Fantasy Football Draft Targets 2026: Time to Plant Your Flag
The Guys We're Drafting
Here’s a question we get fairly often during draft season:
Where can I find your individual rankings?
You can’t. That’s not what we do here. We’re not trying to confuse you with disparate versions of who to draft, relying on you to guess who’s right.
Our fantasy football rankings come from player projections combined with our proprietary 3D Value formula, customized to fit your league settings when you sync.
We all have input into how those rankings settle out. But it’s not an averaging of our personal ranks.
Of course, we’re all experienced fantasy players and analysts here, so we certainly have our individual favorites -- fantasy football draft targets that may or may not align with the Draft Sharks rankings.
So we put this article together to give each guy a chance to speak his mind. Here’s who we’re targeting …
Our 3D Value system helps you quickly compare players across positions.
Ian Miller
Jared Smola
Jody Smith
Kevin English
Matt Schauf
Shane Hallam
Ian’s Fantasy Football Draft Target
DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
Smith has not only flashed but been a legitimate producer to this point in his career. In 2026, his fantasy production will leap forward.
Philly Removed the Biggest Hurdle
A.J. Brown accounted for at least 25% of Philly’s target volume every year since arriving in 2022. Brown is the only wide receiver to post at least a 25% target share each year since 2020. That even includes multiple seasons of at least 28%.
Brown’s departure naturally boosts Smith’s fantasy outlook. And Smith’s especially appealing because he produced before Brown even left.
Despite playing alongside one of the league’s best target earners, Smith still managed 25% target shares in two of four seasons. Smith produced 15.3 and 15.0 PPR points per game those years, each of which landed him among the top 15 receivers.
Smith Already Cleared the Other Big Hurdle
Smith has not only had to overcome target competition, but also managed to produce despite playing in one of the league’s lowest-volume passing offenses.
The Eagles have ranked outside of the top 20 offenses in pass attempts in each of Smith’s five seasons. That includes two seasons in which the offense ranked dead last.
That isn’t expected to change this season, but if the Eagles play from behind in any given week, Smith will be more likely to deliver high-end fantasy production as the new No. 1.
Smith has already been a solid producer despite his situation working against him. Now that things look far friendlier we can see Smith become one of the position’s top producers.
Jared’s Fantasy Football Draft Targets
Kenneth Walker, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Walker has flashed big fantasy upside throughout his career, but we’ve never seen him with true workhorse usage.
I think that changes in 2026.
Kansas City’s All-in
Walker never topped 255 touches in four seasons with Seattle. Expect a new career high this season.
The Chiefs gave Walker a three-year, $43 million deal and have spent the offseason talking about building the offense around him.
Training camp has backed that up: Walker has been heavily involved in the screen game, which gives him a chance at easy catches and yards.
Even more interesting, Patrick Mahomes has spent more time under center, something he’s rarely done in his career.
That looks like a move to maximize Walker, who averaged 4.8 yards per carry from under center last season vs. 4.1 from shotgun or pistol.
Andy Reid Knows How to Build Around a RB
Chiefs HC Andy Reid has leaned on the passing game for most of the Mahomes era, but he was once a fantasy RB kingmaker.
Across his first 20 seasons as an NFL head coach, Reid produced:
- 15 top-12 PPR RB finishes
- 13 top-8 finishes
- Three overall RB1s
Now Reid has a talented RB and a QB coming off a torn ACL. That sets up a throwback season with his RB as the most valuable fantasy asset.
Walker has already shown the explosive ability. Give him a career-best workload in a scheme designed to maximize his strengths, and we’re looking at the best fantasy season of his career.
Jaylen Waddle, WR, Denver Broncos
Waddle has been good through five NFL seasons. But various factors -- whether injuries, Tyreek Hill, or QB play -- have prevented him from being great.
That’s set to change in 2026.
Upgraded Situation Unlocks The Upside
Waddle lands in the best situation of his career, moving from a Dolphins offense that ranked bottom-8 in passing attempts and yards last year to a Broncos offense that finished top-11 in both.
Waddle is set to be the focal point of that passing game. The Broncos didn't surrender first-, third-, and fourth-round picks for a complementary piece. And everything out of Denver this offseason has backed that up: The coaching staff has talked him up incessantly, he’s been excellent in training camp, and he had this big catch-and-run in the preseason.
Waddle is losing Mike McDaniel as a play caller, but he’s gaining Sean Payton, who’s no slouch at designing an offense.
Payton produced seven top-12 fantasy WRs across 15 seasons as Saints head coach.
Waddle has the talent to become Payton’s eighth top-12 WR.
The Metrics Scream Elite WR
I could point to tons of fancy metrics that highlight how good Waddle is, but here’s my favorite:
Waddle was one of just eight WRs last season to post both 2.0+ yards per route and a 15%+ route win rate (per Fantasy Points). The other seven:
- Puka Nacua
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
- Zay Flowers
- George Pickens
- Nico Collins
- Davante Adams
- Ricky Pearsall
And Waddle didn’t just do it last year. He’s hit those marks in three of the last four seasons.
Translation: This is a WR who consistently creates big separation and produces strong per-route numbers.
Waddle has already shown the talent. Now he has the situation to turn it into a career-best fantasy season.
You’ll want in on that upside.
Jody’s Fantasy Football Draft Target
Jayden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers
Green Bay's pass-catching hierarchy should be much more consolidated this season after the departures of Romeo Doubs and Dontavion Wicks left 131 vacated targets.
The Packers didn't add any notable names to compete for those targets, and TE Tucker Kraft is expected to be worked slowly back into the offense while recovering from a torn ACL.
That should result in more stable roles for the team's top three WRs. If I miss out on Christian Watson, Reed looks like an appealing value target who can be drafted two or three rounds later.
Reed missed half of last season but led Green Bay's receiving corps in fantasy points per game in both 2023 and 2024. Reed showed a strong red-zone rapport with Jordan Love those two seasons, scoring 17 total TDs despite a mere 63% route participation rate in 2023 and 74% in 2024.
That should increase in 2026 with two established target-earners gone and Matthew Golden unproven.
Reed ranks among the top five WR values by our consensus ADP Market Index across formats.
Reed has already produced high-end WR3 numbers. He's healthy now and should be in line for a bigger weekly role in 2026. Reed offers top-30 scoring potential with a middle-round price tag, making him one of my top draft-day targets.
The ADP Market Index will help you find more undervalued players like Adams.
Kevin’s Fantasy Football Draft Target
Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Flowers’ receiving yards have climbed each season, from 858 to 1,059 to 1,211. He reached that career-high total in 2025 despite Lamar Jackson missing four games.
Now Flowers looks set to keep ascending.
New HC Jesse Minter talked up his usage last month. Then Baltimore backed that up earlier this month with a four-year extension that includes $108 million guaranteed.
The target competition also remains light, with Rashod Bateman, Ja’Kobi Lane, and Mark Andrews as complementary options. Andrews is coming off a career-low 8.8 yards per catch. Bateman faces a potential suspension after his June arrest, and that follows a 224-yard 2025.
I’m happy to grab Flowers as a high-end WR2 in Round 3 of 12-team drafts. If he adds a few more TDs to his already strong volume, a WR1 finish sits well within reach.
Matt’s Fantasy Football Draft Targets
D.J. Moore, WR, Buffalo Bills
Here’s the guy I’ve tried hardest to move up the site rankings … but on whom I’ve gotten nowhere close to my goal.
Moore sits just …
- tied for 28th in our PPR WR rankings
- 29th in half-PPR
- 29th in non-PPR
Compare that with Moore’s WR22 spot in current PPR consensus ADP and his WR27 best ball ADP, and it sure looks like “we’re” telling you not to bother drafting the Bills’ new lead receiver.
Well, I disagree with us.
We Know This Guy Has Top-15 Upside
I don’t have to guess at how high Moore’s capable of climbing. We’ve seen it.
His past seven seasons -- starting with his second year in the league -- have included two finishes among the top 15 WRs in PPR points per game. Those came in:
- 2019 in Carolina: 14th, with Kyle Allen as his primary QB
- 2023 in Chicago: ninth, with Justin Fields
The rest of his PPR per-game rankings within that span went like this:
- 2020: 27th
- 2021: 28th
- 2022: 36th
- 2024: 28th
- 2025: 49th
All those numbers might make it seem like I’m building the case against my guy, but don’t overlook the QB issue that has plagued Moore throughout his career so far.
Moore Literally Never Had a Good QB
Check out where the 29-year-old receiver has ranked in catchable-target rate each year among WRs with 50+ targets:
| Year | Rate | Rank |
| 2025 | 75.6% | 42nd |
| 2024 | 75.4% | 55th |
| 2023 | 79.7% | 27th |
| 2022 | 71.6% | 72nd |
| 2021 | 72.8% | 72nd |
| 2020 | 70.0% | 64th |
(Note: That’s as far back as available data goes for this metric.)
Now he gets Josh Allen. Among 45 QBs who threw at least 100 passes last season, Allen delivered the fourth-highest rate of catchable targets. Caleb Williams ranked 40th.
Allen opened his career wild, falling short of 59% completions each of his first two years. But he hasn’t dipped below 63.3% since 2020, while compiling a 65.8% completion rate over that span. Williams’ completion rate declined from 62.5% his rookie year to 58.1% last season.
Williams also trails well behind Allen in career yards per attempt: 7.4 to 6.6.
Williams can certainly improve, and I’d bet on him doing so. But there’s no doubting that moving from Chicago to Buffalo this offseason improved Moore’s QB situation.
Bills Say Bet on Rebound
If you choose to cling to Moore’s 2025 downturn in both production and advanced metrics as a signal that he’s in decline, then all I can really tell you is that I disagree and we’ll see how this season plays out.
More importantly, though, the Bills disagree with you.
Buffalo traded a second-round pick to Chicago for Moore, a price that surprised most observers after Moore’s down season.
The team did so after elevating OC Joe Brady to the head job. That matters because Brady previously coached Moore in Carolina, in 2020 and 2021. If the wideout (who turned 29 in April) were declining physically, this offensive coach who worked with him six years ago would probably know it.
Moreover, our dynasty aging curve data finds all WR archetypes producing at 90% of peak fantasy output or better in their age-29 seasons historically. So Moore has yet to reach an age we need to worry about.
And why did Buffalo go get Moore? Because they want a real lead receiver, the kind of guy they’ve lacked since sending Stefon Diggs away. That’s what the trade told us, especially when you consider that Moore brought a contract with the 17th-highest annual average at the position.
It’s also what camp buzz from observers and Allen himself has told us.
If you and my colleagues want to fade all that because Caleb Williams held Moore back in 2025, you’re welcome to do so. I’ll help you out by taking Josh Allen’s new buddy before you need to worry about it.
Harold Fannin Jr., TE, Cleveland Browns
I had a harder time picking my second guy, primarily because I already made my case for Christian Watson. So I checked my player exposures on Drafters, where I’ve done nearly all of my best ball drafting this year. And I was reminded that Fannin sits tied third.
Drafters uses full-PPR scoring, which is key to my case for Fannin. But all the negativity around the Browns right now might actually help.
Bet on the Player First
Let’s just hit a quick recap of Fannin’s past few years …
Even before his huge final season at Bowling Green, Fannin broke out as a true sophomore, leading the team in yards (623) and TD catches (6). The following campaign dwarfed that with 117 catches and 1,555 yards, each of which set an FBS record among TEs.
Then he carried that success over to the NFL. Despite joining a team that already had David Njoku, Fannin tallied the eighth-most PPR points per game ever for a rookie TE. He led Cleveland in receptions (72), receiving yards (731), and TE catches (6) and ranked eighth among all TEs in points per game for PPR and half-PPR.
In the four full games Fannin played without Njoku, he posted numbers that would have ranked him second among TE scorers for the season.
Don’t Sweat the Surroundings
Njoku’s gone, which obviously helps. But the Browns also drafted WR KC Concepcion in Round 1 and Denzel Boston in Round 2. That adds target competition, but are we really going to bet against Fannin because of a couple of rookies?
As a third-round rookie himself, Fannin ranked second among all TEs in targets per route, trailing only Dalton Kincaid. He ranked 16th in that category among all 160 TEs and WRs who drew at least 30 targets last year.
And Fannin produced strong fantasy numbers despite dealing with terrible QB play. Browns QBs scored the fewest fantasy points in the league in 2025. They also ranked 32nd in completion percentage over expectation (minus-4.2%).
So if you’re thinking of downgrading Fannin because Cleveland named Deshaun Watson the starter over Shedeur Sanders, don’t. The QB situation didn’t get worse. It’s just still bad with a different front man.
Fannin’s TE8 best ball ADP lines up exactly with where he finished last season. Draft him there and enjoy the PPR upside beyond that.
Shane’s Fantasy Football Draft Targets
Nico Collins, WR, Houston Texans
Collins finished eighth last year in total PPR points and 11th in points per game. His 2.35 yards per route run ranked ninth among 76 WRs with 40+ targets, even though it was his lowest mark of the past three seasons.
I’m the film guy on staff, and after watching almost every Texans game last year, I came away convinced the offense runs through Collins.
OC Nick Caley joined the team last year and made his offensive plan pretty clear. Establish the run (even if it wasn’t very successful) and utilize similar formations (with occasional play-action) to attack the secondary.
If the poor Texans O-line held up, Collins was almost always the first read on medium-to-deep targets. If it didn’t, C.J. Stroud checked down to shallow options such as Dalton Schultz.
The offense was built to get Collins the ball on explosive plays.
Second-year WR Jayden Higgins had the potential to siphon some of those looks in 2026, but a torn ACL ended his season.
Give me Collins’ talent in a scheme built for him, even if his QB doesn’t get any better.
Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
I remember watching Tuten run against a strong Miami Hurricanes defense (with future first-round picks Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor) in 2024. Tuten’s explosiveness and change-of-direction ability when finding holes popped out immediately and gave the Hurricanes fits that day.
He rushed for 141 yards on just 19 carries.
I believed I was watching a future NFL starting RB that day.
Tuten’s other 2024 film, and even some from 2023, backed up that talent and athleticism. I put him in my early rookie rankings here on Draft Sharks, and he only climbed from there.
Now he gets that chance to start after the Jaguars traded Tank Bigsby last year and let Travis Etienne go in free agency.
I get the risk with Tuten: just 307 rushing yards and 5 TDs on 83 carries as a rookie, plus 10 receptions for 79 yards across 15 games.
Despite the lack of raw stats, I loved Tuten’s film last year. He was shifty in space, just like in college, and even showed some power. He ranked 14th in yards after contact per attempt (3.0) and 11th in missed tackles forced per attempt (0.21), beating Etienne's 2025 marks in both.
The team did sign Chris Rodriguez, who played for HC Liam Coen at Kentucky in 2021, as a potential short-yardage back. But Rodriguez is more plodder than true threat to Tuten’s role.
So, if I end up with a hero- or zero-RB build in a draft, Tuten becomes a must-have in the fifth round. I’ll trust my college evaluation of him and hope he proves me right.
If Tuten busts, my teams can recover. If he hits, there’s top-10 upside in this explosive offense.
Now It's Time to Get YOUR Guys
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