Jaguars Star Emerges as Top Fantasy Pickup

Travis Hunter Jr. stood out in his debut, catching six balls for 33 yards and earning two additional targets on top of that. He only played a handful of snaps on defense and wasn't eye-catching on that side of the ball, but usually, no news is good news for cornerbacks.

Travis Etienne Jr. was the most impressive Jaguar in their season debut, with 156 total yards on 19 touches, reasserting himself as one of the premier young halfbacks in the league. He wasn't the only player in Jacksonville to have a breakout game on offense, though. Brenton Strange had himself a day in his first outing as the team's new TE1, too.

Brenton Strange is a top waiver wire target

Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season proved why tight end is arguably the most important position in fantasy football. A lot of the top wide receivers struggled in their openers, including the Detroit Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown, the Philadelphia Eagles' A.J. Brown, and even the Jacksonville Jaguars' own Brian Thomas Jr.

The league's premier tight ends handled their business, though. Brock Bowers tallied 15.3 full-PPR points, while Sam LaPorta finished with 13.9, Travis Kelce had 12.7, George Kittle had 12.5, and Trey McBride had 12.1. 16 different TEs scored 10 or more.

Brenton Strange fell just shy of double digits with 9.9 points on four catches for 59 yards. However, he hauled in all of his targets and proved to be an elite asset in the running game. It won't be surprising to see his production climb as he continues to establish himself as a reliable receiver for quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Head Coach Liam Coen installs more plays for Strange as the primary option.

Fantasy Pros' Derek Brown believes that the Jaguars' tight end is an alluring player on waiver wires:

"Brenton Strange had a solid but not flashy performance in Week 1. He led the team with 59 receiving yards but only had a 12.9% target share. His 2.45 yards per route run were also nice to open the season. Strange looks like he’s fighting with Dyami Brown for the third spot in the target pecking order behind Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter. Strange is only a matchup-based streaming option at this point, but he’s worth a pickup if you have needs at tight end after the multiple injuries at the position in Week 1."

I'd expect Strange to only further increase his stock throughout the season, emerging as a low-end starter at the least in the coming weeks. The time to buy low is now, before it's too late.