Top Sleepers
Yesterday we covered #10 through #6. Today we close out the list with our top five sleepers… capped by the highest-variance, highest-ceiling name on the board.
#5. Daniel Jones (QB - IND)
Coming off his best pro season, Jones is a QB2 with real weekly upside once he's fully cleared.
He's rehabbing a torn right Achilles and fractured fibula from Week 14 of 2025, but is currently ahead of schedule, and the Colts believed in him enough to sign him to a two-year extension after tagging him.
Before the injury, he ranked 4th in the NFL in yards per attempt (8.1), 8th in QBR (63.7), and 9th in deep ball completion percentage while finishing 12th in fantasy points per game (18.0).
His rushing floor is real: 5th among QBs in rushing touchdowns and 8th in red zone carries per game, and he flashed a true ceiling in Week 1 with 29.5 fantasy points (QB3 on the week).
He's a legitimate Superflex starter and a high-upside QB2 in single-QB formats… just monitor his mobility once training camp opens.
#4. Blake Corum (RB - LAR)
A committee back in the league's best offensive environment, with real standalone flex value.
Corum ranked 2nd in the NFL in Explosive Rating (122.9) and 6th in True Yards Per Carry (4.9) last season, taking a major second-year leap to 145 carries for 746 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He plays in a Rams offense that ranked 1st in the NFL in total yards (6,709) and points scored (518) in 2025, and by late season he was a weekly threat for 10-15 touches depending on game script.
Per Evan Silva of ETR, he's a standalone flex play now, and a league-winner if Kyren Williams goes down.
Add the league's easiest projected schedule for Rams running backs in 2026, and Corum offers a high-end RB2/flex floor with genuine RB1 upside built in.
#3. Isaiah Likely (TE - NYG)
A clear path to targets, reunited with the coach who knows how to use him.
Likely signed a 3-year, $40M deal ($13.3M/year) with the Giants, reuniting with former Ravens HC John Harbaugh, and is projected as the slot replacement for Wan'Dale Robinson.
His ceiling flashed in Baltimore: 5 catches for 95 yards in Week 13 and 4 catches for 25 yards and a touchdown in Week 14, and he ranked 6th in target separation (2.27 yards) on the season.
Former starting tight end Daniel Bellinger departed for the Titans, leaving Likely as the Giants' primary receiving threat at the position — and his scramble-drill ability is viewed as an elite fit for QB Jaxson Dart.
The Giants' schedule for tight end production jumps from 5th-hardest to 2nd-easiest in 2026… a massive tailwind for a player who finally has a clear runway to targets.
#2. Ricky Pearsall (WR - SF)
The talent and target competition are both there… durability is the only question left.
With Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings both expected to depart, Pearsall is projected as the 49ers' starting WR2 opposite newcomer Mike Evans.
When healthy in 2025, he was highly efficient (14th in yards per target (9.8) and 7th in the NFL in contested catch rate), and still commanded a 19.6% target share and 33% air yards share despite missing half the season.
His week-to-week range is wide: he exploded for 141 yards and a touchdown in Week 17, but also had three straight games under 20 yards mid-season.
The target competition around him is as fragile as it’s ever been, so this is a make-or-break third year, but the ceiling is real if he stays on the field.
#1. Jonathon Brooks (RB - CAR)
The buy-low, boom-or-bust name at the very top of the sleeper board.
Brooks missed all of 2025 on the PUP list after re-tearing his ACL in Week 14 of his rookie season, but he's now fully cleared for the 2026 offseason program and has already reached top speeds of 21 mph.
His path to the lead role is opening up… Rico Dowdle is gone to Pittsburgh, and Chuba Hubbard has reportedly "lost some prominence.” With the Panthers internally floating Brooks as the lead back, the runway is clear.
Brooks carries second-round draft pedigree and enough talent to eventually overtake Hubbard for the starting job in Carolina.
This is about as high-variance as sleepers get: back-to-back ACL tears in the same knee is a real red flag, but if the health holds up through camp, Brooks has legitimate Top-12 RB1 upside as a "found value" piece in Dave Canales' offense.
That completes our top-10 sleepers for 2026. Health at training camp will decide a lot of these outcomes, so it’s worth checking back in before your drafts lock.
-Joe