- The Eagles have a lot more targets to distribute without A.J. Brown: Newcomers Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon and Eli Stowers will help to fill the All-Pro's void.
- The Bears are counting on young playmakers: With D.J. Moore now in Buffalo, Chicago will hand the reins to Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland and Rome Odunze.
- The Dolphins‘ pass game is very open: With no more Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Miami could be counting on names like Jalen Tolbert and Malik Washington in 2026.
Targets are not automatically inherited, but they do have to go somewhere. That is the central question for fantasy football managers whenever a team loses major receiving volume.
Some offenses replace a star with another clear starter. Others try to recreate production in the aggregate. A few simply hope young players take a leap.
This offseason created several major target vacuums across the NFL, with five teams losing at least 128 targets from key outgoing pass-catchers. Such departures create significant uncertainty in their respective passing games, but it also represents an opportunity for fantasy managers.
1. Philadelphia Eagles
Outgoing players: A.J. Brown, Jahan Dotson
No team lost more receiving volume than the Eagles, and no single departure matters more than A.J. Brown.
Brown, who was traded to the New England Patriots, accounted for 120 regular-season targets on his own — 11th among wide receivers. That is offense-shaping volume. Not only that, Brown’s 85.9 PFF receiving grade was ninth out of qualifying wide receivers, even though it was his second-lowest such grade of his career. Brown was the kind of player who dictated coverage, commanded targets at all three levels and gave Philadelphia a true alpha receiver.
The Eagles are not attempting to replace Brown with one player. Instead, they appear to be taking an aggregate approach after drafting Makai Lemon, Eli Stowers and then trading for Dontayvion Wicks. That makes this one of the most important fantasy situations to monitor.
Wicks gives Philadelphia a veteran receiver who can immediately compete for routes and provide a more stable presence than a rookie-only replacement plan would offer. Lemon brings long-term upside and could become a meaningful part of the offense if he earns snaps quickly, but his targets will look very different to Brown’s. As evidenced by Lemon’s 502 yards after the catch in 2025 compared to Brown’s 202, it demonstrates where the strengths of both lie.
Stowers adds another big-bodied receiving option who could help replace some of the intermediate-area and red-zone work that disappeared with Brown’s departure.
2. Chicago Bears
Outgoing players: DJ Moore, Olamide Zaccheaus
The Bears created a massive opportunity by trading DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills and letting Olamide Zaccheaus leave in free agency. Moore was coming off a career-worst 65.5 PFF receiving grade on top of a career low in catches (50), yards (682) and yards per route run (1.22).
Unlike Philadelphia, Chicago did not aggressively replace that target volume with veteran additions. Instead, the Bears are betting on internal growth from Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland and Rome Odunze.
That makes this one of the cleanest youth-movement bets in fantasy football. Burden and Loveland, both second-year players drafted in the first two rounds, are being counted on to make major leaps.
Burden and Loveland have the ability to absorb high-percentage targets and also stretch the field for the Bears. Though Burden only commanded 60 targets, only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba bettered his 2.69 yards per route run. Meanwhile, Loveland was third in yards per catch (12.3) and second in yards per route run (1.86) among qualifying tight ends.
Odunze is the other major piece. Entering Year 3, he has a chance to become the offense’s featured outside receiver considering that only Moore (393) took more snaps out wide than Odunze (262). With Moore gone, the Bears no longer have a veteran target-earner blocking Odunze from a larger role.
3. San Francisco 49ers
Outgoing players: Jauan Jennings, Kendrick Bourne
The 49ers are a more complicated case. San Francisco lost Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne, creating 139 vacated targets, but this offense has multiple ways to redistribute passing- game volume.
With Ricky Pearsall now out for the year, the 49ers are counting on second-round pick De’Zhaun Stribling to contribute immediately and George Kittle to return from injury as the same dominant force he has been. Christian McCaffrey also looms over the entire conversation.
Stribling adds a specific layer of intrigue. Rookie receivers are not always easy to trust in fantasy, especially in an offense that already has established playmakers, but his draft capital gives him a path to early involvement.
Then there is McCaffrey. His receiving role will always be fantasy-relevant, but his total touch volume is worth monitoring after the workload he has handled in recent seasons. Even if McCaffrey remains a major part of the passing game, San Francisco may not want to rely on him to carry too much of the offensive burden.
McCaffrey’s 121 targets last season were 12th across the entire NFL, and his 102 catches ranked him seventh in the league. The former Carolina Panther is coming off a 413-touch season at age-30; it’s something to watch.
4. New York Giants
Outgoing player: Wan’Dale Robinson
The Giants lost Wan’Dale Robinson, who accounted for 131 targets and stepped into the No. 1 receiver role after Malik Nabers tore his ACL. That volume was good enough for eighth in the NFL, seventh among his position peers.
Even though Robinson graded out as a solid-if-not-spectacular receiver with a 69.8 PFF receiving grade, 28th out of 32 qualifying receivers, his departure leaves New York with one of the murkiest passing-game pictures in the league.
Nabers’ status remains uncertain, and that unknown affects every part of the Giants’ fantasy outlook. If Nabers is healthy and close to full strength, he will walk into the clear lead role. Though his 2025 season was short-lived, his rookie season saw him post a 87.1 PFF receiving grade — ninth at the position, and his 165 targets were second behind only Ja’Marr Chase.
However, if Nabers misses time or is limited, the Giants will need other players to handle meaningful volume right away. New York drafted Malachi Fields in the third round, giving second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart another young receiver to grow with.
Fields has a chance to earn targets early simply because the depth chart is unsettled, but relying on a third-round rookie who posted solid but not great numbers at Notre Dame in 2025 — 36 catches for 630 yards and five scores with a 76.2 PFF receiving grade — is the suboptimal solution for the Giants.
5. Miami Dolphins
Outgoing players: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle
The Dolphins’ 128 vacated targets are slightly fewer than Brown produced by himself in Philadelphia, but Miami’s situation may be even more dramatic.
The Dolphins cut Tyreek Hill and then traded Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos, removing the two players who defined their passing game. In fact, Waddle was coming off his second-highest-graded season with an 85.2 PFF receiving mark, 10th in the NFL at the position. His 13.2-yard average depth of target was the highest mark of his career, as Miami leaned on him more downfield in the absence of the injured Hill.
Even if the raw target total is not the largest on this list, the loss of explosive playmaking is enormous. Miami is now staring at a passing game led by Jalen Tolbert, Malik Washington and Greg Dulcich, with De’Von Achane also expected to contribute as a receiver out of the backfield.
It’s currently hard to project who will be the volume receiver, if any. Tolbert’s best season came in 2024 when he notched 49 catches for 610 yards and seven scores along with a 62.8 PFF receiving grade.
Washington may be the most interesting PPR name if the Dolphins use him as a short-area separator and manufactured-touch player. His 46 targets in 2025 were a career high, but he averaged just 6.9 yards per catch with an average depth of target of just 5.7 yards. Washington won’t be a game-breaking threat with those numbers.
Achane’s receiving work is also important. He should help absorb some of the missing target volume, but expecting a Christian McCaffrey-type receiving workload is probably unrealistic. The bigger question is whether Miami can maintain efficiency without Hill and Waddle stressing defenses vertically.
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