Ja'Marr Chase
vs Christian McCaffrey

“The underlying story is a game of contrasting approaches: Cincinnati leaned on a clean, mistake-free connection between Burrow and his two clear top targets (Chase and Higgins combined for 19 of Burrow’s 31 attempts with Chase scoring both touchdowns). Burrow himself turned in a mistake-free day (0 INT, 105.2 rating) despite 5 sacks. Burrow went 20-of-31 for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns.”

“Early in the game, Chase made a highlight-reel touchdown catch, pinpointing the ball over his shoulder, then spinning around to catch it next to the pylon and tap his feet in the process. Social media rightfully went insane, oogling over the play. Chase added another touchdown reception later in the third quarter, and he led Cincinnati with seven receptions.”

“Cincy’s offensive line held up well, too, and Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase will have better days ahead, make no mistake about that. 9 — Chicago Bears (1-0, UP 3) Last week: W 59-37 vs. Carolina Panthers I don’t care what the defense looked like — put up 59 points in an NFL game and I’ll talk about you glowingly.”

“Even with that accounted for, Chase is averaging 19.9 PPG in his last 49 regular-season games. Relax, Chase will be fine. If his manager in your league is panicking, this may be your only chance to buy (somewhat) low.”

“Ja’Marr Chase is projected as the WR1 this week, with the WR1 value score at both DFS sites. In 34 games with Burrow playing at least 20 snaps since 2024, Chase has tallied 7.2 receptions per game, 91.7 receiving yards per game, 26 receiving touchdowns, 22.15 DraftKings points per game, 20.12 expected DraftKings points per game, 17.48 FanDuel points per game and 16.48 expected FanDuel points per game.”

“Mike takes the layup with Chase at the 1.03. If you are not getting one of the top RBs in Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson, how can you go wrong with a player who has finished as WR1 and WR4 the last two seasons? Chase should be operating as the top target for a fully healthy Joe Burrow, at least to start the season, and that has always been a recipe for success.”

“To start, I went with Ja’Marr Chase. The Bengals have (at least on paper) one of the easiest schedules in the NFL this season, and Chase should have a target share of 30% or higher.”

“Chase is the WR1 in my rankings. Last year, he finished as the WR4, averaging 19.6 PPR fantasy points per game despite missing one contest with an injury and playing without Joe Burrow for half the season.”

“For two consecutive years, Chase has led the league in targets with 175 and 185, respectively. Chase also has two years with 1400 or more receiving yards, and his consistency is worth paying for.”

“If we could turn injuries off like in the Madden video game, McCaffrey would be the clear-cut 1.01 pick in every non-superflex draft.”

“Andrew Erickson’s Draft Landmines of 2026 Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF) Christian McCaffrey led the NFL with 413 touches in 2025 and reached 450 when including the playoffs.”

“Going as the RB3, roughly the eighth overall pick, McCaffrey is coming off a season that led all players in total touches. Historically, that’s a dangerous signal: over the last 13 years, only one running back who saw 400-plus touches in a season finished as a top-five back the next year, and running backs age 27 or older who led the league in touches have never finished top five the following season across six such occurrences.”

“He’s entering his age-30 season with a lot of miles on the tread. McCaffrey is absolutely capable of smashing, but he could also miss some games. Since 2020, he’s missed half the season or more three times.”

“In a full PPR format, CMC represents one of the few RBs in the league who really benefits from the extra bump per reception. McCaffrey had a whopping 102 receptions last season and could very well be one of the main receiving weapons in San Francisco again in 2026.”

“Christian McCaffrey | RB, San Francisco 49ers Heading into what will be his 10th season in the NFL, Christian McCaffrey is coming off another season of monstrous volume.”

“McCaffrey is coming off a season where he touched the ball 400+ times and finished all but one week of the season as a top-24 RB. The biggest “if” with CMC is his health, but when he is on the field, he is a fantasy league winner.”

“2 Something to note is that while Christian McCaffrey did not reach the total rushing attempts needed to hit this criterion last season, he did have 311 carries, along with 102 receptions, putting his total workload at a similar number.”

“The last time McCaffrey had over 400 touches in a year, the superstar missed 69.7% of the games over the next two seasons because of injury.”

“McCaffrey was the RB1 in points per game, scoring 2.5 points more than the RB2. Once again, the 49ers did very little to persuade us that they don’t believe in McCaffrey’s ability to be a workhorse, instead continuing their habit of talking up a later-round dart throw at the position, who’ll likely struggle to see any involvement.”