Everyone wants to win their fantasy football league. It’s a bragging right that simply will never fade for you to have your name etched into the league trophy for all eternity.
But the challenge is that everyone is vying for the same players. So who could be the players that emerge in 2026 to help push your roster over the top…like Jaxon Smith-Njigba last season?
These are the top names to circle when you’re on the clock at numerous points throughout your draft. They might simply make your goal a reality this year.
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Fantasy Football League Winners in 2026
Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
The hype was there last season for Omarion Hampton coming out of North Carolina in fantasy football drafts.
He was entering the league off of a dominant collegiate career, where he eclipsed 1,500 rushing yards in two separate seasons and totaled an impressive 40 total touchdowns.
He got the highly-valued draft capital as a 1st round NFL Draft pick that we love to see for fantasy purposes, but he failed to live up to expectations in his first season with the LA Chargers as things fell apart fairly quickly with this offense.
Hampton ended his injury-riddled rookie season playing in just nine contests and averaging just 11.5 fantasy points per game, which was good enough to land him at the RB37 mark.
A far cry from where he was being drafted in fantasy drafts last offseason, but it’s hard to place the blame directly on him or his talent level.
The Chargers lost both starting star offensive tackles, the offensive scheme was a mess under Greg Roman, and the offensive line combinations that the team was rolling out left a lot to be desired.
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There was barely any room for Hampton to operate out there, but he still showcased his talent by hitting a Rush Attempt per Broken Tackle Rate of 8.3 in 2025, which was a higher rate than the league leaders like Jonathan Taylor, Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, Kenneth Walker, etc.
The talent level is present, but the offensive system needed a complete overhaul if we were going to project Hampton moving forward with any level of confidence.
We know now that that did indeed happen, as the Chargers reeled in arguably one of the best offensive minds in the entire game in Mike McDaniel this offseason to captain this ship for the foreseeable future.
McDaniel is going to create massive open running lanes through his innovative play-calling that is going to let Hampton utilize one of his best traits: his speed at his size.
Once Hampton is out in the open field, it’s going to be difficult to bring him down on first contact – or catch him – which could lead to big play after big play.
Add on the upside for how this team will routinely be in the red zone and Hampton’s touchdown totals could skyrocket in 2026.
He has the talent, but a disappointing rookie campaign is leading fantasy managers to keep his ADP down near the RB10. He’s at RB8 for me currently and he has the potential to keep rising as the offseason goes along.
Luther Burden, WR, Chicago Bears
If you’ve been reading my work at all this offseason, you know that I am significantly higher on Luther Burden than the rest of the industry out there.
His Consensus ADP currently is WR22; I have him at WR15.
It’s rare that we see a player of this talent level come into the NFL and contribute almost immediately. He wasn’t a key cog in the offense to begin the year, but down the back half of the year – and into the playoffs – he was a complete stud.
Burden finished with the most yards per route run by a rookie wide receiver over the last decade (min. 200 routes).
- Burden: 2.71
- AJ Brown: 2.68
- Justin Jefferson: 2.66
- Puka Nacua: 2.60
- Ja’Marr Chase: 2.51
- Brian Thomas Jr.: 2.46
- Chris Olave: 2.42
- Rashee Rice: 2.41
- Ladd McConkey: 2.4
- Tyreek Hill: 2.28
And yet, his ADP is hanging out around players like Davante Adams and Mike Evans, currently.
Now, while I’m not projecting him to finish above other players in that list of rookie wideout producers in years past, it’s an incredibly encouraging sign that he can produce in that way right out of the gate.
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With DJ Moore out of town now, plus Rome Odunze dealing with a foot injury that may bother him long term, Burden could very easily be the WR1 for this ascending Chicago Bears offense in 2026 and beyond.
He’s a player I’m drafting every single chance that I get this year for his league-winning upside.
Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
This advice hinges on health and injury reports for Cam Skattebo, as the sophomore RB is working his way back off of a dislocated ankle, tibia fracture, and ruptured deltoid ligament that he suffered in Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season.
However, at the time of writing, Skattebo is participating in team drills during minicamp and appears to be on track to play in Week 1 this season, which means that he is a screaming value in fantasy drafts right now.
When Skattebo took over the backfield last season in Week 3, through Week 8 when he got hurt, he was the RB3 in all of fantasy football, averaging 16.8 fantasy points per contest.
And now, looking ahead to 2026, the talented RB has a new offensive system in place with a Head Coach that just loaded up Derrick Henry with 632 carries over the last two seasons in Baltimore.
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Skattebo has the size and skillset to handle a massive workload and this team is going to want to control the clock as much as they can in 2026 with the investments they’ve made in their defense.
As long as Skattebo is healthy to begin the year, he’s going to be a key contributor for fantasy lineups. And if John Harbaugh – and Matt Nagy – feel like they can trust him, he could see one of the largest workloads in the league in 2026.
Parker Washington, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
The other names I’ve mentioned so far have been a little bit further up the board in ADP, so let’s scroll on down and find some league-winning upside in the middle rounds.
Parker Washington has been one of my favorite players since he was coming out of Penn State. It didn’t make much sense to me why he fell to the 6th round in the NFL Draft, but he was someone I continued to pound the table for any chance I could get.
In fact, in January of 2025, I did a video on my old YouTube Channel highlighting why Washington was a fantastic buy in dynasty leagues. Unfortunately, the Travis Hunter acquisition threw some cold water on that, but I never doubted the talent.
Now, we know that Washington absolutely delivered when he got his opportunity last season, and in a big way.
In the fantasy football playoffs (Weeks 15-17), Washington was the WR7 in all of fantasy football, averaging 12.3 points per game.
Additionally, he finished in the top-8 of WRs in terms of Yards After the Catch Over Expected with +106, per Next Gen Stats.
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He was fantastic in 2025 and he is drawing rave reviews as we go into this next season already. He’ll have the starting slot role locked up for this offense and he should pick up right where he left off.
He doesn’t seem like a player that’s dripping with league-winning upside, but he proved last season that he can consistently be in the top 10 WRs from a production standpoint.
Malik Willis, QB, Miami Dolphins
If you’re wanting to play the waiting game at the QB position this season, Minnesota Vikings QB Kyler Murray is an intriguing target outside of the top 12.
However, the other one that I’m more aggressively going after is Miami Dolphins QB Malik Willis. He’s currently being drafted outside of the top 20 QBs and he presents the cheat code at the position that’s so alluring for fantasy football.
Last season, in his two games where he played the majority of the action, Willis had five red zone rush attempts. A 17-game pace would have been 43, which was 12 more than Josh Allen had in 2025 as the next closest QB.
He’s an incredible athlete at the position, so you can be sure that the Dolphins are going to be intent on utilizing him heavily as a rusher this season to attempt to move the ball on offense.
While a lack of playmakers at the WR position will hold him back from being a top-5 option week in and week out, he can absolutely help push a roster over the top with his rushing ability – combined with his ADP.
While other teams draft QBs early on and take chances in the middle rounds with other options, you can play the waiting game and load up on falling RBs, WRs, and TEs in that range to help bolster your depth.
Willis’ floor alone can provide you the stability each week to build a championship-winning roster. If the Dolphins’ pass catchers can surprise us in 2026, Willis could be one of the best draft picks you make this season.
