We will admit this from the start: 2025 was a bad year for rookies in fantasy football.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty came into the league with huge expectations and finished 15th among fantasy running backs. No rookie wide receiver finished higher than 15th — that was Carolina Panthers standout Tetairoa McMillan — and the only rookie quarterback in the top 20 was the Giants’ Jaxson Dart, who finished 13th and was too uneven to start with any hope of winning.
But 2026 could be different. We only said “could” be, not “should” or “will” be. It’s exciting to take a rookie in your fantasy draft. It represents the unknown, boundless potential, a chance to land the steal of the draft compared to the big-name returning veterans.
So who are the rookies in the best position to play a role big enough to have a real fantasy impact? We’re offering up 10 names, including some obvious names, along with mid-round selections we’re keeping an eye on ahead of minicamp in June.
Eli Stowers, TE, Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Goedert had an outlier breakout with 11 touchdown receptions last year — he’d totaled eight in the previous three years combined — but it shows that Jalen Hurts will throw to tight ends in the red zone. The Philadelphia Eagles, even as they likely deal A.J. Brown away soon, have added a ton to their passing game, in rookie Makai Lemon and veterans Dontayvion Wicks and Hollywood Brown. Still, we like Eli Stowers as a surprise-stash rookie, someone new to the position and athletic enough to steal snaps, catches and touchdowns from Goedert in what could be the veteran’s final NFL season.
Denzel Boston, WR, Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns didn’t have a receiver with more than two touchdown catches last season, and there’s the ongoing question of who exactly is throwing passes for them. But they put first- and second-round picks into rookie receivers who could easily be their two most productive pass-catchers in 2026. Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion went 24th overall, but keep an eye on Boston, who went 39th but has much more size (6-foot-4, 212 pounds) and caught 20 touchdown passes in his last two years at Washington.
Justin Joly, TE, Denver Broncos
Harold Fannin shined as a third-round rookie last year, and if we had to pick a late-rounder from a deep group of rookie tight ends, it would be Justin Joly, who averaged 49 catches and 576 yards over his last three college seasons, with seven touchdown catches last year. The Denver Broncos have an older tight end in Evan Engram, who managed just one touchdown catch last season, so it’s not hard to see Joly stepping into a larger role than, say, Max Klare with the Los Angeles Rams or Sam Roush with the Chicago Bears, joining loaded position rooms.
Kaelon Black, RB, San Francisco 49ers
Christian McCaffrey stayed healthy and played all 17 games in 2025, an oasis in an offense mired in injuries everywhere else. Can he do it again in 2026? If not, Kaelon Black could be the beneficiary, a third-round pick from Indiana who rushed for 1,039 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Grabbing a McCaffrey understudy has paid off before — see Elijah Mitchell in 2021 or Jordan Mason in 2024 — and with Brian Robinson signing with the Atlanta Falcons, Black has a chance to step into that high-potential backup role.
Fernando Mendoza, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
To be clear, Fernando Mendoza is unlikely to be helping any good fantasy football team in 2026. We got spoiled by Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix in 2024, but Mendoza is closer to Ward and Dart last year — his over-under for passing yards is 2,499.5, via DraftKings Sportsbook. That’s a reminder that the Las Vegas Raiders are paying Kirk Cousins well and may start him instead, at least early in the season. So, taking Mendoza is strictly a late-round dynasty flier, someone you can grab in the 14th round with the hopes that he’s a solid starter in 2027.
Kenyon Sadiq, TE, New York Jets
Tight end was a great position for rookie fantasy impact last year, with the Indianapolis Colts’ Tyler Warren, the Chicago Bears’ Colston Loveland and Fannin all finishing as top-10 tight ends in fantasy. So, it checks out that we would have three tight ends in our top 10. But what’s complicated this year is that most of the top tight ends went to teams that already have good tight ends, like Sadiq, who goes to a New York Jets team whose leading receiver last year was rookie tight end Mason Taylor. It would be easy, however, for Sadiq to surpass Taylor’s modest rookie totals (44 receptions for 369 yards and a touchdown) and for the Jets’ offense in general to be an improved unit as Geno Smith is an upgrade over the three bad quarterbacks who started in 2025.
Jordyn Tyson, WR, New Orleans Saints
Once the New Orleans Saints traded Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks, there was a glaring need for a strong No. 2 receiver to complement Chris Olave. New Orleans found that at No. 8 in selecting Jordyn Tyson from Arizona State. The Saints have been busy this offseason in surrounding Tyler Shough with offensive talent, from running back Travis Etienne and guard David Edwards in free agency before getting Tyson and tight end Oscar Delp in the draft. They’ll be set up much better to show off Kellen Moore’s offensive mind, and with opposing defenses focusing on Olave, Tyson is in a good position to take advantage of that as a productive No. 2.
Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Jadarian Price, taken by Seattle with the final pick of the first round, is an intriguing prospecthttps://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2026-nfl-draft-meet-jadarian-price-backup-rb-who-rb2-draft-class. He never started a game in college, stuck behind Jeremiyah Love at Notre Dame, and never had more than 15 touches in a game. But for sheer value, he’s much more likely to exceed expectations than Love, because Price goes to an amazing offense on a dominant team that will have the lead plenty, one that lost star Kenneth Walker to the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency and has Zach Charbonnet recovering from a torn ACL.
Fantasy impact is as much about opportunity as it is talent, and Price might go into the year with the best situational opportunity of any rookie. He should have a window in September to show what he can do before Charbonnet is back, and to set himself up to have the larger split of that job share if he can play consistently as a rookie and show pass-catching ability that wasn’t used much in college. His over-under for rushing yards is 750.5 (via BetOnline), which is actually just 150 fewer than Love’s.
Carnell Tate, WR, Tennessee Titans
We’ll open with a caveat: in the last decade, only two rookie receivers have had 1,000-plus receiving yards and 10-plus touchdowns — Brian Thomas Jr. with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024 and Ja’Marr Chase with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021. So to ask for both of those things for a rookie receiver is to set the bar almost unfairly high. Carnell Tate, picked fourth overall by the Tennessee Titans, is the favorite to lead all rookies in receiving yards at multiple sportsbooks, but his over-under is also 900.5 (via BetOnline) and his over-under for touchdowns is just 4.5.
For Tate to really shine as a fantasy football star, you need quarterback Cam Ward to take a big step forward. As a rookie on a bad team, he threw for 15 touchdowns all season, and that number should rise in Year 2. Getting to 25 would be a huge step up, and it could happen with better coaching and new receiving targets in Tate and free-agent signee Wan’Dale Robinson. Robinson is still only 25 and has gotten 140 targets in each of the last two seasons, which could be seen as a threat to Tate, but Robinson also has only nine touchdown catches in four NFL seasons, so the red-zone targets are more likely to go to Tate, the latest in a prolific pipeline of star receivers from Ohio State to the NFL.
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona Cardinals
You see a running back taken in the top five, you want to see a Saquon Barkley impact. Barkley had 2,000-plus total yards and 15 touchdowns for the New York Giants in 2018. All you need is Love: That’s what we will hear in our minds as drafts begin, with his 40 touchdowns in his last two years at Notre Dame and a No. 3 overall pick to boot. What complicates things is that Arizona will be a bad team — their over-under is 4.5 wins, matching the Dolphins for the lowest in the league — and teams constantly trailing generally throw more and run less.
That wasn’t the problem with Jeanty on a bad Raiders team last year. He got 311 touches, but just wasn’t able to do much with them, disappointing just about anyone who drafted him. Now, Love has a young, offensive-minded coach, and there isn’t a great quarterback to make a compelling case to throw a lot instead of building around the run game. Love’s over-unders for rushing yards (900.5) and rushing touchdowns (6.5) lead all rookie running backs (via BetOnline). He also has an over-under of 450.5 receiving yards, and if he stays healthy, he could cover all three of those easily.
One familiar concern: Tyler Allgeier. If you’ve had Bijan Robinson on your team in recent years, you know Allgeier’s ability to cull touchdowns and touches away from an elite running back. Arizona gave him $12 million for two years, so even with a much bigger investment in Love, they’ll want him to be a solid No. 2, the question being at what fantasy expense.
Read the full article here
