Ja'Marr Chase vs Kenneth Walker

“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.”

“The Chiefs did add Kenneth Walker III , which will impact the passing attack, and Patrick Mahomes is coming off a torn ACL, but if Rice is on the field, he’ll have a target share of at least 25% and has top-five wide receiver upside”

“They signed Kenneth Walker III in the offseason, and he should see more work in the passing game.”

“Round 9: Jadarian Price (RB – SEA) With Kenneth Walker III leaving for the Kansas City Chiefs, the Seahawks drafted Jadarian Price in the first round.”

“com/TZzPI8lssd — B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) July 27, 2026 Breakout Candidates Kenneth Walker should bring a new look of explosiveness into the Kansas City Chiefs ’ offense.”

“QB Health This season, the upside cases for Jonathan Taylor and Kenneth Walker III largely depend on the health and production of their QBs, who are coming off significant lower-body injuries.”

“You want these players over running backs like Jonathan Taylor , James Cook , Saquon Barkley and Kenneth Walker III , who rely more heavily on yardage and traditional rushing volume.”

“With his salivating mix of talent and efficiency, Walker should be an explosive RB1 in 2026.”

“We can’t expect that level of rushing production to continue into 2026. Not only will Mahomes’ mobility potentially be limited in his return from injury, but the addition of Kenneth Walker III should mean that the Chiefs’ run game is less disastrous, taking work off the franchise quarterback’s plate. With reduced rushing upside, Mahomes will need to ratchet up the passing production to be a top-five fantasy option.”

“Kenneth Walker III (KC) Kenneth Walker arrives in Kansas City as the Chiefs’ new lead back.”

“Despite splitting the workload with Zach Charbonnet for most of his career, he has averaged 13.4 PPR fantasy points per game, totaling 13.3 or more in all but one season. Don't be surprised if Walker takes advantage of a light box and dominates as the featured guy in a dangerous Kansas City offense.”

“Despite spending most of the time splitting the workload with Zach Charbonnet in Seattle, Walker has finished as a top-21 running back in non-PPR scoring every year of his career except the 2024 season, where he missed six games because of injury. Thankfully, he will finally get the chance to be a featured running back after the Chiefs invested significant money in him this offseason.”

“Walker finished with 1,027 rushing yards (his highest total since his rookie season in 2022), and started all 17 games for the first time in his career. Even in the midst of fending off Zach Charbonnet for touches, Walker helped carry Seattle to a playoff run, eventually taking over as the bell-cow back once Charbonnet was injured in the playoffs.”