Bucky Irving vs Malik Nabers
2026 draft comparison · half-PPR
Updated Aug 24, 2026
Should you draft Bucky Irving or Malik Nabers?
Last season — 2025, per game
Full game log & past seasons
| WK | OPP | FPTS | RANK | ATT | YD | TD | TGT | REC | RYD | RTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ATL | 12.5 | RB19 | 14 | 37 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
2 | HOU | 15.1 | RB14 | 17 | 71 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 50 | 0 |
3 | NYJ | 11.9 | RB17 | 25 | 66 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 0 |
4 | PHI | 23.0 | RB9 | 15 | 63 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 102 | 1 |
5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
10 | BYE | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
13 | ARI | 15.1 | RB14 | 17 | 61 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 0 |
14 | NO | 15.1 | RB12 | 15 | 55 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 1 |
15 | ATL | 7.6 | RB34 | 16 | 60 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
16 | CAR | 7.1 | RB41 | 19 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
17 | MIA | 5.8 | RB35 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 0 |
18 | CAR | 10.3 | RB19 | 26 | 85 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
Earlier seasons (2024)
| WK | OPP | FPTS | RANK | ATT | YD | TD | TGT | REC | RYD | RTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | WAS | 8.6 | RB31 | 9 | 62 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
2 | DET | 2.2 | RB62 | 7 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3 | DEN | 9.9 | RB24 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
4 | PHI | 12.0 | RB22 | 10 | 49 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
5 | ATL | 4.6 | RB43 | 9 | 44 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
6 | NO | 17.5 | RB11 | 14 | 81 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 0 |
7 | BAL | 15.2 | RB17 | 9 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 54 | 0 |
8 | ATL | 11.9 | RB24 | 9 | 44 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 40 | 0 |
9 | KC | 4.9 | RB41 | 7 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
10 | SF | 16.2 | RB6 | 13 | 73 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
12 | NYG | 24.2 | RB3 | 12 | 88 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 64 | 0 |
13 | CAR | 26.0 | RB1 | 25 | 152 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 0 |
14 | LV | 2.3 | RB49 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
15 | LAC | 12.3 | RB17 | 15 | 117 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -4 | 0 |
16 | DAL | 16.7 | RB16 | 16 | 68 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 0 |
17 | CAR | 21.0 | RB5 | 20 | 113 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 77 | 0 |
18 | NO | 15.4 | RB9 | 19 | 89 | 1 | 5 | 2 | -5 | 0 |
| WK | OPP | FPTS | RANK | TGT | REC | YD | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | WAS | 9.6 | WR28 | 12 | 5 | 71 | 0 |
2 | DAL | 33.2 | WR2 | 13 | 9 | 167 | 2 |
3 | KC | 2.3 | WR88 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
4 | LAC | 3.0 | WR77 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 0 |
Earlier seasons (2024)
| WK | OPP | FPTS | RANK | TGT | REC | YD | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | MIN | 9.1 | WR32 | 7 | 5 | 66 | 0 |
2 | WAS | 23.7 | WR3 | 18 | 10 | 127 | 1 |
3 | CLE | 24.2 | WR3 | 12 | 8 | 78 | 2 |
4 | DAL | 17.1 | WR12 | 15 | 12 | 115 | 0 |
5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
7 | PHI | 6.1 | WR43 | 8 | 4 | 41 | 0 |
8 | PIT | 10.6 | WR38 | 13 | 7 | 71 | 0 |
9 | WAS | 10.4 | WR29 | 11 | 9 | 59 | 0 |
10 | CAR | 7.8 | WR30 | 10 | 6 | 50 | 0 |
11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
12 | TB | 9.4 | WR26 | 9 | 6 | 64 | 0 |
13 | DAL | 11.3 | WR28 | 13 | 8 | 69 | 0 |
14 | NO | 12.4 | WR25 | 10 | 5 | 79 | 0 |
15 | BAL | 19.2 | WR10 | 14 | 10 | 82 | 1 |
16 | ATL | 10.3 | WR32 | 14 | 7 | 68 | 0 |
17 | IND | 32.6 | WR2 | 8 | 7 | 171 | 2 |
18 | PHI | 14.9 | WR15 | 8 | 5 | 64 | 1 |
Latest takes
“There has yet to be a positive report about Bucky Irving this offseason.”
Ellis Johnson· Aug 21“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. Rewinding to 2024, he also dealt with hip, back, toe, and hamstring issues.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 11“Bucky Irving , who is returning from a foot and shoulder injury that limited him to 588 rushing yards in 2025 after a breakout rookie campaign in 2024.”
Samuel DiSorbo· Aug 10
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“Check out all of DBro’s top fantasy football draft picks to target >> Bucky Irving (TB) It seems as if everyone in the fantasy community is fading Bucky Irving.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 10“If Bucky Irving struggles to stay healthy for the second consecutive season, Gainwell could have a career year”
Mike Fanelli· Aug 6“100 | (RB35) To be clear, Bucky Irving isn’t fading away despite a down season last year”
Kyle Zeigler· Aug 6“It’s odd that so many people are forgetting just how good Irving was over a fairly large sample size of games over the second half of his rookie season. Buy the dip.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 6“8 | Diff: +3 Over the last two seasons, with Bucky Irving in town, Rachaad White was a more effective per-touch player, but with Irving out of the lineup last year, he proved again that he can carry the mail (although while being horribly inefficient).”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 5“Bucky Irving ‘s rookie season was as impressive as they come, considering his draft capital (125th overall).”
Wyatt Bertolone· Aug 3“Bucky Irving was the only top-12 drafted RB to miss more than two games.”
Jordan Pullett· Jul 29“Bucky Irving finished as the RB13 his rookie year before slumping to an RB 34 playing 10 games the following season. More concerning than the games missed is his carries inside the 5-yard line in 2025: zero.”
Peter Kettering· Jul 24“Bucky Irving checks all the boxes when it comes to identifying a true “buy low” player.”
Jonathan Lange· Jul 23“After finishing his rookie season as the RB13, averaging 14.4 PPR fantasy points per game, Bucky Irving regressed last year and struggled to stay healthy, missing seven contests. Furthermore, Irving had offseason shoulder surgery and might not be fully ready for training camp.”
Mike Fanelli· Jul 19“Irving finished dead last in that metric among qualifying running backs last season, which sounds damning, but he ranked sixth in the same metric in 2024. The difference is the offensive line: Tampa Bay’s line ranked second in adjusted line yards during Irving’s rookie season and collapsed to 22nd last year due to injuries.”
FantasyPros Staff· Jul 17“Even before the injury that sidelined him, Irving averaged just 3.3 yards per carry while ranking 32nd in explosive yards, 45th in missed tackles forced per attempt and 33rd in runs for first downs at his position. With Tampa Bay deploying a full rotation of backs, it feels extremely hard to replicate.”
Kyle Zeigler· Jul 11
“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.”
Raju Byfield· Aug 23“Malik Nabers ‘ 2025 season was essentially lost to injury — he played just 4 games before tearing his ACL. In that small sample, he averaged 12.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 23“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.”
Ellis Johnson· Aug 21
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“All reports stemming from writers at practice have noted that Likely is currently the perpetual second-read for quarterback Jaxson Dart, behind receiver Malik Nabers .”
Evan Tarracciano· Aug 19“Malik Nabers remains an elite talent, but his 2026 outlook is heavily tied to recovery from a complicated ACL injury that wiped out nearly all of his sophomore season. Before going down, Nabers was producing like a fantasy WR1 in the Giants’ offense.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 18“If Malik Nabers comes back healthy from his torn ACL, this will be an excellent pick in the third round. We didn’t get to see much of Jaxson Dart and Nabers on the field at the same time, but he’ll be the bona fide No. 1 WR in this offense.”
Richard Janvrin· Aug 15“If he can string together a healthy season, we could be looking at a low-end WR1 on a perennially potent offense.” – Ellis Johnson ( FantasyPros ) Malik Nabers (WR – NYG) “ Malik Nabers is my pick.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 11“There is plenty of uncertainty around Nabers and whether or not he will be his usual explosive self to start the season, but getting a WR of this caliber in the third round is the type of pick that can really make a difference down the stretch of the season if he is back to 100%.”
Kurt Mullen· Aug 7“I’m going to piggyback on my running back health statement above and avoid Malik Nabers at receiver.”
FantasyPros Staff· Aug 7“Only SEC WR besides Malik Nabers with 30+ missed tackles forced on receptions in a season over the past 5 years”
The FF Newsletter· Aug 6“This should lock him into the second option behind Malik Nabers”
Ellis Johnson· Aug 6“Add in the fact that Malik Nabers is recovering from a significant knee injury, and you can see why Dart is a pass.”
Frank Ammirante· Jul 27“Malik Nabers (WR – NYG): Down 4 spots to No. 44 A slow, steady bleed that’s now the longest-running faller trend over the last few weeks. Nabers has slipped roughly 14 spots since we first flagged him in late June for missing mandatory minicamp during a lengthy ACL and meniscus rehab.”
FantasyPros Staff· Jul 24“Malik Nabers, CeeDee Lamb, and Justin Jefferson all have similar LTV scores in the same range as Love’s.”
Jonathan Lange· Jul 21“This dip will only increase when Malik Nabers heads to the physically unable to perform (PUP) list at the start of training camp. Latest reports suggest it could be Week 5 or 6 before Nabers is back to full health.”
Tom Strachan· Jul 20