We’re in the heart of fantasy football draft season and the Rotoworld Football crew is here to help with some last-minute advice leading into the final weekend before the 2026 NFL season.
We asked Patrick Daugherty, Denny Carter, and Kyle Dvorchak for their thoughts on a wide variety of draft topics, ranging from players to target and avoid to specific strategies that can help shape your roster. Give it a read before you join your draft lobby or gather with your league mates in the days ahead.
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What are your favorite and least favorite picks in the first 8 rounds?
Round 1
Favorite: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
“Favorite” would be a bit strong. “Most common” is more accurate. Smith-Njigba is 24 years old and coming off an 1,800-yard season. Although it is reasonable to expect some regression in the efficiency department, JSN is a one-man receiver corps for an offense that is likely going to have to throw more in 2026. The backfield has been compromised, and the Seahawks can’t possibly play with as many leads as they did in 2025. It is generally good practice to fade historic seasons, but JSN’s follow-up is still going to be high-end first-round worthy. - Patrick Daugherty
Favorite: Jahmyr Gibbs
This isn’t tough. The Lions have by far the easiest schedule in the league and Gibbs’ workload is going to look vastly different than it has for the past couple seasons. His QB situation makes Gibbs the play over Bijan Robinson. - Denny Carter
Favorite: Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey is arguably the greatest fantasy player of all time. His rushing metrics fell off last year and it didn’t matter. As long as his receiving numbers hold, he is the favorite to finish as the RB1 overall once again. - Kyle Dvorchak
Least Favorite: Saquon Barkley
I do not think 29-year-old Barkley is going to lose my league. I also have little faith he is going to win it at this juncture, even if he “splits the difference” between his HOF-worthy 2024 and cringeworthy 2025. There are too many other higher-upside running backs at this board of the board for me to be using my most important pick on a player who is probably post-peak. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Justin Jefferson
I guess I’m the Jefferson skeptic here. That’s mostly because I don’t see Kyler Murray as much of an upgrade over JJ McCarthy. It won’t be quite as bleak for JJ in 2026; I just don’t see him proving to be much of a value at his ADP. - D.C.
Least Favorite: James Cook
Cook is a great runner, but his high-value touch totals leave me wanting. He ranked eighth in goal-line carries last year. CMC and Jonathan Taylor finished second and third. Cook ranked 26th in targets and 23rd in catches in 2025. Cook looks more like a solid second-round pick than a comfortable first-round selection. - K.D.
Round 2
Favorite: De’Von Achane
Fantasy football has never been more awash in data and high-quality analysis. There are a million reasons to be wary of a back in what is the league’s worst offense on paper. But for as advanced as the game gets, sometimes you have to remember the simplest concept: Bet on talent. Few players have more of it than Achane, who has produced two special NFL seasons in three tries. That’s the kind of 25-year-old flag plant I want to be making in the second round. - P.D.
Favorite: Chase Brown
Brown is usually my choice for a solid Hero RB build since he’s going to be among the league leaders in running back receptions and the Bengals plan to use him in a variety of ways, including at the goal line. Cincy being a massively pass-heavy team in the red zone hasn’t hurt Brown in recent seasons, as I wrote about this offseason. That’s a rare thing for a running back. - D.C.
Favorite: Brock Bowers
Bowers posted the greatest rookie season of all time for a tight end and then was a total bust the next year. He got hurt and his team was terrible, but it was undoubtedly a bad year. He finished as the TE2 by points per game. Tight end two! The ceiling is record-setting and the floor is that you still start him every week. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Omarion Hampton
I understand the Omarion Hampton thought process. An allegedly uber-talented second-year pro going to work for one of the league’s best play-callers behind a hopefully rested-and-repaired offensive line. The dots connect. I’m just lacking the proof of concept to make this selection in not only the second round, but the very top of the second round. Upside bets win fantasy leagues. Hampton could be that guy. But after an injury-marred rookie season where I thought he looked big and stiff, I will let somebody else go all in. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Josh Allen
It’s not that I think Allen is going to have a down year. He’s once again the odds-on favorite to lead all quarterbacks in scoring. Having to take him two or three rounds before Lamar Jackson doesn’t make much sense though. Allen’s opportunity cost is tremendous as a second rounder in one-QB formats. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Josh Allen
Allen in the second round is absurd. He is coming off his worst fantasy season since 2019. Drake Maye scored one fewer point per game than Allen and goes 30 picks ahead of him. It’s just a bad price. - K.D.
Round 3
Favorite: DeVonta Smith
I have no shortage of Breece Hall and Jeremiyah Love in this range, but I have the most DeVonta Smith. It’s more of a hunch than anything else, but the well-trodden case certainly makes sense. The 27-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner has long borne the moniker “would be a No. 1 for X other teams.” Now he finally gets to prove it. I think he will, and that’s The Nice Price in the third round. - P.D.
Favorite: Chris Olave
I wouldn’t have said this if Jordyn Tyson were healthy headed into the season. Tyson missing the first couple months of the season means Olave has a clear path to dominate air yards and targets in a fast-pace Saints offense, the way he did in the second half of 2025. Olave is again too big to fail. - D.C.
Favorite: Malik Nabers
Nabers is third in the NFL in targets per route run and 16th in yards per route run over the past two years. He was the WR6 as a rookie and has since gone from Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy DeVito as his quarterbacks to Jaxon Dart. By all accounts, his ACL recovery is going extremely well and he’ll be ready for Week 1. A second-round pick is the appropriate discount for his 2025 knee injury. In the third round, he’s a steal. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Rashee Rice
It all comes down to the simple fact that I don’t even know if Rashee Rice is good. He’s been great … in various small sample sizes. He’s also spent much of the past two years either injured or rehabbing and is amongst the league’s most well-established suspension risks. With the Chiefs finally remaking their backfield, Rice’s “extension of the running game” short-area targets may no longer be as important in Kansas City. If Rice stays healthy he will probably be a perfectly fine third-round pick, just not one I was making this summer. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Jeremiyah Love
Though Love looked incredible in preseason action, I struggle to see how a running back can excel in such a horrid offensive environment. The one out for Love is total domination of routes and targets out of the Arizona backfield. I’m going to look silly in that scenario. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Kyren Williams
Williams lost significant work to Blake Corum last year. He went from an 87 percent snap share in 2024 to a 67 percent snap share last year. His carry share fell from 78 percent to 60 percent. Williams went from a workhorse to a full-blown committee back overnight. That’s not the type of bet you want to make in the third round. - K.D.
Round 4
Favorite: Emeka Egbuka
We are in the range where I am willing to stomach a little more risk. Currently battling a toe injury, Egbuka certainly has that after a slow 2025 finish amidst the Bucs’ team-wide offensive collapse. I’m just a much bigger believer in the upside. Egbuka looked like a true WR1 before injuries and the rookie wall set in. Mike Evans is gone. Baker Mayfield is healthy and contract-motivated. Chris Godwin remains but is coming off another injury-shortened season. I will bet on the 23-year-old former first-rounder who has already put his best pre-draft traits on NFL film. - P.D.
Favorite: Ladd McConkey
I’ve written plenty this offseason about why Ladd should have a big-time bounce back season under OC Mike McDaniel. That McDaniel doesn’t use three-wideout sets that often is another plus for McConkey, who dominates targets when he’s one of two receivers on the field. He should have every chance to be a top-10 receiver in 2026. - D.C.
Favorite: Jaylen Waddle
The Broncos led the NFL in pass attempts last year and then spent first and third-round picks to acquire an established wide receiver. The game-plan is built around the pass, and that is going to run through the wideout they mortgaged the future for. This is Waddle’s year to finally become an alpha receiver, and I’m betting on him accomplishing that when the cost is only a third-round pick. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Cam Skattebo
I’m not entirely certain what Skattebo’s role is going to be in an offense I don’t really trust. I do think Skattebo will be allowed to punch it in for scores, but how many Giants goal-line carries will there actually be, and what percentage will go to Jaxson Dart? Will the new coaching staff let Skattebo catch enough passes? Will a player who already wasn’t that explosive be even less so following a traumatic orthopedic injury? I don’t think Skattebo is an awful pick, but I would like to aim higher in the fourth round. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Garrett Wilson
Wilson might be just fine as long as Geno Smith is healthy and under center for New York. But he’s one Geno injury away from another apocalyptic quarterback situation. It doesn’t help that Wilson’s metrics suggest he’s not an elite wideout with a ton of upside. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Tyler Warren
Warren is an okay click, but he cannot go in the same round as Colston Loveland. Including the playoffs, Loveland was targeted on 23—a higher rate than Warren—with an aDOT of 10. Not only was his aDOT far higher than Warren’s, but it was also the highest among all tight ends (min. 300 routes). Loveland operated like a true WR1 down the stretch, while Warren played a more traditional, high-volume tight end role. - K.D.
Round 5
Favorite: DJ Moore
I’m just going to be honest: 49-60 on Yahoo is maybe my least favorite collection of 12 players I have seen all summer. I am not drafting any of Joe Burrow, David Montgomery, Quinshon Judkins, Terry McLaurin, Jayden Daniels, Davante Adams, Bucky Irving, Jalen Hurts, Luther Burden III, DJ Moore, Tucker Kraft or Bhayshul Tuten. But I like Moore’s case the most. He’s a freelancer who didn’t fit in Ben Johnson’s apparently precise scheme. He gels better with Josh Allen’s style of play. The Bills paid a pretty penny and are highly motivated to make this work. It’s so crazy it just might do so. - P.D.
Favorite: DJ Moore
Moore is back in the Joe Brady system in which he thrived as a Panther, and through most of his career he’s been an efficient, target-commanding wideout. In Buffalo, Moore has precious little target competition outside fellow efficiency machine Dalton Kincaid (another excellent pick if you fade elite tight ends). Moore has been targeted on three of his seven preseason pass routes and will clearly be a focal point of Brady’s offense, which I expect to be at least a little more pass-heavy than the Bills were under former (hyper-conservative) head coach Sean McDermott. - D.C.
Favorite: Bucky Irving
Irving was dynamite as a rookie, breaking efficiency metrics across the board en route to a breakout season. He totally flopped in 2025, but quietly amassed over 20 touches per game. At this price, an efficient season with modest volume or a high-volume season with weak efficiency will both be small wins. If he combines the two, Irving will be a league-winner. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Luther Burden III
Burden is healthy “for now.” “For now” is the phrase I became all too familiar with rooting for Burden on my Missouri Tigers. It is my belief that Burden plays the game with a ruggedness that lends itself to injury. Thankfully for Mizzou, he usually played through it. But that is harder to do at the NFL level, and there is a greater penalty for however many “health percentage points” you are lacking any given Sunday. Burden has the potential to be special. He is that explosive. I’m still not ready to bet on his health or fairly simplistic route tree. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Tucker Kraft
I don’t get this one at all. Kraft may or may not be on a snap count to start the season after a serious knee injury in 2025 and he’s big play/touchdown reliant. Kraft will blow up here and there to be sure. I don’t know if I can draft that tight end profile in the fifth round. - D.C.
Least Favorite: DJ Moore
Moore was atrocious last year, averaging 1.1 yards per route while being targeted on 15 percent of his reps. Those marks were outside the top 60 and 70 receivers, respectively. Moore posted his second-worst season by YPRR in 2024. At 29 years old, Moore looks like a player in irreversible decline. That’s not someone I want to spend a fifth-round pick on. - K.D.
Round 6
Favorite: TreVeyon Henderson
My stock take is that Henderson had the rookie season fantasy managers wished Bhayshul Tuten had. Despite the various real concerns that came out of it — pass protection chief amongst them — Henderson confirmed he was an explosive–play threat who could both catch the ball and punch it in at the goal line. For now, Rhamondre Stevenson supposedly remains better at the “little things,” but that does not include protecting the football. Henderson is a supremely talented player in an improved offensive environment. He’s a chance I love taking in Round 6. - P.D.
Favorite: TreVeyon Henderson
My Rotoworld Football Show cohosts talked me into Henderson as a high-upside swing at a reasonable ADP. After looking into it powerfully, I concur. Henderson makes a lot of sense for drafters who mostly fade early-round running backs. - D.C.
Favorite: Jadarian Price
The Seahawks are built to run the ball and lost their lead runner in the offseason. They also lost their No. 2 runner from 2025 in Zach Charbonnet via a torn ACL. Price is going to be the lead back for a team that just won the Super Bowl, has a 10.5 win total, and logged the fourth-most rush attempts as a team. With only Emmanuel Wilson and George Holani as his competition for carries, Price is set up to hit the ground running. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Caleb Williams
It’s difficult to live off big plays while being inaccurate in the short-passing attack but not impossible. Russell Wilson proved that in Seattle. I’m still not ready to gamble that is Williams’ baseline. 2025 was a special season full of special plays for the second-year starter. I would not be terribly surprised if it happened again. I also wouldn’t be surprised if regression catches up to Williams and his scores fall while his turnovers spike. I believe in Williams as a franchise player. I believe in other quarterbacks more as my fantasy starter. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Jadarian Price
Without running hot on touchdowns, I don’t see how Price can get there for fantasy purposes. George Holani is expected to be a big part of the Seattle backfield to begin the season and beat writers say Zach Charbonnet could take the lead back role as soon as he’s back from his 2025 knee injury (Charbonnet is starting the season on the PUP list). I think Price has precious few avenues to a big statistical season. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Caleb Williams
Williams finished the season at 19th in EPA per play and 29th in CPOE. He was less efficient than Baker Mayfield and less accurate than Cam Ward. Williams made up for these shortcomings in other ways, but he doesn’t have the advanced numbers of a top-half QB1. - K.D.
Round 7
Favorite: Jaylen Warren
Warren is the kind of back who ties the room together as your RB2 or RB3 if you went receiver heavy to start the draft. He can do a little bit of everything but usually does a lotta bit of everything. That didn’t include his usual receiving load in 2025, but it should come roaring back with Kenneth Gainwell now a Buc. Always out there doing something and ready to contribute in manifold ways, Warren is a “glue guy” fantasy pick you might not want to make in the moment but will be happy you did so later. - P.D.
Favorite: Parker Washington
When in doubt, draft Liam Coen’s slot guy. I know Washington seemingly came out of nowhere in 2025 but Trevor Lawrence is fully committed to the bit and Coen seems comfortable with Washington as the centerpiece of the Jags’ passing attack. Taking Washington as your WR3 or WR4 is a nice little luxury in 12-team fantasy leagues. - D.C.
Favorite: Marvin Harrison Jr.
I’ve been out on Harrison Jr. in Best Ball this year, but in redraft, the name of the game is finding the handful of players who truly change the fantasy landscape. Your floor is the waiver wire, which isn’t half bad. MHJ was a truly special prospect. He accounted for 33 percent of his team’s passing output as a sophomore and 45 percent as a junior. Then he was drafted in the top five. The odds of MHJ paying off have dropped plenty since he entered the NFL, but ceiling is the one area I’m willing to leave the light on. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Tony Pollard
You’re not expecting to find league-winning upside in picks 73-84, but you have got to get more upside than Pollard, a declining, contract-expiring back playing for a new coaching staff with a new rookie in the backfield mix (Nicholas Singleton). Pollard has competition on every down and lacks the efficiency to overcome it. Never quite the same since his broken leg, Pollard is a formerly fun player who deserved better than the Tennessee Titans. - P.D.
Least Favorite: Carnell Tate
An underwhelming wideout prospect functioning as an intermediate and deep option for one of the game’s most inaccurate passers? No thanks. Tate is probably being over-drafted by three or four rounds. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Chuba Hubbard
Hubbard ranked 45th in rush yards over expected per carry last year. He was easily passed by Rico Dowdle last year and is now dealing with a hamstring strain, giving Jonathon Brooks the opportunity to do the same early in the 2026 season. - K.D.
Round 8
Favorite: Dalton Kincaid
You will eventually draft everybody if you play fantasy football long enough. Through his first three seasons in the league, I can’t remember drafting Kincaid even once. That has changed this year. I’m usually missing out on the “big four” at tight end and not loving the unsettled middle of Kyle Pitts, Harold Fannin etc. That leaves Kincaid on the TE1/2 borderline where I think he can finally take a long-awaited step forward in a Bills offense that figures to increase its pass attempts in this post-Sean McDermott environment. Kincaid has the hands, efficiency and big-play ability to achieve what would be a fairly standard mid-career tight end breakout. - P.D.
Favorite: Jonathan Brooks
Brooks appears to have a clear path to lead back status in the Carolina backfield even with Chuba Hubbard apparently ready for the regular season. Brooks has been impressive throughout the preseason, according to beat writers and Panthers coaches. If he sees a decent amount of pass-catching work he should smash his redraft ADP. - D.C.
Favorite: Jonathon Brooks
If Hubbard is one of the worst picks on the board and goes ahead of Jonathon Brooks, you better believe Brooks is one of the best picks. Brooks was a strong prospect who went 46th-overall despite suffering a torn ACL late in his final collegiate season. He has hardly played football since, but every report from Charlotte has said they view him as a major part of the backfield and their long-term starter. That timeline is now expedited with Hubbard banged up. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Brandon Aubrey
I’m once again begging folks to stop chasing elite kicker options. It’s never worth the opportunity cost (unless you’re in a two-kicker league, I suppose). I recently outlined some final-round kickers you should target if you correctly decide to let someone else spend an eighth or ninth or tenth rounder on Aubrey. - D.C.
Least Favorite: Alec Pierce
Alec Pierce is the only receiver in the past 20 years to post 1,000 yards with an aDOT over 20. The big pitch with his ADP this year was that the Colts were intent on changing his role, giving him room for a further breakout. After missing the entirety of training camp and the preseason, it’s hard to see him becoming a different player this year. - K.D.
Least Favorite: Alec Pierce
Pierce being an eighth round pick is predicated on him becoming a “whole new you” after his “breakout” 2025, which was really just him doing what he always does, only slightly more effectively. Pierce is a deep ball specialist’s deep ball specialist. 26 years old and coming off back-to-back yards per catch crowns, color me skeptical he is about to mix in more “easy button” targets just because he got paid. Pierce’s role is extremely valuable in real life, but in fantasy it maxes out as a WR4 skill-set, and is more WR5 than we would probably like to admit. - P.D.
When does ADP stop mattering to you?
Daugherty: It’s hard for ADP to stop mattering when you are playing with “experts” or highly-informed civilians. The fantasy drafting public has never had better information, and generally knows what to do with it. That makes values hard to come by, and the penalty for going “off script” is highly punitive. But if you stick too rigidly to ADP outside the top 100, you are never going to get “your guys.” Now, that might have helped you if you loved Jaydon Blue this summer. But MarShawn Lloyd? Now you have zero shares. The draft’s midway point of the eighth and ninth round is a good time to start disregarding data that is only really telling you what has been happening, not what will be in September.
Carter: Certainly ADP doesn’t matter to me in the double digit rounds. If you’re in a deeper fantasy league -- a 12-teamer with a bunch of roster spots and a deep bench or a 14-teamer -- you sometimes have to take a stand on a player. That often requires you to reach by five or seven or even ten picks if you know for certain that guy is going to be gone before your next pick. This sort of approach makes sense, for example, if you’re intent on stacking a particular offense.
Dvorchak: The relationship between ADP and fantasy points looks like a hockey stick. Early-round players reliably score well. Things fall off quickly in the middle rounds. Then in the double-digit rounds and beyond, it’s fairly meaningless. That’s largely how I approach ADP as well. I stick closely to it in the first three rounds and still care about value over the next three. By the time there are two digits in the round number, I’m just getting my guys.
Name two late-round picks you can’t stop drafting.
Daugherty: Adonai Mitchell and Demond Claiborne
I love Mitchell as a potential matchup-flipper WR4. We know he’s a big-play guy. Less known is the fact that he seems to have run away with the Jets’ No. 2 receiver job over first-rounder Omar Cooper Jr. Aside from a PPR scammer, the ideal bench wideout is one who can win your week on only a handful of catches or targets. That’s Mitchell, at least on paper.
My late-round running back addiction has been Claiborne. It’s not because he has been lighting up Vikings camp. It’s because he’s a warm body behind two backs in Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason who simply don’t seem up to the challenge. This is a backfield ripe for an outsider to steal work, and I would not be surprised to see Claiborne come in to at least “second FLEX” value before Halloween.
Carter: Juwan Johnson and Tank Bigsby
The guy had elite metrics during Tyler Shough’s 2025 starts, including a top-three target per route rate and a top-three yards per route run among tight ends. Kellen Moore’s offenses almost always move fast and are among the league leaders in offensive snaps, meaning Johnson should have no problem being among the NFL’s leaders in tight end pass routes. Jordyn Tyson’s two-month hamstring injury makes Johnson an easy click if you fade the game’s top tight ends and wait to fill your tight end spot. I’m confident Johnson will be an every-week starter in 12-team formats for at least the first half of the NFL season.
Though he won’t have weekly value in fantasy leagues, Bigsby is locked in as the Eagles’ No. 2 back behind Saquon Barkley. There’s (almost) no question Bigsby would get a full workload if Barkley misses any time in 2026. That could be quite fun for those who stash Bigsby, one of the most efficient, most explosive running backs in all of football over the past two seasons with the Jaguars and Eagles. I see him as a must-draft for Zero/Hero RB drafters.
Dvorchak: Omar Cooper Jr. and Travis Hunter
We’re getting a rare opportunity this year to make multiple talent-based bets extremely late in drafts. Ricky Pearsall (recovering from a gunshot wound) aside, no first-round rookie has gone as late as Cooper over the past five years. He had a solid profile coming out of college and was a consensus first-round pick before landing in New York. Hunter was the No. 2 overall pick a year ago! If we had to pay Matthew Golden prices for these two wideouts, I wouldn’t love them so much. Instead, they’re basically free.
What draft strategy are you using the most this year?
Daugherty: I never attach a slogan to my drafting. I just “read the room” and take what comes to me. This year, that has very frequently been two running backs in the first three rounds, and three wideouts through the first five. Running back is deep 1-15. Far less so afterward. Receiver, as usual, offers greater depth in the WR14-36 range. If I get an anchor running back in the second round and pair them with Breece Hall or Jeremiyah Love in the third (after taking JSN in the first), that’s a good draft for me.
Carter: I’ve (mostly) abandoned the pure Zero RB draft approach of my youth wherein I would not take a running back until the fifth or sixth round, sometimes later depending on roster requirements and scoring settings. The league has changed over the past few years. There’s no denying that. Defensive coordinators have dared offenses to move the ball a few yards at a time and for the most part offenses have complied. This has led to more rushing attempts, fewer passes, and more heavy sets (multiple tight ends) that have limited wideout routes and, consequently, targets.
So I’ve capitulated to some extent, often taking one running back in the first four rounds and going from there. This year I’m taking Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs if I have the first or second pick. I’m not getting cute there. I like Chase Brown as a second rounder in PPR formats because he has tremendous pass-catching upside in the Bengals’ pass-first system. I’m also into D’Andre Swift in the fourth or fifth round because the Bears should remain run-heavy and Swift is by far the best option in the Chicago backfield (Kyle Monangai’s preseason knee injury makes Swift an even better click).
I suppose this would qualify as Hero RB, a popular draft strategy for a lot of smart folks in the fantasy industry over the past few years. I still lean toward creating high-variance rosters because if I don’t finish first, I don’t really care where I finish. Call me Ricky Bobby Carter, I guess.
Dvorchak: As a ZeroRB truther, it pains me to admit that I’ve been going running back early. The late rounds are stocked with high-upside receiver bets while the running back depth has been thinned out by a string of weak draft classes. I’ve built a lot of teams that are bordering on Hyper Fragile, with three running backs through five rounds, then just one more for the remainder of the draft. Then I load up on upside-laden wideouts—including my two sleepers—in the middle rounds.
If you miss out on the elite tight ends, what’s your plan at the position?
Daugherty: Tight end is the position to “throw bodies at the problem.” I never abide by the outdated axiom that you should only draft one tight end, especially with the rise of multiple FLEX spots. If I miss on the “proven” TE1s, I don’t mind drafting 2-3 then giving it a few weeks to see who actually produces before churning one or two onto the waiver wire and moving on.
Carter: I mentioned Juwan Johnson as one of my favorite late-round clicks. I would also point to Dalton Kincaid as a later-round tight end who could match or exceed the production of tight ends going four or five rounds earlier. Kincaid, a spreadsheet king since entering the NFL, is reportedly going to have an “enhanced role” in the Buffalo offense this season. We can always hope. - D.K.
Dvorchak: The 2025 third-rounder was the most productive college tight end of all time and put up TE1 numbers as a rookie despite being parked behind David Njoku early in the season. Fannin is an elite tight end in the making and he goes in the middle of the TE1 pack by ADP.
Who isn’t a first-rounder this year but will be one in 2027?
Daugherty: Emeka Egbuka might fit this mold. A former first-round receiver who actually produced as a rookie. Now he has the receiver corps “to himself” at the top. It’s a path we have seen taken many, many times before. Jeremiyah Love would be an obvious runner-up selection. You simply don’t see a top-five “real life” running back go outside the first round. Don’t be surprised if this is the only year Love does so.
Carter: I’d say Ladd McConkey has a decent shot at landing around the one-two turn in 2027 after a year in Mike McDaniels’ offense. I’ve written quite a lot about how McDaniels’ offense might look in LA, including how McConkey fits as a route runner. A healthy 2026 season for Ladd -- who was top ten among wideouts in yards per route run as a rookie -- and folks could see him as borderline elite. That’s assuming McDaniels is still the Chargers OC in 2027.
Dvorchak: It’s Jeremiyah Love. Malik Nabers was my original pick, but that felt like cheating given that his current ADP is heavily influenced by his ACL recovery. Ashton Jeanty went in the first round of fantasy drafts as a rookie and Love was taken higher in the NFL draft. Jeanty flopped in his first season and was still going at the 1-2 turn before an ankle injury dropped him a round. Omarion Hampton was a bust last year and his ADP shot up to the middle of the second round. Fantasy managers are more than willing to endlessly hype elite running back profiles, even when they don’t hit. If Love even has a strong second half of his rookie season, he will shoot into the first round next year.
