Fantasy Football's WR1 Debate For 2026: Chase, Nacua or Smith-Njigba?

Seemingly every single season in the NFL, the wide receiver position becomes even more stacked.

Ja’Marr Chase has already cemented himself among the fantasy elite, but over the past few seasons, both Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba have joined him. Now, all three wideouts are being selected towards the top of fantasy football drafts, with all three presenting strong arguments to be the number one player selected at the position.

Let’s break it down.

2026's WR1 In Fantasy Football—Puka Nacua, Ja'Marr Chase or Jaxon Smith-Njigba?

The Case For Puka Nacua

Well, let’s see. He led all wideouts in receptions (129) and fantasy points per game (23.4), while ranking second in receiving yards (1,715).

So, yeah, you could say Nacua has a pretty strong argument to be drafted as fantasy’s WR1.

Nacua has been a perfect fit in Sean McVay’s offense since entering the NFL, resulting in elite usage. Last year was no different, as Nacua led the league in TPRR (35%) and first downs per route run (0.17), while his 31% target share was good for fourth-best. Not many teams do a better job of getting their best player the football than the Rams, who consistently scheme up touches for Nacua. According to NFLPro, Nacua ranked second in the league in targets (40) and receptions (32) from motion last season, while leading all pass catchers in such receiving yards (488). Meanwhile, his 44% motion target rate easily led all qualified wideouts, as did his whopping 5.4 YPRR. And with the Rams utilizing shift-motion 63% of the time last year, expect Nacua to continue to see plenty of layup targets going forward.

Although Nacua is playing alongside touchdown machine Davante Adams, there are still so many instances where he is the only option in the passing game.

Let me explain.

This past season, the Rams deployed 13 personnel (3TE sets) 30.4% of the time, by far the highest rate in the league. And during these instances, Nacua is typically the lone receiver on the field. That is very exciting, especially when the Rams pass out of the heavy formation, which they did just over 38% of the time. No team ran play-action at a higher rate than the Rams last season (34%), while Nacua averaged 2.4 play-action targets per contest.

Since entering the league in 2023, Nacua has ranked 1st, 2nd and 6th in fantasy points per game, averaging 19.9 during that stretch. Everything is on his side—talent, volume, efficiency, offense, etc.

The Case For Ja’Marr Chase

After leading the NFL in targets last season with 185, our fantasy football projections once again have Chase leading the way (165). Of course, Chase is arguably the best wideout in all of football, but I’m sure a lot of this projection also has to do with just how much the Cincinnati Bengals throw the football.

This past season, the Bengals posted the second-highest dropback rate in the league at 66%, while also ranking fourth in dropback rate over expected (3%). And over the last three seasons, Joe Burrow has averaged a healthy 35.7 pass attempts per game. Cincinnati has ranked in the top eight in pass attempts per game each of the last four seasons, as its defense has plummeted to one of the worst units in the league during that time. Chase, meanwhile, has averaged nearly 160 targets per year since 2022. And over the last two seasons, he has ranked first and second among receivers in routes run.

We have seen Burrow miss notable time over the last few seasons, but when he’s healthy, Chase is as dominant as any wideout in fantasy. Since 2023, Chase is averaging 10.6 targets, 7.4 receptions, 93.8 receiving yards and 21.5 PPR points per game with Burrow under center. As long as Burrow is healthy, Chase will flirt with WR1 status on a yearly basis.

The Case For Jaxon Smith-Njigba

JSN found his stride towards the end of his sophomore season in 2024, and he built on that momentum in his third year. Smith-Njigba truly broke out last season, hauling in 119 passes for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. His 21.2 PPR points per game were good for the second-most among all wideouts, while also ranking top-five in both fantasy points per route and target.

Seattle’s passing attack ran through JSN, as his 35% target share paced the entire NFL. In fact, Smith-Njigba had at least a 30% target share in 14 different games last season. And despite the massive boost in usage, he remained efficient, averaging 3.7 YPRR, trailing only Puka Nacua, while also ranking sixth in yards per target (11.0) and first in yards per team pass attempt (3.73). He won at all three levels of the field, and although he saw a massive drop in slot usage, JSN still crushed on the perimeter, leading the league in YPRR (3.8), receiving yards (1,378) and receptions (88) when out wide.

Entering the 2026 campaign, Seattle has a new offensive coordinator, but it is difficult to imagine the Seahawks’ passing game not funneling through their star wide receiver once again.

Who Should Be The WR1 In 2026 Fantasy Football Drafts?

Look, you really can’t go wrong with any of these players anchoring your wide receiver room. While JSN and Nacua are likely to be targeted on a higher percentage of their routes, raw target volume likely favors Chase. All three have good-to-elite quarterback play in good-to-great offenses. And if you want to use the health concerns of Burrow as a potential tiebreaker, I totally get it. Some fantasy drafters looking at Chase might think to themselves, “But what if Burrow gets hurt again?” And to that I’d say …

What if he doesn’t?

Back in 2024, with Burrow playing 17 games, Chase dominated, catching 127 passes for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns. He led all wideouts in fantasy points per game (23.7), seeing 175 targets. If a player as talented as Chase sees 170 targets from Burrow again, I struggle to envision a scenario where he doesn’t lead all pass catchers in fantasy points.

Happy drafting.

Players Mentioned in this Article

PukaNacua
WRLAR
PPG
19.79
Ja'MarrChase
WRCIN
PPG
15.69
JaxonSmith-Njigba
WRSEA
PPG
16.84
Proj
16.21