasn’t had a catch gain more than 15 yards in three straight.

Am I higher on this offense, long-term, than I was a month ago? I am.

Does that mean I’m “high” on this offense? It does not.

Harold Fannin is the one pass-catcher on this offense that I expect to be a lineup staple in 2026, with Jeudy being more of a volume play that rewards you once a month in a big way.

I’ll have routine DFS exposure in tournament play next season, but I don’t think you’re looking at a WR4 that ends up on many of my season-long rosters.

Jordan Addison | MIN (vs GB)

It was only a matter of time.

Jordan Addison was scoring at a Hall of Fame level through two seasons (one TD reception for every 10.9 targets), and that’s come back to earth this season (25.3). Still, he did remind us of why he has our interest on Thursday with a 65-yard touchdown run that saw him get every inch out of a stretch to the pylon to help seal the game.

His profile is troubling to me both in the very short-term and into next season. Addison’s aDOT has trended up every season, and I can work with that, but not when the QB situation is as unproven as what Minnesota is currently dealing with.

Kevin O’Connell has given him even less slot usage this season (20.2%) than in the previous two years (27.1%), which very much caps how efficient he can be. I think Addison is a talented player in a well-thought-out scheme, and that puts him on fantasy radars, but this isn’t the type of player that you can count on weekly.

I’ll have Addison ranked as a middling WR3 in 2026, understanding that there is risk even in a best-case scenario, but also knowing that this offense could improve with time should J.J. McCarthy establish himself as even an average signal caller.

Josh Downs | IND (at HOU)

Josh Downs was a third-round pick in 2023 and has yet to post a stat line that is deserving of that label. He’s caught 194 balls across 46 games, and while he’s had his moments (three-game TD streak in the middle of this season being the most recent example), there hasn’t been enough consistency to demand our attention given the run-first nature of this offense.

Much will be made of who plays QB for the Colts in 2026, but are we sure that any option gives Downs a real shot at a top-36 season?

He might be the best mix of Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce, but those two are better at what they specialize in than downs, and the presence of the versatile Tyler Warren is a further drain on his volume upside.

I don’t see 2026 being his first season with 1,000 yards, and with him averaging less than a touchdown per month, it’s hard to make the case for him as a reasonable bench piece in standard formats.

Justin Jefferson | MIN (vs GB)

We’ve seen quarterback play cripple Ja’Marr Chase for a stretch this season, we’ve seen it happen to Garrett Wilson for the entirety of his career, and the Jakobi Meyers production spike isn’t a coincidence.

Entering this season, we were aware that this sort of thing can happen, but we assumed, based on experience, that Justin Jefferson was immune to it.

As it turns out, everyone has a breaking point. During his career, he has had 11 games with 20+ routes and no more than 30 receiving yards: he’s done it in four of his past five games.

His 29.7% target share this season isn’t drastically different from what we’ve come to assume, but the quality of opportunity obviously hasn’t been the same.

Relax.

We have five seasons’ worth of data, and this is one of the very best in the game. If JJ McCarthy can harness some of the good we’ve seen this season, JJetta should have a real shot at leading the position in scoring.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba was on a 2,000-yard watch for a while this season, and Malik Nabers was labeled as the next face of the position entering 2025. I have nothing against either of those receivers or any of the others in that general range (CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Puka Nacua, etc.), but you can have them, and I’ll ride with Jefferson.

Khalil Shakir | BUF (vs NYJ)

Khalil Shakir posted a 5.6-yard aDOT last season, and it felt perfect. It took him two years to settle into that role, but it looked good on him as a part of this unique Josh Allen attack and allowed him to catch six passes in all three of their playoff games.

Extend that for a full season, and we (or at least I) thought that a 100-catch season was in play for this season.

Nope.

His aDOT has dropped even further (3.9 yards), and that’s lowered the floor of a profile that already had to deal with a low ceiling. He’s failed to reach double-figure PPR points in four of his past five games and has scored under three PPR points on three occasions this season.

I remain stubborn on the idea that this skill set is the one that works best with Allen’s freestyling ways, but maybe this offense is best served to revolve around Allen with an equal pull from all directions.

I’ll be back on Shakir because of my belief that YAC receivers are set to gain value at a quicker rate than the deep ball threats. He’s not going to cost you much, and cheap exposure to a top-5 offense is always going to grade out as a reasonable investment in my eyes.

Ladd McConkey | LAC (at DEN)

I wish I could explain to you what has happened to Ladd McConkey this season.

I take that back. I can explain it. He’s been a mess. He hasn’t caught five passes in a game since October; his production efficiency has fallen from 28.6% above expectations to 1% below, and his highlight in the first half on Saturday was properly fielding punts (zero targets).

I wish I could explain why this has happened.

• 2024: 4.8 YAC, 10.2 aDOT, 71.5 air yards per game
• 2025: 4.7 YAC, 10.5 aDOT, 69.2 air yards per game

His slot usage has dipped a touch, while his red zone target rate is actually a tick higher this year than last. If you’re looking for a data point that looks different, it’s his efficiency on balls thrown past the sticks.

On those passes a year ago, he averaged 4.48 yards per route, a rate that has fallen to 2.21 this season. I don’t have a really good explanation for that other than there could be growing pains in an offense that features a QB coming into his own and a second-year receiver adjusting to the league having film on him.

In Weeks 6-10, he had three 20-point efforts, and that’s what we expected to be the norm, not the exception. He doesn’t have a 15-point game outside of that month, and the target ceiling has been capped at six since Halloween.

McConkey was on the fringe of WR1 status during this past draft season, a price that you won’t be expected to pay in August, despite us being just as confident in this offense now as we were then.

I’m not pushing all of my chips into the middle of the table on Los Angeles’ slot machine, but I’ll have him as a top 24 WR that I’m comfortable spending a fifth-round pick on, something that I expect to fall on the optimistic side of the discourse.

Luther Burden III | CHI (vs DET)

Every offseason, we get players the industry unanimously adores. Instead of everyone simply agreeing that the player is poised for a big year, it becomes an arms race to craft the spiciest take, thus claiming said player as “their guy”.

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I’m not getting involved in all of that, but Luther Burden is going to prove to be the chosen one that every ranker tries to make a statement with ahead of 2026.

I can’t blame them.

As a rookie, he’s done nothing but impress down the stretch (over 65 receiving yards in three straight, highlighted by the 8-138-1 stat line that he dropped on the 49ers last Sunday night). In fact, he’s been so good when given the opportunity that Cris Collinsworth was trying to explain the value of yards per route to the general public on that broadcast.

That’s when you know we’ve hit a fever pitch.

This is an offense trending upward, with a franchise QB in place and an offensive mastermind at the controls. Odell Beckham Jr. posted a 96-1,450-13 line in his sophomore season, and I don’t doubt that we will see that sort of excitement across the industry.

I’d caution against going overboard and understanding that he’s not a sleeper. He’s going to be bid up in auctions and potentially drafted closer to a 75th percentile outcome in most rooms this summer.

I’ll do a deep dive on him when the paint is dry on the season as a whole, and we get past free agency. That said, a ranking in the low 20s at the position currently sounds about right.

Marvin Harrison Jr. | ARI (at LAR)

Injuries have plagued Marvin Harrison this season to a degree, and a case of Kyler Murray-itis didn’t help. Still, nothing has been more frustrating about his second season than the explosion of Michael Wilson in his stead.

He’s been ordinary by the standards set by his pedigree. His metrics are nearly identical across the board this year from last (target rate, slot usage, red zone usage, etc.), and that’s the part that is bothering me.

He hasn’t been a bad player; we just haven’t seen the type of growth we’d expect.

The future of this offense is going to hinge on who is taking snaps, but it appears safe to say that Michael Wilson (one more year left on his contract) isn’t going anywhere, and Trey McBride is coming off a historic season.

I’m tempted to think this offense will be more balanced next season if their running backs can stay close to full health, but as long as the defense remains a weak spot, this passing game should be able to support multiple options.

Will Harrison be the WR1 that occasionally struggles when Wilson gets loose or the WR2 who occasionally thrives when Wilson struggles?

That’s a decision we have eight months to ponder. At the moment, I have him ranked at the lower end of a tier that includes Courtland Sutton, Jakoi Meyers, and Jaylen Waddle. It’s not a group of comfort, but it is a class of receiver that could give us a league winner.

Who will it be?

Check back with me as the season approaches. I’ll roll up my sleeves and have you covered, I can assure you of that.

Michael Pittman Jr. | IND (at HOU)

Michael Pittman hasn’t scored in a month and suffered during the Philip Rivers era, but two catches this week will give him 80+ receptions in four of five seasons to go along with a career-high seven scores.

I hate to say it because I think he has the potential to be a WR1 in this league, but isn’t Pittman what he is at this point?

He’s averaged 12.4-14 PPR points in three of the past five seasons with a 13.2 PPG mark across those 81 games. He was drafted outside of the top 40 at the position entering 2025, and while his stock could tick up a little from that overreaction to just how bad this offense was going to be, I’m not drafting him as a weekly starter.

Michael Wilson | ARI (at LAR)

Cincinnati played a Michael Wilson catch into a 38-yard score last week with some shoddy tackling in the second quarter, but one way or another, he’s scored in four straight games and has been one of the storylines of the second half of this season.

He’s produced slightly over expectations in all three of his pro seasons, and it was good to see him sustain that production with increased work this season. His spot in this offense might well depend on who is under center.

• With Kyler Murray, 2025: 8.5% above expectations, 1.98 yards per route, 11.7 aDOT
• With Jacoby Brissett, 2025: 34.4% below expectations, 0.32 yards per route, 12.5 aDOT

The target type wasn’t all that different, but the production gap is wide. I’m not crazy about penciling in three pass catchers from this offense on a routine basis, so how I stack him up and Marvin Harrison will depend largely on the structure of this offense.

Mike Evans | TB (vs CAR)

Unless he hangs 666 yards (talk about an ominous number to need) on the Panthers this weekend, Mike Evans is going to see his historic run of 1,000-yard seasons end at 11.

A remarkable streak that will be remembered for years to come, but one that does nothing for those of us projecting ahead. I was impressed with what I saw from Chris Godwin (7-108-1) against the Dolphins last week, but his success doesn’t work against that of Evans.

Jalen McMillan posting a 7-114-0 line last week caught my eye, and while Emeka Egbuka has been less present for the Bucs than the sun has been here on the East Coast lately, he’s still very much a part of the long-term picture in Tampa Bay.

What is the target ceiling for Evans to open his age-33 season?

In theory, he could pay off in the way that Davante Adams has this season, but that’s too risky for my liking.

It’s been a fun ride, Mr. Evans, but I step off here. I wish you the best for the remainder of your Hall of Fame career: I’ll be watching from a distance.

Nico Collins | HOU (vs IND)

Watch back the early scores for the Texans last week, and you’ll see Nico Collins earning almost Steph Curry levels of gravity.

Opponents are aware that Houston is a threat to score any time he is targeted, so they overreact to his every move, something that C.J. Stroud took advantage of early in Week 17 with a pair of first-quarter bombs to their encouraging rookie WRs.

We haven’t seen the explosion game from Collins all season, and yet, he has a shot at a 1,200-yard season. He’s averaging 15.0 yards per catch for his career and has scored on 8.3% of his targets. No one is taking food off of his plate in this offense, and if the secondary targets can build on the success they had last week, things should open up for Collins in 2026.

Was I wrong with my WR1 overall ranking of him for this past season, or was I just early?

I won’t have him ranked at the top of the mountain again, but he’s not falling outside of my top 10, and he’ll be a target of mine in the middle half of the second round.

Parker Washington | JAX (vs TEN)

Could Parker Washington really be the key to Jacksonville’s surge?

Jakobi Meyers gets a lot of the credit, and he’s deserving. Brian Thomas has the pedigree and the rookie season to demand attention, and again, it is well deserved.

But Washington’s ability to create space and exploit coverage schemes from the slot with a varied route tree might be as critical as anything. The production he’s given us over the past two weeks is unlike anything we’ve seen in a while out of a Jacksonville receiver, and the combination of a 61.9% slot rate AND a 42.3% deep target rate makes him one of the more difficult covers going.

I think it’s real. He’s on the final year of his rookie contract next season, making him among the better values at the position in the league. His fantasy stock has risen, and due to the optionality of this offense, I do expect some ups and downs, but his ADP is likely to lag behind his teammates, and I’m not sure that should be the case.

At the very least, he stabilizes Trevor Lawrence’s future value, but again, there is standalone value I don’t think is going anywhere.

Pat Bryant | DEN (vs LAC)

Pat Bryant missed last week with a concussion, and his season stat line doesn’t jump off the screen (27-347-1), but mistaking the rookie year limitations is a rookie move.

He’s exceeded expectations in five of his past nine games, and with Troy Franklin seemingly not thought of in the same light, the 74th overall pick could take the league by storm in 2026 as a complementary option next to Courtland Sutton.

Sean Payton’s offense can be maddening at times, but it usually gets the job done, and with Bo Nix showing signs of being a franchise QB, this is an offense that is more than capable of supporting a second pass catcher.

I have a hard time seeing him be fully extended this week, but I don’t have a hard time seeing me get more exposure to him at cost than any of his teammates next season.

Puka Nacua | LAR (vs ARI)

The Falcons did all they could against Puka Nacua on Monday Night.

Their combination of mixed-up coverages to safety helped speed up Matthew Stafford; they held LA’s WR1 to a 50% catch rate and under five yards per target.

Relative to the rest of the league, they locked him up, and yet, he tied the game with under three minutes to go, minutes after hauling in a bomb that was called back due to a holding penalty.

These star receivers can be slowed by possession, the quarter, or even the half, but the Tier 1 options can’t be stopped for a full 60 minutes consistently.

Nacua has doubled his career TD total this season alone and seems destined to give 2,000 receiving yards a run one of these years. If Matthew Stafford calls it a career this winter, it’ll hurt my projection, but why couldn’t he be a version of Chris Olave, but 15% better?

That would work. I expect him to own a Round 1 ADP this summer, and I don’t think it’s a bad investment. There isn’t a lack of options toward the end of Round 1, so you won’t need to take on the risk if you don’t want to (again, assuming no Stafford), but I certainly wouldn’t blame you for wanting a receiver that is as versatile as any in the sport.

Quentin Johnston | LAC (at DEN)

Quentin Johnston had 90 yards on a 38.5% target share against the Texans on Saturday in the first half and eight yards in the second half.

If that’s not the QJ profile, I don’t know what is. The Kyle Pitts of the receiver position routinely does enough to keep us interested, but not enough to get us confident. He’s produced +10% over expectations in consecutive seasons, and his PPR points per target have increased each season, so am I complaining just to complain?

For his career, he has 41 games with 20+ routes run, and he’s been nearly three times as likely to score under five fantasy points (14 occurrences) as to reach 29 (five). This year alone, he has followed a 23.8 point effort with 6.9, an 11.0 one with a goose egg, a 9.2 with another goose egg, and an 11.3 with a 2.8.

I’m conservative in how I build rosters, and that’s how I like to play. I value consistency and choose my spots to take chances on a week-to-week basis. So Johnston isn’t for me.

If you are more of a YOLO manager who is willing to take the good with the bad when it comes to players like this, Johnston is your speed. The overarching profile looks OK, and the Chargers have a top-10 QB calling the shots.

It wouldn’t shock me if we see Johnston’s first 1,000-yard season in 2026, and it could come with double-digit touchdowns. That could be the case, and he could still cost you three weeks at an inopportune time with air balls.

Rashee Rice | KC (at LV)

Rashee Rice is a WR1, and I’m not getting talked off of that unless you tell me that Patrick Mahomes misses the first half of the season.

Rashee Rice’s Career

• 28 games
• 156 catches
• 209 targets
• 1,797 yards
• 14 touchdowns

He’s averaging over two PPR points per target, and we saw him produce 35.5% over expectation in 2024. Even during a fractured 2025 season, he handled 14 red zone touches in his eight games.

Andy Reid is well aware of what he has, and so is Mahomes. Rice’s volume grades as elite with or without Travis Kelce in the mix, and that’s why I’m already excited about the shares I’m going to grab of him in 2026 at a potential discount if there are worries about the integrity of this offense.

Right now, I’d take him over all of the young receivers with something in the way of question marks under center (Malik Nabers, Tetairoa McMillan, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, etc) and over the super talented, but secondary options in high octane offenses (Tee Higgins and George Pickens).

Rashid Shaheed | SEA (at SF)

Rashid Shaheed left early Sunday with a concussion, but he’s been unable to carve out a role in an offense that saw Sam Darnold functioning at the peak of his powers, and that has me treating him no differently than in years past.

In a perfect world, this offense picks up the pace, and we get some additional target-earning opportunities. Shaheed clearly sits atop my list of all-or-nothing types at the position, and if given the opportunity, it wouldn’t shock me to see him have a run at some point next season, like what Quentin Johnston did in the first half of this year.

In 2026, we will be looking at a 28-year-old receiver who could still be seeking his first 60 catch season (currently sitting on 58) and averages 14.7 yards per catch. We saw him average nearly five catches per game with the Saints early in the season, but that was an offense structured in complete contrast to Seattle’s.

As he enters free agency, my ranking of him is very situation-dependent. If we are looking at an average, or better, team in terms of offensive plays per game, he’ll garner a flex ranking from me, but we’ve seen enough with the Seahawks to think that a slow-moving scheme that has an alpha WR1 isn’t a fantasy-friendly spot for him.

Ricky Pearsall | SF (vs SEA)

We saw Ricky Pearsall return from this continued knee/ankle issue on Sunday night and do what he does against the Bears: five catches for 80 yards.

This kid is a big-play threat in the most efficient offense going, and that makes him more than a Rashid Shaheed type who relies on a bomb. Kyle Shanahan is a master at scheming around the strengths of his player,s and let’s not forget that he spent Round 1 draft capital on Pearsall just two years ago.

We know that George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey are going to soak up plenty of usage in this system, and they should. But with Brandon Aiyuk on his way out of town and Jauan Jennings ready to hit the open market, it’s not hard to see Pearsall exploding in 2026.

His health certainly needs to be considered, and I still want to see some route development before ranking him as a weekly starter. But it’s possible that he goes well after a player like Luther Burden this summer and gives you similar production when all is said and done.

I said “possible”. I’ll have Burden higher, but in terms of production vs ADP, I think it has a real chance to be a conversation.

Rome Odunze | CHI (vs DET)

It’s way too early to call it, but could Rome Odunze be the steal of the first half of drafts this summer?

This foot injury has muddied the end of his season, and given the splits, is it possible that the community as a whole sours on the pride of Washington a little bit too much?

• Weeks 1-5: 19.9 PPR, 30.2% above expectations, 28.6% red zone target rate
• Weeks 6-17: 8.3 PPG, 30.3% below expectations, 19.4% red zone target rate

The target hierarchy in Chicago next season is going to be a fun one to project, and if the momentum from late in the season slides to the 2025 rookie class, Odunze could prove to be the most valuable of the trio.

Romeo Doubs | GB (at MIN)

Romeo Doubs, as a little Cade Otton, felt like an effective playmaker when the injury report in Green Bay was loaded with names, but was deprioritized otherwise.

With Christian Watson active, Doubs hasn’t been able to earn targets at a high level, never mind when Tucker Kraft and Jayden Reed are in the mix.

If the Packers were to embrace a high-PROE offense, maybe Doubs gets another chance to hit our lineups on a semi-weekly basis, but they’ve shown no desire to do so to this point. He’s earned under five targets in five of his past six games, and that has me uninterested in him for next season as long as this pass-catching nucleus is healthy come the draft season.

Stefon Diggs | NE (vs MIA)

Just about everything worked for New England on Sunday, and that meant a consecutive 100-yard effort for Stefon Diggs, the second time he’s pulled that off this season.

He looks healthy and bought in, a version of the veteran that can retain flex appeal in an offense that is obviously trending in the right direction. That said, he’s played under 60% of the snaps in five straight games, and you’re threading a thin needle by consistently counting on a part-time player with a QB that is clearly comfortable in spreading the ball around.

With just one end zone look over his past six, Diggs needs to post high target-to-route numbers to pay off, a skill that is at risk of evaporating with each passing season.

My exposure to him in the back half of drafts this summer will hinge on the development of this offense. If Kyle Williams takes a big step in Year 2 or TreVeyon Henderson turns into a featured back that is given 18+ touches per game, the math on Diggs becomes difficult to swallow.

But if we don’t get those glowing reports, and he can be penciled in for 100-ish targets, I’ll scoop him up after the first 36 receivers are off the board as a way to get a piece of the Patriot pie.

Tee Higgins | CIN (vs CLE)

Tee Higgins has more seasons with 10+ TD receptions than he does seasons with 1,100 receiving yards.

That sounds like an unsustainable stat, and it would be for most, but Higgins isn’t “most”. He’s an elite high pointer of the ball (his 38-yard catch on Sunday being the latest example, the seventh time in nine games he has a grab of 25+ yards) in an offense that wants to, and needs to, be aggressive for all 60 minutes.

He’s not a threat to challenge Ja’Marr Chase for the WR1 honors in this offense, but as long as Joe Burrow is standing upright, he’s also not a threat to fall outside of my top 20 at the position.

It’s still very early, but he’s currently sitting as my WR14 for 2026.

Terry McLaurin | WAS (at PHI)

Terry McLaurin didn’t explode on Christmas Day, but he earned one-third of the targets in a Josh Johnson offense that wasn’t exactly threatening with the forward pass.

That’s kind of been the story with Scary Terry up to this point. His per-17-game career pace is over 1,100 receiving yards, no minor accomplishment given the average level of QB play he’s been subjected to.

This season, he’s proven that a 20% target share is basically his floor, as he’s hit that rate in five straight games and seven of his past eight. If you’re bullish on Jayden Daniels in 2026 (and I am), then it’s not hard to talk yourself into Washington’s WR1 as a solid PPR WR2 in 2026.

He’s less exciting than an Emeka Egbuka or Rome Odunze, but he shares a tier with them, and you could sell me on taking the stability that he brings to the table over both of them.

Tetairoa McMillan | CAR (at TB)

Tetairoa McMillan has under 50 air yards in three of his past four games, and that’s kind of the catch with this profile.

McMillan has earned 116 targets this season, good for a very impressive 25.8% share, but with up-and-down quarterbacking from Bryce Young, T-Mac is right in line with what we’d expect the average receiver to do in his role (+1.3%).

Average QB play, and McMillan has the potential to jump into the top-10 conversation, one that Emeka Egbuka found himself in earlier this season when everything was going right in Tampa Bay. He’s that type of good, but he hasn’t seen a red zone target since mid-November, and offensive limitations can handicap even the most talented of receivers.

I’m more OK with drafting Panthers in 2026 than I was in 2025, though the risk still needs to be acknowledge,d as we aren’t 100% sure of what Young is going to offer on a week-to-week basis.

Troy Franklin | DEN (vs LAC)

With Pat Bryant (concussion) out for Week 17, I was under the impression that Troy Franklin would be featured because that was everything we had seen.

Sometimes, however, the more you know, the more you don’t know.

Sean Payton opted for balance alongside Courtland Sutton, and while that worked for Denver, it was a disaster for us.

Pass Catcher Production at Chiefs

• Adam Trautman: 2 catches on 2 targets for 24 yards
• Lil’Jordan Humphrey: 2 catches on 5 targets for 23 yards
• Evan Engram: 4 catches on 4 targets for 21 yards
• Franklin: 4 catches on 4 targets for 17 yards
• Michael Bandy: 2 catches on 2 targets for 14 yards
• Marvin Mims: 3 catches on 4 targets for 10 yards

That’s a whole lot of nothing. I could deal with a missed call, that’s part of it, but a 38% snap share?

I was wrong on all accounts, an unpleasant reminder of what the Payton offensive scheme can do to fantasy managers. I like the potential for this offense this week, this postseason, and in 2026, but I’m not sold that we’ll get a second pass-catcher who consistently hits our lineups.

We will need to track this situation during the offseason, but I give Bryant the edge in terms of future value, which means I’m going to have Franklin ranked at or below where the industry ranks him.

Wan’Dale Robinson | NYG (vs DAL)

In this great sport of ours, there are currently just five players with 90+ catches in each of the past two seasons, and you’ll never guess why I’m mentioning that stat in this section:

• Ja’Marr Chase
• Amon-Ra St. Brown
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Trey McBride
• Wan’Dale Robinson

You can call him a PPR scam all you want, but his aDOT is up at 9.0 this season, and he’s near 80 air yards per game. Of course, his bread is buttered with the shorter targets, but that’s his primary dimension, not his only dimension.

Sunday in Vegas was his first double-digit catch game of the season, but his seventh with double-digit targets. The volume will take a hit next year with Malik Nabers back in the fold if the Giants retain Robinson (pending UFA), but could he have more 15-point games than single-digit performances like he has this season?

I think so.

Drafting Robinson is never going to get a reaction from your competition, but that level of stability is hard to find, and in an offense that has the arrow pointing up, that’s a player I want shares of.

Zay Flowers | BAL (at PIT)

We didn’t see a ton of Zay Flowers against the Packers (30 yards, his third-lowest receiving total of the season and seven games under 65 this year), but he’s over 70 catches for a third straight season and 1,000 yards for a second in a row.

I want Baltimore’s WR1 to be more than he is, but there is a level of comfort that comes with consistency. The 18 end zone targets in 49 career games is troubling when it comes to searching for paths to upside (Mark Andrews staying in town certainly doesn’t help), but a 69.3% career catch rate in an offense I largely trust is going to have a spot on my roster most seasons, especially if his ADP checks in where it was last year (WR27).

Tight Ends

AJ Barner | SEA (at SF)

He’s not going to soar up the ranks, but AJ Barner was an efficient player as a rookie, took on a larger role this season, and has remained as such despite the QB play.

Maybe he’s just #good?

His target share has more than doubled from 2024, while all of his per-opportunity metrics have stayed the same. His yards per route run have spiked under Sam Darnold (up 31.9%), and while he’s added a little depth to his route-running profile, he remains more of a chain-moving/short-yardage option.

I’m fine with that, and I think you should be, too, given how this offense is set up.

Half of his touchdowns this season have come from 15+ yards out. There’s some upside to chase as the end zone comes into focus, but that’s not the selling point. He’s caught 3-4 passes in five straight games and is part of a pass-catching core that serves to give JSN space.

The upside isn’t high, but when you’re among the last in your league to address the position, you’re not asking it to be. Barner is to be viewed as a nice, high-floor tight end for 2026 and should be identified as a late-round target if you don’t want to pay up for the tight ends that can swing weeks.

Brenton Strange | JAX (vs TEN)

Brenton Strange might be a better player than the stats ever realize while he is in Jacksonville.

He has a 20+ yard catch in three straight contests and in six of his past seven, but the target-earning opportunities are low. We know the upside of Brian Thomas and the consistency of Jakobi Meyers. If Trevor Lawrence is going to play at a high level for the next few seasons, there should be room for a third option to carve out a role, but Strange isn’t even the most likely Nittany Lion drafted in 2023 to fill that spot.

The ability for Parker Washington to give Liam Coen three-WR sets that can threaten defenses across every square inch of the field puts Bretnon in a strange spot.

Is he the rare vertical threat TE? Where does he settle on third-down patterns?

There have been matchups this season that have worked in his favor, and that’ll probably be the case again in 2026. But with three receivers and versatile running backs, this isn’t a TE that is going to flirt with my top-12 during the preseason evaluation process.

Brock Bowers | LV (vs KC)

The Raiders ruled Brock Bowers out for their final two games of the season on Christmas Eve, electing not to take any more risks on a knee that has been giving him issues since Week 2.

This season has been labeled a train wreck by many, given the expectations. That’s partly true because he hasn’t separated from the pack as we needed. Still, a 0.77-point decline in PPR production per game isn’t exactly the end of the world, especially when you consider just how bad the surrounding circumstances have been.

In terms of air yards per game and slot usage, he’s been within the range of acceptable outcomes when compared to his historic rookie season. What has me bullish on him returning to Tier 1 status in 2026 is the uptick in red zone usage. Last year, he was looked at on just 20% of his red zone routes, a rate that spiked to 37.2% this season, a nod to his unique skill set at the position.

If the quality of the target can take even a minor step forward, Bowers may challenge Trey McBride at the mountaintop. Even if he can’t get there, the drafting public may overreact to this season, and that makes him a potential post-hype option, even if the price isn’t dragged down too far.

Cade Otton | TB (vs CAR)

We just don’t know, and for me, that’s enough of an excuse to stream if the opportunity presents itself in 2026, not to prioritize him in any sort of way.

Cade Otton will be a UFA this summer, and he’s been two different players during his time in Tampa Bay: useless when everyone is healthy and irreplaceable when injuries ravage the depth chart.

He’s struggled to earn targets when viable WRs are on the field, and given that most passing games don’t work through the tight end position, I’m prepared to fully avoid Otton barring him landing in a situation where the cupboard around him is essentially bare.

With 200 catches in 62 career games and no real upside to speak of (under 10 yards per catch for his career and just 10 scores), this is a “unproduction until proven productive” profile.

Chig Okonkwo | TEN (at JAX)

The Chig Okonkwo situation is a funny one. We see just enough of him to make him interesting (the 43-yard TD last week against the Saints was a grown man play that only a handful of tight ends are capable of making), but he’s been stuck in that 50-60 range with almost no TD equity for three consecutive seasons now.

I want him to stay in Tennessee.

That may sound counterintuitive (UFA this summer). But I want him to develop alongside Cam Ward rather than trying to fit into an offense that is already structured a certain way (going to Tampa Bay or something like that wouldn’t move the needle for me).

Keep tabs. This is a strong athlete who can make plays in a variety of ways. His aDOT has dipped every season, and with his YAC skills, I think that is probably the best way for him to work his way into the top 15 conversation.

I don’t currently have him ranked as such, but it’s not hard to imagine Ward improving exponentially. If that happens, in an offense that lacks proven talent, Okonkwo would likely come along for the ride.

Colston Loveland | CHI (vs DET)

I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that Colston Loveland is a top-10 tight end in 2026. Heck, I don’t think it’s crazy to think he could be closer to TE5 than TE10.

1) Trey McBride
2) Brock Bowers
3) George Kittle
4) Tucker Kraft
5) Tyler Warren
6) Harold Fannin
7) Colston Loveland
8) Sam LaPorta
9) Kyle Pitts
10) Jake Ferguson

It’s not locked in at this point, obviously, but I could see the 2026 tight end rankings looking something like that. Over the past five games, the rookie is seeing one of every five targets in this offense with a double-digit aDOT.

That’s a strong profile, given that the quarterback is on the rise and the head coach is an evil genius who is here to stay.

Loveland is averaging 1.76 yards per route run this season: if that level of efficiency sustains and his role grows, he could be an elite value in the middle of drafts this summer.

Dallas Goedert | PHI (vs WAS)

Nothing is certain at this point, but it would take a lot to get me on Dallas Goedert in any capacity for next season.

The team could change, but the offensive environment is unlikely to improve in a major way, and with him coming off a career season, there’s no way that I’m going to pay the premium.

He scored his 11th touchdown of the season on Sunday in Buffalo, six more than his previous high and a true outlier performance.

• 2018-2024: Touchdown on 6.9% of his receptions
• 2025: Touchdown on 18.3% of his receptions

You tell me what the more valuable data point is: the one that lasts seven seasons and extends through your prime, or the very normal, age-30 spike season.

The tight end position is a struggle annually, I get it. That said, I think you can find much more projectable upside up to 15 players deep at the position.

Give me Theo Johnson over Goedert within this division.

Dalton Kincaid | BUF (vs NYJ)

Dalton Kincaid sat last week with a knee injury, a status that was easier to digest with the Patriots/Jets game not in the least bit of doubt. The third-year tight end caught 73 balls as a rookie, but it’s been tough sledding.

He missed four games last season and only scored twice on 75 targets. This season, the touchdowns came early, but he’s now sat out five games with only five top-15 finishes; he’s been a drain on your team more often than not.

We’ve done this for years with the Bills: Josh Allen doesn’t need help. The idea of this offense sustaining viable pass catchers makes sense in practice, but how many times do we have to be left wanting more before we stop trying?

Ride the Buffalo wave as it comes in season instead of worrying about it on draft night.

Dalton Schultz | HOU (vs IND)

The Texans game was a mess for fantasy over the weekend.

C.J. Stroud hit on a pair of bombs, but they went to the rookies we weren’t playing, instead of the elite receiver or viable TE we invest in.

Fun times.

Dalton Schultz was the victim of the weird game flow, but his next catch will give him a career high 79 for the season, and while he’s far from a gamebreaker, he’s a cut (or two) above the streaming tier, and I’m not sure he’ll be treated as such during draft season.

For those of us who stream the position annually, Schultz is the profile you want: a QB on an upward trajectory with a lack of proven pass catchers behind Nico Collins.

David Njoku | CLE (at CIN)

A knee injury has plagued David Njoku late this season, but so has a case of Harold Fannin-itis.

The rookie tight end has out-produced the veteran for the bulk of this season, and with him entering free agency ahead of his age-30 season, it’s fair to expect Njoku to be on the move this summer.

There are a handful of competitive teams that could use a TE with the savvy of Njoku, but asking him to be a viable fantasy option in 2026 is more optimistic than I’m willing to be. This is going to be the worst healthy (10+ games played) season of his career in terms of yards per route, and that means his role carries far more risk than reward.

His landing spot will matter for ranking purposes, but he’s a streamer at best.

Evan Engram | DEN (vs LAC)

It got to the point this offseason where I considered muting “Engram Joker” on my social media platforms.

The idea made some sense, given Sean Payton’s decision to bring in a versatile player like Evan Engram. Still, at no point this season has he strung together encouraging performances, so hopefully this sluggish end to the season isn’t hurting you in a major way.

That’s now four straight games with under five targets and 40 yards. His only score came in Week 5, and he’s largely been a part-time player during this surprisingly successful season in Denver.

Outside of money, why would anything change in 2026?

Engram will count $11 million against the cap next season, and dollars talk. But with a trio of talented receivers, a young running back that looks the part, and a QB who is still finding where he is most comfortable, there’s far more risk than reward in the overall profile.

For me, Engram is a version of Mark Andrews, but one without financial ties beyond this season. I don’t see myself landing any shares of either veteran next year, but if I did have to pick one, it’d be the one on a team with fewer mouths to feed and an extension to justify.

George Kittle | SF (vs SEA)

George Kittle plays a physical brand of football, and while that’s a large part of what we like, DNP’s are never far away.

The ankle injury he suffered in Week 16 kept him out of action over the weekend, his sixth missed game this season. He’s seen his target-per-route rate improve in three straight seasons, and the dialing back of his aDOT this season has allowed him to make the most of his targets (52 catches on 62 looks this season).

Does he have the ceiling in 2026 of a Brock Bowers or Trey McBride? I’d say no, but that’s the entire list of TEs that I have ranked in a tier of options at the position ahead of Kittle. We know that Brock Purdy makes his money on efficiency and while this receiver room should be more effective next year than it was this, there is no reason to think that he won’t post a fifth straight season with 6+ touchdowns (and I’d bet on his fifth career 1,000-yard season).

Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE (at CIN)

I wouldn’t call it a work of art, but Shedeur Sanders has shown the desire to put his playmakers in a position to pick up chunk gains, and Harold Fannin was the beneficiary on Sunday.

The rookie tight end hauled in a 28-yard arm punt for a touchdown, and while the play itself wasn’t the most sustainable, the idea behind it is worthy of our long-term interest.

Fannin was ruled out for the game after suffering a groin injury on the TD, and that limited how impactful he was during your fantasy Super Bowl, but make no mistake about it: he’s going to be locked in as a Tier 2 TE.

If your leaguemates are slow to the trigger or indecisive about investing in this Browns offense, you stand to gain in a major way. Fannin’s name is one you’ll want highlighted on your 2026 cheatsheet.

Hunter Henry | NE (vs MIA)

Hunter Henry is averaging 27.8 routes per game this season, and if that role sticks, I could talk myself into sliding him into the backend of the TE1 tier for 2026 with Drake Maye heading an offense that seems destined for big things for years to come and no clear-cut target hierarchy.

Austin Hooper got the tight end touchdown on the first drive last week against the Jets, and while that left Henry managers wanting more, the season-long value has been there in the past (6+ TD receptions in four seasons, including two of his past three).

He’s not much of a threat to push for a high reception total, so you’d need him to run hot in a Dallas Goedert sort of way to spike, but this is the type of offensive environment that makes that outcome possible.

Isaiah Likely | BAL (at PIT)

If there is going to be a tight end move this offseason that offsets the balance of power at the tight end position, it figures to be Isaiah Likely.

In the final year of his deal, the pride of Coastal Carolina has shown enough in the way of upside to sell me on him being a real asset if unleashed, something that the Ravens have been unwilling to do during his four years in town (just over three targets per game for his career and just under that this season).

He did play 70.3% of their offensive snaps against the Packers last weekend in a must-win spot. Still, with his physical peak approaching and Mark Andrews signing a mid-season extension, it’s difficult to envision this team competing with the market for a promising athlete entering his age-26 season.

Location, location, location. We’ve seen strong prospects struggle in tough settings before, but this is a fluid player that can challenge defenses in a variety of ways and add a dimension to a creative passing game.

As we sit here today, blind as to where he takes his talents in 2026, I’m ready to draft him as a starter and take my chances.

Jake Ferguson | DAL (at NYG)

A calf injury forced Jake Ferguson to exit early on Christmas afternoon. But he did manage to score his eighth touchdown of the season prior, and that prevented you from a third straight complete stinker.

All in all, I find the 2025 Ferguson season to be the worst kind. He plays a position with plenty of fluidity, and thus, any signs of life boost our confidence. He rattled off six straight top-10 finishes at the position in the first half of this season, and that resulted in our unquestioned trust.

He built us up only to tear us down.

Had he not strung together so many consecutive weeks of success, we would have moved on before his December disaster and thus not allowed him to end the playoff runs he was largely responsible for.

This is a good example of just how impactful TD variance can be. Ferguson was much more valuable this season than last, but was he really any different of a player?

Ferguson Annual Data

• 2024: 16.8% target share, 1.28 yards per route, 4.4 aDOT
• 2025: 17.1% target share, 1.24 yards per route, 5.1 aDOT

No, he’s not. This is a fringe TE1 as he enters his age-27 season, which just happened to feature a run of extremes in 2026. In 2023, Fergie posted a 71-761-5 season, and if I were going to submit an early projection for next year, it would look something like that.

Consider him in the Dalton Kincaid and Brenton Strange tier for 2026: stable, but a player whose ADP will determine my exposure level. If his late-season swoon tanks his public perception, I could see me landing shares, but I’d rather pay up for upside (Colston Loveland) or embrace the chaos of the position and look toward a Theo Johnson type.

Juwan Johnson | NO (at ATL)

Juwan Johnson caught 20 of his 21 December targets, and he can be a hyper-efficient option in this offense in his age-30 season, but my worry is the sheer volume of this offense.

In 2025, the Saints knew they weren’t going to be very good, and that means picking early enough to consider going the QB route in consecutive drafts. So what harm was there in letting Tyler Shough cook over the final two months of this season?

They gave the old rookie a chance to prove himself by putting volume on his shoulders and asking him to make the most of a limited situation. Perfect plan.

If he succeeds, maybe they have their QB of the future. If he faceplants, you lose games, get a high pick, and replace him.

From a roster-construction standpoint, I love the move, and in fantasy, it gave us hope. Chris Olave was great, and after Rashid Shaheed left for Seattle, Johnson was the next logical target earner.

That was great for 2025, but I don’t expect the same game plan for 2026. If Shough’s volume is dialed back, Johnson’s high-floor profile disappears. I’m not ruling out streamable spots for him, but he’s not currently on my list of draftable options at the position.

Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL (vs NO)

We can agree that he’s sucked us back in, right?

I can’t remember a love/hate relationship as strong as the one fantasy managers have had with a 25-year-old as they do with Kyle Pitts, and that makes him an interesting evaluation every season.

Here’s where I stand: above-average tools in a shaky spot with below-average developmental traits.

In essence, I’m not sure the Falcons have operated with much of a plan lately, which makes it hard for the non-elite (those not named Drake London or Bijan Robinson in Atlanta) to succeed consistently.

Yeah, yeah, I’m sort of fence-sitting, but that’s the reasonable thing to do. Pitts was a fine option for the first three months of this season before turning into peak Rob Gronkowski once we got past Thanksgiving. He’ll have a spot in my top-10 for 2026, but he’ll be closer to 10 than five due to a lack of clarity when it comes to the quality of targets he’ll be seeing.

The 2025 NFL Draft class gave us a pair of tight ends that I’ll be ranking ahead of Pitts in 2026, and that means he only has so much potential to move up in my ranks as next season nears.

Luke Musgrave | GB (at MIN)

Josh Whyle ran seven more routes than Luke Musgrave last week and earned the only tight end target for the Packers in their blowout loss at the hands of the Ravens on Saturday night.

It’s hard to do, but I honestly think that Tucker Kraft’s future value has risen just as much over the past month, with him not playing as much as he did when he was on the field. In his absence, Green Bay has shown no interest in involving the TE position, a stark contrast to how they operated when he was healthy.

They value him, not that spot on the field. He’s going to be my singular target at the position, assuming his recovery stays on track, when looking to do anything but stream the position in 2026.

Mark Andrews | BAL (at PIT)

I don’t know where this is headed.

Mark Andrews has lost a step or two or three, but Baltimore re-upped on him with Isaiah Likely’s rookie deal coming to an end, so we’ve got a groundhog situation.

Three more years of Andrews.

His yards per route have crashed this season (1.23), and what he is isn’t complicated: touchdown or bust.

Is he good at filling that role? He is, and I think he can continue to be, but this is a run-centric offense that funnels very little volume his way. I worry that we waste touchdown weeks.

That is, a two-catch, 11-yard, one-TD game isn’t really going to impact your box score in a significant way, and those are the good weeks.

Give me Likely regardless of his landing spot by a country mile in 2026. Andrews won’t be on my radar in any capacity.

Mason Taylor | NYJ (at BUF)

We’ve seen young tight ends provide significant value in recent seasons: Is it possible that Mason Taylor does that in 2026?

I’m not calling it yet because we don’t know what the future holds at quarterback, but all things considered, I liked what I saw this season.

The Jets explored with some slot usage and some vertical usage (a target with 10+ air yards attached to it in four straight games). He averaged north of 27 routes per game, and over a yard per route is a starting point for a first-year player in a trainwreck offense.

A neck injury kept Taylor sidelined last week and very well could keep him out this week as well. In any event, his 2025 stat line isn’t going to require you to spend much (if any) draft capital on him ahead of 2026: just keep his name in the back of your head.

Mike Gesicki | CIN (vs CLE)

I find the Mike Gesicki thing fascinating.

He was a second-round pick in 2018, and that draft capital is still paying off today. The league has told us that he’s not a blocking option, and with a sub 50% hit rate when it comes to reaching 600 yards, haven’t defenses told us that he isn’t a difficult cover?

A route-running tight end that can’t post viable numbers consistently? Isn’t that sort of like ordering food from a chef who can’t taste or traveling with a pilot who is afraid of heights?

What are we even doing here?

The tight end position is hard enough to fill as it is. I know Gesicki had 65 catches in his first season with the Bengals, and we will always have those 73 catches from 2021. Still, he’s scoring less than once a month over the course of his career and unless drastic changes are made in Cincy, why would 2026 look any different than 2025 (no more than three catches in 10 of his last 12 games).

Oronde Gadsden | LAC (at DEN)

Oronde Gadsden scored his third touchdown of the season and has looked like a difference-maker at times, but get this … a 22-year-old project looked raw and inconsistent.

Crazy, I know.

In general, I like this profile. He averaged 13.6 yards per catch this season (13.9 during his four seasons at Syracuse), showed target-earning potential, and has a franchise QB to develop with. This is a player whose stock I’d buy for the next five years, but I would have said the same thing for Isaiah Likely (another toolsy prospect with a QB capable of putting points on the board).

These situations don’t always work out, but they carry more upside than all but a handful of players at the position, and that demands he be drafted as a TE1 in 2026 and see how things play out.

T.J. Hockenson | MIN (vs GB)

This has been a dreadful season for T.J. Hockenson, and one target on 24 routes in Week 16 before sitting out Week 17 (shoulder) was just another example. As bad as that sounds, it wasn’t even his first game this season with a sub 5% target share, and with his yards per route run down 30.3% from a season ago, it’s easy to connect the dots and say that his best days are behind him.

These difficult onesie positions require us to take stands and move on when something doesn’t smell right. Hock missed seven games a season ago and failed to score on 62 targets; our antennas probably should have picked up this level of risk with a change at center.

With six games under 20 receiving yards this year, Hockenson is a player to watch from a distance next season and pounce if you like what you see from J.J. McCarthy in September.

Theo Johnson | NYG (vs DAL)

This Giants offense is coasting into the offseason.

For the record, I don’t hate it. Actually, I support it. Why take any more risk during a season that has seen your franchise WR go down with a serious injury, your bellcow of the future suffer a similar fate, and your prized QB visit the blue medical tent more often than my brother hits up an open bar.

Theo Johnson was shut out on his 14 routes in Week 16 before sitting out over the weekend with an illness. We need to see more from him as a target earner, but the low-volume passing attack is likely here to stay for two more weeks, and that makes penciling in any sort of upside nearly impossible.

Johnson is a plus-plus athlete, but his upside has been capped at 10.7 PPR points over his past five, and he’s been held under seven points in the majority of those contests. With his last red zone touch coming in Week 9, there’s not even a cheap touchdown thread to pull.

Don’t lose track of the name for 2026, but there’s no need to make this click in 2025.

Travis Kelce | KC (at LV)

Is this the end for Travis Kelce?

It’s been a bumpy road to the finish line if it is: under 50 yards in five of his past six and a scoreless December.

The Chiefs got him involved late on Christmas as they tried to pull off the upset of the Broncos, but it was another disappointing day at the office. If we do get him back in 2026, it’s going to be very much a matter of circumstance.

Is it with KC? What’s the Mahomes timeline look like? How’s this offense (backfield) project to run?

Those are questions for another day. We will at least get breadcrumbs and can take a more informed stance as the time nears. For now, I’m not counting on him as a fantasy starter in 2026. His red-zone usage rate fell off a cliff this season (a career-low 13.1% of his routes run inside the 20 resulted in a target), further fueling the continued lack of upside.

At the peak of his powers, double-digit end zone targets in a season was the expectation. Right now, he has nine since the beginning of last season, and with the target earning skills fading, he needs those valuable looks to be of use to us.

A return to Chiefs Kingdom would be his best bet, but given the emotional nature of everything around last week’s home finale, it’s hard to imagine that being in the cards.

Trey McBride | ARI (at LAR)

Trey McBride broke the single-season TE reception record in the most Trey McBride way possible: catching essentially everything thrown in his general vicinity.

From targets downfield to crazy deflections that have a chance to be caught by six different players, Arizona’s #85 finds a way to get his mitts on the ball.

Sunday in Cincinnati was his fourth game this season with double-digit receptions, and he continued his season-long streak of consecutive games earning 7+ targets. At a position where it’s hard to succeed at a high level, McBride’s failure has been a rare occurrence, and that makes him arguably the most valuable commodity in our game for the 2025 regular season.

He checks every box. Youth. Varied route tree. Projected game scripts that force the Cardinals to lean into their passing game. He seems more bulletproof in terms of profile than Brock Bowers was a year ago in this same position as the one-of-one at a position that demands high levels of draft capital to acquire.

We don’t yet know what the QB situation holds, and natural regression feels inevitable. What if the Marvin Harrison breakout season comes in Year 3? What if Michael Wilson is special? What if the run game stays healthy and provides balance?

It’s not you, Trey McBride, it’s me. I’m going to have a hard time paying up for a onesie position. That said, I’m more convinced that McBride leads his position by a decent margin than any QB doing so, and in that vein, he’d be the one-off player that I’d reach for if I’m going that route.

Tyler Warren | IND (at HOU)

Early November was the last time Tyler Warren had a 20-yard catch, but there are a ton of moving pieces to consider when looking at his profile and projecting forward.

The Philip Rivers era, coinciding with a potential rookie wall, was really the worst-case scenario. A bumpy end to the season will naturally stick in your mind, so allow me to provide you with the early-season finishes (PPR) for Warren as a reminder of just how special this kid has the potential to be when the offense is productive as a whole:

• Week 1: TE3
• Week 2: TE7
• Week 3: TE23
• Week 4: TE2
• Week 5: TE11
• Week 6: TE3
• Week 7: TE7

No one can touch Trey McBride at the position after his historic season, and if the Raiders trend close to league average, Brock Bowers is still a great bet to post an elite season at the TE position. After that?

After that, Warren has as good a chance as anyone to finish as the next best tight end.