If you’re not paying attention to pre-season football, you’re missing out on vital information that could win you your league. So here’s my biggest receiver-related takeaways from the first week of pre-season games.Â
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Wide Receiver Winners and Losers
Winners:
–Tetairoa McMillan is the clear WR1 in Carolina, likely supported by Xavier Legette in 2WR sets and Adam Thielen in the slot. Jalen Coker is still hanging around and could eventually take over from Thielen but this is very much McMillan’s team. This is great from a dynasty perspective and he has been my second ranked dynasty rookie since April, but I’m still unsure whether the Panthers can support a top fantasy receiver without the excessive volume we saw Thielen receive a couple of years ago. I think McMillan is still a little over-valued given his lack of true upside in what should remain a low volume passing offense.
–Marvin Mims appears to be the clear Broncos WR2, while Devaughn Vele and Troy Franklin are battling it out for the slot spot and Pat Bryant is very much a backup at this stage. This has been threatened for some time and is why I’ve consistently ranked Mims as a Top 60 wide receiver this season.
–Travis Hunter’s usage was exactly what we expected. He’ll primarily be a slot receiver who plays in 3WR sets but may grow into 12 personnel groupings. The slot role in Liam Coen’s offense is highly valuable (see Chris Godwin’s WR2 per-game finish last season) so there’s a lot of fantasy upside for the two-way rookie.
-This isn’t new news, but the first pre-season game has confirmed what we already knew. D’Onte Thornton is a starting receiver for the Raiders, while Jack Bech is at best the WR4. This could easily change though, with Bech just needing to get past the underwhelming Tre Tucker and there’s still plenty of time for that to happen. Meanwhile Thornton is an obvious late round redraft target, but the Raiders’ WR2 is unlikely to have much value with Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty in town. For me, he’s more of an intriguing dynasty stash.
-The Bills wide receiver room looks like it will be exactly as we expected entering the pre-season. Khalil Shakir will be the slot receiver after his excessive contract extension while Keon Coleman will be joined by deep threat Joshua Palmer on the outside. Coleman still has the most potential to turn into the alpha receiver in this offense and his pre-season usage has only confirmed this. He’s one of my favorite sleeper, in line for a big second-year boost.
-It seems like there will be mixed fortunes for the Texans’ rookie receivers. Second-rounder Jayden Higgins will join Nico Collins on the outside, while it seems Christian Kirk is ahead of third-rounder Jaylin Noel in the battle for the slot. That could still change in the coming weeks but regardless, Noel is more of a dynasty stash and Higgins needs a Collins injury if he’s to really pay off for fantasy at any point in the near future. While we have seen teams successfully feature two fantasy-relevant wide receivers, this Texans offense looks nothing like the Bengals, Eagles, Vikings or Dolphins rooms, where the third receiver is barely involved. Hence I’m not overly interested in either rookie for redraft, but both are interesting dynasty stashes.
–Calvin Austin is the clear Steelers WR2 but Roman Wilson looks like he may have won the WR3 job over Robert Woods and company. Wilson’s role isn’t particularly appetizing in isolation, but with Austin not exactly a superstar, it’s only a short jump to the number two position for the former Day 2 pick who essentially red shirted his rookie campaign.
-The Jets situation is equally murky but one thing appears clear, Josh Reynolds is the WR2, as has been expected for weeks now. The WR3 spot though appears to be an open competition between Tyler Johnson, Allen Lazard and Arian Smith. It’s likely the third spot is some sort of committee initially but the only receiver that really interests me among the three is the rookie Smith, and even then, only in dynasty or best ball. He’d need to move past Reynolds to become fantasy-relevant this year.
–Isaac TeSlaa looked fantastic in the first game of the pre-season but he is still clearly behind Tim Patrick and potentially Kalif Raymond. The rookie is very much a development prospect though, and someone I’m targeting in dynasty for 2026 and beyond, especially if Jameson Williams leaves Detroit.
Losers:
–Tre Harris has been a favorite dynasty pickup for me this off-season but the signing of Keenan Allen tanks his redraft value this year. With Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston entrenched as starters, Harris would need an Allen injury (or a surprise change in role) to pay off for redraft. Meanwhile Johnston is being chronically undervalued and is a solid late round pickup.
–Kyle Williams is a popular late round stash but I wouldn’t be considering him in redraft this year. Stefon Diggs and Demario Douglas are clear starters for the Patriots while Kendrick Bourne, Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins and Williams are all fighting it out for the third receiver spot. And Williams is clearly behind Bourne and Boutte in that fight too. While that may change as we move into the season, how much do you really want the Patriots’ WR3 anyway? Williams is at best a dynasty stash who could (though probably won’t) emerge into the Pats’ WR1 in the long term.
-Titans Day 3 rookies Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor are still clearly behind Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson in the battle for starting roles in Tennessee. While this could be veteran privilege, it would have been nice to see a little more usage for the rookies amongst the starters. Ayomanor is the more likely of the two to win a starting role given he just has to beat out Jefferson, while Dike is more of a slot receiver and will need to get past Lockett. I do think long term Dike has more upside of the two, but for redraft I’m avoiding both.
–Luther Burden played well behind Bears slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and appears some distance away from a starting job. Burden has missed a lot of the pre-season and I’d expect him to bridge the gap at some stage, but it makes it very hard to justify drafting the rookie in redraft, even if his price drops below his bloated mid-round cost.
-Tai Felton is behind not only Jalen Nailor but also Lucky Jackson in the battle to be JJ McCarthy’s WR3. While this role hasn’t traditionally been particularly valuable, Jordan Addison’s impending suspension does mean the player who wins this job could be usable for a few weeks at least. I’m not totally giving up on Felton, especially in dynasty, but if we don’t see movement at least above Jackson in next week’s game, I’m not touching him for redraft.
–Jalen Tolbert was the Cowboys WR2 last season, making him a solid waiver wire pickup early last season. The arrival of George Pickens had already taken some serious gloss off his fantasy prospects but it now appears they are officially dead, with KaVontae Turpin being rested for the first pre-season game while Tolbert played. It’s possible this shows Turpin’s sewn up special teams role, but I think this is more likely to reflect the whispers of Turpin taking offensive snaps away from Tolbert. This is a situation to totally avoid.
-The Cardinals are heading for a WR2/3 committee, with Zay Jones appearing likely to join Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch in splitting wide receiver snaps behind Marvin Harrison Jr. With Trey McBride and James Conner also heavily involved in the low volume passing games, it seems none of the non-MHJ receivers will be fantasy relevant.
Tight End Winners and Losers
Winners:
–Tyler Warren is the clear every down tight end for the Colts and will be the starter from week one. How much value this has will somewhat depend on the winner of the very open quarterback competition, but regardless I think Warren is a cheap option who has some upside. I would, however, suggest drafting a second tight end option too, as the bust potential with Warren is real.
–TJ Hockenson suffered from a roughly 15% drop in routes run last year, which frustratingly impacted his fantasy value. But his pre-season usage suggests a potential rebound with Johnny Mundt now in Jacksonville. His draft cost makes him a bit of bargain as, to me, he’s a top five tight end.
–Josh Whyle’s drop down the depth chart suggests Chig Okonkwo’s late season boom last year may well continue into this season. With Gunnar Helm the rather unthreatening TE2, Okonkwo’s role as the clear cut starter seems to be finally locked up. This has rarely meant much for fantasy but rookie quarterbacks do tend to rely on their tight ends more than veterans and that could finally mean a coming out party for Chig. Better late than never I guess. He’s a viable late round redraft pickup.
Losers:
-Evan Engram appears likely to succumb to Sean Payton’s love of Adam Trautman. The former Saint once again appears likely to steal early down snaps from a fantasy-relevant tight end, with Engram playing only 70% of the starter snaps in pre-season week 1. Admittedly, most of these missed snaps were running plays, but it’s still a bad sign and further reason to avoid Engram at his inflated price.
–Elijah Arroyo was expected to be the main beneficiary from the Noah Fant release, but it now seems like AJ Barner may be far more heavily involved than we would prefer. A 2024 fourth round pick, Barner is an accomplished blocker who is a solid receiver when called upon. This looks set to turn into an ugly committee situation rather than the every-down tight end role we had hoped Arroyo would slide into. The rookie’s still a great dynasty stash but until he improves his blocking, he’s unlikely to be fantasy relevant.
–Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox remain in an awkward tight end committee with no signs of that changing. Until Kincaid emerges as the clear starting tight end, he remains difficult to trust for fantasy.
-The Chargers tight end room is a mess. I’m avoiding them all as it’s totally unclear who is the TE1. At this stage, I’m anticipating a committee, while in dynasty I’m open to Orande Gadsden, who has the long term potential to turn into a fantasy starter.
If you have questions on your drafts and leagues, make sure you hit me up on Instagram @TheFantasyFirstDown or on Twitter @FantasyFirstDwn. Also make sure you check out my dynasty, rookie and redraft rankings and my video analysis of all positional hit rates. And finally, if you’re looking for personalised rankings for your drafts, email me.
