Ja'Marr Chase vs A.J. Brown

“There aren't many questions about Ja'Marr Chase in 2026, but if you remember 2025, there were plenty. The start of the season was rough, and everyone was panicking (and I was buying). It's old news because he led the league in targets, finished as the WR4, and is now going off the board as the WR1, right where Mike and Jason have him ranked.”

“No receiver projects for more volume than Ja'Marr Chase. His 182 targets led the league, reinforcing his status as one of the few true offensive focal points in the game. The surprising part of Chase's season wasn't the workload. It was the TD total. After scoring 17 TDs the previous year, Chase found the end zone just eight times despite finishing with 22 targets inside the 20-yard line, 6th most in the league.”

“Chase has averaged 115+ catches, 1,400+ receiving yards and 10+ touchdowns over the last three years, and Joe Burrow is coming into 2026 100% healthy.”

“Chase has led the league in targets each of the last two years. He's averaged 6.7 catches and 87.7 yards per game over his five-year career. Chase also gets to play with Joe Burrow, one of the best pure passers in the game.”

“Much of Chase's ceiling is tied to Joe Burrow's health. In games with Burrow at quarterback since Chase was drafted, he averages 0.78 touchdowns and 20.67 PPR points. In the games without Burrow, those numbers drop to 0.33 touchdowns and 15.48 points.”

“The only question mark is the consistency beyond Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, with the Bengals' next most targeted wide receivers combining for a 16% drop rate while Chase and Higgins were at 4% combined.”

“Ja'Marr Chase, Bengals (4) was the highest rated Wide Receiver in the NFL Top 100 for 2025.”

“One player who notably looks worse in per-route data compared to his annual ADP is Higgins' teammate — Ja'Marr Chase. However, I don't think anyone seriously believes this means Chase isn't one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.”

“In five years in the league, Chase has averaged 1,490 yards a season.”

“The same goes for elite wideouts like Ja'Marr Chase and Puka Nacua. But they are knocked down a peg or two by the top-tier quarterbacks.”

“Using this year's board, let's say you take Ja'Marr Chase at 1.01. You pick at 24 and 25.”

“The idea behind "Stars & Scrubs" is to build your team primarily around a few star players. For example, you may be able to walk away with Ja'Marr Chase, Jahmyr Gibbs and someone like Christian McCaffrey, but this will leave you with a significantly lower budget for the remaining picks.”

“There’s no doubting Brown’s talent; however, I do wonder if the way to replace a slot receiver (Diggs) that was the key piece of your offense is to add a physical outside receiver like Brown. There are also my concerns about his knee in the long term.”

“At 28, Brown is a big upgrade for a Patriots passing game that ranked fifth in the league, a huge improvement from the Eagles’ 27th-ranked unit.”

“A.J. Brown was the round two pick, built on a significant situational upgrade. His new offense ranked ninth in neutral passing rate last year, compared to his old offense’s 15th-ranked mark, and that gap could widen further with continued quarterback development, a new star receiver alongside him, and a tougher schedule that should force more passing.”

“Even in a “down” season, Brown topped 1,000 yards receiving on a run-first offense and scored seven touchdowns. In ESPN’s open score and PFF’s receiving grade — both metrics that seek to evaluate a wide receiver’s performance even if he’s not targeted on a passing play — Brown ranked No. 9 and No. 13 out of over a hundred wideouts.”

“Getting AJ Brown, who was the WR5 over the final seven games of 2025, cannot hurt Maye. All three Ballers think he is a receiver who could truly finish as the WR1 overall.”

“Brown gives Drake Maye the true alpha this offense needed. Now he climbed into Maye's draft pocket, and while he can still pay off pick 16, the price feels closer to stacking tax than pure value.”

“Andrew Erickson isn't worried about A.J. Brown's "down" season. He believes it created a buying opportunity. Despite modest touchdown totals last year, Brown still produced at a high level while commanding an elite target share. Erickson expects Josh McDaniels to feature Brown as the unquestioned focal point of New England's passing attack. If that happens, Brown could easily return to top-three fantasy wide receiver production.”

“A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert each missed just one game due to injury. Brown has since been traded.”

“Repeating a first-place ranking in both categories is unlikely, and it will be even more challenging if the offensive line can't take a step forward in protecting Maye, even with A.J. Brown added to the receiver room.”

“Since entering the league in 2019, Brown has consistently demonstrated an ability to rack up massive yards after the catch (YAC) numbers, but has never been a true volume-based receiver. If one were to remove his totals for the 2023 season (which was an outlier), Brown averaged fewer than 70 receptions per season.”

“The analysts believe fantasy managers may be underestimating just how much upside exists in A.J. Brown's new situation. Derek Brown pointed to improvements in offensive philosophy and red-zone passing opportunities as reasons for optimism, and there was confidence that Brown remains one of the league's premier target earners.”

“In a putrid Eagles' passing attack last season, Brown was ninth in target share, 13th in air yards and eighth in red-zone target share. Now he moves to a team with an ascending passing quarterback and an offense that targets its receivers downfield.”