First, a prefatory note. When debuting as Hogs Haven’s fantasy writer last year, I offered an introduction that talked about the wide variety of experience I have in playing different types of leagues, with a proud learning curve than began with Gus Frerotte as my first ever fantasy quarterback. Hand-in-hand with that tongue-in-cheek boast is the explanation that I have no unique football insight(never even played!), but just a longstanding Washington fandom and passion for the game, such that all advice given ought to be taken with the appropriate grain of salt.
Toward that end, I’m going to be providing my “cheat sheet” of positional rankings this year, but it’s worth a comment on what my process is and how to best use that info as a result. Every year, I stubbornly build my own spreadsheet of player projections before I look at a single other human’s rankings. The idea is to ensure that I’ve at least looked at the statistical history of every player I put on my draft board before I start to form a gut reaction about what they are worth. Usually, the result is some significant outliers that cause me to then have to circle back and question why I have a player rated either much higher or much lower than the consensus. And typically, I’ll end up adjusting my rankings back towards the consensus more often than not – but it helps me tease out places where I might actually be onto something or seeing a player to buy or fade differently than the default would suggest.
In short, I wouldn’t take the cheat sheet here as gospel, by any stretch of the imagination. If you see Ladd McConkey (who I’m bullish on) over Emeka Egbuka (who many others are bullish on) and think that is nutty and incorrect – stick with your instincts. If I had the actual ability to accurately forecast the performance of 250+ draftable players down to the precise yard, I’d be betting on it in Vegas instead of typing into the void! (Heck, on draft day I’m sometimes liable to disagree with my own board – it’s one thing to put Kyren Williams over Jonathan Taylor when crunching numbers, but another entirely to actually pull the trigger if you come to that decision on the clock!) But if you see places on my cheet sheet where we are drastically different, those might be points to take a second look. If Jared Goff is QB20 on your board despite being much higher on mine, you might want to dig into the numbers and realize the guy has 4,438+ yards and 29+ TDs in four straight seasons before you completely write him off as replacement level.
Running backs
In 2025, young running backs were the story on draft day. From the highly touted Ashton Jeanty and Omarian Hampton, to late-round values like Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Kyle Monangai, new faces at the position reshaped the market and (especially in keeper and dynasty formats) provided options for fantasy players to take risks on talent at other positions early in their drafts with confidence they could fill in the rest of a competitive roster behind them. All together, there were nearly a dozen rookie running backs that played significant roles at some point in the season (see also: Sampson, Judkins, Skattebo, Marks, Harvey, Henderson).
With only three running backs taken on the first three days of this April’s NFL draft, that will not be the case in 2026. Jerimiyah Love will be an instant starter at RB for the Cardinals, and Jadarian Price will have a chance to compete with Zach Charbonnet for headlining work in Seattle, but after that, it will take injuries or an unexpected emergence from late-round fliers for other rookies to have the same kind of relevance this season. (Keep an eye on Kaelon Black in San Francisco and Adam Randall in Baltimore as guys with no value in Week 1, but with a path to significant work behind elder statesmen of the position.)
The practical effect of that market change is a late-middle round plateau in RB value. It’s still possible to build a team around prioritizing other positions – there are a number of elite WR options in particular likely to go early on draft day – but somewhere around Jadarian Price’s mid-7th round ESPN ADP, the choices thin considerably. Have enough starting RBs to roll with by that point in the draft, or take your chances hoping you can correctly predict a dominant fantasy performance from one of several backfields which instead look like time-shares (Harvey or Dobbins in Denver? Hubbard or Brooks in Carolina? Mason or Jones in Minnesota? Pollard or Spears in Tennessee?).
WRs Getting More Love
Meanwhile, there were more wide receivers taken in this year’s NFL draft than in any season since 2021. So while the top tier will still be irreplaceable – no one’s confusing late fliers for Ja’Marr Chase, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, or Amon-Ra St. Brown – there will be receivers to be found late that can sneakily provide flex or even WR2 value on a matchup-dependent basis this season.
At the top, Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson (not to be confused with former Commander and fellow “B. Robinson” on draft boards, Brian Robinson Jr.) will be the first duo off of most draft boards followed by a run on receivers (WR10 may be off a lot of draft boards before RB8). Brock Bowers, Tre McBride and Josh Allen will get a look from contrarians aiming to secure top QB or TE production starting in the late second round. And then it’s a familiar process from there – take the best players available on your board but try to draft in balanced fashion along the way (no taking your 5th RB before your 2nd WR, etc. – there’s little worse in fantasy than wasting talent on your bench that you’re stuck with because you can’t find a trade with the whole league knowing you’re more desperate to make a move than they are).
Format and Variance in Fantasy Leagues
Finally, a note about format and variance. If you read this mostly bi-weekly column last season, you were regularly reminded about the importance of your league settings in valuing your players. While that advice almost goes without saying, it is nevertheless true that, for example, the time to take quarterbacks on draft day will differ wildly in a 2 QB or superflex league (especially with 6-point passing TDs) than in a traditional 1 QB league (especially with 4-point passing Tds). In the latter, patience may be the recommended strategy at QB: Names like Nix, Mahomes, Stafford, and Goff are not even among the top-12 QBs options per the early August consensus rankings (via FantasyPros) and so there is a decent chance of there being at least one player you may like more than the majority of drafters who will linger well into the ninth round of your league. But in the former, there are only 32 NFL starting QB jobs to go around, a few of which are less than locked down for the season, and with as many as six teams not playing on certain bye weeks, there will be points in the season where all but two starting QBs across the league are needed for fantasy purposes, drastically increasing the value of dependable performers due to position scarcity.
The same may be true of tweaks to your strategy if your league has all kinds of rules ranging from TD bonuses to points per reception to different types of defensive scoring. (In most leagues, I’d advise not to take a DST or a kicker until the final two picks, but in DST-premium scoring settings, there’s an argument for the Rams or Seahawks defenses once you have a starting lineup filled plus two or three bench RBs/WRs. In auction formats, nominating defenses early may be a way to draw money away from your actual targets!)
Boom-or-Bust options
Similarly, it bears repeating that for fantasy purposes a 7-7 season is exactly as useless as a 4-10 season. So when choosing between roughly equivalent players, there is reason to prefer a boom-or-bust option, that gives you the higher upside if everything breaks right. To build the core of your team, take the safe and consistent options in the early rounds. But to build your bench, swing for the fences and take the players with the better chance of breaking out – if they bust, you’ll be moving on from them anyway for waiver wire options that emerge during the year.
All of which is a lot of words to say: Good luck this season, looking forward to chopping it up with waiver wire advice throughout the year, and happy drafting!
2026 Fantasy Position Rankings
QB
1. Josh Allen
2. Lamar Jackson
3. Drake Maye
4. Jalen Hurts
5. Jayden Daniels
6. Joe Burrow
7. Justin Herbert
8. Dak Prescott
9. Jared Goff
10. Patrick Mahomes
11. Caleb Williams
12. Bo Nix
13. Brock Purdy
14. Baker Mayfield
15. Trevor Lawrence
16. Matt Stafford
17. Jordan Love
18. Jaxson Dart
19. Sam Darnold
20. C.J. Stroud
21. Kyler Murray
22. Bryce Young
23. Cam Ward
24. Tyler Shough
25. Aaron Rodgers
26. Fernando Mendoza
27. Geno Smith
28. Jacoby Brissett
29. Tua Tagovailoa
30. Daniel Jones
31. Malik Willis
32. Shedeur Sanders
33. Michael Penix
34. J.J. McCarthy
35. Kirk Cousins
36. Ty Simpson (tied)
36. Carson Beck (tied)
RB
1. Bijan Robinson
2. Jahmyr Gibbs
3. Christian McCaffrey
4. De’Von Achane
5. Chase Brown
6. James Cook
7. Derrick Henry
8. Kyren Williams
9. Jonathan Taylor
10. Ashton Jeanty
11. Josh Jacobs
12. Saquon Barkley
13. Jerimiyah Love
14. Breece Hall
15. TreVeyon Henderson
16. Travis Etienne Jr.
17. Bucky Irving
18. Omarion Hampton
19. Kenneth Walker III
20. Javonte Williams
21. D’Andre Swift
22. RJ Harvey
23. Tony Pollard
24. Rico Dowdle
25. Quinshon Judkins
26. Cam Skattebo
27. David Montgomery
28. Zach Charbonnet
29. Jaylen Warren
30. Kyle Monangai
31. Aaron Jones Sr.
32. Rachaad White
33. Tyrone Tracy
34. Jacory Croskey-Merritt
35. Jadarian Price
36. Bhayshul Tuten
37. Woody Marks
38. Rhamondre Stevenson
39. Alvin Kamara
40. Chuba Hubbard
41. Blake Corum
42. JK Dobbins
43. Jordan Mason
44. Tyler Allgeier
45. Tyjae Spears
46. Isiah Pacheco
47. Kimani Vidal
48. Chris Rodriguez Jr.
49. Sean Tucker
50. Emmanuel Wilson
51. Dylan Sampson
52. Braelon Allen
53. Samaje Perine
54. Justice Hill
55. Ty Johnson
56. Jerome Ford
57. Isaiah Davis
58. Ray Davis
59. James Conner
60. Kaelon Black
61. Najee Harris
62. Tank Bigsby
63. Kaytron Allen
64. Michael Carter
65. Devin Singletary
66. Brian Robinson Jr.
67. Nick Chubb
68. Devin Neal
69. Breshard Smith
70. Ollie Gordon II
71. Emari Demercado
72. Adam Randall
73. Jaleel McLaughlin
74. Miles Sanders
75. Jaylen Wright
76. Jeremy McNichols
77. Audric Estime
78. Chris Brooks
79. Kendre Miller
80. Trey Benson
81. Isaac Guerendo
82. Dameon Pierce
83. Roschon Johnson
84. Jonathan Brooks
WR
1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba
2. Amon-Ra St. Brown
3. Ja’Marr Chase
4. Puka Nacua
5. Justin Jefferson
6. CeeDee Lamb
7. Zay Flowers
8. Drake London
9. George Pickens
10. Tetairoa McMillian
11. Nico Collins
12. Ladd McConkey
13. Jameson Williams
14. Davante Adams
15. A.J. Brown
16. Chris Olave
17. Mike Evans
18. DeVonta Smith
19. Emeka Egbuka
20. Garrett Wilson
21. Tee Higgins
22. Terry McLaurin
23. Jaylen Waddle
24. DK Metcalf
25. Courtland Sutton
26. Brian Thomas Jr.
27. Rashee Rice
28. Marvin Harrison Jr.
29. Parker Washington
30. Quentin Johnson
31. Malik Nabers
32. Luther Burden III
33. Alec Pierce
34. Stefon Diggs
35. Xavier Worthy
36. Rome Odunze
37. Christian Watson
38. Jordan Addison
39. Wan’Dale Robinson
40. Jakobi Meyers
41. D.J. Moore
42. Michael Wilson
43. Michael Pittman Jr.
44. Khalil Shakir
45. Josh Downs
46. Jaylen Reed
47. Romeo Doubs
48. Tre Tucker
49. Jerry Jeudy
50. Chris Godwin Jr.
51. Jauan Jennings
52. Jaylen Higgins
53. Deebo Samuel
54. Troy Franklin
55. Calvin Ridley
56. Rasheed Shaheed
57. Kayshon Boutte
58. Darnell Mooney
59. Elic Ayomanor
60. Ryan Flournoy
61. Chimere Dike
62. Malik Washington
63. Cooper Kupp
64. Dontavyion Wicks
65. Jalen McMillan
66. Darius Slayton
67. Keon Coleman
68. Andrei Iosivas
69. Omar Cooper Jr.
70. Jalen Coker
71. Carnell Tate
72. Makai Lemon
73. Jahan Dotson
74. Marvin Mims
75. Hollywood Brown
76. Xavier Legette
77. Keenan Allen
78. Jalen Tolbert
79. DeMario Douglas
80. DeVaughn Vele
81. Jordyn Tyson
82. KC Concepcion
83. De’Zhaun Stribling
84. Germie Bernard
TE
1. Tre McBride
2. Brock Bowers
3. Tyler Warren
4. Colston Loveland
5. Tucker Kraft
6. George Kittle
7. Harold Fannin Jr.
8. Sam LaPorta
9. Travis Kelce
10. Kyle Pitts
11. Jake Ferguson
12. Mark Andrews
13. Juwon Johnson
14. Oronde Gadsden
15. Hunter Henry
16. Dallas Goedert
17. Dalton Schultz
18. KJ Barner
19. Brenton Strange
20. Dalton Kincaid
21. Pat Friermuth
22. Theo Johnson
23. Isaiah Likely
24. Chig Okonkwo
25. Colby Parkinson
26. T.J. Hockenson
27. Cate Otten
28. David Njoku
29. Tyler Higbee
30. Kenyon Sadiq
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