Andrew Ball's Fantasy Football Bold Predictions for 2026 - Mike Evans, Tyler Shough, Justin Herbert, and more

June 25, 2026

Andrew Ball's fantasy football bold predictions for 2026. His top fantasy football projections and calls, including for Tyler Shough, Mike Evans, Justin Herbert, and more.

It's the dog days of the NFL offseason -- a time to hypothesize on hot takes that seem impossible until they happen.

You may laugh now and think, "No way that happens!" I hope to be prophetic. Regardless, in this article, we're swinging for the fences with predictions.

Here are four bold predictions that will have a direct impact on the fantasy football season.

The New Orleans Saints Have A QB1, RB1, WR1, And TE1

One NFL team had at least one player from every position finish inside the top 12 last season. Dak Prescott, Javonte Williams, George Pickens, and Jake Ferguson were the success story (and CeeDee Lamb as well, if we sort by average points per game).

So much of it is injury luck. Bad breaks prevented Detroit from joining Dallas on the list. Saquon Barkley and Philadelphia were a near-miss. Indianapolis, funny enough, may have snuck in there if Daniel Jones stayed healthy, and it gave Michael Pittman Jr. just a few more targets.

So, why New Orleans? Kellen Moore's history as an offensive coordinator and a condensed depth chart.

In 2024 with the Eagles, Moore's offense produced Jalen Hurts (QB6, PPR PPG), Barkley (RB1), A.J. Brown (WR12), and Dallas Goedert (TE10). His offense was 0.1 Prescott points per game away from hitting the mark in 2022 (Tony Pollard - RB9, Lamb - WR7, Dalton Schultz - TE10).

Prescott was the QB1 in 2020 before his season-ending injury in 2020. His supporting cast is still all finished in twos. 2019? Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott got there, but Amari Cooper and Jason Witten were just outside the threshold (WR14 and TE14, respectively).

Following New Orleans' bye in Week 11, Tyler Shough was the QB7, Chris Olave was the WR3, and Juwan Johnson was the TE12 (removing Zach Ertz, who played just two of the final seven games). The only missing piece was a consistent running back. Alvin Kamara was already injured, and Devin Neal suffered one midway through the stretch. Neal, Taysom Hill, and Audric Estime rotated with little rhyme or reason.

It's not a perfect argument, and while he's actually only done it once, Moore was right on the edge of getting a one across the board in over half of his seasons as an offensive coordinator or head coach.

The depth chart will certainly help his push to repeat the feat. First-round pick Jordyn Tyson was added to the wide receiver room, but he's the only notable name outside of Olave.

The rest of the group is third-year or younger players with Day 3 draft capital (and Ja'Lynn Polk, who was a second-round pick, but fell out of favor in New England faster than Scotland soccer fans wiped out the region's beer stash).

Do-it-all "tight end" Hill is gone, and he was replaced by journeyman Noah Fant, who averages 41 catches a year since 2022, despite being the starter for the majority of that stretch. Newcomer Travis Etienne Jr. is the only one with true competition, but the money and efficiency point to him as the bell cow over Kamara.

Shough's willingness to run and a favorable end-of-season schedule contributed to his success and the success of Moore's movement-heavy offense as a whole. The Saints will continue to play weaker opponents in 2026, with the second-easiest strength of schedule, and six games against the NFC South, likely to repeat as the worst division in football.

Justin Herbert Is The Only Charger To Outperform His ADP

On the flip side of the New Orleans argument, the Chargers' depth chart may be too bloated.

Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has loaded up on playmakers, many with different skill sets, for his first season in Los Angeles. Let's break it down by position.

Ladd McConkey leads the wide receiver room after a massively disappointing sophomore campaign. Despite a comparable target number, McConkey caught 16 fewer balls for a loss of 360 yards from the year prior.

Keenan Allen's presence was a major deterrent to McConkey building on a tremendous rookie season. As long as he remains on the free-agent market, there will be worry about a reunion that will take opportunities away from McConkey and the rest of the receivers.

Tre' Harris and Quentin Johnston round out the current top three. Johnston has back-to-back 700+ yards, 50+ catches, and eight touchdowns. The big plays are fun, but he can disappear without scoring.

Harris is a second-year, second-round pick. He has breakout potential, but we haven't seen it yet, and all roads lead back to crowded target competition. There's also rookie speedster Brenen Thompson. McDaniel is salivating over the prospect of utilizing his 4.26 40-yard speed.

Tight end is an even bigger problem. Oronde Gadsden II, who was labeled a league winner midway through last season, is essentially a big wide receiver. Despite a 61% snap share, the rookie was third in yards per reception (13.6), fourth in yards per target (9.6), third in deep targets (nine), and eighth in red-zone targets (14) among all tight ends. He's a big play waiting to happen.

However, veteran David Njoku is now in Southern California, bringing nearly 400 career receptions and over 4,000 yards with him. More importantly, to further divide everyone's playing time, Charlie Kolar inked a three-year, $24 million contract to be the team's best blocking tight end.

The Chargers are signing TE Charlie Kolar to a three-year $24.3 million contract that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid blocking tight end, sources tell The Insiders. @SteveCaric of @WassermanNFL negotiated the deal, which includes $17M guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/4Hoi76juRq

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 9, 2026

Longtime Miami fullback Alec Ingold will also be on the field for several packages.

Omarion Hampton is the highest-drafted Charger, currently coming off redraft boards in the middle of the second round. The former first-round pick will be playing behind a much-improved offensive line than he had at the end of the season. However, Kimani Vidal earned some reps in his relief duty last season. Speedy Keaton Mitchell, akin to De'Von Achane-lite in a McDaniel offense, was also signed as a free agent.

There are just too many good players competing for playing time and touches for my liking. All of that talent, though, leads us to believe that the Chargers will exceed the 21.6 points per game they scored a year ago. We know that Justin Herbert, the ninth quarterback off the board, will have the football in his hands. The rest? That's not as clear.

Mike Evans Leads The League In Receiving Touchdowns

The history of wide receivers 30 years or older switching teams and producing isn't illustrious: Julio Jones to Tennessee, Robert Woods to Tennessee, Cooper Kupp to Seattle, and Amari Cooper to Buffalo, to name a few.

There are some success stories, and it's largely built on touchdowns. DeAndre Hopkins had seven scores on 75 receptions in his first year in Tennessee. Davante Adams, at age 33, had 14 of 'em, leading the league, on 60 catches for the Rams last season.

Mike Evans had 13 touchdowns in his age-30 season to lead the NFL in 2023. He's reached the double-digit mark in half of his 12 professional seasons. His red-zone scoring ability is the best attribute in his Hall of Fame career.

This boils down to simple math, really. Evans has scored a touchdown on 7.2% of his targets in his career. His new quarterback, Brock Purdy, has a career touchdown rate of 6.2%, a number dragged down by 4.4% in 2024. 6.2% would be tied for the eighth best of all time.

"I love Brock. He's a big reason why I came here."

Mike Evans on Brock Purdy pic.twitter.com/U4nCV8M4y9

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) June 3, 2026

During his injury-plagued 2025 season, Purdy tossed 20 touchdowns. Six of those were caught by Jauan Jennings, who has moved on to Minnesota. Five were secured by George Kittle, who tore his Achilles tendon in January. He may not be on the field until midway through the season.

One of the best offenses will be relying on the veteran receiver and Christian McCaffrey early. Both have lengthy injury histories. If one goes down, it's all up to the other.

Between Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the plethora of elite receivers in the NFL, it's stiff competition to lead the league in touchdowns. Evans won't do it by volume. He won't see the 130+ targets that the others get. 100-110 is a reasonable range. Both he and Purdy's touchdown rates will have to stick.

Late-Round Running Backs Galore!

2025 was a tough year for the Zero RB drafters. For those new to the game, it's a deliberate strategy to avoid the position in the early rounds, load up on wide receivers and an elite tight end and quarterback, and then fill in the gaps. Often, the Week 1 starters for those managers are runners in a committee until injuries begin to happen, and they can snag second-stringers off the waiver wire.

The top-10 running backs last season missed a combined four games. Three of those misses came in meaningless Week 18 games. Extend the range to 13? That includes two more running backs who suited up for every game.

Javonte Williams (ninth round), Kenneth Gainwell (undrafted), and Rico Dowdle (undrafted) were the only true afterthoughts that vaulted into relevance, with late-round guys like Zach Charbonnet and Rhamondre Stevenson delivering spot starts.

2024 was a completely different story. The top 10 in ADP missed a combined 28 games, excluding Week 18 rest games, opening plenty of plug-and-play opportunities.

All this to say, injuries are unpredictable and not necessarily a "bold prediction," although the data says that we're due for more missed games from the upper echelon. Rather, there are also plenty of proven veterans and high-upside selections in the mid-to-late rounds, according to current ADP.

In no particular order, J.K. Dobbins, Rachaad White, Aaron Jones Sr., Jonathon Brooks, Blake Corum, and Keaton Mitchell are all available at pick 100 or later. The trio of Gainwell, Tony Pollard, and Dowdle are seventh-rounders.

The bold prediction is that many of the championship rosters at the end of the season will be loaded with the best-of-the-best wide receivers and mid-tier running backs like the nine names listed above.

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