Must-Draft List

Since entering the league in 2019, Brown ranks third among wide receivers in yards per route run behind Puka Nacua and Tyreek Hill. He has been elite throughout his career, but he has been stuck on a number of run-heavy offenses that haven't been as prolific as Drake Maye's Patriots could be this season. Brown showed some signs of possible decline in 2025, and that can't be ignored. I am hoping that a preseason hamstring injury is what slowed him down, and I'm encouraged that he averaged 18.6 PPR points per game in his last seven regular-season games.

Why will the Patriots offense be better for Brown than Philadelphia's? First of all, I expect the Patriots to throw more than they did in a 14-3 season against one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. Also, the Eagles never threw more than 26 touchdown passes in Brown's four seasons in Philadelphia, while the Patriots threw 31 in 2025. And finally, I think Brown gets a big upgrade in offensive coordinator this season. Brown should be the clear top target for Maye and a fantastic Fantasy asset.

Even at age 29, I expect Brown to be a standout, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has the best Fantasy season of his career. I draft Brown as early as 16th overall, but it's justifiable to take him a little earlier in Round 2.

I'm excited about Walker going to Kansas City, and he should have the chance to perform like a No. 1 Fantasy running back in all leagues. I would draft him toward the end of Round 1 or beginning of Round 2. He should be the workhorse running back for the Chiefs, and I expect him to build off his strong finish to 2025 with the Seahawks when he was the Super Bowl MVP.

As the feature back for the Seahawks after Zach Charbonnet (knee) was injured in the divisional round of the playoffs, Walker scored at least 18.1 PPR points in all three postseason games, and he averaged 24.9 PPR points over that span. It's hard to expect that over a full season, but Walker should get goal-line reps and work in the passing game in Kansas City -- something he didn't do often in Seattle. However, in 2024, Walker was on pace for 71 catches, so he has the ability to be a weapon out of the backfield for Patrick Mahomes.

Most Fantasy managers will prefer to draft Walker toward the middle of Round 2, but I like him better this season than De'Von Achane, Omarion Hampton, Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry.

A.J. Brown is no longer in Philadelphia, which should give Smith the chance to be the No. 1 receiver for the Eagles. Philadelphia prepared for Brown's departure with the addition of first-round rookie Makai Lemon, as well as adding veterans in Marquise Brown, Dontayvion Wicks and Elijah Moore. But Smith should now be the No. 1 option in the passing game, and he's headed for the best season of his five-year career.

It's a small sample size, but Smith has played three games over the past two seasons without A.J. Brown, and Smith averaged 16.6 PPR points over that span. More importantly, he averaged 9.7 targets per game, and he should see plenty of opportunities from Jalen Hurts in 2026. Brown will leave behind 8.1 targets per game, and while some of that will go to Lemon and the other new additions, we expect Hurts and Smith to improve their rapport and propel Smith to stardom.

I would draft Smith in early Round 3 in the majority of leagues as a low-end No. 1 Fantasy receiver. When healthy -- he has battled a hamstring injury to start training camp -- we could see Smith challenge to be a top-10 Fantasy receiver in all formats.

None of the other second-year receivers have as much upside as Egbuka has. Heck, not many other receivers regardless of experience have as much upside as Egbuka has. We've already seen it!

Egbuka averaged just over 20 PPR points before he hurt his hamstring in 2025. His numbers were affected after that, save for one: he still averaged 8.5 targets through his first 11 games, suggesting that Baker Mayfield still wanted to throw to his prized pupil even though he knew he wasn't 100 percent. That changed once Mike Evans came back from his injury last year, but Evans isn't in Tampa Bay anymore. There isn't another Bucs receiver who can credibly line up anywhere or play effectively at all three levels of the field.

New playcaller Zac Robinson led the NFL in pre-snap motion last year and intends to implement some spread offense components that should further design one-on-one opportunities for Egbuka. That's music to Fantasy managers' ears. With red-zone chances expected to improve with Evans out of town and target volume expectations high, Egbuka's ceiling is just as high as the likes of Nico Collins, Rashee Rice and Chris Olave.

On a per game basis in PPR leagues, Higgins has been the No. 13, No. 13, No. 41, No. 5 and No. 16 wide receiver over the last five seasons. He should be drafted as a top-16 WR, and as long as Joe Burrow is his quarterback, Higgins feels safer than a lot of the WRs going in the same range. Higgins caught four touchdowns in five games with a healthy Burrow in 2025. If those guys stay on the field, they will produce at a high level.

Of course, Burrow and Higgins often don't stay on the field. Injuries are a major concern when drafting Higgins, but which WR in Rounds 3 and 4 doesn't have some type of concern? I'll take the guy with 21 TDs in his last two seasons, and I'll take him in Round 3, but ADP suggests you could get him in Round 4.

If you think Higgins is completely dependent on touchdowns, consider that Higgins has averaged more than 75 yards per game twice and more than 64 yards per game three times. Also, his per-game stats are often hurt by the fact that he leaves games early with injuries (again, injuries are my main concern with Higgins). And even if he is reliant on touchdowns, I trust him to score. Mostly, I trust the Bengals offense, and I want as many pieces of it as I can get.

Flowers projects as a top-24 player in my projections, and you can draft him late in Round 3. In 2025, he ranked top five in route participation (95.6%), target share (29%), and yards per route run (2.53), and finished as WR7 in total PPR Fantasy points. This is a guy who is always on the field when his team passes and has proven elite at earning targets and turning targets into yards.

Flowers' leap last year was masked by the fact that Baltimore only threw the ball 420 times last year. Lamar Jackson's 17-game pace for pass attempts is 480. It's easy to project a 15% boost in targets for Flowers at last year's role simply because the team's total pass attempts should go up. I also wouldn't rule out a career high in touchdowns. While they are very important, touchdowns are also the least predictable stat for receivers. Chris Olave, Terry McLaurin, and Courtland Sutton are all examples of guys who recently had spike touchdown seasons despite a poor touchdown track record.

If you're worried about his size, Antonio Brown and Tyler Lockett are similarly sized receivers who didn't score much early in their career and turned into perennial double-digit touchdown scorers. If Flowers sees 140 targets and has a career year in touchdowns, he'll provide Round 1 value.

Jaylen Waddle gives the Broncos offense something they haven't had much of since Bo Nix arrived: speed and versatility. Waddle's shiftiness is something the Dolphins didn't have to lean into much over the past three years when they had elite explosiveness from Tyreek Hill and even De'Von Achane. They also had quarterback limitations that suppressed Waddle's contributions as recently as 2025. That's why Waddle's struggled to put up good target numbers and PPR averages over his past three years.

In Denver, Waddle won't have to worry as much about either of those things because the Broncos just don't have any WRs who are as talented as the 27-year-old. Sean Payton has expressed excitement over Waddle's skills multiple times since acquiring him, and the new wrinkles playcaller Davis Webb intends to add should result in many quick targets for Waddle to catch in space and extend plays with his speed -- and that's on top of what they'll ask Waddle to do downfield. The Broncos did indeed spread targets around a lot last year, but it's well documented in Payton's history that when he has an alpha receiver he gets that guy the ball.

A lower-muscle strain that kept Waddle out of some early August practices shouldn't be a major issue unless it lingers into late August, at which point his average draft position will only make him a better bargain. Injury is the only concern with Waddle, who has played at least 14 games every year of his career.

Burden's 2.71 yards per route run in 2025 ranked third amongst all players with at least 50 targets, behind only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. If it sounds absurd to put him in that company, go check out what Ben Johnson and everyone else has said about Burden this offseason.

The best part is that a bet on Burden does not have to be a bet against Colston Loveland or Rome Odunze. This team lost DJ Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus, who combined for 150 targets last year. There is room for Burden, Loveland, and Odunze to each earn 120 targets and beat their ADP.

The knock against Burden before the injury was that he was being drafted too close to his ceiling. I didn't really believe that, even in Round 3, but it certainly isn't the case in Round 5. And all indications we have are that he should be a full go for Week 1, and I expect him to be a must-start WR2 with WR1 upside.

If Mike Evans stays healthy, he's going to have a big season, and he's going to help you win your Fantasy league. Yes, Evans has missed 12 games in his last two seasons, and the 49ers play football next to an electrical substation that apparently shoots injury beams at the players. Still, Evans is exactly the kind of risk you should take in Round 5 that could pay huge dividends.

The 49ers have thrown at least 30 touchdown passes in three of the last four seasons, and Evans is going to catch a lot of them. Do you know who led the 49ers in end zone targets each of the last two seasons? It was Jauan Jennings, and he's now on Minnesota. Jennings led that category outright in 2025 and was tied with George Kittle, who is coming off a torn Achilles, in 2024. Speaking of injuries, Ricky Pearsall is out for the season.

Evans looks to me like the best bet to lead the team in receiving. And if you're wondering if a WR can be good at age 33, here are some WRs who averaged at least 13 PPR points per game in their age-33 seasons: Antonio Brown, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, Cris Carter, Julian Edelman, Jimmy Smith, Steve Smith, Jerry Rice. Typically, you have to be a Hall of Famer to do it -- a Hall of Famer like Mike Evans.

It flew under the radar, but Year 3 was the best of Sam LaPorta's career, from an efficiency standpoint. The Detroit Lions offense produced at an elite level, in spite of multiple injuries and a bit of an offensive coordinator debacle, and 2026 projects to be even better.

The schedule looks extremely favorable, and a diminished defensive secondary may result in lots of back-and-forth shootout game scripts. I want to get as many Lions onto my Fantasy teams as possible, and LaPorta is one of the few who isn't exorbitantly priced in drafts. He actually feels like a significantly underpriced player!

Through three seasons (one of which was injury-shortened), LaPorta has scored 520 PPR Fantasy points. The only tight ends to score more through three seasons of a career are Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, and George Kittle. Don't let LaPorta get lost among the second tier at the tight end position, as his production to date shows he can make a run at being a true difference-maker at the position.

Jacksonville figured out last season that Washington can handle short-area targets and contribute downfield as well. The confidence built last year has catapulted Washington into an everyday playmaker for the Jaguars this training camp. He and Trevor Lawrence appear to be in sync, something Lawrence has missed from his wideouts over his career. And because Jacksonville has quite a bit of talent across their receiver corps, defenses won't rush to double-team Washington.

This is all to suggest that the 2025 breakout can indeed maintain the seven-target-per-game pace he had from Week 7 on last season, resulting in Fantasy point averages that rivaled CeeDee Lamb's. There's also some concern about how effective the Jaguars run game will be, and if that ends up being an issue, then Washington can further pad his stats by being a short-area target to help make up for the lack of a run game.

There's no shortage of reports on how great Washington has looked this summer, and there's no shortage of optimism on how he'll help your Fantasy team win, especially in PPR leagues. Washington is a straight-up value once you get into Round 6, just like he's a value for the Jaguars this season as he attempts to earn a new contract.

Did you know Montgomery finished the 2025 season with an 82.8% catch rate in Detroit? I looked it up after reading about his 80-plus yard touchdown on a wheel route from C.J. Stroud during Texans training camp. The case for Montgomery is simple, but it gets more intriguing if he can get to 35-40 receptions as the lead back in Houston in 2026.

As the lead back in Houston, you're drafting a still very efficient rusher, on an improved offensive line that drafted the biggest butt kicker in the class in the first round of the 2026 draft (interior offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge) and with arguably the best defense in the NFL providing plus game script on a weekly basis. Montgomery has scored 33 rushing touchdowns over his last three seasons in the NFL and should earn an even larger red zone share going from Jahmyr Gibbs to Woody Marks as his backfield mate.

But here's the metric that sold me on Montgomery being one of the best value picks on the board: In Montgomery's 16 career games where he has a snap rate above 60%, he has averaged 14.9 Fantasy points per game with 86 total yards and 18.6 touches per game in that sample size. In Houston, Montgomery will see his snap rate rise above 60% weekly.

Herbert has the chance to be a top-five Fantasy quarterback this season, and I would draft him as early as Round 6. I love everything about his profile for 2026, especially if left tackle Rashawn Slater (knee) is healthy. Slater missed all of 2025, and right tackle Joe Alt (ankle) was limited to six games. However, when Alt played, the Chargers offense was awesome and averaged 25.3 points per game compared to 18.3 points without Alt. Herbert also averaged 25.1 Fantasy points per game when Alt was on the field.

The addition of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is also a plus for Herbert, and McDaniel once helped Tua Tagovailoa lead the NFL in passing yards in 2023 with the Dolphins. Herbert has a solid receiving corps with Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston and Tre Harris, and tight ends Oronde Gadsden II and David Njoku should also help. We also have Omarion Hampton and Keaton Mitchell as quality weapons out of the backfield. And Herbert will use his legs since he's rushed for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns in each of the past two seasons.

I'll let someone else draft Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Drake Maye early on Draft Day and wait for Herbert at a better cost -- with just as much upside.

Stevenson was the best running back on the Patriots in 2025, and it wasn't particularly close. Let's start with the more obvious metrics and the key reason he dominated touches in the Patriots backfield when it mattered in their postseason: pass protection. Stevenson gave up fewer pressures in his last three seasons than TreVeyon Henderson allowed as a rookie in 2025. That matters for a young, developing, and often struggling offensive line.

Now let's get to the more surprising metrics. Stevenson also finished with the third-highest explosive run rate of all backs in 2025. Yes, you read that right. The two advanced metrics that best determine a back's individual contribution -- and are often most predictive of future success -- are forced missed tackle rate and yards after contact per attempt. Stevenson finished as a top-five running back in both forced missed tackle rate and YAC per attempt in 2025.

When both Stevenson and Henderson were healthy and active, Stevenson also handled 12 out of the 16 inside-the-5 carries in the red zone. Stevenson also added a layer to his game as a receiver. He finished with a higher yards-per-route-run average (1.41) than Henderson (0.98). Stevenson finished with the third-most Fantasy points per touch (1.12) last regular season, and if his extended role from last postseason carries over to the 2026 regular season, he'll be one of the best values you can draft at any position.

The Colts moved on from Michael Pittman and replaced him with a Round 7 rookie. Beginning early in the offseason and persisting all throughout, Indy brass has openly discussed 2026 as an opportunity for an expanded role for Josh Downs. He's a popular sleeper pick for many as a result, and yet, I can't help but feel Downs remains the most underpriced receiver of the 2026 draft season.

Both film and data suggest that Downs is a talented player deserving of an expanded role, and his skill set specifically projects as Fantasy-friendly. Downs is a consistent separator capable of quickly presenting an open target against any coverage type. With Daniel Jones recovering from an Achilles injury, getting the ball out quickly seems like a logical priority for the Indy offense. Ideally, the Colts will be able to lean on Jonathan Taylor and grind opposing defenses down with the ground game. That outcome requires the Colts defense to cooperate. When Indy falls behind on the scoreboard, we may see a plethora of targets piled onto Downs' plate.

He's ready for that opportunity. With Alec Pierce (ankle) missing most of the offseason, Downs has familiarized himself as the offense's WR1. It's rare to find a team's potential top target earner at such a cheap draft price in Fantasy Football.

After two promising years that were ultimately defined by a lack of opportunity, Reed missed the majority of Year 3. Still, the Packers re-signed him and let Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks leave in free agency. In Year 4, Reed may see more targets than ever before. He still projects as a primary slot option who might not play in two-receiver sets, but that could change. And even if it doesn't, Reed is a justifiable bet-on-efficiency pick for Fantasy Football in 2026. He is first(!) among qualified receivers in Fantasy points per target since entering the NFL.

Reed's first 40 NFL games has produced identical per-target production to Tyreek Hill's initial 40 NFL games, with Reed actually edging out early-career Hill in yards after the catch and receptions that came 15+ yards past the line of scrimmage. He's an extremely talented WR who can win with the ball in hand or as a downfield route runner.

Role uncertainty is suppressing Reed's Fantasy Football ADP. I see Reed as a small-lose, big-win proposition at this price.

Murray's ADP is steadily rising after Minnesota named him the starter earlier than expected, but that doesn't mean you should shy away from drafting him. Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell looked at the tape from his 2025 season and said we need to get back to doing what had worked in the past. That means calling a game that lands the Vikings in the top five in pass play calls over expectation and hopefully a top five passing production team overall. They certainly have the receivers and offensive line to get that done.

Despite now being drafted outside of the top 12 quarterbacks, Murray has finished in the top 12 in four of seven seasons. On a per-game basis, he has been even better. Murray has averaged 19.4 Fantasy points per game since 2019, which makes him the QB7 on average. He has also finished as a 400-plus yard rusher in five seasons. The rushing component adds both a floor and ceiling to his outlook with the Vikings.

Except for JJ McCarthy, O'Connell has delivered borderline-elite passing spurts from Nick Mullens and the career revival of Sam Darnold. His offensive scheme defines things for the quarterback, and that's exactly what Murray needs. Expect an immediate connection with and reliance on Justin Jefferson early and throughout the season. With Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Jauan Jennings -- plus rushing upside and quarterback whisperer Kevin O'Connell -- Murray has top-six upside coming at a price tag outside the top 12 at his position.

In consensus ADP, Washington is outside of the first 15 rounds as of this writing. In other words, you may be able to wait even longer than I am suggesting, which is Round 11. But at some point I suspect there will be an awakening.

Washington averaged 6.4 yards per carry last year at Arkansas and produced 108 yards per game on a team that won two games. He was one of the stars of the combine, running a 4.33 40-yard dash at 223 pounds. He was drafted in Round 4 and now appears to be the leading contender to be the handcuff behind Ashton Jeanty in Klint Kubiak's offense. We rarely have a handcuff with this athletic profile that is simply ignored, and I suppose that is because people remember how bad the Raiders offense was last year and don't want to bet on a backup in that situation.

I anticipate Kubiak and Tyler Linderbaum will have an enormous impact on the Raiders' run game, and if Jeanty misses time, Washington will be a must-start running back. He may even provide some flex appeal if Kubiak goes run-heavy and Washington earns eight to 10 touches per game alongside Jeanty. I don't believe there is a running back with more upside and less competition down the roster available as late as Washington is.