Ladd McConkey vs Lamar Jackson

“That leaves a sizable hole in the offense, and McConkey should be the biggest beneficiary of those vacated targets.”

“Ladd McConkey is my bet for Herbert’s pass-catcher who will benefit the most from better health along the offensive line.”

“After working through it, the analyst landed on preferring McConkey over Tate, citing more confidence in McConkey’s current quarterback situation and offensive environment, along with an already-strong rookie season once his playoff performance is factored in.”

“With Allen no longer on the team, this opens up the opportunity for McConkey to emerge as Justin Herbert's clear top receiver and demand an elite target share. There's a clear path to him earning 150+ targets and hauling in 100+ receptions.”

“There's no denying Ladd McConkey was a massive fantasy disappointment last season. He saw a drop from 15.1 PPR points per game as a rookie down to 11.3.”

“Ladd at ADP 34 is a steep price for a role that could be more complicated than the market is admitting. The Chargers added David Njoku, Charlie Kolar, and Alec Ingold, which points to more 12 & 21 personnel, and that matters for a player who ran 64.0% of his routes from the slot.”

“McConkey's CTCH% dropped from 73% to 62% year-over-year, and that drop, combined with a lower YPC, made a substantial difference in his performance. Much of this can be attributed to the offensive line injuries and subsequent pocket pressure that QB Justin Herbert faced much of the season. Herbert was pressured on 45% of McConkey's targets, and his catchable targets dropped by 10 percentage points. Bringing back a fully healthy offensive line and drafting four additional linemen (including the #1 ranked Center in the class) should make a big difference for this offensive unit.”

“Despite a gaffe-riddled rookie year, QJ showed marginal development in his second season, and Ladd McConkey looked like one of the steals of the draft in 2024. Then Allen, who departed for a one-year sabbatical in Chicago in 2024, returned to Los Angeles for his swan song and mucked the whole thing up! Or did he? The narrative in the fantasy football community has been that Keenan Allen NERFed Ladd McConkey's 2025 numbers, but further analysis shows there were several other factors at play.”

“Ladd McConkey is being drafted just ahead of Josh Allen, who has a late-third-round ADP.”

“Jake Ciely's favorite wide receiver target closes the list. Although Ladd McConkey disappointed many fantasy managers last season, Ciely believes the market has overcorrected. With Mike McDaniel now running the Chargers offense, he expects McConkey to become the clear focal point of the passing game. McDaniel's offenses have consistently funneled targets to their top receiver, and Ciely believes McConkey is perfectly suited for that role thanks to his ability to create separation and generate yards after the catch. If the offense performs as expected, McConkey has a realistic path back into WR1 territory.”

“The biggest boost for McConkey is the arrival of Mike McDaniel as the Chargers' offensive coordinator. Last season, McConkey ran 90% of his routes with three receivers on the field, while just 10% came in 1-WR or 2-WR sets. Compare that to Jaylen Waddle last season under McDaniel, a similar player stylistically, who ran 54% of his routes in 3-WR sets and 46% in 1-WR or 2-WR sets.”

“With the departure of Allen and the addition of Mike McDaniel, there is reason to once again be excited about this offense. McConkey is by far the most talented and should rarely leave the field.”

“Injuries and a steep decline in rushing production cratered Lamar Jackson ‘s fantasy value in 2025. After finishing QB1 in fantasy scoring in 2024, Jackson plummeted to a QB20 fantasy finish last season and was QB16 in fantasy points per game at the position. Jackson lost three games to an early-season hamstring injury and one game to a late-season back injury.”

“Lamar Jackson cratered many fantasy rosters in 2025. Before an early October hamstring injury, he was on pace for 3,700 passing yards, 437 rushing yards, and 47 total TDs.”

“The most obvious thing to consider is your positional strengths and weaknesses — trading for Lamar Jackson when you already have Josh Allen probably isn’t a good idea.”

“If you want an elite QB, pocket your picks for a round and a half and take Lamar Jackson, instead.”

“There isn’t a single drafted player on the Ravens that goes higher than I would take them, with Lamar Jackson standing out as the single best 1QB value I have ever seen if you want to get a top-two quarterback, going at pick 46, 19 picks past QB1, Josh Allen.”

“With plenty of time to recover from last season, Jackson is a ticking time bomb for fantasy production.”

“Things did not go well for Lamar Jackson in 2025, but he still displayed his ceiling early on before injuries started to stack up.”

“For what it’s worth, Lamar did speak highly of Doyle’s offense this spring, saying: “ It’s a different system than what I’m accustomed to being in, and I feel like there’s going to be a lot of explosiveness this year.”

“The case for Lamar staying near the top of the market: he’s not even 30 years old, he was still playing at an elite level in weeks one and two last season before his injury in week three derailed the rest of his year, and he has never failed to have an MVP-caliber first season under a new play caller, which is exactly the situation he’s in again this year.”

“Jackson's 2025 performance was marred by injury and a subpar level of play (by his standards). Therefore, while he has tremendous leverage by virtue of the restructure and the $84.34MM cap number it created for 2027, he may want to come to the negotiating table on the heels of a better season.”

“Todd Monken, reflecting on where things went wrong in Baltimore last season, feels that he didn't get the most out of Lamar Jackson. "I didn't coach well enough," Monken said. "I didn't get Lamar to play at his best when the best was needed."”

“Jackson mentioned that Doyle is running a completely different system from what Todd Monken deployed last season, while there are some concepts from what Greg Roman ran in 2022. Jackson expects more "explosiveness" this season, and Doyle is proving to be a very creative playcaller. "I feel like there's going to be a lot of explosiveness this year," Jackson said. "The way Declan calls plays and his creativity with his mind — how detailed he is — it's mind-blowing. I'm excited."”