Luke Wilson answers your fantasy football questions. How to go about pursuing a difference-making 'keeper'? What do we make of Egbuka moving forward? And is there any juice to be squeezed out of two aging wideouts on the dynasty trade market?
Question 1
Our league commissioner wants a keeper in next years draft in a 10 team ppr format which position should be targeted?
Dean Stewart (Seagoville, TX)
Fitting that we start things off with a question from a neighbor right down 635. In a PPR format we're really hoping to find the largest possible exploiters of that volume incentive that we possibly can relative to the rest of the position, all the way down the board. Christian McCaffrey has obviously been a veritable "cheat code" in full PPR formats in seasons past, and especially this past year.
Easier said than done, of course - everybody else is going to be gunning for the same kinds of weekly matchup winners as you. But with only one keeper, there shouldn't be too much drama to this. Plan to shoot for the usual suspects - Nacua, Smith-Njigba, McBride, St. Brown, Lamb, etc. - and if you whiff on all those, maybe that chases a Bijan or Gibbs down the board into your hands. De'Von Achane and Breece Hall also come to mind as guys with big receiving volume potential over the forthcoming 2-3 years - albeit with iffier 2026 overall floors. And if his calamitous 2025 drives Justin Jefferson out of the first round in your draft next summer, by all means, capitalize.
Question 2
What’s up with Egbuka? In the first half of the season he was the undisputed ROY. Now he may not make the cut when I trim down to my 14 keepers in dynasty
James Costello (Portland, ME)
Precipitous drop-off, eh comrade? For those that may have missed it: Egbuka bolted out of the barn as a rookie, amassing 25 receptions for 445 yards and 5 TDs across his first five games. Heading into Week 6 he was the No. 3 receiver in fantasy, just about regardless of format.
The bottom fell out big time after that. Egbuka would catch just 43 percent(!) of his 89 targets the rest of the way, grinding from that white hot start to a WR23 finish in full PPR scoring. With the loss of Mike Evans for the middle stretch of the season, combined with that dismal catch rate, you'd think Tampa Bay must have been funneling Egbuka the deep balls vacated by Evans. Not so: Egbuka was targeted over 20 yards downfield a healthy 23 times, but 12 of those came in their first five games. So, what gives?
Safe to say injuries were a real big contributor here. Egbuka pulled a hammy against San Francisco in October and was initially expected to miss weeks, plural. But with the offense grievously short-handed Egbuka gutted it out the following week in Detroit, and every week after that. He was likely playing at less than 100 percent for a few weeks there, which gave all the other injuries that wrecked Tampa Bay's 2025 time to finish the job. Bucky Irving missed two months; one quarter in Detroit aside, Mike Evans missed almost three; Chris Godwin missed eight games; Baker Mayfield played the second half hurt; three of the Bucs' starting five up front hit IR, and C Graham Barton struggled without the help of Ben Bredeson and Cody Mauch on either side of him.
Things went from bad to worse in December, with Mike Evans playing alongside Godwin for the first time in Week 15 and every week after that as Tampa Bay frantically tried to keep the division from slipping through their fingers. The playing time/target share concerns that we had for Egbuka back in the summer finally reared their head, as he logged his four lowest snap counts over this closing stretch. Unfortunately for Egbuka owners, this logjam remains in play in the near-term; Godwin's contract means he will absolutely be back, and while Mike Evans is a free agent his options will likely be between the Bucs and retirement.
But even if Godwin and Evans run it back in the fall, both will be on the wrong side of 30 with thoroughly checkered recent injury histories. So, keep heart: Tampa Bay will be back in 2026, and they love this kid.
Question 3
In a dynasty league, I have an embarrassment of riches after drafting really well at WR. Lamb, Nacua, and St. Brown have been my starters this year. Higgins and Boutte have subbed in. My former stars Kupp and Tyreek are deep on the bench and on IR. I have to release one. Obviously, it's Kupp or Hill. Likely I'll trade whichever I end up keeping. Does Kupp have any value or is it better to keep Hill hoping he plays again?
David Livingston (Shawnee, KS)
You sure you can't trade both? Maybe Kupp has a renaissance game in the NFC Championship game and there's an eleventh-hour market for him? A man can dream!
Humor aside, you've probably missed the last boat on selling both these guys for much more than bus fare. Which is fine - obviously you're not exactly hurting for reinforcements. If somebody's willing to toss you a late round pick or an intriguing committee/backup running back (Blake Corum, the now-injured Zach Charbonnet perhaps, something along those lines), I wouldn't hesitate to send Kupp for that. Even if he has a Thielen-esque third act in him - possible! - what are the odds that production pushes its way into your lineup anytime soon?
Hill I would be more aggressive about getting out the door. Right now he's still a Dolphin, but that might not be the case for much longer as Miami finally begins the grim business of the post-Grier salary cap reckoning. Miami's also been good enough to not provide any updates on Hill's rehab/timeline, but given just how serious this injury was I would not expect anything close to 17 games from Hill in 2026 - and quite possibly none, as Tank Dell just missed an entire season-plus with a similarly catastrophic injury. I'd be interested to see a then-33-year-old Tyreek Hill mount his bid for 2027 Comeback Player of the Year for somebody (The Raiders leap violently to mind), but I don't want him clogging up a valuable dynasty roster spot for two trips around the sun in the meantime.
Hill's represented by Drew Rosenhaus, who did quickly and loudly offer to restructure Hill's deal after the injury to create some cap relief for Miami in 2026 (he carries an eye-watering $51 million cap number next year) in exchange for keeping his roster spot - Miami's probably not going to go for that. They've gotta dump him by March 13th to avoid triggering $11 million in vesting guarantees for 2026, so that's the drop-dead date here.
Of course, if you conveniently leave that detail out and focus on Hill's public willingness to take a pay cut then you just might be able to sweet talk somebody into taking 'The Cheetah' off your hands for something of value. Good luck working those phone lines David.