Ricky Pearsall vs Tetairoa McMillan: Who Should You Start?
Ricky Pearsall and Tetairoa McMillan are both viable fantasy wide receivers heading into 2026, but their 2025 production tells two different stories. Ricky Pearsall averaged 7.8 PPG across 9 games with the San Francisco 49ers, while Tetairoa McMillan posted 10.4 PPG in 17 appearances for the Carolina Panthers.
A 2.6-PPG gap gives Tetairoa McMillan the edge on paper, but paper does not account for Thursday night matchups, weather games, or a star defender returning from injury. The real question is not who was better in 2025, but who is the better start this specific week.
Target volume is the story here. Tetairoa McMillan saw 122 targets in 2025, while Ricky Pearsall drew 53. That workload gap usually translates into a higher weekly floor for Tetairoa McMillan, even in weeks where Ricky Pearsall posts the bigger ceiling game. Consistency-minded managers lean toward target share; boom-bust managers chase the upside.
Ricky Pearsall has his bye in Week 9, and Tetairoa McMillan rests in Week 11. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at wide receiver for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
