With the NFL preseason well underway and fantasy drafts going on or looming, solidifying the player pool to pick from has never been more important. Sure, we have to keep all of our options open during drafts for any number of scenarios that could play out, but we all have the players we are gravitating toward in our draft. Our favorites. Our guys. Our amigos!
Maybe they are the guys we are reaching for? Or the most fun clicks? Could they be players on great offenses? Or what if the vibes are just really good? That is important!
Who are the fantasy players I am targeting as "must-haves" in 2026? Let's dive in and take a look at several players who I absolutely must have on my fantasy teams this season.
QB Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Many people will tell you that no Chicago
quarterback has ever passed for 4,000 yards in a season. Those people may be correct, but Williams will be the first one to do it. Perhaps this season! More and more are saying this.
Year 2 of the Ben Johnson offense could be a special one for Williams, who has a Drake Maye-like trajectory in his range of outcomes in 2026. Why can't Williams get over 4,000 yards, 35 touchdown passes, 400 rushing yards and a handful of rushing scores? That would put him into the elite tier of fantasy quarterbacks, where the price to find out if he can do it is around QB7 or QB8 in average draft position. With tight end Colston Loveland, along with receivers Luther Burden III and Rome Odunze at his disposal, it is not a matter of "if," but "when" for Williams. He is my favorite quarterback to draft and, even better, Williams does not require elite draft capital to acquire. Win-win!
QB Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Nix is not being priced very efficiently by most of the fantasy football market, but that is to our benefit. Obviously, we all know better. With Nix, you are getting a steal of a quarterback who runs and is in an excellent offense that got even better this offseason. The Broncos added Jaylen Waddle to the mix via trade. Along with Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Pat Bryant, Evan Engram and Troy Franklin, Nix is not without passing-game weapons. First-time play-caller and offensive coordinator Davis Webb was also given the keys to the offense by head coach Sean Payton.
So, while it could be a different Broncos offense, a more modern iteration could unlock even more potential with pre-snap motion and the hope of more condensed personnel utilization than we have been used to with Payton over the last two decades-plus. Last season, Nix took a slight step back in passing touchdowns and in his rushing. However, with Waddle in tow now, Nix has a good chance to jump into the 30-touchdown club this season. If he adds some more rushing work, he has a chance to eclipse the QB7 fantasy finish he has posted in each of his first two NFL seasons.
RB De'Von Achane, Miami Dolphins
Not only is Achane one of the most efficient and explosive backs in the NFL, but he is also one of the best receiving backs in the NFL. We have talked ad nauseum about Achane on The Huddle. (Or at least I have!)
No back had more 10-plus-yard runs or 15-plus MPH runs than Achane last year. In terms of the Dolphins and who stands to benefit in the post-Mike McDaniel era, it is really just Achane. There is no Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle was traded to Denver. Nevertheless, Achane is so good that he could carry this team to a few wins if he is able to use his speed and explosiveness for a bunch of long touchdowns.
Achane possesses a near-perfect fantasy football skill set, even if the pesky Vegas sportsbooks have a 4.5-win total for the Dolphins in 2026. I think a double-digit touchdown total and a 1,500+ total-yard season is VERY attainable despite being on a bad team. While the raw targets may come down from the 85 he posted last season, he could still pay off at ADP if he settles into a range of 60-70 targets in 2026. After all, he is the focal point, the alpha and the omega of the Dolphins' offense.
RB J.K. Dobbins, Denver Broncos
Dobbins thrived last season in what was basically an every-down role for the Denver Broncos before a Lisfranc injury put him out for the season after Week 10. He was brought back in free agency to continue handling that early-down role for Denver and working in tandem with R.J. Harvey.
With the Broncos scoring a ton and Dobbins slotted in as the top back in Denver, expect some touchdowns, efficiency and quite a bit of usage from him, especially assuming the Broncos will have some leads to salt away. He is one of the better bets for touches in the middle rounds after the top 30 running backs have come off the board.
WR Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints
Olave turned in a career season in 2025, running a career-high 92.4% routes per dropback en route to a WR6 finish with 100 receptions, 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns. Olave will have a little less help than anticipated with first-round draft pick Jordyn Tyson dealing with a hamstring injury that will sideline him for at least a month into the season. New Orleans will essentially run back the pass-catchers from the second half of last season, with tight end Juwan Johnson as quarterback Tyler Shough's second target and a third receiver that is still up in the air right now.
As a player who has run a little longer aDOT (average depth of target) than typical top receivers (12.3-yard aDOT last season), Olave earned a massive 151 targets last season. As an incredible target-earner and big-play receiver, Olave just needs to keep the status quo on his end, and the offense needs to continue to improve in 2026 for Olave to be well worth his ranking this season. As a player at the end of the second round or the beginning of the third, getting 151 targets at that point of a draft in an ascendant offense is a great deal. Not having Tyson for the beginning of the season hurts, but Olave should be relatively unaffected.
WR Jaylen Waddle, Denver Broncos
The Broncos paid a pretty penny for Waddle to be their top wide receiver in the trade market, but there's a chance this season that routes could finally consolidate to the top-two pass-catchers in 2026.
Waddle has been one of the most efficient per-route receivers in the NFL over his five seasons in Miami, and he still commands targets at an excellent rate with 23.8% targets per route run last season. We know Denver is going to score quite a bit, and quarterback Bo Nix can let Waddle work the middle of the field to great success. If new offensive coordinator Davis Webb can keep the two highest route totals to Waddle and Sutton ‐ while rotating the other wide receivers like Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr., and others amongst each other and not the top receivers ‐ then we are looking at a massive payoff at Waddle's fourth-round ADP.
WR Stefon Diggs, Washington Commanders
Diggs may be entering his age-33 season with the Commanders, but age should not be too big of a factor for him this season. His 23.9% targets per route run (TPRR) is 85th-percentile among all pass-catchers age 32 or older with at least 250 routes. He is in VERY good company with Hall-of-Fame-level players, and the risk for Diggs is always there with an older wide receiver, but the "falling off a cliff" risk of Diggs is pretty low ‐ all factors considered.
All in all, Diggs should be a solid 1B with Terry McLaurin in this Washington offense, and the target-earning skill is something desperately needed in this offense. Sure, he may not even be a 75% routes guy anymore, but he is still very efficient per route and per target. There has been talk recently about Diggs heading back into the slot, which was the case in Washington's second preseason game, per PFF's Nathan Jahnke. With Diggs sporting a limited routes last season anyway (68.5% with New England), he still earned 102 targets and caught 85 balls. Any skilled pass-catcher that does not have to make quarterback Jayden Daniels play hero ball is a plus in my book, so I am still taking Diggs at a very nice price after the first 30 wide receivers are drafted.
TE Harold Fannin Jr., Cleveland Browns
Everybody seems to be scared of Fannin this season. If you went on a Family Feud-style poll, I am convinced that most of the reasons why would center around the team he plays for. Not far behind would be the quarterback situation. The decision of WHO the quarterback will be was resolved earlier this week with head coach Todd Monken naming Deshaun Watson the starting quarterback for Week 1.
This is all to say: I am not scared. This is my "Battle of the Bastards" moment, defending Fannin from the slings and arrows of the fantasy community at large. I have already written my Fannin case. I have already made my case for Fannin. But let's go into it more.
All it will take for even more for Fannin is SOME quarterback improvement. Per FTN's Bryan Knowles, Watson had a passing DVOA of -51.1% in his last season of game action in 2024,which was the 11th-worst passing DVOA ever recorded. If you thought that was bad, Shedeur Sanders had a passing DVOA of -59.6% in 2025; the FIFTH-worst passing DVOA ever recorded. Nobody does it like Cleveland.
Yet despite the horrific quarterbacking cultivated in Cleveland last season, Fannin still had the highest targets per route run of any tight end, and he did that playing half of the season as the Browns' TE2 behind David Njoku without a full route share. Carrying over from his final season at Bowling Green, where he led all of college football ‐ not just tight ends ‐ with 117 receptions and 1,555 receiving yards, Fannin put up 72-731-6 on 104 targets last season to lead the Browns in all categories. Njoku is gone, and two rookies step into wide receiver roles alongside Jerry Jeudy. With that said, the best chance for the Browns to move the ball lies in the hands and duck feet of Fannin.
TE Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Kelce has been a model of consistency throughout his long and storied NFL career, with 10 straight seasons of at least 100 targets and never finishing worse than TE7 at any point in his career. Up until last season, Kelce had a TPRR above 20% in every season. Kelce's PPR value holds even more weight, with no fewer than 72 catches and 823 yards in his 11 seasons after his first full season in 2014. He still maintained a solid 8.3 yards per target last season, fully in line with his prime marks, as well as a 20% first-read target rate.
This season, Kelce as a fantasy asset is a pure projectable-volume fantasy play rather than an upside, ceiling play. But he is still an awesome click after everybody is ready to write his fantasy football epitaph following his wedding to Taylor Swift and his hemming and hawing about his decision to return for another NFL season. All in all, Kelce should still be a fine low-end TE1 for fantasy football and pay off his fantasy managers plenty this season.
Honorable Mentions
QB Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Purdy's per-game stats are elite, but he needs to play a full season. I am taking him with another quarterback, but Purdy adds sneaky rushing and spike-week ability.
QB Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins
Willis' rushing ability gives him an easy bar to clear for top-10 fantasy quarterback production this season. Every quarterback who has rushed for at least 600 yards has finished as a top-10 fantasy passer, and almost three-quarters of those players have finished as a top-six fantasy passer. At the end of drafts, he is an easy click, because we will get immediate information on how Miami's offense will operate this season.
RB Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City Chiefs
Walker comes off in the second round these days, but it is hard to imagine that he would not be a monumental improvement to the Chiefs' offense. Even if Patrick Mahomes starts in Week 1, leaning on Walker would be wise. It is fair to question if Walker will be as effective as he was in last season's playoffs and Super Bowl now that he received a huge contract, but Walker should be a massive 275+ touch running back and easily eclipse double-digit touchdowns this season.
RB Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams
Corum is a bet on the Rams' offense, namely the running game. While we know how explosive the Rams are through the air, Los Angeles used Kyren Williams and Corum in tandem last season to great success. Corum was incredibly explosive, finishing first among 49 qualifying backs in total rush EPA added plus and an elite mark in explosive run rate. The contingent value of Corum if something were to happen to Williams is massive, but Corum's standalone value is excellent as well as a low-end RB2 or flex play.
WR DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
Smith has been one of the most underappreciated elite wide receivers in fantasy football over his five seasons. With four seasons with 100+ targets, a yards-per-route-run above 1.75, and a yards-per-target of 9.0 yards or better in all five seasons, Smith has been a model of consistency and performance and should get a nice spike in volume as THE guy with A.J. Brown now in New England.
WR Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens
Considering Flowers just put up a WR7 season in 2025, getting him in the third round feels really good. Flowers has averaged 114 targets over his first three seasons and then leveled up his efficiency with career highs across the board in receptions (86) and yards (1,211). Not much should change about this offense in terms of the pecking order of the receivers and pass-catchers, especially at the top, so expect another quality season from Flowers in 2026.
WR Romeo Doubs, New England Patriots
Last season, Doubs put up one of the better seasons he has had in his four NFL campaigns on a Packers squad that spreads the ball around to a half-dozen receivers. Despite that, Doubs still managed 85 targets and 724 yards, with the best yards per route run (1.73) of his career. Adding A.J. Brown to the mix does not hurt anything for Doubs; it actually relieves a lot of pressure to produce. The Patriots trading Kayshon Boutte to the Texans also removes a target-earner from the offense, further consolidating targets to Brown, Doubs and tight end Hunter Henry.
TE Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints
Not having Jordyn Tyson (hamstring) for the beginning of the season certainly helps Johnson's bull case for 2026. Johnson had a career season in 2025 as the second target for quarterback Tyler Shough, with 100 targets, 77 receptions and 889 yards, leading to an overall TE8 season. While Johnson only scored three touchdowns, we will hopefully get a bit of a bump this season with further improvement of the Saints' offensive environment.
TE Terrance Ferguson, Los Angeles Rams
Ferguson's 2025 counting stats (11 receptions on 25 targets) don't exactly jump off the page, but his 9.2 yards per target and awesome athleticism certainly do. Ferguson can play all positions, including wide receiver, so just getting on the field regularly may get him to fantasy relevance. Sticking and being a useful receiver will help him lap his current ADP.
This article originally appeared on The Huddle: The Group Chat - The Fantasy Football Players I Am Drafting in 2026
