Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s chemistry brought Seattle to a Super Bowl. A connection between a receiver and quarterback can change an offense, and with it, ignite your fantasy football lineup. Analyst Joel Smyth goes over six top QB-WR connections from the 2025 season.
Sam Darnold & Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks
The epitome of a QB-WR connection: Darnold & Smith-Njigba. JSN led the entire NFL in receiving yards on an offense that ranked 26th in passing attempts. A ridiculous 35.8% target share, which led the NFL, resulted from Smith-Njigba being the immediate focus of Darnold. Not only did Darnold target Smith-Njigba on his first read at the highest rate in the NFL, but his 44.6% mark is the best since Fantasy Points Data began tracking it in 2021. When Darnold dropped back, getting Smith-Njigba the ball was the first focus. And it worked. Seattle’s Offensive Player of the Year led the NFL in yards per target, as their connection equaled 11.0 yards on average.
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Joe Burrow & Tee Higgins, Bengals
In a shortened sample due to injuries, the connection between Burrow & Higgins shows why Cincinnati chose to pay up for their receiver last offseason. Higgins lines up on the outside 87% of the time, is consistently facing press coverage and is not an easy target/screen WR. There is no way he should be near the top of the NFL in catchable target rate, and yet, with Burrow on the field, he’s exactly that. At a staggering 90.3%, it would be the highest in the NFL despite a 15(!) yard average depth of target. The next five WRs ranked behind him have an average depth of target of only 6.7 yards. Even Ja’Marr Chase’s rate was only 79.2%.
Burrow is the perfect quarterback for Higgins. The back-shoulder fade connection is unbeatable, and Higgins is able to get to his spot where Burrow can give him a chance no matter what the defense throws at them. It showed in 2025 with Rams’ Davante Adams being the only WR ranked higher in touchdowns per target.
Matthew Stafford & Puka Nacua, Rams
Adams has a great connection with Stafford, but Nacua’s is on a different level. Stafford had an impressive passer rating of 110.7 when targeting Adams, but it jumped to 127.3 when targeting Nacua, the highest in the NFL. It’s simple: when Nacua is on the field, Stafford and the Rams want to get him the ball. Although he runs fewer routes and isn’t on the field as consistently as some top WRs around the league, when he is running a route, Nacua is targeted 36% of the time, the highest rate in the league. That number was 38% in 2024, the highest of the last decade. In the Sean McVay offense, where Nacua runs the second-highest percentage of horizontally breaking routes, paired with Stafford being able to hit him in areas with plenty of YAC to be had, the next-level upside is found. In terms of fantasy, it led to 5.4 PPG over expected, a 54% increase over the second-best WR.
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Caleb Williams & Luther Burden III, Bears
Burden was the talk of dynasty fantasy football in the last month of the 2025 season after a mini-breakout. He was limited throughout the season, but when on the field, he produced with Williams leading the way. Burden fits the Ben Johnson offense very well, as Johnson used him in a versatile role with easier targets for Williams to complete. The accuracy issues have been the downfall for the Bears quarterback early in his career; however, with Burden’s role, that issue is completely flipped. The difference between Williams’ catchable target rate to any player compared to only when targeting Burden is the largest gap of any WR in the NFL. Rome Odunze ranked dead last in 2024 in catchable target rate and third-to-last in 2025. With Burden at the same position but in a different role, his catchable target rate sits at 90.0%, the best rate of any receiver in the league.
Lamar Jackson & Zay Flowers, Ravens
A surprising name on the list given Jackson’s down year, but Flowers excelled with Jackson on the field. Simply in yards per route, Flowers’ 2.72 with Jackson would rank third best in the NFL, behind only the top two receivers of 2025: Smith-Njigba and Nacua. The connection is best shown by his catch rate. How often is a receiver catching his targets? Flowers ranks seventh among WR at 70%, even though he saw fewer screens in 2025 and more downfield targets. With scrambling being a large part of Jackson’s game, it’s important to note that once he is outside of the pocket, Flowers was his go-to man, leading all WRs in scramble receiving yards.
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Jordan Love & Christian Watson, Packers
The connection was short-lived, but a healthy Watson showed he can be a force in the Packers offense when available. With Love in at quarterback, Watson tied Smith-Njigba at 2.19 fantasy points per route in 2025, the highest mark in the NFL. Their downfield connection on vertical routes has always been apparent, but would you believe me if I said Watson led the NFL in targets per route on horizontally breaking routes? The only player above Smith-Njigba, as he continues to show his fantasy upside is legit in the Green Bay attack.
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