Fantasy Football Draft Strategy Mailbag: Is DeVonta Smith A WR1?

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Weekly Mailbag for Fantasy Football 2026

Andy in Virginia - DeVonta Smith: Do you consider him a back-end WR1 this year? I ask because I'm worried that teams will double-team Smith with no other legit Eagles WR.

DeVonta Smith is in my top-12 WRs for a reason—I think he can feast in this Eagles offense. One thing is true, the offense in 2025 was abysmal and it felt like a rinse and repeat situation every single week. This offense lacked an identity, which is hard to believe when you have Jalen Hurts as your quarterback and Saquon Barkley as your running back. Hurts finished 2025 with the lowest yards per attempt in his career, Smith barely got 1,000 yards and Brown had his fewest receiving yards in a season since 2021.

But now Brown is gone, and I think this Eagles offense with Sean Mannion as the new coordinator can create an environment for Smith to reach his ceiling. Remember, Smith has been able to put up great fantasy numbers WITH Brown there for years, but now he's projected for 122 targets and over 1,100 yards. I don't think he fits the mold of being the next Jaxon Smith-Njigba—only because JSN was heavily targeted and there weren't many mouths to feed around him. The Eagles will still utilize Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, Makai Lemon, etc. The outs for Smith are there though and I believe a big season is coming.

Taylor in SacTown, CA - Standard scoring, one keeper. Olave in the 10th or Etienne in the 12th?!

I'm keeping Chris Olave in this one. Listen, I like Travis Etienne and the move going over to the Saints, but we recently got some news on Alvin Kamara that he is going to play in 2026 on a reworked contract—aka he isn't going anywhere.

I have a hard time believing that the Saints gave Etienne a four-year, $52 million deal for nothing. Still, if Kamara is still involved even in the passing game, it will eat away at Etienne's fantasy value. The Saints also drafted Jordyn Tyson, but this looks to be a 1A/1B situation with the wide receivers and Olave is still projected for 135 targets and 1,125 receiving yards to go with 6 touchdowns.

When Olave has been healthy, he's been GOOD. He's cleared 1,000 yards in all three seasons that he has played at least 15 games. He's coming off career-best marks in 2025 in targets (156), receptions (100), yards (1,163) and touchdowns (9). Is it scary betting on Tyler Shough? I guess, but when he became the starter in Week 9 last season, he was the QB12 in PPG. We also like the Kellen Moore offense and the fact that New Orleans' offense ranked first in pace of play last year. All in all, give me Olave here.

Blake in North Dakota - I have really enjoyed chop/Guillotine Leagues the last few years. Will there be any discussion about them?

Yes! We will be talking about Guillotine Leagues™️ across all our Fantasy Life shows! If anyone hasn't played yet, you're definitely missing out. Here is a piece of advice if you're going to join your first league this year … ​​get comfortable being uncomfortable!

Oh, you've played fantasy football your whole life? Congratulations, it does not matter here. Guillotine Leagues is a new breed of fantasy, one that does not predicate on the season-long mindset. No, no … here you are just trying to survive and advance. You still want to be the best, but to come out on top you have to survive and advance, which puts you in a completely different mindset compared to other fantasy formats like redraft.

Remember, there are no head-to-head matchups which means that each week the lowest-scoring team gets chopped from the league and then their roster goes to the waiver wire. You are no longer looking for Week 17 correlation or paying an insane amount of attention to bye weeks. This is a different way of drafting and a unique way of navigating the waiver wire, so my best piece of advice is to embrace the uncomfortable, because if you try and play this like other fantasy leagues you're in then you are bound to be chopped. Just remember: In a Guillotine League, you're not trying to finish first, but instead you're trying to not be last in any week.

Kyle in Boston - BACK-TO-BACK CHAMP! 12-team ,1-point ppr. 1 keeper. Probably picking either 7, 8 or 9. Options for keepers would be Achane in 2nd, Garrett Wilson in the 4th, Stafford in the 8th, Caleb Williams in 10th.

LET'S GO! I LOVE TO HEAR IT! First off, congratulations, now let's make it a three-peat. For the value I'm going with Caleb Williams here. If you have a pick in the back half of the first you should be able to get De'Von Achane back.

Everyone is excited for what this Bears offense can do with another year of Ben Johnson. Williams just needs to make the easy things … easy! He completed just 58.1% of his passes in 2025 and has much more he needs to improve on, but the talent is undeniable. Williams was the QB7 in fantasy points per game, and is the consensus QB7 in our Fantasy Life rankings. He has the upside to do even more than that, so let's lock him in.

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