Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 18

Good morning, FootClan, and for the final time this season, a very warm welcome into The Fantasy Footballers’ Saturday Morning Mailbag! It’s Saturday, it’s early, and for the last time until September, I am here to select a handful of your questions from The Fantasy Footballers’ Discord server and answer some of the hot topics that didn’t quite make it to that week’s edition of The Footcast. The Ballers’ Discord is home to the biggest and best online fantasy football community in the world, and is your go-to if you’re looking to talk about all things fantasy football. Head over today and get involved with thousands of members across dozens of dedicated channels for start/sit questions, trade advice, and waiver wire insights, as well as exclusive areas which are only available to members of the FootClan.

We are into Week 18 of the fantasy football season, so if you are reading this, that means you are either a die-hard fantasy manager, looking to get ahead of your league mates for next season…or you are one of the poor unfortunate souls who plays a Week 18 Championship matchup.

With so many teams resting starters this week, I’m leaving all the Start/Sit recommendations to The Ballers and their very nifty Start/Sit Tool in the Ultimate Dashboard. If you’re struggling with whether to start Malik Davis, Audric Estime, or Dylan Sampson as your RB2, then my heart goes out to you…but that’s what you get for still playing in Week 18! We’re talking way too-early 2026 rankings, highlighting some potential rookies to look out for, and asking the question “is late-round QB strategy back?” – all this and more, so for the last time of the 2025 season…let’s dive right in!

Question #1 – 2026 Rookie Recommendations

Hey Ballers! Who is your ‘way-too-early’ favorite rookie for fantasy next year? – ghosty

Answer: Even though fantasy football may be over for most of us (I’m looking at your Week 18-ers!), we are still technically in the 2025 NFL season, so a lot of 2026 rookie rankings will depend on which teams end up with which slots – that said; it’s very difficult to see beyond Notre Dame’s RB sensation Jeremiyah Love as the guy for fantasy managers to watch once the Combine rolls around.

Love will still be only 20 years old when he is inevitably selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, with the Junior not turning 21 until the end of May. Regardless of where Love ends up on April 23rd in Pittsburgh, he will instantly become a franchise starter at the RB position – largely thanks to his 3,014 yards from scrimmage and 40 (yes, that’s four-zero) TDs in the navy and gold of the Fighting Irish these last two seasons. The St. Louis native has averaged 6.9 Y/A in back-to-back seasons and has multiple 90+ yard plays out of the backfield. The Notre Dame football program may have been making the news for all the wrong reasons at the back end of the year, but the big story out of South Bend come the summer will undoubtedly be the hype surrounding their now former RB as he enters the professional ranks.

Look out for USC WR Makai Lemon, Washington RB Jonah Coleman, and Arizona State Sun Devils’ Jordyn Tyson – an explosive wideout who hopefully doesn’t see his draft stock tumble due to recent injuries.

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Question #2 – Re-Draft Rankings (Way Too Early 2026 Edition)

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Happy New Year, Ballers! Who would be your top-six picks in Redraft Leagues for 2026 right now? Half-PPR format. – Experiencing Romelessness

Answer: If you’d have said top-five, then this would have been easy-peasy…but adding in that 6th pick muddies the waters a little bit for me.

Let’s get the easy selections out of the way first. With NFL rosters being as they are right now, if I am on the clock at the 1.01 in any of my re-draft leagues, I am taking Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson. The third-year back – despite scoring seven fewer TDs than last season – has improved in every relevant statistical category for fantasy…including total FPPG, up to 20.3 from 18.3 in 2024. His 2,225 current total scrimmage yards lead the league, with only CMC joining Bijan in crossing the 2,000-yard threshold through seventeen weeks. Atlanta has its issues, but I don’t care – Robinson is my locked-and-loaded number one guy…that is, unless David Montgomery leaves Detroit.

Were David Mopportunity to part ways with the Lions, then his current teammate Jahmyr Gibbs would likely leapfrog Bijan as my top pick in Redraft leagues next season. Do I think Gibbs is a better running back than Bijan; no – but do I believe that as the undisputed leader of the Lions backfield that he will outscore him for fantasy; absolutely. 

I am an old-school RB truther when it comes to drafting, so it pains me to now mention two WRs as my next selections for 2026. When it comes to the WR position, volume is king, and no single player in the National Football League has seen more targets in 2025 than my WR1 for next season, Ja’Marr Chase. If Joe Burrow stays healthy (and Ja’Marr obviously), there’s not a situation where I don’t see Chase finishing as the overall WR1 for fantasy – and providing both he and his QB play a full season, my second WR and 4th overall pick 2026 would be the Rams’ Puka Nacua. The third-year pass-catcher leads the league in receptions and is behind only Jaxon Smith-Njigba in total receiving yards with 1,639 on the year – he’s a cert for another elite finish should Matthew Stafford elect to play in 2026.

Speaking of JSN, I would love to put him in my top six…but he misses out for two more RBs (both of whom I had in my #FootClanTitle winning League of Record squad I’ll add); the Fantasy GOAT – Christian McCaffrey, and Miami’s QB-proof do-it-all scat-back, De’Von Achane. The selection of CMC speaks for itself (please give us one more year, King!), and despite Achane actually being used less in Miami’s passing game, the now 24-year-old recorded his highest finish for fantasy, thanks largely to a 1,350-yard rushing season…almost 450 yards higher than his previous best.

Is there a case for JSN, Jonathan Taylor, Amon-Ra St.Brown, or even James Cook to squeak in here…yes, but these are the guys I am targeting next season if I’m picking in the first half of round one for sure.

Question #3 – Draft Strategy (RIP Early-QB?)

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Happy New Year, Ballers! Are we back to a late-round QB strategy after most of those drafted early this year disappointed for their ADP? – Plant Man

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Answer: In order to prepare a well-researched and thought-out response to this question, I fired up my 2025 Ultimate Draft Kit to get the last ADPs of all the QBs taken in fantasy drafts, and then compared those to how the current season-long standings are at the position…woof, I wish I hadn’t!

Outside of Josh Allen (the other Fantasy GOAT alongside Christian McCaffrey), it makes for some pretty grim reading if you spent one of your first eight picks on a QB, with Bo Nix the only QB drafted before the 10th round who actually improved on his draft spot. Selected as the consensus QB1 overall, Allen returned that exact value on your investment, with the 2025 NFL MVP currently sitting almost a full 30-points ahead of this season’s MVP in waiting, New England’s Drake Maye (more on him shortly).

Looking at the table below, we can see just how disappointing a year it was for some of the big names at the position, with Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, and Kyler Murray all finishing outside the top 20, largely in part due to injury (well, not just injury, eh, Kyler?)

Even those who weren’t hit with the injury bug still struggled, with Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, and Baker Mayfield all under-performing in relation to their ADP – but was it a case that these early-drafted signal callers were under-performing, or were later picks such as Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, and Caleb Williams simply over-performing? 

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Honestly, it’s difficult to tell, and with every team in the NFL likely to make changes at both the OL and/or the WR position, it’s very difficult to say for certain if 2025 was an outlier season, or if it is the new norm and indicative of just how each of these QBs will perform in 2026. I personally got burned by Joe Burrow’s injury back in Week 2 this season, so I will definitely be thinking carefully when it comes to investing a top-5 pick in any non-RB/WR next year – but I think the strategy remains the same as it was this season…I either want to be the first or the last to draft a QB, and honestly, if it’s not Josh Allen, I’ll be waiting until the end of my draft.

It’s time for Rapid Round…

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Who’s your fantasy championship MVP? Rhamondre Stevenson, Drake Maye, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Chris Olave…or somebody else?. – 6RingsMakaveli

Answer: CMC and Brock Purdy pulled me out of a 64-point hole on Sunday Night Football to wrap up my League of Record. Purdy was the star, but Christian was so consistent all year that I have to give it to him.

It’s keeper question season! Pick two of the following to keep – Standard scoring; Malik Nabers in the 3rd, Tyler Warren in the 8th, and Garrett Wilson in the 12th – Long Suffering Jets Fan

Answer: For me, it’s between the two WRs, and as much as I love Nabers, the value on Wilson in the 12th is just too good to pass up.

If J.J. McCarthy plays poorly in week 18, and if Emeka Egbuka has a fantastic game week 18 – who would you trust more to start next season: Egbuka or Justin Jefferson? – Black Market Pokémon Cards

Answer: Simply because he is the more talented player, I’d have to go with Jettas here. A lot can change during the course of an off-season, and while I don’t think McCarthy will be replaced by the time September rolls around, I do think that Egbuka may continue to struggle to carve out a meaningful role in this Tampa Bay passing game…especially if Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are still on the roster.

How do you feel about Luther Burden III’s dynasty outlook? – That’sWhatRasheeSaid

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Answer: If you’d have asked me this three weeks ago, I would have said he was a great buy-low candidate with a huge upside next season…esepcially is D.J. Moore was to leave Chicago – but now…oooooh baby! Jump on your rocket ship and ride Burden to the moon! He’s shown in these last two weeks that he has what it takes to be the alpha for Caleb Williams in this Bears’ passing game. Odunze who? I am all in on Burden moving forward.

That will do it for this week and this season, FootClan – I hope you all had a great year, and if you are still in the hunt for a Week 18 #FootClanTitle, then I wish you good luck! See you in the off-season!