Quinshon Judkins
vs Luther Burden

““ Quinshon Judkins had a surprisingly solid performance last Thursday night against the Steelers, but I still don’t buy it. The Browns are winning, yet Judkins is still having a tough time getting going. The second-year back is averaging an abysmal 3.0 yards per carry this season and hasn’t topped 70 rushing yards in a game yet.”

“Judkins is averaging 0.64 yards before contact per rush, 33rd on that same list. He has been targeted on 24.3% of his routes (RB15) but has still run a route on only 35.6% of dropbacks (RB26), sharing passing duties with Raheim Sanders . Pittsburgh is 24th in expected points allowed per game to running backs , coming off allowing 69 total yards on 15 touches to Chase Brown on Sunday.”

“Judkins has a 68.3% snap rate with 53.3% of the rushing attempts, a 38.5% route share, and a 13.5% target share. He has handled all three of the Browns’ red zone rushing attempts this season. Unfortunately, he has been woefully inefficient with his workload, with zero explosive runs, 1.42 yards after contact per attempt, and an 8% missed tackle rate.”

“Quinshon Judkins is the Ballers consensus RB22 and can be benched if you have better options.”

“Quinshon Judkins has had 12 carries in each of his first two games and hasn’t had a run of 10 or more yards. He’s averaging 2.3 yards per carry behind a rebuilt Browns offensive line that ranks dead last in the run-blocking metric adjusted line yards. But Judkins gets a favorable home matchup against a Panthers defense that has given up the most rushing yards to RBs.”

“Quinshon Judkins is the RB33 in fantasy points per game, averaging 15.5 touches and 49 total yards per game.”

“Judkins is averaging 2.25 YPC on 24 carries (54 total yards), but he did have five receptions this week with Dylan Sampson out of the lineup. That may be enough to convince another owner that he is a true workhorse back and worthy of an RB2 trade. Maybe an opportunistic Chuba Hubbard owner would consider swapping for Judkins, knowing that the Browns are fully committed to him as their RB1?”

“Burden has played 55% of his snaps from the slot, but he has been targeted on only 12.5% of his slot routes (0.75 yards per route), compared with 32% of his routes outside (2.84 yards per route). The Eagles obviously have awesome boundary corners in Quinyon Mitchell and Riq Woolen , so it is hard to play through Burden's splits outside. Philadelphia has allowed 10 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns to slot receivers so far, which likely plays a role in adding Kenny Moore this week and potentially giving them more flexibility to move Cooper DeJean around more like they did last week.”

“Luther Burden steps into a much larger workload in 2026. Last year (including the playoffs), Burden had only five games in which he played at least 53% of the snaps. In those games, he had a 15.5% target share and 61.2 receiving yards per game, which is concerning, but his per-route metrics were outstanding, with 2.30 yards per route run, a 23.6% first-read share, and 0.120 first downs per route run.”

“Luther Burden was just as buzzy as Parker Washington within the fantasy community this summer. Like Washington, Burden did some things late last season that whetted our appetite for a full breakout in 2026.”

“Luther Burden of the Chicago Bears is my pick for league-winner at receiver. With DJ Moore now in Buffalo, Burden steps into a much larger role alongside Rome Odunze and should command a significant target share in an improving Bears offense.”

“Shifting Burden into this alpha role makes perfect sense. Burden is an elite YAC monster, and Ben Johnson would use him as an offensive weapon all over the formation. In a record-breaking year, Burden’s ceiling isn’t just a low-end WR1 – it is an overall top-5 standard/PPR finish fueled by manufactured touches and explosive chunk plays.”

“The hype around Burden has gotten out of control. He averaged fewer PPR fantasy points per game than Theo Wease Jr. last season (8.6 vs. 8.5).”

“Burden averaged 13.9 YPC, which is high when considering his low aDOT. That's attributable to the fact that Burden was a YAC machine in 2025, averaging 7.1 YAC per reception, which ranked 3rd in the NFL among WRs.”

“Burden finished 2025 with a paltry 12.8% target share on the season. This number obviously grew throughout the season, as his snap share increased, but that's still an uninspiring number. Better, though, were his Team Reception % (16%), Team Receiving Yards % (19%), and team WR Points % (26.9%), which shows how efficient Burden was when targeted.”