Fantasy Football Rankings: Who Matthew Berry Is Higher/Lower Than Consensus On For 2026

Some things just don’t make sense.

The final season of Game of Thrones. The touchback rule in the NFL. And the Buffalo Bills' atrocious new alternate jerseys. I mean, seriously. What the hell are we doing here?

Reel it in, Adam. Reel it in.

But something that does make sense? Matthew Berry’s fantasy football rankings being live at Fantasy Life. That seems pretty fitting, to say the least. With Matthew’s rankings up, I thought it would be a fun exercise to highlight which players he is higher and lower on than the rest of the Fantasy Life staff.

Welcome home, Matthew.

Fantasy Football Rankings: Matthew Berry vs. Fantasy Life Consensus

Higher Than Fantasy Life Consensus Rankings

D’Andre Swift | RB | Bears

Consensus rank: RB23 | Berry rank: RB20

No one talks about D’Andre Swift, but especially not during the offseason of Luther Burden and Colston Loveland. And when you add the fact that the Bears found a gem in last year’s seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai, it’s easy to see how Swift could be forgotten about.

But, like he seemingly does every year, Swift posted top-20 fantasy production this past season. He’s now finished as a top-24 RB every year of his career, while ranking top-15 in four of those seasons. In his second season with the Bears, Swift vastly improved thanks to additions to the offensive line.

And the sidelines.

The presence of head coach Ben Johnson unlocked this entire offense, while the run-blocking took a major step forward. Among qualified running backs last season, Swift ranked:

9th in YPC (4.9)
4th in YBC/ATT (1.87)
8th in 1D/Rush (27.8%)
7th in 10-plus-yard rushes per game (1.8)

Only Kyren Williams and James Cook recorded more total carries with at least three yards before being contacted than Swift (76), making up a whopping 32.6% of his total attempts. Some may be worried about the presence of Monangai capping Swift’s potential. And I get it. Following Monangai’s breakout Week 9 game, the Bears backfield became more of a two-headed unit. From then on, Swift handled 51% of the rush attempts and logged 56% of the snaps, a 10% drop in snap share compared to the first nine weeks. But at the very worst, Swift remains the 1A in the backfield of an ascending offense, while also getting the edge in pass game usage.

Zay Flowers | RB | Ravens

Consensus rank: WR18 | Berry rank: WR14

On “The Lounge” podcast, Ravens new head coach Jesse Minter spoke very highly of his new WR1. “I look forward to him getting the ball in as many ways as possible,” Minter said. “The more that guy touches the ball, the better we’ll be.”

Sure sounds good to me.

Flowers is coming off a career-best season, setting personal bests in receptions (86) and receiving yards (1,211). His 30% target share was also the highest of his career, as Flowers continues to operate as Baltimore’s clear top target. Flowers finished as the WR12 on a points per game basis (14.3), with his strong season sandwiched between a pair of monster showings to start and finish the year.

Week 1: 7-143-1 (WR1)
Week 18: 4-138-2 (WR1)

I’m not on team “if you remove this player’s best game”, but it’s pretty obvious those two games buoyed Flowers' fantasy ranks. But guess what? Really good players have really good games. Shocking, I know. Flowers is typically a lock for nearly 120 targets, 75-80 catches and over 1,000 yards. But a random touchdown surge could really put him over the top.

Flowers hasn’t cleared five touchdowns yet in his career, and since entering the NFL in 2023, his 18 end zone targets rank 45th among all receivers. As a result, we saw just four top-12 fantasy finishes from Flowers a year ago, while he was outside the top-24 wideouts on eight different occasions. At 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Flowers isn’t exactly the most ideal end zone target, especially with Lamar Jackson targeting the tight end position over 41% of the time in the red zone since 2023.

However, a change in offense could see more schemed usage in the red zone for Flowers.

The Ravens brought in Declan Doyle to run the offense, which is exciting considering he was alongside Ben Johnson in Chicago last year. Although Doyle wasn’t alongside Johnson in Detroit, you’d have to imagine the offensive recipe is very similar. And during Johnson’s time as the Lions’ OC from 2022-24, no wideout in football saw more targets from motion in the red zone than Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Sun God has a little more size and physicality than Flowers, but so many of those scores were perfectly designed looks for St. Brown to find daylight and run into the end zone. I could easily see Doyle implementing similar concepts for Flowers when the Ravens are in close.

Touchdowns are impossible to predict. But that variance is exactly why we should be excited about Flowers in 2026. Because we're already getting a damn good player without those touchdowns.

Jordan Addison | WR | Vikings

Consensus rank: WR45 | Berry rank: WR38

This is an interesting one because, admittedly, Addison hasn’t really been on my radar this offseason. But if we’re essentially throwing last season out the window regarding Justin Jefferson, why can’t we with Addison?

The combination of J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer sapped any fantasy production from Minnesota’s passing attack last season. As a result, Addison averaged just 9.7 PPR PPG, placing him at WR44. But from 2023-24 (you know, in an actual competent offense), Addison averaged 13.5 PPR PPG, good for WR27 in fantasy. If Kyler Murray can just be average, let alone good to great, Addison could easily crush his WR42 ADP and WR45 consensus rank.

In four games with Carson Wentz under center last year, Addison averaged 7.5 targets, 5.3 receptions, 77.3 receiving yards and 16 PPR PPG. Of course, once Wentz went down, this passing game cratered. From Week 9 on, Addison posted just a 64% catchable target rate, averaging just 7.1 points per game.

Lower Than Fantasy Life Consensus

Kenneth Walker | RB | Chiefs

Consensus rank: RB6 | Berry rank: RB9

It appears the Fantasy Life staff is simply higher on Walker than his ADP suggests, and while I am excited about him in Kansas City, I’m more aligned with Matthew here.

There’s no doubt that Walker is in line for a career-high in touches this season. Since entering the league in 2022, Walker has averaged 16.4 touches per game (17th). During that span, he hasn’t come close to 300 touches. But with only Emari Demercado and Emmett Johnson behind him on the depth chart, Walker should flirt with (or exceed) the 300-touch mark. And a move to Kansas City—and perhaps more importantly, away from Zach Charbonnet—should result in more touchdown upside. Last year in Seattle, Walker averaged just 0.5 inside-the-5 carries per game, accounting for only 32% of the Seahawks’ total carries from that area of the field.

Look, I think Walker is going to do great things for the Chiefs, finally giving them the home run-hitting RB they’ve long desired to pair with Patrick Mahomes. I’d just prefer Saquon Barkley and Chase Brown, that’s all.

Tetairoa McMillan | WR | Panthers

Consensus rank: WR17 | Berry rank: WR22

I absolutely love this ranking from the boss man.

McMillan is a tremendous football player. But as I’ve discussed for much of the offseason, he’s not someone I’m really targeting in drafts. Inconsistencies in Carolina’s passing attack limited McMillan to just two top-12 fantasy finishes as a rookie, while ranking outside the top-24 receivers in 12 of 17 weeks. He ultimately finished the year as the WR20 in fantasy points per game (12.4). Bryce Young, meanwhile, failed to reach 200—not even 300—passing yards in 12 of 17 games. And among 37 qualified quarterbacks, Young’s metrics certainly weren’t the strongest:

30th in EPA/play (-0.03)
33rd in YPA (6.3)
22nd in CMP% (63.6%)

McMillan is still undoubtedly the WR1 in Carolina, and there have even been reports of him moving into the slot more in year two. But it is also fair to wonder what the target share might look like with a fully healthy Jalen Coker, who made his season debut in Week 8. And following Carolina’s Week 14 bye, which included Carolina’s playoff game against the Rams, the usage was eyebrow-raising:

McMillan: 23% target share, 18% TPRR, 25% EZ targets
Coker: 22% target share, 19% TPRR, 32% EZ targets

Courtland Sutton | WR | Broncos

Consensus rank: WR36 | Berry rank: WR40

Jaylen Waddle is one of my favorite receivers in drafts, so naturally, Sutton is going to be lower on my board. He posted a solid 74-1,017-7 line a season ago, but it is absolutely worth pointing out that his target share fell in 2025. After seeing 26% of the targets in 2024, Sutton’s target share fell to 21% this past season, while his TPRR dropped from 23% to 19%.

Now the Broncos added Waddle, someone who will see plenty of designed looks in Sean Payton/Davis Webb’s screen-heavy attack. Over the past two seasons, Waddle has seen a total of 10 screen targets. Expect that to change immediately, as Waddle is now playing in a Broncos offense that averaged 4.5 screen attempts per game, good for the third-most in football.

Sutton will likely have to do a lot of his damage on the back of touchdowns, especially if the Broncos don’t rank top-five in dropback rate over expected and pass attempts per game again. And admittedly, Sutton is a good bet to make reservations for six. Since entering the league back in 2018, Sutton’s 92 end zone targets are the fourth-most among all wideouts, while his 32.9% end zone target share ranks sixth.

There will certainly be some spike weeks for Sutton given his propensity for finding the end zone. But a spiraling target share will lead to weekly inconsistencies.