Who Should I Start? Brandin Cooks or Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Friday, January 16, 11:30 PM

Buffalo Bills veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks was traded from the New Orleans Saints to Buffalo late in the 2025 season. In his five regular-season games with the Bills, Cooks caught five of 11 targets for 114 yards. The 32-year-old deep threat has seven receptions on 11 targets for 159 yards in the last two games against the Eagles and Jaguars, though. He caught three of five targets for 58 yards in the Wild-Card win over the Jaguars, with most of his yardage coming on a 36-yard pickup. Cooks relies on chunk gains deep down the field, which could be a problem against a solid Denver Broncos' defense in the Divisional Round on Saturday. The Bills will need Cooks to step up, though, with both Gabe Davis (knee) and Tyrell Shavers (knee) out with torn ACLs. Denver's defense gave up the fifth-fewest half-PPR points per game to WRs during the regular season and tied with the Eagles for the fewest TDs allowed at six.

Monday, February 9, 1:33 PM

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught four of his 10 targets for 27 yards during Sunday's Super Bowl LX victory over the New England Patriots. Just a few days after being named the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, Smith-Njigba was held in check by a historic defensive performance from Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez. While the young receiver was smothered, this simply redirected more volume to Cooper Kupp and running back Kenneth Walker III, who both fueled the victory. Fantasy managers should expect that Smith-Njigba, who had 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season, will continue to get plenty of attention from the NFL's top cornerbacks going forward. He was relatively quiet in a tough matchup on Sunday night, but he should overcome most of those challenging situations in 2026 -- very similar to how he performed during the 2025 regular season. He enters 2026 fantasy drafts as a top-three receiver in all leagues.