Who Should I Start? Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Bucky Irving
Week 1 Projections
| Fant. Pts. |
Rush. Yds. |
Rush TD |
Rec. | Rec. Yds. |
Rec TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.8 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 6.6 | 90.0 | 0.5 |
Jaxon Smith-Njigba News
Thursday, September 3, 12:06 PM
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was a league-winner across all formats in the 2025 season. The former Ohio State standout smashed his ADP, finishing as the overall WR2, joining Puka Nacua as the only players at his position to average more than 20.0 PPR points per game. He would catch 119 of his 163 targets (fourth-most in football) for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. During the regular season, he would only fall below double-digit PPR points in one game (Week 13) and would eclipse the 25.0 PPR point mark in five contests. On Wednesday night, Smith-Njigba and the reigning Super Bowl champions will host the New England Patriots, whom they faced in last February's season finale. In this contest, Smith-Njigba was relatively quiet, catching only four of his 10 targets for a mere 27 yards. However, despite the modest effort, Smith-Njigba enters the 2026 season as the clear alpha of this WR room and should draw a massive target share against this New England defense. Smith-Njigba carries elite upside at his position, even though his matchup on paper is a bit tough, facing a New England secondary that allowed the ninth-fewest passing yards last season. He profiles as the definition of a must-start in all season-long formats and is a top play in all DFS single-game showdown competitions.
Week 1 Projections
| Fant. Pts. |
Rush. Yds. |
Rush TD |
Rec. | Rec. Yds. |
Rec TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.7 | 58.3 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 18.9 | 0.1 |
Bucky Irving News
Friday, September 4, 6:22 AM
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving is primed to bounce back in fantasy football now that he's fully healthy for the 2026 season. Irving missed a whopping seven games in his second pro season last year, which resulted in him falling to RB34 with just 865 scrimmage yards and four total touchdowns. For context, he had been the RB13 the year prior. Irving is now fully healthy again, giving him a good chance to push for a top-12 finish in fantasy football at the running back position. There are certainly some other mouths to feed here, but as far as the backfield goes, Irving has pretty clearly solidified himself over Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker. In fact, the presence of those two other backs could allow the Bucs to manage Irving's workload. Sure, that might lower his ceiling slightly, but it will also reduce injury risk and increase the chance of him playing all 17 games. As it stands, Irving ranks as the RB19 in RotoBaller's latest redraft rankings. He has an ADP of 52.7, which corresponds to the fifth round of fantasy drafts and makes him the 22nd running back off the board.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba vs. Bucky Irving
Still trying to decide between Smith-Njigba and Irving? Check on the latest news to make sure both players are active and healthy. Our PPR projections show that Jaxon Smith-Njigba is projected to score 18.8 points this week while Bucky Irving is projected to score 12.7 points.
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