Ladd McConkey fantasy football insight from Hayden Winks - PPR Rankings

McConkey busted as a sophomore after an excellent rookie season. There were a couple reasons for this. One, McConkey was playing through an injury, while Justin Herbert was running for his life behind the most-injured OL in the NFL. Secondly, Herbert's catchable ball percentage on McConkey targets dropped from 78% to 67%, despite seeing the same level of screens. All of his per-target stats dropped significantly for reasons beyond McConkey himself. Lastly, the Chargers used him slightly differently, while Quentin Johnston took a material leap in his third season and Unc Keenan Allen did in fact "still have it". Ladd's downfield routes dropped by 5% in favor of more things underneath. McConkey was also worse himself. His contested catch rate dropped from 57% to 3-of-14. He picked up less yards after the catch per reception. He straight-up didn't earn targets at the same rate on either slot or outside reps. The emerging super star that we saw late in his rookie season wasn't there. So what about 2026? It's very easy to see a healthy OL, a healthier McConkey, and a new coaching staff having him produce closer to his rookie season (WR14 per game) versus last year's WR39 per-game finish. All matter, but the one to analyze most is the presence of OC Mike McDaniel, who ran a very unique offense with the Dolphins. Since 2022, Tua Tagovailoa's had the highest play-action rate of dropbacks (27%). Over the past two years, Herbert's average depth of throw is way deeper (8.2) than what Tua's was (6.1) with McDaniel. https://x.com/MaxBrowne4/status/2063051737842262329 In offseason vid...