Fantasy Football Draft Strategy Mailbag: Will Puka Nacua's Production Go Down?
Kendall Valenzuela gets in the hot seat to answer fantasy football questions for her weekly mailbag, including if Puka Nacua's usage will be impacted in 2026.
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Weekly Mailbag for Fantasy Football Draft Strategy
James - AZ - Why is everyone so high on Puka? With the additions and growth to the Rams Defense, I have to think they will not be in any shootouts and pass attempts will be way down. Gave up 19 or more points, 11 out of 17 games.
Listen, as a Seahawks fan I'll take any chance to talk a little trash about the Rams … but I just can't do it here. I think Puka Nacua is a clear WR1 fantasy play and if we had to poke any holes in our philosophy about drafting him as the first or second receiver off the board, it would be more aimed at his health and maybe some natural regression from Matthew Stafford.
We got an MVP season out of Stafford last year, something that I believe a lot of people did not see coming. He threw for an NFL-high 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns—what's interesting is that 46.6% of Stafford's inside-the-10 pass attempts went for touchdowns, which was a huge jump up from 27.9% in 2024. I don't think we see him operate as a QB3 for fantasy, but Nacua is still going to eat so many targets that we cannot ignore how high his ceiling really is. His fantasy football projections at Fantasy Life are for 158 targets, 116 receptions and 1,504 receiving yards. I'm not fading him in the slightest, I truly wouldn't dare.
Steve - AZ - Hello, wondering if Bowers' value will suffer if and when Mendoza is the Raiders QB. Thanks
I understand that a "quarterback competition" between Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza is less than ideal, but Brock Bowers is one of those elite playmakers who tends to be quarterback proof. Last season, he was very injured—he picked up a PCL injury during the first week of the season but still managed to average 16.6 points per game once he returned.
Dwain McFarland did an incredible write-up in his tight end tiers, and he highlighted that we should focus on tight end receiving yards per game because it is "one of the stickiest metrics." If we do that with Bowers we will find that he ranks third in the NFL at 64.6 over the last two seasons. Also add in the fact that this team should be somewhat improved after a dismal season last year. I love the addition of Klint Kubiak as the head coach—even though that meant my Seahawks had to lose him—and I feel like with the Raiders' lack of true wide receiver weapons that this team is going to run through Ashton Jeanty and Bowers. Are we a little worried about the passing attack? Sure, but remember just last season we saw Cousins be able to support a TE1. Bowers is my overall TE1 heading into the 2026 season.
Chris - NC - 10-man PPR league redraft, please place in order of who you would keep: Tetairoa McMillian, Jaylen Waddle, Terry McLaurin. Thanks!
Alright let's do this based on my fantasy football rankings here:
Tetairoa McMillan (WR19)
Jaylen Waddle (WR20)
Terry McLaurin (WR22)
These guys are all SO close in my rankings, but the lean is to McMillan just slightly. The quarterback play is obviously worse with the Panthers here—Bryce Young has been the QB29 (9.8 fantasy points per game) as a rookie, QB24 (13.9) in 2024 and most recently finished as the QB25 (13.6) last season. Have there been flashes? Sure, but he still struggles to reach just 3,000 passing yards annually. If you were to tell me you wanted to go with Waddle because it's a better offense I wouldn't blame you at all. McMillan had elite volume last season and was the obvious go-to target for Young. The second-year wide receiver is projected for 126 targets in 2026 and carries WR1 upside.
Alex - FL - Kendall and Adam, I’m in a 12-man PPR where you can keep one player drafted the year before without losing a pick. Would you keep Emeka Egbuka or Rashee Rice? I know you’re big on both. Thanks!
Oh man, this is tough, but I think I would keep Emeka Egbuka here. While I am high on Rashee Rice heading into the season (if he can stay healthy and make smarter decisions), I can't ignore the upside with Egbuka and the Buccaneers this season. Mike Evans is no longer on the team and with those targets up for grabs we know that Egbuka is going to be the WR1 on this team. He started the season so hot last year—he was the overall PPR WR3 in Weeks 1-5 behind only Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St. Brown before a hamstring injury really derailed what could have been an amazing year.
If he's already shown us the flashes then lets buy into him being one of the biggest bounceback candidates this coming season.
If Rice is on the field he can also pay off in a major way. In Rice's last 17 full games, he has 163 targets, 120 receptions, 1,377 yards to go along with 10 receiving touchdowns. All to average 19.2 PPG. Now, don't ask when the last time was that he played a full season because the answer would be never … Rice has been in just 12 regular-season games over the past two seasons combined. BUT, again if we do get a full season out of him then you're looking at serious upside.
Jay - TX - Hello Kendall and Adam. I love the show. I have a general question in regards to an 18-team Guillotine Leagues™️. Any advice? Especially focused on late-round picks as there are 14 players for each team.
Heck yeah, we have advice, first of all HAVE FUN! I am trying to get everyone in my life into a Guillotine League this season because it is just such a fun and different way to play fantasy. Which leads me to my first point, whatever you know about traditional fantasy football leagues just throw it out the window for Guillotine Leagues!
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. We have more amazing articles on the Fantasy Life website, though, that you need to check out before your first draft!
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