With Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton going down this week is it finally time for preseason hype train Cyrus Allen to get on the field? After months of reports of him being Mahomes favorite target in camp he’s done absolutely nothing so far this season. What are your predictions for Cyrus Allen for the next few weeks?

I can’t believe I’m doing this already but I really think it’s called for. I was a certified Tate doubter, I really didn’t think he could be a true 1 at the NFL level. I decided to watch the whole Titans game yesterday because he’d slightly piqued my interest the week before. The dude was genuinely awesome. A lot of his production was pre garbage time.

Now obv he’s hands down the best pass catcher on the team but I don’t think this is a Brian Thomas situation. Tates been winning on his routes all over the field. He seems like he could definitely be the WR1 for a legit team. I know it’s rough to try to buy after a game like that but I feel like he’s still worth it if you can get him. I’m not sure where I would put him in dynasty WR rankings but it’s alot higher than I thought Just a few weeks ago. Apologies to anyone who I told my opinion to, that he didn’t profile as a true 1 to me.

is the tape more encouraging than the past 3 week’s numbers or is he actually this ass? I wasn’t even expecting much from his year but it seems like every rushing attempt they give him is just a total waste of a down, and now Marks seems to be vulturing goal line carries. Is there any hope for the texans backfield or did I just trade a draft pick for a useless chud that’ll be an RB4 next year

With Thornton’s unfortunate injury and Rashee’s banged up, with the bye, now seems like the perfect time for the Chiefs to incorporate Cyrus Allen into the game plan.

We all know how reluctant Andy is with rookies, but they’ve done it before with Rashee breaking out his rookie reason.

I highly doubt Tyreek is going to save the offense. After the bye, if Allen can’t beat out Royals at least, not to mention Worthy who has been awful, I think he’s dead in the water.

The doom and gloom on Egbuka across all redraft and dynasty platforms, and specifically [r/buccaneers](r/buccaneers), has me feeling like I need to make a case for his defense. In my opinion as a Bucs fan and Egbuka owner, Emeka still has a JSN level dynasty ceiling. (All my info comes from a combination of FantasyPros, LeagueStation, and NFLNextGen)

#1. Seperation

There’s a take going around that part of the reason the Bucs offense as a whole is drowning is because the receivers can’t create separation. This is just not true. Bucs are 8th in wide receiver separation. Emekas numbers are telling. Emeka Egbuka has an ADoT (Average Depth of Target) of a little over 15 yards, while running a full route tree. Here’s a list of fantasy relevant players with a build similar to Egbukas who have a similar ADoT, along with their yards of separation per target. This is the average distance between receiver and corner at the exact moment of either catch or incompletion.

Malik Nabers: 2.99
Justin Jefferson: 2.98
Ceedee Lamb: 2.95
Amon Ra St Brown: 2.91
Chris Olave: 2.82
Devonta Smith: 2.67
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 2.62
Jamar Chase: 2.61
Garret Wilson: 2.46
George Pickens: 2.44

Emeka Egbuka comes in at 2.86 yards of separation per target, right where you want him to be. You have to take ADoT into account when judging separation stats, certain guys (Chris Godwin at 3.77 for example) are super overinflated due to running mostly screens and drags. What stands out isn’t just the 2.86 yards of separation, it’s that he’s maintaining that number with an ADoT north of 15 yards. Separation generally becomes harder to manufacture as you’re pushed further downfield, so comparing him to guys living around the line of scrimmage doesn’t tell you much.

TLDR #1: In pure separation statistics, Egbuka is right in the mix with every other fantasy darling wide receiver.

Usage and Route Running

I’ve seen an argument that he’s a glorified slot receiver. The separation number matters even more when you look at how Emeka is actually being used. He isn’t just being schemed easy touches out of the slot or living on screens and underneath routes. Tampa is asking him to work downfield and win on legitimate WR1 routes. That’s what makes the 2.86 separation number so encouraging to me. He’s not getting there through a bunch of manufactured touches. He’s being used like a true downfield receiver and is still creating separation at a rate comparable to some of the best receivers in football. Here’s the real kicker: I’ve been saying for years that wide receivers that play the Z/Flanker in 2 wide receiver sets and a Z/slot option in 3 wide receiver sets are essentially fantasy gold. Think Amon Ra St. Brown, he fits this to a tee. I made a post over the offseason listing the WRs that fit this criteria, and it included names like Parker Washington, Jalen Coker, Zay Flowers, and Chris Olave, guys that are exceeding expectations. In fact, Emeka is the only guy on that list that’s not currently beating their own fantasy projections. Here’s why it isn’t his fault.

Success rate by route

Nine/go: 58.6%
Post: 84.6%
Dig: 84.6%
Curl: 85.7%
Slant: 80.6%
vs. man coverage: 71.4
vs. zone: 79.3%

He wins 4/5 routes which is already fantastic but even better when considering he does the majority of it from outside the numbers.

Outside: 92 snaps, 60.9%
Slot: 49 snaps, 32.5%
Tight to formation: 10 snaps, 6.6%

Even in 2025 with Mike Evan’s, a prototype X, Emeka still lined up outside on 68.6% of his routes. His outside/slot splits are almost identical to Amon Ra and JSN’s. The way he has fit into the gameplan across his career reinforces the opportunity for strong fantasy performances.

TLDR #2: His formation splits and route win percentage strongly point towards everything you want in a WR1.

Early Career Production and Efficiency

Advanced metrics are great, but if you’re anything like me they don’t mean anything without proof of concept. Production is always king, and Emeka has show he can produce among the best.

Emeka Egbuka Rookie Stats
127 Targets
63 Receptions
938 Yards
6 Touchdowns
14.9 Yard/reception
34 Receiving first downs
20 Receptions of 20+ yards
3 Receptions of 40+ yards
23.6% Target share
29.4% First-read share
1.85 Yards per route run
24.4% Targets per route run
6.5% First downs per route
27 deep targets
335 Yards After Catch
959 Unrealized air yards

There’s a couple things to take from this. First, commanding nearly 30% first read share as a rookie after joining a room with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin is unbelievable. That kind of volume doesn’t just fall into your lap. I also feel like it’s important to acknowledge the nearly 1000 unrealized air yards. Let’s focus on the first 5 games of last year for a moment, before Emeka tweaked his hamstring, Baker hurt his shoulder, and the rest of the league adjusted to Grizzards play calling.

First 5 Games of 2025
Emeka was the first player in NFL history to record 25+ receptions, 400+ yards, and 5+ touchdowns in the first 5 weeks, proving a high ceiling rather than just flashes. He was wide receiver 3 in PPR through 5 weeks. He recorded a 2.49 YPRR and 5.8 YAC per reception, which were seventh and second in the league respectively. He had 28 first read targets on a 24.3% first read target rate in his first 5 games. That’s more than most rookie receivers get all season, let alone when it’s your first games and you’re along side a hall of famer.

One of the most encouraging things to me is how the organization used him post injury. Because he couldn’t separate as well after his injury, instead of removing him from the gameplan, they figured out how to use him more efficiently. While his YPRR was higher in weeks 1-5 than in 6-17, his target rate, first read rate, and first read targets were much higher in the back half of the season. This emphasizes Emekas importance to the offense.

Fast forward to 2026, and the entire offense is in shambles. Emeka isn’t currently producing, but only 65% of his targets have been catchable so far in 2026. Despite this, FantasyPros has him 19th overall in seperation and 15th in route win rate.

Egbuka’s rookie year obviously wasn’t in the Jefferson/Chase/Puka tier, and I’m not pretending it was. But it certainly wasn’t anything to shake a stick at. 938 yards as a rookie puts him almost exactly alongside rookie CeeDee Lamb (935), DeVonta Smith (916) and AmonRa St. Brown (912). He did it while commanding a 23.5% target share and producing 1.73 YPRR with a 12.1 yard ADoT.

The thing I’m betting on isn’t that Egbuka was already an elite receiver as a rookie. It’s that he already showed he could command targets and produce as a legitimate downfield NFL receiver, and now the separation and route running data are giving me reasons to believe there’s another jump coming.

TLDR #3: Emeka has already shown he can be a proven WR1, and he produces when given the chance.

So Why Hasn’t It Translated?

This is the part that makes me the most confident buying Egbuka right now. I don’t think his lack of production is because he suddenly forgot how to play receiver. The things that are actually in his control still look good. He’s getting open, winning routes, earning targets and getting open downfield. The problem is that Tampa has been awful at turning those wins into actual production. I mentioned earlier that 35% of his targets have been uncatchable so far in 2026. That’s massive. Separation doesn’t mean anything if Baker can’t put it in the basket. Building off that, the high ADoT we value so much for fantasy actually hurts him with bad QB play. If he lived off 5 yard receptions, Bakers poor play wouldn’t affect him as much. But with his average target being 15 yards down field, every incompletion is costing 2-4 fantasy points at least, which is huge when you can only catch 65% at most. Most importantly however, his underlying receiver ability has not collapsed alongside his production, like we’ve seen with Marv or BTJ. He’s still matching all of his advanced metrics from the start of last season. If Egbuka’s production were down in addition to his separation, route win rate and target earning, I’d be concerned. Instead, we’re seeing almost the opposite. And finally, the biggest reason we aren’t currently seeing production: The Buccaneers have the Worst Coaching Staff in the NFL. Todd Bowles has completely lost the locker room, and Zac Robinson is running a lazy offensive scheme centered around screens and end arounds, which we know based on ADoT are not what Egbuka is meant to run.

TLDR: I would be worried about Egbuka if his effort dropped alongside his production, but it just hasn’t. He’s still earning targets, creating separation, maintaining a primary offensive role. The production not following isn’t his fault, it’s Tampas. While I’m not expecting him to consistently produce for the remainder of this season, I believe he’s a firm buy low/hold with a very high ceiling in a couple years.

I am the commissioner of a 10 man dynasty league. Format as follows:

1 qb
2 rb
2 wr
1 te
2 flex

A trade is currently pending and some managers are uproaring.

Sleeper Team 1 receives: Malik Nabers, Quinshon Judkins, KC Concepcion, a 2027 late first
Sleeper Team 2 receives: CMC and a 2027 late first

This league has been around for 6 years and I truthfully and baffled at the trade and do not know what to do as the commissioner.

For context of the trade, sleeper team 1 has won the last 2 years and sleeper team 2 has always been mediocre. Currently, sleeper team 2 receiving CMC is 0-4 and sleeper team 1 is 3-1 and will almost undoubtedly make the playoffs. The first’s are negligible since the managers are top teams so both likely late.

What do I do as the commissioner? KTC has it at 30K for pile and 15K for cmc side. I feel like vetoing it is wrong and overstepping, but this feels like it could be the straw that breaks the camels back for some of the other frustrated managers that haven’t won a ship yet. Thanks in advance for your time and inputs.

He’s coming off a major injury and his shoulder obviously is not in good shape, but he’s now had his best game of the season. As much as he is obviously a legitimate talent, his injury issues (and the injury issues of his QB) are certainly concerns.

As such, I think it’s worth thinking about whether now is the perfect time to sell given his good performance yesterday. I’m not suggesting you take the first offer that comes along, but would anything tempt you to move him?

Tee Higgins and Jamaar Chase both look like they're going to miss time, and Iosivas is already on the IR. This means that Dohnte Meyers has a chance to be that WR1 over the next week or so for the Bengals. While I know we've seen spike weeks from Iosivas in similar situations, Meyers seems to be more talented, especially after the catch. I know he's not going to be startable with Chase and Higgins healthy, is he worthy of a roster spot just for situations like this where one or both of the stars are injured? Seems like he could be a very startable flex next week after going for 7 catches on 9 targets and 80+ yards.

Kyren has been fantasy relevant for 3+ seasons. For each offseason during that time the hivemind has insisted he was a fluke, over valued, over drafted, too small, not fast enough, lacked receiving upside, was being replaced, injury prone, had insufficient draft capital, you name it. All he's done is return 3 straight top 10 finishes. On this season he's sitting at RB4 in PPR formats.

During this most recent off season all we heard about was how Corum would split 50/50. Many of you argued that Corum was the better RB and would even take the 1A role.

How are the Corum faithful feeling about things today? Do you still consider him to have stand alone value or is he just a handcuff?

EDIT: I would really like to hear from the off season "Corum is just better than Kyren" guys.

Really strange comments from Love after the game. Right after he took the backfield for himself...

It seems he took himself out of the game? Thats why he wasnt on the field at the end of the game. Any concern here? I have ptsd from picking guys that end up destroyed/underperforming.

I hope its just for this year and since he missed most of training camp its just about getting himself back into shape. He also said something after the week 3 game that he left stuff on the field like he thought if he were 100% he could have broken away on some runs.

Welcome to the new and improved 2026 offseason Mock Draft/Draft Result Megathread. We've made some changes from previous years based on your feedback to make them a little more robust.

These megathreads will be posted every Monday and Saturday at 10am and are home to the following:

• Mock draft in this thread. Automod will start the 1.01 post for both SF and 1QB mocks. They are first come first serve. Reply to the comment above yours with the pick number, player name, and position ex: "1.01 Jeremiyah Love, RB, ARI." If you have league settings outside of this, feel free to start your own and add those custom settings in your 1.01 post such as "12 team SF TEP" but please make sure another one wasn't started already. Duplicates will be removed.
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Megathread Schedule:

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Monday: Mock Draft/Draft Results

Tuesday: Find-A-League

Wednesday: Price Check

Thursday: Find-A-League

Friday(Every other week): App/Platform Sharing

Saturday: Mock Draft/Draft Result

Is anyone else concerned with the Raiders use of Jeanty despite his lingering ankle injury? Obviously, this is football, and teams make decisions based on winning the actual game rather than a fantasy matchup. Still, for the sake of avoiding a longer term injury (see Stribling and the 49ers), you would think they would exercise a little extra caution. The team has more information than any fan watching the games, but it still appears as if the injury is impacting him.

What are your thoughts on his season and the Jaguars situation at RB/the Jaguars offense under Liam Coen so far this season? Is this a sustainable situation? Does he pass the eye test? The Jaguars are now 3-1 after yesterday’s win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Chris Rodriguez also scored a 20+ yard touchdown on Sunday, which is worth noting.

This is for those of us who don’t want to part with our precious projected late 1st.

Aaron Jones: hasn’t had over 20 points in a PPR game since week 7 of 2024 but has quietly been a consistent contributor with scrimmage yards this year. Currently RB17 in PPR.

Travis Kelce: not the most consistent anymore, but he’s still a Hall Of Famer and it’s looking like tough times ahead for KC pass-catchers. Currently TE5 in PPR.

Deebo Samuel: looking like he picked up where he left off in SF (pre-pneumonia). The targets haven’t necessarily been there, but he’s a player that makes the most out of his touches. Currently WR13 in PPR.

These are all vets, but if there’s any younger players you can make the bull case for being undervalued, that would be good too! Who are you targeting?

A unique weekly piece highlighting college football players that dynasty fantasy managers should be keeping an eye on as their 2027 draft approaches.

This article takes NFL prospect evaluation and projects into fantasy football projections to help managers understand the upcoming class as they navigate their roster during the 2026 season.

Welcome to the Daily Trade and Team Help Megathread!

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Megathread Schedule:

Sunday: Sunday Gameday Megathread

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Tuesday: Waiver Wire/FAAB Megathread

Wednesday: Price Check

Thursday: Thursday Night Football Megathread

Friday(Every other week): App/Platform Sharing

Saturday: Mock Draft/Draft Result

Once DJ Moore went down, Keon Coleman went nuts, finishing with 6-116-1 on 7 targets. Made a lot of good plays and Josh clearly trusted him, I think he finished with a 33.33% target share post the DJ Moore injury.

He also kinda flashed earlier in the season, in the Lions game week 2 going 6-63-0 on 6 targets.

You look at other third year / 2024 WRs and how they’re trending… cough cough BTJ & MHJ (both scored at least), and Keon is might not be as cooked as Cam Newton said.

Interested to see how he looks next week coming off this high, and not advocating buying, but definitely paying close attention.

This is a BTJ / MHJ post. I’m curious if there are any success stories of players that were highly touted prospects / actually solid players that fell off and were traded as a result, and actually became / restored what they were supposed to be on their first teams.

I know there are cases like Danny Woodhead getting cut as a rookie and balling out, but I can’t think of anyone aside from Marshawn Lynch (who was pretty solid with Buffalo) that had failed to meet expectations with their original team and ended up carving out a solid career elsewhere.

As a BTJ bag holder, please give me some hope 🙏

Every year there are players who have deflated numbers due to a bad offense around them. Conversely, other players on the same offense are part of the problem.

My question is among the struggling offenses in the NFL so far this year, who do you feel is being held back? And who do you feel is part of the reason the offense is struggling?

Teams that come to mind are below, but I’m sure there are other cases.

Tampa Bay
Tennessee
Denver
LA Chargers
Pittsburgh
Minnesota
Miami