Must-Drafts
These are guys I am circling for all my fantasy drafts this season. If you draft any of them, congrats!
WR: A.J. Brown (NE)
A.J. Brown lands in the most target-friendly environment of his career alongside an MVP-caliber quarterback who needed exactly this kind of alpha WR1.
Four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (including a WR11 finish in 2025) achieved while playing in a run-first scheme that suppressed his usage and buried his red zone targets near career lows. Josh McDaniels’s pass-heavy Patriots offense fixes that ceiling immediately.
Drake Maye finished as NFL MVP runner-up in 2025, leading the league with an 8.9 yards-per-attempt average and a 72% completion rate. Brown has never thrown to a quarterback of this caliber — the upside is enormous.
No competition at the top: Romeo Doubs is the WR2 in New England, and Brown is unambiguously the alpha. He also posted a 69.2% success rate vs. man and 73.0% vs. zone last season, per Reception Perception, proving the efficiency is real regardless of scheme.
Brown is entering a contract year with $29M guaranteed and something to prove after years of offensive frustration in Philadelphia… so the motivation, the quarterback, and the role all point to a career-best fantasy season.
TE: Colston Loveland (CHI)
Colston Loveland didn't just survive his rookie year, he closed it like a star. And with DJ Moore now gone to Buffalo, he's stepping into a role that could make him the most valuable tight end in fantasy football.
A late-season breakout unlike anything at the position: Loveland posted 47-597-6 over his final 10 games, finishing as the overall TE12 as a rookie despite a slow start that hid his ceiling for much of the year.
Elite efficiency at every level: he ranked 6th in yards per route run (1.96), 9th in yards per target (8.8), and 3rd in deep targets (9) among tight ends. He is a genuine downfield threat in a position that rarely produces them.
System continuity and a clear path to being the No. 1 option: Ben Johnson returns as HC (he engineered Sam LaPorta's TE1 rookie year), Loveland has already leapfrogged Cole Kmet in routes and targets, and coaches view him as the clear No. 1 target in the red zone.
Early dynasty rankings already place Loveland as a top-3 TE asset overall… the only question is whether you can get him in the fourth round before the rest of your league wakes up.
QB: Joe Burrow (CIN)
When healthy, Joe Burrow is a fantasy QB1… he's a difference-maker, and the combination of his return to full health and a massive schedule upgrade makes 2026 the year to bet on the bounce-back.
The ceiling is verified: in his last healthy full season, Burrow led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns, averaging 22.5 PPG. Even after returning mid-2025 from turf toe surgery, he averaged 270 yards and 2.5 TDs over his final six games.
His schedule in 2026 is a dramatic upgrade: projected 5th-easiest for quarterbacks, up from 21st-easiest in 2025. That kind of scheduling jump, paired with a healthy Burrow and the league's top pass-catching duo, is a rare alignment.
The game scripts work in his favor all season: Cincinnati's defense ranked 31st in yards allowed and 32nd in rushing yards allowed in 2025, which chronically forces the Bengals into pass-heavy game scripts and shootouts. Burrow is one of only two passers to average over 35 attempts per game over the last three seasons.
Burrow is widely viewed as the top bounce-back QB of 2026, and if you can land him in the sixth round as a QB1 with true elite upside, that's a draft-day steal hiding in plain sight.
RB: Kenneth Walker (KC)
Kenneth Walker didn't just change teams this offseason… he upgraded from a meh offensive line and a platoon role into the lead back role on the most consistently dangerous offense in football, where a new scheme is being installed specifically around his skill set.
Super Bowl MVP and elite elusiveness: Walker led the NFL in juke rate (31.7%) in 2025 and has ranked 3rd in breakaway runs since 2022. He earned his big-money deal ($45M, $28.7M guaranteed) the hard way, capping the year with 135 yards on the biggest stage in football.
Moving from a below-average line to an elite one: after years behind the Seahawks' subpar offensive front, Walker now runs behind one of the league's premier interior lines. The Chiefs also ranked 31st in 15+ yard runs last season — Walker, who is the RB3 in explosive runs since 2022, is the direct answer to that problem.
The scheme is being built for him: OC Eric Bieniemy returns to Kansas City with plans to install more under-center gap scheme runs that play directly into Walker's vision and explosiveness. With Isiah Pacheco gone and no backfield competition, the workload is his.
Walker checks every box: proven production, elite athleticism, a feature role, a great line, and a motivated coaching staff tailoring the offense around him, draft him before the field figures out how good this situation really is.
That’s the list…some of the best targets at every fantasy football position in 2026.
-Joe