Ted Hurst and More Fantasy Football News From Coachspeak and Rookie Minicamps
Coachspeak is coming in left and right after NFL rookie minicamps. Who is getting upgraded in our 2026 projections and how does it impact the fantasy football landscape?
NFL OTAs are right around the corner and with rookie minicamps just about wrapped up, we’ve gotten an influx of coachspeak and news about players around the league that are worth paying attention to for fantasy football.
Below is a trio of players who have received a bump up or down from Dwain McFarland in our fantasy football projections based on news and quotes over the last few days.
Join Our Newsletter
Trusted by 400,000+ fantasy football players. Get access to Fantasy Life's free award winning newsletter and tools, all in one step.
By registering or logging in, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Ted Hurst Gets A Fantasy Football Projection Boost
- Old Projection: WR125
- New Projection: WR87
With the loss of Mike Evans, the Bucs spent a third-round pick on Ted Hurst (Pick 83), and the reports since the NFL Draft have been glowing. Initially, it was reported that on draft night, Bucs’ WR coach Bryan McClendon was getting more and more excited as he saw Hurst falling to them in the third round.
Following the draft-day excitement, Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson has been glowing about Hurst’s potential, noting “so many things he likes” about the rookie WR and, most notably, how he sees Hurst as a true X receiver.
This sets up Hurst to line up out wide as a potential deep threat for Baker Mayfield in 3WR sets opposite Emeka Egbuka, and Dwain has him in a battle for the WR3 role, moving his projected route participation up from 18% to 40%—a massive increase.
That said, someone has to take a hit when a projection increases this significantly …
Downgrade Jalen McMillan In Fantasy Football
- Old Projection: WR60
- New Projection: WR82
With Ted Hurst fitting the X receiver role for the Bucs and Emeka Egbuka entrenched in the Z role, Jalen McMillan is left potentially losing ground in this suddenly crowded wide receiver room.
We also know that Chris Godwin will assume the slot role, seeing how dominant he’s been in that role compared to out wide.
This leaves McMillan in no man’s land to battle for the WR3/X role with Hurst. Because of this, Dwain has dropped his route participation from 68% to 45%. While he wasn’t projected to be a full-time player in the first place, a drop to sub-50% in terms of routes is a massive knock to a receiver’s upside in fantasy football.
Parker Washington’s Projection Gets Knocked With Travis Hunter News
- Old Projection: WR35
- New Projection: WR45
A late-season darling last year, Parker Washington has been approached as the most attractive option in the Jags’ WR room in early best ball drafts. One of the primary assumptions that has been baked into this price is that Travis Hunter would be primarily playing on the defensive side of the ball in 2026 and sparingly on the offensive side.
More and more as of late, reports continue to surface that there is still a plan for a significant amount of offensive playing time for Hunter, with GM James Gladstone recently saying that Hunter is “absolutely not done playing both sides of the ball”.
The more Hunter plays on offense, the more it directly impacts Washington. After the Jags’ Week 9 bye last season, Hunter saw 63.7% of his snaps from the slot, the same position that Washington operated in 43% of the time last season.
When one goes up, another has to go down, and it sounds like the “another” here would be Washington.
The Jaguars also invested capital in the TE room in the draft, taking Nate Boerkircher in Round 2 and Tanner Koziol in Round 5 of the draft, which could signal a move to more 12-personnel sets, which would leave an extra receiver off the field.
At his current Underdog fantasy football ADP of 75.3, I’m passing on Washington until his price comes down and would much rather take shots on Brian Thomas Jr.
Join Our Newsletter
Trusted by 400,000+ fantasy football players. Get access to Fantasy Life's free award winning newsletter and tools, all in one step.
By registering or logging in, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Players Mentioned in this Article
Published Updated