Fantasy Football Player Notes

If you're a Barkley manager, you have been patiently waiting for the star RB to take the field and help you forget an incredibly disappointing 2025 campaign. After lighting the league on fire in 2024, Barkley followed up his historic season with an RB14 finish and fewer than 10 touchdowns. The Eagles are primed for a bounce-back season and have made some substantial changes. Last year, Kevin Patulo was one of the worst offensive coordinators in the league. Thankfully, Sean Mannion is taking over and giving the offense hope despite trading away A.J. Brown. With Barkley turning 30 this season, there are some age concerns and potential red flags with his dip in efficiency metrics last season. However, opening the season against their division rival Commanders is a perfect time for the star back to prove he hasn't lost a step and is ready for another incredible season.

Last year was the second time in Dallas Goedert's career that he finished as a top-six fantasy tight end (TE6 in fantasy points per game). Goedert accomplished this by spiking a career-high 11 receiving touchdowns. Last year, among 59 qualifying tight ends, Goedert ranked eighth in target share (18.4%), 33rd in yards per route run (1.43), 17th in receiving yards per game (39.4), eighth in first-read share (21%), seventh in red zone targets (15), and 21st in first downs per route run (0.083). Washington added a lot of firepower to their pass rush and secondary this offseason, but we'll see how much and how quickly they can improve a defense that allowed the most yards per target and fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends last year.

I'm curious what Makai Lemon's role will be out of the gate for Philly in 2026 after missing substantial parts of rookie camp, training camp, and the preseason. Lemon played on the perimeter with 71.4% of his snaps in his limited preseason action, but I doubt that will be the case when he's on the field with DeVonta Smith and Dontayvioin Wicks. Lemon finished a productive collegiate career ranking sixth and 12th in yards per route run, ninth and 50th in missed tackles forced, and 60th and 28th in YAC per reception over the last two seasons (per PFF). I expect Lemon to be the team's starting slot receiver to begin the season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a limited snap role if Philly looks to deploy 12 and 21 personnel heavily out of the gate. Lemon could have a solid fantasy day in Week 1, despite the risks that I outlined here. Washington couldn't stop slot receivers last year, allowing the seventh-highest passer rating and the most fantasy points per target to the position. Lemon is a decent flex play for Week 1.

Dontayvion Wicks has been a separation-score and route-win-rate darling over the last two years, and could finally step into a bigger role this year in Philly. Over the last two years, Wicks has ranked third and 24th in separation score and sixth and seventh in route win rate among all wide receivers with at least 200 routes. Last year, Wicks posted a 21% target-per-route run rate, 1.56 yards per route run, and 0.099 first downs per route run. Among 109 qualifying receivers, Wicks ranked 41st in target-per-route run rate and 25th in first downs per route run. Washington added Rasul Douglas (2025: 56.8% catch rate and 75.2 passer rating) to the perimeter corner mix this offseason. We'll see if he can be a big upgrade to a unit that allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per target and the third-highest passer rating to perimeter wide receivers last season.