DeMario Douglas

That 4.2 yards of separation, fourth among 57 tracked receivers through week 5 of 2026, is the one thing here that can actually move him. Week 5 of 2026, 22.5 points, looked like what it can be when the targets find him. He is at 7.9 a game on the season against a preseason pace of 2.9, so the opening five weeks have already outrun what we gave him.

The case against is the room he sits in. Third on the depth chart behind A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs, and Stefon Diggs plus Hunter Henry took 39% of the NE targets in 2025 between them. His own target share fell from 17.4% in 2024 to 9.5% in 2025, and among players in his spot points a game fell 0.9 from one season to the next on average. The 18% air-yards share ranks 51st of 64, so the deep work is not his either. His 9% share of NE red-zone carries and targets, 3 of 35 through week 5 of 2026, sits 41st among 64 receivers with 20 or more carries and targets, so the scoring chances stay thin too. The slide runs back further than this room: he was WR46 among 193 in 2024 and WR64 among 240 in 2025.

Our preseason number was 44 points with 15 games expected, and he has been out there for all five weeks with no injury designation, which is the availability half working. Two touchdowns in five games is more than the usage says he should have. We would hold him in deeper leagues and watch whether the separation turns into targets by week 8 of 2026, because right now he is open and nobody is throwing it to him.