He Loves LA ... The Chargers For Fantasy Football

He shared his Ride or Die pick last week and Draft Day Manifesto before that. Now it’s time to dig deeper into the fantasy football menu with Matthew Berry’s Love/Hate for 2026 fantasy football.

I’ve digested the full smorgasbord of picks and noticed a few themes …

⚡️ Bet on Mike McDaniel. A Los Angeles Charger shows up in the LOVE section of all three major categories—QB, RB and WR.

Key line: “In fact, I’m going to start wearing Mike McDaniel-style capri pants this season, because there’s about to be a flood of fantasy points.”

📉 Touchdown regression is coming. For as much love as Matthew has for one team in LA, he can’t find any in his heart for the other. The Matthew Stafford-to-Davante Adams connection lit up fantasy scoreboards last year, but the math says it won’t happen again.

Key line: “Last season, Stafford had a league-high 7.7% TD rate. Over the past 15 seasons, every QB who had a TD rate of at least 7% saw that number drop the following season—with an average drop of 2.2%.”

❓️ The grass can be greener on the other side. Two of Matthew’s biggest LOVES in 2026 changed teams this offseason.

Can you guess them?

Here’s one clue for each:

The RB: “In his 25 career games (including playoffs) with 18 or more touches, he averages 18.2 PPG and 110 scrimmage yards … Over the past three seasons, among backs with 100-plus targets, he ranks sixth at the position in points per target.”

The WR: “Over the last four seasons, he led the NFL in TD receptions on passes of 15-plus air yards. Now he’s playing with a QB who had the 2nd-highest passer rating on passes of 15-plus air yards last season, and was tied for the most touchdown passes on such throws.”

For both answers—as well as the full spread of loves (and hates)—check out the article before your leaguemates do:

16 LOVES TO TARGET IN DRAFTS

Make the Greatest Pickup

Here's a question: Which player had the greatest fantasy season ever after not even being picked in most fantasy drafts? That would probably be Arian Foster, who went from undrafted in 2010 to leading the league in rushing with 1,616 yds and 16 TDs—plus 66 receptions. He topped the 2nd-best RB by over 75 fantasy points that year. And if you picked him up on waivers, you got the best thing ever, essentially for free (OK, unless you were in a FAAB league. But don't ruin our fun analogy with your technicalities).

Well, if you missed your shot at Arian in 2010, here's a new chance to get the best thing ever, for free. We're giving away a $200 gift set of our most popular men's grooming products! All you have to do is click this link to enter. Even if you don't win the big prize, after entering you'll receive a new promo code featuring our best discount yet on premium natural hair and skin-care essentials. Or, if you don't like free stuff (or maybe you just hate Arian Foster for some reason) you can also go straight to our site to create your own set of clean, healthy products with a singular style that can only be described as Natural Class.

ENTER TO WIN

Around the Watercooler

The latest fantasy and NFL gossip, news, memes and more from your favorite football nerds …

❤️🤬 A tradition like no other. Love/Hate comes to Fantasy Football Happy Hour.

😎 The Tiers all got updates: Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Tight End.

🏈 Rankings, ADP, Draft Companion … get ready for draft day and beyond with FantasyLife+.

👁️ It may be Week 0 in college football, but still a few prospects to keep an eye on.

👀 Update to the Josh Jacobs situation. Potential fantasy football fallout.

🚨 TRADE ALERT: Jonnu to Green Bay. Here’s how the dominoes fell.

🚨 TRADE ALERT x 2: Tutu returns to LAR.

🙏 FINALLY … a positive Alec Pierce update.

🚑 Big injury updates: Chase, K-9 and more.

📫 What to do in Rounds 1-5? Ideal building strategies.

😴 Using Matthew’s rankings on Sleeper. Nice advantage.

🤣 Nothing like poking fun at your leaguemates. In an article!

📈 Stock up and down on Fleaflicker. Read before you draft.

🔮 Who can reach Shaun Alexanders 28 TDs? Select group.

Update to the 2026 Perfect Draft Strategy

The beauty of fantasy football content is that quite often you get a piece that’s so all-encompassing, that it must be read before you enter the arena that is the draft room. Then the NFL happens, and it needs an update because players start moving all over draft boards for a myriad of reasons.

Dwain McFarland’s Perfect Draft Strategy piece for the coming season is one of those pieces that cannot be missed. And thankfully Dwain made a heavy update you need to see before going on the clock. ⤵️

PRIORITY TARGETS AND FADES ALL OVER

Patrick Mahomes vs. Dak Prescott: You’re OTC

Are we sure we’re in the age that is deemphasizing the pass in the NFL? We know teams are running more, but in looking at our fantasy football rankings, all it tells us is that QB this year is DEEP. Just stay healthy, fellas!

Speaking of healthy, it sure looks like Patrick Mahomes is on his way to making a healthy return to the field on Week 1 against the Broncos after suffering a season-ending torn ACL last year. Now instead of being among the top 5 QBs in fantasy, he’s at QB15. A few spots ahead is Dak Prescott, but it’s closer than you think even though Dak has surpassed 4,400 yards in each of his last four healthy seasons. If you’re on the clock, who are you picking? ⤵️

WILL K-9 HELP MAHOMES LIFT THE OFFENSE?

Avoid the Chop With These Position Battles

Few things tougher than to see one of those classic Guillotine Leagues^TM sweats come down to the wire, when a player you were sure was going to get a big workload ends up flopping because his opportunities shriveled up like the witch in Wizard of Oz. Marcas Grant and Tipp Major are here to make sure you don’t melt away because you were on the wrong end of a position battle. Subscribe to the CHOP Podcast YouTube channel so you can avoid the blade.

PLUS, A SNEAK PEEK AT WEEK 1 MATCHUPS

Published Aug 28, 2026, 6:00 AM ETUpdated Aug 28, 2026, 9:10 AM ET