2026 Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft: 10-Team, 1QB Fantasy Football Rankings

January 22, 2026

Patrick's 2026 fantasy football dynasty rookie mock draft for 1QB, 10-team leagues. His updated 1st round mock draft rookie rankings guides you in rookie drafts.

With the college football season officially over, we’re effectively working with a complete data set until the pre-draft process kicks into full gear, making this the perfect time to revisit rookie rankings, this time through a 10-team lens.

When we shift the math from 12 teams to 10, the waiver wire suddenly becomes a kinder, gentler place, and every roster becomes marginally better, ratcheting up the importance of finding elite talent.

Unfortunately, in a draft class not exactly teeming with obvious week-winning studs, traits and role projections become ever more important to identify. Fortunately, with only nine other managers standing in your way, if you’re the type to dig in and do that work in January, you’re basically halfway to your next title already.

1.01 - Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

Jeremiyah Love is in a tier of his own, regardless of league size. He was the most dynamic offensive playmaker in college football and shows every indication of being a top-10 NFL draft pick in a year that may not see another running back selected inside the top 50.

Over the past two seasons, Love has scored 40 touchdowns while averaging a videogame-like 7.2 yards per touch. For context, Ashton Jeanty averaged 6.9 yards per touch during a historic 2024 campaign.

Love is instinctively athletic. He hits holes at full acceleration the instant they appear, but he’s equally comfortable toying with defenders in the backfield with elite lateral agility and balance. More than half of his career rushing yardage has come on runs of 15-plus yards, a testament to his ability to clear the first level and punish anyone who takes a bad angle.

1.02 - Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State

In our 12-team mock, USC’s Makai Lemon edged Tyson largely due to Tyson’s extensive injury history, but to invoke the wisdom of Wanda Pierce: when you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags. When drafting in a 10-team league, it’s often necessary to have those glasses at the ready.

No wide receiver in this class offers a rosier weekly upside than Tyson, who catches everything thrown his way and moves with running back vision once the ball is in his hands. At 6’2” and 200 pounds, he presents a large target without sacrificing fluidity or burst.

HIM 😈#ForksUp /// @tyson_jordyn pic.twitter.com/V7HLb9EEDW

— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 21, 2025

Outside of Love, no player in this class is more reliable for explosive plays. Tyson has scored 19 touchdowns in his last 19 games, recorded a 20-plus-yard reception in all but three of those contests, and hauled in a 30-plus-yarder in over half of them.

1.03 - Makai Lemon, WR, USC

The 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner, Lemon, finished in the regular season top 10 nationally in both receptions and touchdown catches, while his 96.3 receiving yards per game ranked third in the country.

He was PFF’s highest-graded receiver, and the film backs it up. At 5’11”, 195 pounds, Lemon is the smallest member of this class’s top tier, but he plays with relentless physicality and effort. His 21 forced missed tackles in 2025 ranked sixth among sub-200-pound receivers, and few players in that weight range were more effective in contested catch situations.

More often than not, though, Lemon makes plays by avoiding traffic entirely. His nuanced route running and refusal to drop or even double-catch anything thrown his way frequently put him in a position to work in space, helping him to pile up nearly 1,000 yards after the catch in his collegiate career.

1.04 - Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State

Playing his entire collegiate career at the wide receiver factory that is Ohio State, Carnell Tate has never been the focal point of his own offense. Surrounded by future NFL talent year after year, his production has often taken a backseat, but he may have the most untapped potential of any of the Big Three in this class.

Tate runs precise routes and hasn’t put a ball on the ground in his last 12 games, giving him a strong baseline to thrive in the short-to-intermediate parts of the field. Where he truly separates himself, though, is on the boundary. He is long and rangy and tracks the ball like a Border Collie, finishing 2025 as one of only two players to see at least 10 contested targets and win over 85% of them.

While it’s possible we haven’t seen anything close to his ceiling yet, Tate’s traits, efficiency, and pedigree all suggest he could ultimately wind up as the receiver to draft from this class.

1.05 - Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon

As leagues get smaller, the instinct is often to devalue onesie positions like quarterback and tight end. However, with only 10 starters each week, try going into a matchup without a top-5 option, and you’re gonna have a bad time.

Each of the past three NFL seasons has seen a rookie tight end finish inside the top five at the position, and the most likely candidate to extend that streak is Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq.

Sadiq packs elite athleticism and wide receiver ball skills into a knotted-up 245-pound frame, and he’s the type of plug-and-play mismatch that offensive coordinators will lobby for during the draft process.

Elite receiver. Elite blocker.

Kenyon Sadiq is one of one. #GoDucks @KenyonSadiq 🤝 @JohnMackeyAward pic.twitter.com/QKllSyXEtP

— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 25, 2025

He took roughly half of his collegiate snaps from the slot, but he’s just as comfortable in-line or split wide. Sadiq led all tight ends with eight touchdowns in 2025, and exactly half came on plays that put him into pre-snap motion, with another coming on a gadget play with him as the primary read.

1.06 - Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana

With Dante Moore having made official his intent to return to school for one more year, Fernando Mendoza now sits alone atop this year’s quarterback class.

While he lacks the otherworldly athleticism and reliable rushing floor to be viewed as a sure thing in single-quarterback leagues, Mendoza checks enough boxes to warrant a mid-first-round pick in a draft that quickly sees the explosive playmakers begin to thin out.

The Heisman winner, national champ, and likely first overall pick towers over the pocket with prototypical size. He led the nation in touchdown passes and often has a better understanding of what defenses are trying to do than the players lined up across from him.

A transition away from Curt Cignetti’s quarterback-friendly system, which helped Mendoza finish six games this year with an 85-plus percent completion rate, will naturally come with an adjustment period, but his pre-snap awareness and accuracy should allow him to excel even once the training wheels come off.

1.07 - Denzel Boston, WR, Washington

At 6’4” and 209 pounds, Denzel Boston is precisely the type of upside swing that drafters should be looking for in the back half of the first round. A contested catch artist in name only, he uses his frame as his greatest weapon. Boston routinely turns tight window throws into non-events by boxing out defensive backs well before the ball arrives.

Boston has enough speed to stress coverage vertically, resulting in one of the higher average depths of target in the class, and once the ball is in his hands, he’s immediately hunting for six. Disregarding a late-season contest against UCLA, in which he played only three snaps while managing a knee issue, Boston’s three multiscore games in 2025 outnumbered the games in which he was held without a score.

1.08 - Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame

In our latest 12-team mock, Washington’s Jonah Coleman came off the board as the RB2, but in a format that prioritizes ceiling over certainty, Jadarian Price is the more compelling bet. Stuck behind the best running back in college football for the past two seasons, Price still managed to flash every time he touched the ball.

On a per-snap basis, Price forced missed tackles at nearly the same rate as his Doak Walker-winning teammate, while actually finding the end zone on a higher percentage of touches.

The vision, contact balance, and breakaway speed that made him one of the nation’s most dangerous kick returners show up consistently in all aspects of his game. He’s a versatile playmaker who will need to be accounted for on all three downs, and he can be trusted to get past the sticks regardless of down or distance.

1.09 - KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M

KC Concepcion straight up glides when he’s on a football field, separating almost effortlessly against man or zone. Where he truly stands out from the rest of the class, though, is in what he can do with the ball in his hands.

More than half of his career receiving yards have come after the catch, and in 2025, he forced a missed tackle on nearly one out of every four receptions.

At a probably generous unofficial weight of 190 pounds, Concepcion profiles more as a slot receiver that will see his share of manufactured touches than a true every-down difference maker. That said, his tenacity and finish are both commendable, and with the right offensive mind, manufacturing those touches, he could become a steal near the end of the first.

1.10 - Chris Bell, WR, Louisville

Before a late-season ACL tear derailed his momentum, Louisville’s Chris Bell had a legitimate case to turn the Big Three into a Big Four at wide receiver. The injury kept him out of our previous 12-team mock, but in smaller leagues, Bell is a prospect worth waiting for, especially at the end of the first round, where managers can theoretically afford a redshirt rookie season.

Chris Bell appreciation post#GoCards x @ChrisBell_3 pic.twitter.com/tAXt7ZnPCj

— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) October 21, 2025

At a time when every draft cycle anoints the next Deebo Samuel, Bell may be the rare prospect who actually earns the comparison, despite handling only two carries in his collegiate career. At 6’2” and 220 pounds, he plays with linebacker physicality after the catch while still possessing legitimate track speed to threaten defenses vertically.

Bell is raw, and the injury puts him behind the eight ball in the pre-draft process, but his physical traits are undeniable. In 10-team leagues, where week-winning upside trumps early certainty, he’s precisely the type of player that drafters should be calling their shot on at the end of the first.

Dropped Out

• Jonah Coleman, RB, Washington
• Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (returning to school)
• Eric McAlister, WR, TCU
• Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt

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