I like the look of Tetairoa McMillan in Week 1. He’s heading into what could be a breakout season, and the matchup could hardly be better – at home against the Bears.
Now, Chicago won the NFC North last year, and is an up-and-coming team of sorts. But it wasn’t good defensively last year, and looks like it might be even worse in that regard.
The Bears look pretty certain to have a bottom-10 pass rush. They had only 35 sacks last year, and there was no serious effort to add anybody who’ll be changing things. Quarterbacks should have ample time to throw against them.
More troubling is the secondary. Coby Bryant was the big offseason addition ($40 million for three years) but he might miss the entire season. And cornerback Kyler Gordon is out with a calf injury. It’s not a playoff-caliber defense.
Chicago gave up lots of passing production last year, particularly against wide receiver. Only two teams allowed more touchdown passes to that position (Detroit, Dallas), and only six teams allowed more yards.
Wide receivers against Chicago last year averaged a league-high 14.3 yards per catch, consistently getting downfield.
In traditional fantasy scoring, only three defenses last year were worse against wide receivers. Chicago gets a few notches better when measuring with PPR scoring, having allowed a middle-of-the-pack 187 catches last year (I use traditional scoring here to make my argument look stronger).
| DEFENSES AGAINST WIDE RECEIVERS, 2025 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | Points |
| Minnesota | 149 | 1,971 | 13.2 | 9 | 251.1 |
| Cincinnati | 149 | 1,980 | 13.3 | 9 | 252.0 |
| Denver | 199 | 2,224 | 11.2 | 6 | 258.4 |
| Seattle | 173 | 1,899 | 11.0 | 12 | 261.9 |
| Philadelphia | 177 | 2,302 | 13.0 | 6 | 266.2 |
| Buffalo | 164 | 1,965 | 12.0 | 12 | 268.5 |
| Kansas City | 186 | 2,119 | 11.4 | 10 | 271.9 |
| LA Chargers | 178 | 2,167 | 12.2 | 10 | 276.7 |
| Houston | 159 | 2,183 | 13.7 | 10 | 278.3 |
| Carolina | 174 | 2,151 | 12.4 | 11 | 281.1 |
| Cleveland | 152 | 1,862 | 12.3 | 17 | 288.2 |
| New Orleans | 166 | 2,066 | 12.4 | 16 | 302.6 |
| New England | 168 | 2,014 | 12.0 | 17 | 303.4 |
| Arizona | 190 | 2,330 | 12.3 | 14 | 317.0 |
| Jacksonville | 210 | 2,343 | 11.2 | 14 | 318.3 |
| Miami | 179 | 2,165 | 12.1 | 17 | 318.5 |
| NY Jets | 179 | 2,313 | 12.9 | 15 | 321.3 |
| Tampa Bay | 199 | 2,509 | 12.6 | 14 | 334.9 |
| Green Bay | 187 | 2,296 | 12.3 | 18 | 337.6 |
| San Francisco | 204 | 2,534 | 12.4 | 15 | 343.4 |
| Las Vegas | 210 | 2,503 | 11.9 | 16 | 346.3 |
| LA Rams | 202 | 2,563 | 12.7 | 16 | 352.3 |
| NY Giants | 197 | 2,580 | 13.1 | 16 | 354.0 |
| Atlanta | 189 | 2,438 | 12.9 | 20 | 363.8 |
| Indianapolis | 228 | 2,861 | 12.5 | 15 | 376.1 |
| Washington | 206 | 2,766 | 13.4 | 17 | 378.6 |
| Pittsburgh | 213 | 2,782 | 13.1 | 17 | 380.2 |
| Baltimore | 220 | 2,849 | 13.0 | 16 | 380.9 |
| Chicago | 187 | 2,676 | 14.3 | 20 | 387.6 |
| Tennessee | 205 | 2,814 | 13.7 | 18 | 389.4 |
| Detroit | 193 | 2,644 | 13.7 | 21 | 390.4 |
| Dallas | 206 | 2,907 | 14.1 | 26 | 446.7 |
All of which bodes well for McMillan. He had a solid rookie season, and they’ll be expanding his role – moving him around more. Looks like a candidate for top-10 receiving numbers in Week 1 to me.
The last time we saw the Panthers (in the playoff loss against the Rams), Jalen Coker was actually their most productive pass catcher. So I will sign off on him as a viable Week 1 option as well.
Bryce Young, that’s a harder sell, given his physical limitations. I don’t think he’ll be one of the top dozen quarterbacks in Week 1. But for those in Superflex leagues, 20 or 24 quarterbacks are in lineups each week. In that kind of a format, I would be comfortable plugging Young into one of those second quarterback spots.
—Ian Allan

