Joe Burrow vs Bucky Irving

“For Pollard to find his way into the top-12, we need a Drake Maye / Joe Burrow -esque second season from Ward.”

“Joe Burrow paired with Ja’Marr Chase is obviously a nightmare matchup to go head-to-head against, but the variance the pair would inject into your lineup is prohibitively high in this format. An explosive game from them will only truly save your season when the rest of your team lays some eggs.”

“But if Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who missed nine games last season, enjoys a season of good health, McPherson should have his fair share of FG and PAT opportunities.”

“The trio of Joe Burrow , Ja'Marr Chase , and Tee Higgins forces defenses to respect the passing game.”

“When Joe Burrow was healthy, he was a top-three quarterback last season”

“Joe Burrow (QB – CIN) According to Sharp Football Analysis , the Bengals have the second-easiest schedule this season, which bodes well for a passing attack featuring Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins”

“For example, fantasy players would need to use four of their first five or six picks to build a Cincinnati Bengals stack of Ja’Marr Chase , Chase Brown , Tee Higgins , and Joe Burrow”

“Lamar Jackson , Jayden Daniels , Joe Burrow , Baker Mayfield , and Kyler Murray all were selected as top-12 players at the position and finished double-digit slots behind expectations in terms of points per game.”

“Round 1: Joe Burrow (QB – CIN) To kick things off at No. 4 overall, I went with Joe Burrow .”

“Even with a modest target share, Higgins maximizes his opportunities in one of the NFL’s premier passing offenses led by Joe Burrow .”

“The pivot to more under-center passing won’t be as natural and certainly might not be anywhere near as successful for the Bengals, because Burrow clearly isn’t as comfortable and doesn’t perform as well. In fact, if we go back the last three years, Burrow’s under-center dropbacks average just 3.6 air yards, which ranked dead last: #69 out of 69 qualifying QBs. His time to throw of 2.81 seconds was the #5 fastest out of 69 QBs, and he threw just 17% of passes 10+ yards downfield, also ranking dead last.”

“Zac Taylor wants the Bengals to play more from under center in 2026. Unfortunately, Joe Burrow under center is precisely where this offense struggles most, which is why the Bengals haven't used it often of late. How much the Bengals choose to pivot to under-center passing and how much Burrow can improve on these dropbacks might have a large impact on their fortunes in 2026.”

“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.”

“If Bucky Irving struggles to stay healthy for the second consecutive season, Gainwell could have a career year”

“100 | (RB35) To be clear, Bucky Irving isn’t fading away despite a down season last year”

“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.”

“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).”

“Bucky Irving ‘s rookie season was as impressive as they come, considering his draft capital (125th overall).”

“Bucky Irving was the only top-12 drafted RB to miss more than two games.”

“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.”

“Bucky Irving checks all the boxes when it comes to identifying a true “buy low” player.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”