Fantasy Football News

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette has not lived up to his hype as a first-round pick, and he could continue to trend in the wrong direction for fantasy football in 2026. Legette has ranked outside the top 60 fantasy receivers in each of his two NFL seasons. Last year, he ranked as the WR71 with 35 catches, 363 yards, and three touchdowns. He missed two games, so even if you extrapolate his stats over a full 17-game season, it was still a putrid year for the 25-year-old. Outside of his first-round capital, Legette doesn't have much working in his favor. Most notably, he sits behind both Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker on the depth chart. It'll be tough for him to carve out consistent volume as the No. 3 receiver in a balanced offense like Carolina's. Outside of an injury to McMillan or Coker, we don't envision a path to meaningful fantasy production for Legette next year. He can be dropped in most dynasty formats or stashed on the bench in the deepest of leagues.

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman has been extremely underwhelming in fantasy football throughout his five-year career. Despite having high draft capital as a former first-round pick, Bateman has never finished higher than WR40 in fantasy football. He has finished as WR69 or worse in four of his five pro seasons. Most recently, in 2025, Bateman was held to just 19 catches, 224 yards, and two touchdowns. Sure, he missed four games due to injury, but the per-game averages are still putrid. Plus, fantasy managers don't want receivers who struggle to produce and can't stay healthy. The only good news about Bateman's situation is that the Ravens made a coaching change this offseason, replacing John Harbaugh with Jesse Minter. Still, there's not enough optimism behind Minter to justify getting back on board the Bateman hype train. After five years of disappointment, managers can drop Bateman in all dynasty leagues.

Carolina Panthers tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders has struggled to emerge as a relevant fantasy option through his first two seasons in the NFL. He showed some upside near the end of his rookie campaign in 2024, but he has yet to finish higher than TE36 in PPR leagues. It's not for a lack of talent, as Sanders was an early fourth-round pick and has flashed impressive receiving skills. However, Carolina's offense doesn't seem to prioritize getting the ball to its tight ends. In fact, we haven't really seen the Panthers have a legitimate fantasy threat at tight end since Greg Olsen in 2016. It's unlikely that will change next season, but there is hope. Head coach Dave Canales recently turned offensive play-calling duties over to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, so perhaps that will lead to more tight end targets for Sanders. Still, we wouldn't bet on an immediate breakout for the 23-year-old. Rostering Sanders will require patience, and he's more of a hold than a buy or sell in dynasty leagues at the moment.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed had an underwhelming campaign in 2025. Between his reduced role and 10-week injury absence, he finished the season with just 19 catches for 207 yards and one touchdown across seven games. The injury definitely contributed to his down season, but even when he was healthy, he averaged just 2.7 catches, 29.6 yards, and 0.1 touchdowns per game. Reed had totaled more than 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns across his first two seasons in 2023 and 2024, so fantasy managers will hope he can get back to that level of performance in 2026. The good news for Reed is that Romeo Doubs Jr. departed in free agency, leaving behind 85 vacated targets. The bad news is that a large portion of that volume could go to Matthew Golden, who is trending up ahead of a potential Year 2 breakout. Reed is not a lock to replicate his top-30 fantasy finishes from his first two pro seasons, but at a minimum, he'll be a decent volume-based flex if he can stay healthy next season. As a result, he's an intriguing buy-low candidate in dynasty leagues.

Jacksonville Jaguars two-way player Travis Hunter (knee) should be a full participant by training camp, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Hunter suffered a torn LCL during practice in October and missed the entire second half of the 2025 campaign. When he returns to the field, he'll be a full-time cornerback and part-time receiver. While Hunter was heavily involved as a receiver before getting injured in his rookie season, this latest update falls in line with the general consensus from before the 2025 NFL Draft that Hunter offered the most value on defense. It seems highly unlikely that Hunter will match last year's average of 6.4 targets per game. Not only is he going to play fewer offensive snaps, but he also faces plenty of competition for targets with Brian Thomas Jr., Jakobi Meyers, and Parker Washington all in the mix. Hunter currently ranks #74 overall in RotoBaller's early fantasy football rankings for the 2026 season.

Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone said that wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter (knee) "will be a limited participant" throughout offseason workouts with the hope that he'll be ready for training camp this summer, according to Alessandra Pontbriand of WJXT4 Sports. Hunter is reportedly "well ahead of schedule" in his recovery from surgery to fix a torn LCL in his right knee that he suffered in his rookie campaign in 2025. Still, the Jags aren't going to rush the former Heisman Trophy winner this offseason. Barring a setback this summer, the 22-year-old two-way star and former second overall pick should be good to go for Week 1 of the 2026 regular season this fall. Unfortunately for his managers in dynasty leagues, Hunter is expected to be deployed much more as a defensive back in his sophomore season than on offense. His fantasy value was inflated going into his rookie year, and Hunter finished with only 298 receiving yards and one touchdown as a receiver on 28 receptions in seven games before his season-ending knee injury.

Baltimore Ravens veteran tight end Mark Andrews' future in Baltimore has been in question the past several years, but with both Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar departing in free agency this offseason, he's set for plenty of opportunities with a new coaching staff in 2026, according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com. The 30-year-old is coming off a career-low 422 yards on 48 catches with five touchdowns in 2025, but he's confident that he can bounce back. "I'm going to continue to get better and grow my game, and I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities in this offense," Andrews said. The Ravens added tight end Durham Smythe, but he had only four catches last year with the Chicago Bears. Baltimore could add a TE in the upcoming NFL draft, but either way, Andrews figures to be in a prime spot to bounce back as a TE1 in fantasy football, especially if quarterback Lamar Jackson can put his lower-body injuries from 2025 in the rearview mirror.

Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. began and finished the 2025 season as New York's primary ball carrier, but from Weeks 2 through 7, it was a healthy Cam Skattebo that dominated touches, both on the ground and in the passing game. The Giants bring in an entirely new coaching staff for 2026, so there is no clear blueprint for the division of labor between Tracy, Skattebo, and Devin Singletary, who also returns after handling 138 opportunities of his own last season. Furthermore, New York has been tied to Notre Dame prospect Jeremiyah Love with the fifth pick in the NFL Draft, though more pressing needs on defense could force them to pass even if he falls to them. Regardless of how the backfield situation plays out, Tracy profiles as a committee back with occasional flex value who can handle a large volume in an insurance role, as evidenced by his 19+ opportunities per game over the final nine weeks of the 2025 season.

As a rookie in 2025, Tennessee Titans wide receiver Chimere Dike flirted with breaking the NFL's single-season all-purpose yardage record, eventually topping the league with 2,427 yards. He finished in the top three in both kickoff and punt return yardage, while adding an additional 423 yards in the passing game. In the rare fantasy league that rewards points for return yards, Dike is a no-brainer must-roster player and potential league-winner depending on scoring settings. In more traditional leagues, however, his fantasy value may actually be held back by what he offers the Titans on special teams. After proving himself to be such a dynamic weapon in the kicking game, Tennessee's new coaching staff would be wise to keep him in a similar role, with any contributions as a receiver viewed largely as a bonus, almost in the mold of a Kavonte Turpin in Dallas. While both players have shown flashes on offense with their game-breaking speed, there has been no banking on the type of reliable contributions needed to become a weekly starter. The Titans return fellow rookies Elic Ayomanor and Gunnar Helm for 2026 and should see the return of a healthy Calvin Ridley, after the veteran missed missed ten games with a hamstring injury and and a broken fibula that landed him on injured reserve. The team also picks fourth in the upcoming NFL Draft and has regularly been linked to the wide receivers at the top of the board.

Cincinnati running back Chase Brown enters his fourth season with the Bengals, and seemingly his fourth season with lingering questions about his job security. The Bengals pick 10th in the upcoming NFL Draft and recently hosted Notre Dame prospect Jeremiyah Love on an official visit. Most draft analysts believe Love will be gone long before Cincinnati is on the clock, so if that is the case, or if the Bengals opt to address the bottom-dwelling defense that has held them back for years, Brown could emerge as one of fantasy's biggest winners from night one of the draft. A fifth-round selection in 2023, Brown has emerged as one of the most unheralded late-round success stories in recent years, finishing as the RB12 and RB8 over the past two seasons. While games won't be played for another five months, the Bengals appear to be heading into 2026 without any looming contract disputes and with their core of Brown, Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins at full health, which could again make them one of the most potent offenses in the league. Brown enters the final season of his rookie deal, and should Cincinnati elect to wait until the later rounds to add to the running back room, dynasty managers can take that as a vote of confidence for the 26-year-old back who may still be ascending.

Since being selected eighth overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson has looked like one of the most talented backs in the league. In 2025, that talent translated through his usage and fantasy finish, ending the year as RB2 in PPR formats. His 79 receptions for 820 yards trailed only Christian McCaffrey among NFL backs, while his 858 yards after the catch led the league across all positions. On the strength of his 99 targets in the passing game, he topped 380 opportunities for the second straight year. New head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees arrive from Cleveland, where Nick Chubb was the clear focal point of Stefanski's early Browns offenses. Former Falcon Tyler Allgeier, who has averaged over 172 opportunities of his own in the three years he shared a backfield with Robinson, has been replaced by Brian Robinson Jr., who handled exactly 100 touches as the primary backup to McCaffrey in San Francisco last season. The former Robinson is still only 24 years old and has yet to miss a game in his professional career. Barring injury, he should continue to rank among the fantasy elite for the foreseeable future.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams' NFL career got off to a rocky start. Injury, suspensions, and one of the league's highest drop rates limited the former 12th overall pick to only 25 catches, 395 yards, and three scores through his first two seasons. Williams has since strung together back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons and scored 15 total touchdowns since 2024, but he likely still has yet to reach his true ceiling. A large part of Williams' turnaround has been gaining his coaches' trust and being used in a wider variety of ways. Rather than just relying on his speed to chase down go balls, Williams has become one of the most dangerous receivers in the league on crosser routes. His work with the ball in his hands has elevated his fantasy value, but he has acknowledged that he needs to get stronger to reliably work through traffic, and he has still been plagued by untimely drops and the occasional disappearing act. Five times in the past two seasons, Williams has been held to fewer than 10 receiving yards, combining for negative yardage across his three worst outings. His nine drops in 2025 marked a career high. Williams is RotoBaller's WR27 in dynasty rankings, but it's likely we've yet to see his best, and it should surprise nobody if that number continues to rise.

The Houston Texans have exercised quarterback C.J. Stroud's fifth-year option for 2027. As a former first-round pick, Stroud's rookie contract came with a team option for a fifth year. He is now under contract for two more seasons and will make more than $25.9 million in 2027. Stroud was terrific as a rookie back in 2023, but he's coming off two relatively disappointing campaigns, as well as a six-quarter span in the 2025 playoffs during which he coughed up seven turnovers. Still, the low points haven't been bad enough for the Texans to begin searching for a new quarterback. They still view Stroud as a potential long-term solution, which is why they've committed to paying him through 2027. It will be interesting to see what happens after his rookie deal expires, though, as Stroud is currently scheduled to hit free agency prior to the 2028 season. His performance over the next two years will dictate how aggressive the Texans are in trying to extend him, as well as how much money he'll fetch in his next contract.

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said that re-signing running back J.K. Dobbins "was a priority ahead of all others," according to Zac Stevens of DNVR Sports. It was very intriguing to hear Payton go out of his way and identify Dobbins specifically. This could be a sign that he'll continue to have a large workload in 2026, even with RJ Harvey trending up ahead of his second season in the NFL. In his first season with Denver last year, Dobbins played in 10 games, tallying 772 rushing yards and four touchdowns. He ranked as the overall RB18 in half-PPR leagues before being shut down ahead of Week 11 due to a foot injury. The Broncos recently confirmed that Dobbins has fully recovered from the ailment and could have even played in the Super Bowl if Denver had qualified. Fantasy managers should prepare for the possibility of Dobbins and Harvey splitting touches next season. A shared backfield is never ideal for fantasy football, but we could still see both backs maintain fantasy relevance, given the productivity and anticipated success of Denver's offense.

Atlanta Falcons starting right tackle Kaleb McGary (leg) has decided to retire after seven years in the NFL, agent Collin Roberts told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. The 6-foot-6, 330-pound lineman was Atlanta's first-round pick back in 2019. He started 92 of his 93 career games, but he missed all of the 2025 season due to a serious lower left leg injury that he suffered during training camp last summer. As a result, his final NFL snaps came in 2024, when he started 16 games with a 73.8 PFF grade. He was particularly productive in run blocking, where his grade of 77.6 ranked 17th-best among 81 eligible tackles. Retiring after just seven years (and six active seasons) is a bit early for a lineman, but his future in the NFL looked complicated due to the serious leg injury and his ongoing recovery. Going forward, he'll be replaced at right tackle by Jawaan Taylor, whom the Falcons signed to a one-year deal on Wednesday.

The Atlanta Falcons have signed free agent offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor to a one-year deal, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. The contract includes a base value of $5 million and an additional $1 million available in incentives. Taylor previously spent four seasons in Jacksonville and three seasons in Kansas City. He has started all 111 games in which he has appeared, including a dozen contests in 2025. Although he's a household name, the 28-year-old didn't deliver the greatest production last year. His 53.3 PFF grade ranked 10th-worst among tackles, and his 43.8 run blocking grade was second-worst. He was also flagged for 13 penalties, and he surrendered 20 pressures, five quarterback hits, and three sacks. Despite an iffy season, Taylor projects as a starting tackle in Atlanta, where he'll fill the void left by the retirement of starting right tackle Kaleb McGary.

The Houston Texans exercised the 2027 fifth-year option on quarterback C.J. Stroud on Wednesday, a source told Field Yates of ESPN. Stroud is now due $25.904 million next season and is extension-eligible. Despite another disappointing season in 2025 in his third year in the league, the Texans remain committed to the former second overall pick in 2023 out of Ohio State. The 24-year-old signal-caller really impressed as a rookie, throwing for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only five interceptions in his 15 starts. However, he has come back down to Earth over the last two years, and Houston's porous offensive line hasn't helped his cause. In 14 regular-season starts in 2025, Stroud completed a career-high 64.5% of his pass attempts, but that led to a career-low 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight picks. Better offensive-line play and Year 2 leaps from wideouts Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel will be needed for Stroud to bounce back into QB1 territory for fantasy football purposes.

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington emerged from a crowded wide receiver room to become a fantasy playoff winner in 2025. With the team currently on track to return the same group of pass-catchers for 2026 (along with additional contributions from Travis Hunter, who ended his rookie season on IR), questions of where Washington will fit into the target pecking order have his dynasty value severely suppressed. After finishing as the WR3 over the final three weeks of 2025, Washington is going around the 10th round in dynasty startups. Including Jacksonville's playoff loss to the Bills, Washington's four-game stretch of 38 targets, 26 receptions, 454 yards, and three touchdowns saw him triple the next closest Jaguars wide receiver in both yards and touchdowns. Tight end Brenton Strange was second on the team in both categories over that stretch, tallying 154 receiving yards and two scores. While the expectation is for Washington to fall back to the pack, he potentially offers the most appealing blend of volume and upside in an ambiguous offensive situation, and should the lingering rumors of a Brian Thomas Jr. trade amount to movement, Washington's value will spike as the remaining big-play threat in Jacksonville.

After being selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins experienced the rare third-year breakout in 2023, sandwiching two WR9 finishes around a 1,000-yard, seven-touchdown campaign in which he missed five games. Due to the late breakout, the 27-year-old Collins is slowly approaching the age cliff, and following a historic rookie season from C.J. Stroud that had him and Collins pegged as one of the most valuable stacks in dynasty, the quarterback play in Houston has fallen off significantly. Durability has become a concern, with Collins missing nine games over the past three seasons, but when healthy, he is still as impactful as almost any receiver in the game, topping 2.7 yards per route run since 2023 and scoring a touchdown on nearly 10% of his catches. Collins and Stroud can absolutely recapture some of their early career magic, and if they do, it could open a sell window for the 6'4", 215-pound difference-maker. Multiple 1,000+ yard seasons are still on the table for Collins, but his yards after catch have dropped from 6.9 to 5.3 to 4.6 over the past three seasons, and Father Time tends to catch up faster to big-bodied receivers than those who win purely with speed and separation.

Through the first two seasons of his career, Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze has failed to consistently deliver on the promise that made him the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He spent his rookie season battling for targets with veterans DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, and by year two, it was the rookie tandem of Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III. With Caleb Williams yet to top 4,000 yards, that division of labor has led to disappointing production from Odunze, but the flashes have been there to support the case that he could still become a fantasy gamebreaker. Through the first four weeks of 2025, Odunze was the WR3 in Half-PPR formats, and reports out of Chicago indicated that new head coach Ben Johnson, figuring out in real-time just how good his young receiver was, loaded his plate with additional responsibilities. Odunze's game slowed, and nagging injuries eventually led to missed time, allowing for the late-season breakouts of Loveland and Burden. Loveland alone saw 25 targets in the team's two postseason games, leading many to believe he will become the focal point of Chicago's passing offense in 2026. While Loveland could realistically lead the team in targets, and Burden's yards per route run had him among the league's elite as a rookie, Odunze's downfield usage should still provide the highest weekly ceiling, especially if he sees an increase in catchable targets in a year that many are calling for a monumental step forward from Williams.