Bucky Irving
vs Malik Nabers

“Bucky Irving has been Tampa Bay’s clear RB1 to start the season, out-carrying Kenny Gainwell by 15 carries last week and running 10 more routes.”

“The results have been just OK, but Bucky Irving’s usage has been incredibly exciting so far this season. He has played 71% of Tampa Bay’s snaps, handled 78% of their running back carries and seen an 18% target share on a 57% route participation rate. Kenneth Gainwell is barely relevant, and Sean Tucker didn’t play a single snap in his season debut on Sunday.”

“Minnesota Vikings Bucky Irving has played well through two games, averaging 5.36 yards per carry. He’s got a little extra pep in his step, ranking eighth in explosive yards, 11th in yards after contact per attempt and 17th in missed tackles per attempt, according to the Fantasy Points Data Suite. The Vikings pose the stiffest test for Irving, as they have yet to allow a rushing touchdown and have allowed only 14.2 fantasy points per game to running backs.”

“Looking at the Buccaneers backfield, Bucky Irving was not usurped by any means by Kenneth Gainwell . In fact, Bucky saw 32% of Tampa Bay’s total rush attempts and targets on the day. Anything above 30% is an elite workload according to our “work” metrics on our site.”

“Bucky Irving finished the game with 35 snaps to 26 for Gainwell, but that wasn’t all; every other opportunity metric tilted towards Irving, including one surprising one. Bucky finished with 22 routes, seven targets, and eight carries, while Gainwell ran only thirteen routes and finished with one target and five carries. The routes are a huge development for Bucky Irving, because those routes were where Gainwell was supposed to make hay this season, and where he was supposed to take from Irving.”

“Bucky Irving has dealt with a number of injuries in his short career with a foot sprain and a shoulder/ AC joint sprain last year.”

“It was only one of two games where Rice failed to score double-digit fantasy points in 2025.” – Mike Fanelli ( FantasyPros ) Bucky Irving (RB – TB) “ Bucky Irving is a good player, but the opener on the road in Cincinnati seems daunting.”

“Bucky Irving had a sophomore season to forget.”

“Here’s the thing: Malik Nabers is not back to full health yet. He’s near the bottom of the league in separation score this season and is sitting behind Isaiah Likely in target share. With every passing week, Nabers should be inching closer to his old self.”

“As a result of Winston getting back to slinging it, Malik Nabers had six receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown on seven targets, and Isaiah Likely had seven receptions for 66 scoreless yards on 12 targets. Winston’s showing provides gamers with hope for Nabers and Likely. That said, it may be best to use this as a selling window for Nabers.”

“Winston was trying to keep it simple by going to his first read at the seventh-highest rate, and even though Malik Nabers was the first read on 37% of plays, it counted for nothing because of the poor weather and the crowded area the ball was thrown into. We have to face the fact that this could be another lost season for Nabers, who hasn’t yet reached 10 half-PPR points in any game. The Cardinals’ pass defense ranks 30th in EPA allowed and has given up the 12th-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points to wide receivers.”

“If you drafted Nabers expecting a weekly WR1, there is plenty of reason to panic. I’m not selling him for scraps, and I’m not outright dropping him, but he’s fallen into risky FLEX territory. On the plus side, the Giants have three favorable matchups coming up.”

“Nabers was targeted on four occasions in the loss , missing a handful of snaps due to – what later turned out to be – a dislocated shoulder…and this is what concerns me way more than who happens to be throwing the former first-round pick the ball for the rest of the year. With Dart out, you could be forgiven for proclaiming this an already lost season for John Harbaugh’s men – so would it be crazy to suggest they may just shut down their star WR to save any more damage being done for little to no gain?”

“Stack Idea: Dart + Nabers + Kyren + Mevis Malik Nabers $13,500 Nabers is my lower-owned CPT alternative, as I currently have him at just under 10%. He caught six passes for 69 yards in his return last week, and his projected CPT ownership is less than half Dart’s. I want some lineups where the Giants’ biggest receiving performance belongs to Nabers, with Dart collecting the passing points in FLEX.”

“Nabers ran a route on 24 of those 36 snaps and quickly commanded nine targets.”

“Malik Nabers (WR – NYG) Going as the WR11, around the 27th overall pick, Nabers has shown real positive injury progression, moving out of the no-contact jersey and into full team drills.”

“Malik Nabers completely avoided the PUP list this offseason and has been trending towards starting the season as close to completely healthy as anyone could have hoped for. Nabers is still a potential value at his current ECR and ADP, as it was at this time just a year ago, when he was a popular first round draft target.”

“At the start of the offseason, this was a no-brainer selection for “riskiest player to draft.” After all, Malik Nabers could barely hobble to first base in a friendly kickball game.”