This week's Job Battles update will look at the wide receivers in Green Bay, the Chargers wide receivers, the Saints quarterbacks, and the wideout/tight end rotations with Seattle.
Matthew Golden vs. Jayden Reed (foot) vs. Romeo Doubs, WR, GB
Some fantasy position battles are not a fight over the same snaps – Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed (foot) largely play different wide receiver positions – but for fantasy purposes it may be time to reevaluate whether the veteran Reed warrants priority in the rankings.
It's frustrating, but to this point coach Matt LaFleur has all but formally banned Reed from logging snaps on the boundary. Reed has been the Packers' most productive wideout in general the last two years with blistering numbers from the slot, but LaFleur bizarrely just will not allow Reed to play boundary snaps. That's to say, LaFleur won't allow Reed to play in two-wide sets.
Golden and Romeo Doubs project as the primary boundary receivers, meanwhile, so they will be the ones who tend to line up in two-wide when Reed is forced to the bench. LaFleur's refusal to give Reed boundary snaps limited Reed to just 646 total snaps in 2024.
Preposterously, Reed has not been given a single boundary rep in either Green Bay's Family Night game nor Green Bay's preseason game against the Jets. Look at the charts in this article from Justis Mosqueda – even Malik Heath and Mecole Hardman have been given boundary reps over Reed.
There's a chance that
This week's Job Battles update will look at the wide receivers in Green Bay, the Chargers wide receivers, the Saints quarterbacks, and the wideout/tight end rotations with Seattle.
Matthew Golden vs. Jayden Reed (foot) vs. Romeo Doubs, WR, GB
Some fantasy position battles are not a fight over the same snaps – Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed (foot) largely play different wide receiver positions – but for fantasy purposes it may be time to reevaluate whether the veteran Reed warrants priority in the rankings.
It's frustrating, but to this point coach Matt LaFleur has all but formally banned Reed from logging snaps on the boundary. Reed has been the Packers' most productive wideout in general the last two years with blistering numbers from the slot, but LaFleur bizarrely just will not allow Reed to play boundary snaps. That's to say, LaFleur won't allow Reed to play in two-wide sets.
Golden and Romeo Doubs project as the primary boundary receivers, meanwhile, so they will be the ones who tend to line up in two-wide when Reed is forced to the bench. LaFleur's refusal to give Reed boundary snaps limited Reed to just 646 total snaps in 2024.
Preposterously, Reed has not been given a single boundary rep in either Green Bay's Family Night game nor Green Bay's preseason game against the Jets. Look at the charts in this article from Justis Mosqueda – even Malik Heath and Mecole Hardman have been given boundary reps over Reed.
There's a chance that LaFleur will always employ obnoxiously horizontal wideout rotations, so the mere fact that Golden is emerging as Green Bay's top boundary wideout might not be enough for Golden to get the snap count he needs to make him the clear fantasy WR1 in Green Bay. With that said, Golden should qualify for more slot snaps than Doubs, who's almost exclusively a boundary guy.
If Golden can establish himself as Green Bay's top boundary wide receiver and steal a small handful of slot snaps most weeks then he should be able to establish himself as not only Green Bay's top fantasy wideout in 2025, but maybe the best they've had since Davante Adams left. That Reed is questionable for Week 1 with a foot injury can only improve Golden's odds of an early emergence.
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Keenan Allen vs. Tre Harris vs. Quentin Johnston, WR, LAC
In his first 2025 practices with the Chargers it was the boundary where Keenan Allen lined up when active in first-team reps, rather than the slot. I incorrectly assumed the Chargers would view Allen as a slot-only option at this point, because he almost certainly is a slot-only option if one cares for quality.
And yet, according to beat writer Daniel Popper of the Athletic, Allen initially lined up at the flanker rep with McConkey in the slot when Allen saw first-team reps. If Allen is lining up at flanker then it is bad news for Tre Harris and Quentin Johnston. It's highly unlikely that Allen can play effectively as a starter from the boundary at this point, but if he's on the field at that rep then he's blocking one of Harris or Johnston from seeing the field on the play in question.
On the one hand, it's good to see the Chargers aren't messing too much with Ladd McConkey and his slot reps – McConkey was extremely effective in that regard last year – but it's still plainly true that McConkey is a better boundary wideout at this point than Allen, who likely runs his 40-yard dash in the 4.7 range and turned 33 in April.
The question from here is (A) how many of these first-team reps featured Allen as opposed to second-team reps and (B) how much leash does Allen have as a boundary receiver in three-wide sets?
Not to misquote Popper, but his wording makes it appear that Allen's only first-team reps occurred in three-wide sets, which would be different from Allen seeing first-team reps in two-wide sets. To see first-team reps in two-wide sets would indeed indicate Allen starting in general, including on the boundary. There is no way to know these things at the moment, however, and they could change with time anyway.
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Spencer Rattler vs. Tyler Shough, QB, NO
Although the Saints spent the 40th overall selection on Tyler Shough, who will turn 26 this fall, to this point it has been second-year, former fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler who has ran as the clear QB1 for the Saints.
It's not clear whether New Orleans' preseason debut changed anything, but both Rattler and Shough struggled, in different ways. Rattler was more steady but flat, while Shough made big plays at the expense of making bigger mistakes. Rattler completed just 7 of 11 passes for 53 yards and a lost fumble, while Shough completed 15 of 22 passes for 165 yards, one touchdown and one pick-six interception.
It appears that Rattler remains the favorite to start for the Saints in Week 1, and at a year younger than Shough it's not clear why Rattler would ever lose the ground over developmental reasons. There's reason to think Rattler can improve more from this point than Shough, even though Shough is the rookie and the much higher draft pick. The Saints are just bad at this.
On the other hand, Shough might be the player to root for for fantasy purposes. Rattler's advantage at the moment might be that he makes fewer mistakes, but Shough is the better rushing threat and might be more willing to trade risk for big-play upside.
No matter which Saints quarterback begins the year as starter, the 2025 season projects as challenging enough for New Orleans that they might switch starters at multiple points in season. The Saints depth chart will likely be unsettled indefinitely as a result.
Tory Horton vs. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR, SEA
Tory Horton might be a rookie fifth-round pick, but he shouldn't have fallen to the fifth round in the first place and he seems well on his way to proving as much.
Horton has increasingly seen reps with the first-team offense, and in each case at the expense of MVS.
It was initially assumed that Marquez Valdes-Scantling would be the primary WR3 for Seattle this year, almost exclusively operating as a decoy to keep safeties away from Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp, and in that one specific capacity MVS is probably quite good. MVS cannot realistically contribute on anything but posts and go routes, however.
Horton has enough speed (4.41-second 40) to offer similar decoy functions as MVS, but Horton also has the ability to run a wide variety of routes and convert targets into catches on those routes. If Horton can win this job then he could be the third-leading target this year for the Seahawks, which could prove important given Kupp's durability troubles in recent years. This is one of the more subtly significant training camp battles at the moment.
AJ Barner vs. Elijah Arroyo, TE, SEA
The release of Noah Fant made it appear that the Seahawks had issued a vote of confidence in rookie second-round tight end Elijah Arroyo, yet for the time being it appears that second-year, former fourth-round pick AJ Barner might be ahead of Arroyo on the Seahawks depth chart.
Beat writer Michael-Shawn Dugar of the Athletic reported that Barner is the TE1 for the Seahawks, though the long-term significance of that isn't quite clear. Seattle spent a second-round pick on Arroyo, and that pick would be considered a waste if he's backing up Barner for long.
To be clear, Barner's advantage comes to blocking and blocking only. Coach Mike Maconald might well make blocking some prerequisite for snaps, and Arroyo might not yet be able to meet those requirements, but Arroyo is a fundamentally different type of tight end than Barner, and Barner cannot imitate Arroyo's abilities.
More specifically, if Barner is starting for Seattle then they will categorically forfeit the possibility of downfield routes from the tight end position. That's the deal. Barner can block and with his 4.9 speed he can catch some quick hitters or checkdowns, but he will not get open running routes more ambitious than that.
Arroyo can offer the routes that Barner cannot. The Seahawks are certainly free to choose to simply not employ those play designs, but that's the cost if they stick with Barner.
What seems more likely is that Arroyo will see his reps increase as time passes, either because his blocking improves enough for Macdonald to get over it, or because the passing game reached failure points where it relied on Barner as a route runner. The Seahawks depth chart at tight end will likely fluctuate over the course of the year, because this is probably one of those training camp battles that will extend into the regular season.
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