While the NFL regular season just wrapped up, and we're in the midst of what promises to be a thrilling Playoffs, it's never too early to start preparing for 2026 fantasy football drafts.
With that in mind, the RotoWire football staff came together to compile a set of early fantasy football PPR rankings for the 2026 NFL season. Each writer ranked their top 10 quarterbacks, top 15 running backs, top 15 wide receivers and top 10 tight ends.
Below, you'll find each writer's individual set of rankings -- plus the composite results -- for each position, as well as some commentary.
2026 Fantasy Quarterback Rankings
Jerry Donabedian: A lot of QBs are difficult to rank this year, but Jaxson Dart takes the cake for me -- he was definitely the hardest one to figure out while doing 2026 projections. Brian Daboll used Dart like prime Cam Newton in the red zone, but it became a topic of controversy after repeated trips to the medical tent and/or concussion protocol.
Dart also scrambled on called pass plays at a high rate, including near the goal line, and that aspect is more likely to carry over from one coaching staff to another. There was plenty else to like about Dart's rookie year, but that won't necessarily matter for fantasy if he does more passing and less running under a new coaching staff.
Jake Letarski: Ranking the quarterbacks after Allen was the most difficult part of this exercise, as 2-through-10 could be largely interchangeable. We learned once again this year that using draft capital on a top-10 QB is a bad idea, as there will always be a Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, Trevor Lawrence or Caleb Williams -- none of which were in the top-10 of NFFC ADP but had top-5 finishes.
Looking ahead to next year, we saw what a floor looks like for Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels, and it's not pretty. I expect Maye and Williams to regress with tougher schedules and more tape out there. Burrow has no rushing upside.
Ultimately, I settled on Hurts for safety. He's generally stayed healthy, is a lock for double-digit fantasy points every time out, and he'll have a similar supporting cast of skill players/coaching. This would change if there's a tush push ban, but for now, he sort of lands at No. 2 by default, knowing I likely won't be rostering any of those top players in single-QB formats.
Nick Whalen: Injuries wrecked Jayden Daniels' 2025 season, but I'm still a big believer in the talent, which we saw on full display throughout his rookie year. Health will remain a question mark until proven otherwise, but what ultimately kept him out of my top-five is the lack of high-end talent around him. Of course, Daniels made it work during that magical 2024 season, but it's tough to get fired up about an aging, underwhelming core of skill players that badly needs to be re-tooled.
2026 Fantasy Running Back Rankings
John McKechnie: Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love is a great prospect who profiles as a top-15 pick. Should we be concerned about his potential landing spot? Ashton Jeanty's rookie season serves as a cautionary tale, of course, but I was saying before the 2025 draft that the Raiders were the worst-case landing spot for his rookie-year upside because there was so much else to fix, especially up front.
There are some teams picking in the top 15 that have much more solid foundations than the 2025 Raiders who could justify a high pick on Love. Washington, New Orleans, Kansas City and Dallas are all realistic and appealing landing spots that could vault Love into the redraft Top 10 among RBs.
Jerry Donabedian: Big picture, De'Von Achane is an elite player and will be fine without Mike McDaniel. For 2026, I do have some concern that Miami will decline from mediocrity to something much worse, with no obvious path to upgrading at QB over Tua Tagovailoa. The nice thing with Achane is that he can score a boatload of cheap PPR points in that scenario. I have him ranked 4th-5th among RBs and 7th-8th overall right now, safely inside of the first round.
Jim Coventry: Saquon Barkley was in a toxic offense that was poisoned by offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo, who had no idea how to run an NFL offense. Just using Barkley more efficiently and in a less predictable way will allow the running back to get back on track. I'd rank him higher, but age may start to creep in and cap his ceiling.
Alan Seslowsky: Ashton Jeanty is a tough click in early drafts. We have seen the upside with some spike games, and as the NFL slows down for him in Year 2, it's a bet on talent. Even if the Raiders environment is not ideal, the flashes of elite fantasy production are worth taking a chance on in the late second round.
Joe Bartel: I struggled, specifically, to rank the free-agent-to-be RBs like Breece Hall, Javonte Williams and Kenneth Walker. I'm of the opinion Hall is the most likely of the trio to be in a more favorable situation next year so I was comfortable placing him 15th, but he'd obviously get bumped down if he somehow returns to the Jets.
I think there's mutual reasons for Williams to return to Dallas, but Jerry Jones is too mercurial to assume at this stage of the offseason that the obvious thing will be the action that actually occurs. And I'm interested to see what Walker could do in a backfield all to himself, although there's reason to assume Seattle is content with the offensive arrangement and might prioritize bringing back the 2022 second-round pick, even if it doesn't make logistical sense from a team-building perspective.
Factor in a couple of second-year running backs like TreVeyon Henderson or Quinshon Judkins who could elevate to another level, and there's an easy argument to be made that we're deeper at top-tier RB options than we have been in this past half decade.
Jeff Erickson: Ranking the running backs toward the end of the top-15 was really difficult. I struggled with Saquon Barkley, the New England RBs, and really everything after my top eight. There's a clear tier-drop after Derrick Henry, for me.
Jerry Donabedian: Derrick Henry is second to none among RBs in terms of not only size and strength but also diet and training. It's not a fluke that he's aging so well, and I think he'll have at least one more productive season as a high-volume rusher. A return to his 2024 fantasy value is too much to ask, but a repeat of 2025 seems reasonable. He's someone that I'll rank a bit lower than where the projections have him, because there is still that risk he comes back a step slower next spring/summer. A third-round ADP feels right for full PPR.
2026 Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings
Jeff Erickson: I had to make room for Christian Watson in my top 15. He transformed the Packers' offense when he returned from injury and will be the best receiver on a team with a good passing offense.
Joe Bartel: I do think Drake London represents the second tier of WR1s in fantasy, as there are serious question marks for everyone after that point. I still believe the fourth-year wideout is one of the NFL's best at the position, and there's only so many ways a new offensive scheme could actually mess that up.
That being said, I have major reservations about what Atlanta will do to improve its quarterback play despite investing heavily into failed options in past years, to the point where I struggle to see a convenient solution to elevate London into the tier above. That the 24-year-old ranks where he does is an indictment on a needlessly unforced error by the Falcons, and one that I worry could take multiple years to recover from.
Jake Letarski: Emeka Egbuka was the toughest WR to rank, especially not knowing whether Mike Evans will re-sign for 2026. Egbuka looked like a league-winner early in the year but then dropped off considerably and devastated managers in the playoffs. Whether that was a rookie wall, the rest of the receiving corps getting healthy, or Baker Mayfield's play dropping off significantly, he wasn't the same player in the second half.
George Pickens is also in that conversation, given he isn't under contract for 2026. If he and Dallas can't reach a deal, he'll either play upset under the franchise tag, or he'll take the bag elsewhere to learn a new scheme and potentially end up with a worse offense/QB. Not to mention, he had some rough weeks in the playoffs, and a lot of his elite-level production came when CeeDee Lamb was sidelined by injury.
I ultimately included both players, but depending on how offseason news shakes out, I could easily see replacing these players with Zay Flowers, Tyreek Hill, Courtland Sutton or even Christian Watson as we get closer to training camp.
Jim Coventry: Davante Adams has lost very little in terms of his ability to get open. With Puka Nacua on the field, no defense can ever sell out to stop Adams. Also, the chemistry with Adams and Matthew Stafford got better as the season went on. Injuries aside, I expect that Adams will remain dominant despite being incredibly old by NFL standards.
Mario Puig: I think all the reasons for ranking Ladd McConkey where he was in 2025 were soundly reasoned, and what went wrong was pretty clearly the offensive line with the Chargers. Keenan Allen is washed up, Quentin Johnston should be a backup and Tre' Harris showed very little. For McConkey to fail in 2026 means Herbert failed, which is possible but I imagine it's not a leading assumption in most people's projections.
John McKechnie: This feels like another somewhat light draft class in terms of top-end receiver talent with surefire Year 1 impact fantasy potential. Even so, we'll still see at least three receivers go in the first round. While Jordyn Tyson seems to be the leader in the clubhouse ahead of the Combine, I'll plant my flag with Makai Lemon out of USC. He carried the USC offense each of the last two years, showing explosiveness (10.5 YPT, 14 catches of 25+ yards in 2025) while carrying a huge target share (26%) as a junior. If any rookie wide receiver can finish as a top-10-to-15 fantasy option, Lemon would be my pick.
2026 Fantasy Tight End Rankings
Jeff Erickson: If you want Trey McBride in 2026, you may need to be willing to pay a late-first-round price tag. I probably will have McBride around 16-to-18 overall in my rankings, so I'm unlikely to have much of him. I like the depth at the position, and see myself getting a lot of Colston Loveland shares. If McBride drops to the mid-second, I'll have a share or two, with the consequence being that I wait on quarterback.
Jim Coventry: When it comes to Colston Loveland vs. Tyler Warren, Loveland was clearly the better fantasy option down the stretch. Meanwhile, Warren stagnated in an offense that was using backup QBs during that time. They are razor close in fantasy value, but Warren gets the edge for me. The Bears' coaching staff will continue to bring along young stars like Luther Burden and Rome Odunze, while Warren will likely be counted on more as a foundational part of the Indy offense.
John McKechnie: If you're looking for a rookie tight end who could crack the top-10, Oregon's Kenyon Sadiq is in a tier of his own for me. Testing will determine if he can go as high as Colston Loveland or Tyler Warren did a year ago. This class has some nice depth, though. Some of my favorites include Ole Miss' Dae'Quan Wright, Houston's Tanner Koziol, Ohio State's Max Klare and Georgia's Oscar Delp. I could see multiple tight ends with fantasy upside going on Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
Mario Puig: Harold Fannin showed that he was a no-doubt TE1 even as a rookie out of Bowling Green who turned 21 just before the season — a season in which he had to catch passes from the worst quarterback crew in the NFL. All Fannin ever did was rake at Bowling Green or Cleveland, and I'm just willing to go in head-first because almost no one in football history has accomplished what Fannin has by this point in his career.
Nick Whalen: Brenton Strange has more down weeks than you'd like, but ultimately that's life at the tight end position if you're name isn't Trey McBride or Brock Bowers. As someone who typically waits on tight end, Strange is a player I'll happily grab late in drafts again in 2026.
