5 Dynasty Fantasy Football Sleepers for 2026: Undervalued Draft Targets

May 13, 2026

Dave's top five dynasty fantasy football sleepers for 2026. His best sleepers and breakout candidates for 2026 and beyond, including Tyler Shough, Jonathon Brooks, and more.

Rookie minicamps are in the books. Soon, NFL teams will meet for OTAs (organized team activities). Before you know it, training camps will start, and the 2026 NFL season will have officially begun.

While casual fantasy football gamers are unaware of these events, dedicated dynasty fantasy football managers are all too aware of these offseason landmarks and how fast the new NFL season is approaching. It's why savvy dynasty players are always looking for any angle or advantage they can use to potentially exploit their opponents. One of the best ways to do that remains finding undervalued players who are set for career years. Sometimes, all you need to do to win your league's coveted championship belt is hit on one massive breakout pick. Today, we'll do our best to give you a few players who could be poised for surprise breakout seasons.

Make sure you're following RotoBaller on X and download the RotoBaller app for all your fantasy football needs. Here are five undervalued breakout candidates to acquire in your 2026 dynasty fantasy football leagues.

Tyler Shough - QB, New Orleans Saints

Shough is entering his second NFL season in 2026. His rookie year stats won’t blow you away as he only threw for 2,382 yards and 10 touchdowns. However, Shough also went 5-4 as the Saints starter and showed some glimpses that he could be New Orleans’ future QB1.

What a throw, what a catch.

Touchdown Saints 🫡#Saints | 📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/wJKYOToT33

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 4, 2026

Quite a few things are working in Shough's favor this year. For starters, some of Shough's advanced stats indicate he might be a better quarterback than many dynasty gamers think. Among 45 quarterbacks with 100+ dropbacks last year, Shough ranked:

• T12th in adjusted completion percentage, per PFF
• 17th in PFF passing grade
• 19th in PFF passing grade on throws of 20+ yards

Obviously, there is room for improvement here, but these are still encouraging scores.

It also helps that Saints head coach Kellen Moore has proved to be a strong offensive coach, and his offenses have been very fantasy-friendly over the years. The situation surrounding Shough has also improved compared to 2025.

With an aging Alvin Kamara proving ineffective as a rusher, New Orleans signed Travis Etienne Jr. in free agency to be the team's new RB1. Etienne has his flaws, but he will certainly be an upgrade over Kamara and take some pressure off Shough.

New Orleans also selected rookie wide receiver Jordyn Tyson with the eighth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Tyson has some work to do against press and man coverage, but he's fantastic against zone coverage and should be a nice security blanket for Shough.

Chris Olave is still in the mix and is one of the best route runners in the league. New Orleans also selected rookie tight end Oscar Delp in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Delp is an underrated prospect and could be a surprise contributor this year.

Shough also showed some upside as a rusher during the 2025 season. After not showing much upside with his legs during his collegiate career, Shough ran 186 yards and scored three touchdowns last year. That's good for a 17-game pace of 287 rushing yards and five touchdowns. That's by no means elite rushing production, but it's enough to make a difference.

Shough will need to improve upon his 3.1% touchdown rate to fully break out. But the facts are that he plays with an offense-friendly head coach and is surrounded by plenty of talent. That's enough for gamers to take a flyer on Shough as a surprise breakout pick.

KeepTradeCut estimates Shough's current trade value is about a late 2026 first-round pick. That might seem expensive, but considering this year's rookie class, it might be a bargain for Shough. If you don't want to part ways with a first, you might be able to land Shough for a 2027 second plus a little something else.

2027 picks are being valued as gold bars right now, so some managers will understandably be hesitant to move a 2027 second for Shough. However, if he hits the ground running, he'll be locked in as the New Orleans starter for the foreseeable future and will also have improved your dynasty teams, which means it's more likely that the second-round pick ends up being a back-end two.

If you're in a tough spot in a superflex league, Shough feels like a good gamble to improve your quarterback room without giving up a ton in return.

Josh Downs - WR, Indianapolis Colts

Downs was a popular breakout pick last year. Unfortunately, things do not pan out that way. He remained buried on the depth chart behind wide receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce. This meant Downs was relegated to WR3 duties and saw playing time mostly in three-wide receiver sets.

Rookie tight end Tyler Warren also made a huge impact as a pass-catcher, and his emergence basically made Downs the team's fourth receiving option. While that was a great thing for the Colts offense, it made Downs relatively useless for fantasy football purposes.

This was a frustrating outcome, as many fantasy gamers are aware that Downs is a very talented player and is an underrated receiver. The bet on him last year was that his talents would shine through and force the Colts to put him on the field more often. While that did not happen, there are reasons to be optimistic that 2026 could be the year Downs fully breaks out.

Indianapolis shipped Pittman out of town after trading him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Colts then chose not to use significant draft capital on a wide receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft.

With Pierce operating as the team's X receiver, Downs should be on the field in all two-wide receiver sets as the team's flanker/Z receiver. This means he'll get more playing time and will have more opportunities to catch passes.

Downs still has to compete with Warren and Pierce for targets, but things are looking considerably less murky for a Downs breakout this year. At the end of the day, he remains a highly talented player who's more than capable of outproducing his modest career numbers to date.

It's a @Colts TD! Josh Downs ties it up.

AZvsIND on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Zopk6l6p8k

— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025

While Downs' stats and advanced data declined last year and are a legitimate reason for concern, there is reason to believe a turnaround is coming in 2026. The path for more playing time is there, and he could be lined up for a career year. Target Downs as a classic post-hype breakout candidate.

Jonathon Brooks - RB, Carolina Panthers

Brooks was selected by Carolina in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft. Despite tearing his ACL during his final collegiate season, Carolina still felt confident enough in Brooks to select him with a high pick.

He would not make his pro debut until Week 12 of the 2024 season. Unfortunately, Brooks would only log nine carries as a rookie before he re-tore his ACL. As a result, Brooks missed the entire 2025 season and became a forgotten name in many dynasty circles.

While that's understandable, let's take a few minutes to refresh people's memories on what made Brooks the top back selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Among 158 collegiate running backs with 100+ carries in 2023, Brooks ranked:

• 10th in PFF elusive rating
• 11th in PFF rushing grade
• 19th in missed tackles forced, per PFF
• 21st in yards after contact per attempt, per PFF
• 26th in yards after contact, per PFF
• T26th in yards per carry

Despite a tough few years, 2026 brings new life for Brooks and his dynasty managers. The Panthers opted to let former running back Rico Dowdle leave in free agency this offseason. Carolina rode the hot hand with Dowdle for a stretch last year, but once he cooled off, the team was more than happy to split touches between him and Chuba Hubbard.

Now, Dowdle is out of the picture, and Carolina did not add any significant competition to the position. As things stand, it looks like this running back room belongs to Hubbard and Brooks. Given how head coach Dave Canales was willing to split touches last season, the team's approach to its running back room this offseason sure seems like a strong endorsement of Brooks.

It's impossible to say how Brooks will fare following two ACL reconstructions in the same knee, but he seems poised for a role in Carolina's offense. If Brooks resembles anything close to the player we saw at the University of Texas, then he could have a big year.

Jonathon Brooks spots the hole and makes a sharp cut for a 17-yard touchdown, kicking off his Longhorn career with his first-ever TD!
The Texas Longhorns steamrolled the Rice Owls 58-0,!
Sep. 18, 2021 pic.twitter.com/Rja01z4YOQ

— Longhorn🤘Highlights (@LonghornClips) June 6, 2025

Brooks won't be too expensive to acquire in a trade. KTC estimates his current value is a 2026 second-round pick. That's not a bad price to take a shot on Brooks reclaiming his prior form.

Demond Claiborne - RB, Minnesota Vikings

Claiborne was selected by Minnesota in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He is buried on the depth chart behind Aaron Jones Sr. and Jordan Mason, but is an underrated rusher and offers big-play ability.

ACC RB of the Week: Demond Claiborne 🎩@ClaiborneDemond rushed for 144 YDs and a touchdown on 16 carries last weekend. Claiborne scored a rushing TD for the 5th straight game - longest streak of his career pic.twitter.com/mpDDv6dtH7

— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) October 13, 2025

Among 165 collegiate rushers with 100+ attempts in 2025, Claiborne ranked 40th in breakaway run rate and T46th in missed tackles forced, per PFF. Even though he enters 2026 behind two veterans, there is a viable path for Claiborne to carve out a role as a rookie.

Jones is now 31 years old and is coming off an injury-marred season. Mason had a respectable year and ran for 758 yards, but he didn't look like a stud, either. Jones and Mason also did not produce many explosive plays in 2025. Here are both backs' ranks in PFF's breakaway run rate and total breakaway yards (among 49 backs with 100+ attempts):

Jones

• 37th in breakaway run rate
• 39th in breakaway yards

Mason

• 23rd in breakaway run rate
• 29th in breakaway yards

Mason fared better than Jones in this area, but there is still room for this ground game to be more explosive. Claiborne has areas of his game that need fine-tuning, but he is arguably already the most explosive player in this running back room.

Should Jones or Mason be sidelined by injury or prove ineffective, Minnesota could give Claiborne some touches and see how things go from there. That might be all it takes for him to start turning heads and command more work. He is a playmaker, and that will be worth something to a Vikings offense coming off a down 2025 season.

Clairborne is currently going in the third round of the 2026 rookie drafts, so it won't take much to acquire him. He's a good player to take a flyer on and see what happens.

Jakobi Meyers - WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Meyers started 2025 with the Las Vegas Raiders but landed in Jacksonville following a midseason trade. The Jaguars needed a wide receiver willing to make tough catches in the middle of the field, and Meyers fit that mold. Upon his arrival, he immediately hit the ground running and proved to be a major difference-maker in Jacksonville's offense.

Jakobi Meyers picks up 50 yards!

JAXvsTEN on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/DYWkJmWQIl

— NFL (@NFL) November 30, 2025

The Jaguars were so pleased with Meyers' play that the team gave him a midseason three-year, $60 million contract extension. He is clearly a good fit in head coach Liam Coen's offense, and the contract extension shows us the team values him.

With a full offseason in Jacksonville, we could see Meyers operate in a Cooper Kupp/Chris Godwin Jr. type role in Coen's offense. Given how valuable that role has been in Coen's offenses, that would be incredible news for his fantasy value.

The downside of pursuing Meyers is that there's a lot of uncertainty with the Jaguars passing game and how targets will be distributed. Parker Washington, Brenton Strange, Brian Thomas Jr., and Travis Hunter all remain in the mix. The one clear thing, though, is that the current Jaguars regime loves Meyers and what he brings to the table.

KeepTradeCut estimates Meyers' current trade value is a 2026 second-round pick. Given how poor this year's rookie class is, it's not a bad idea to send a second-round pick in exchange for Meyers and gamble on him having a career year.

More Dynasty Fantasy Football Analysis