Cameron Ward, Tyler Shough, Jaxson Dart - Dynasty Fantasy Football Buys and Sells

Justin's dynasty fantasy football buys/sell trade advice for Cam Ward, Tyler Shough, Jaxson Dart. Are these QBs dynasty trade targets for 2026 fantasy football?

The 2025 NFL rookie quarterback class might not have been the strongest in the world, but it appears that at least three players will open 2026 as their team's starting quarterback. That could expand to four if the Browns stick with Shedeur Sanders, but...well, let's just say that dynasty managers won't need to rush out and make a trade for Sanders, who had his moments in 2025 but definitely did not look like a long-term NFL starter.

Cameron Ward, Tyler Shough, and Jaxson Dart all do look like long-term starters. Or, at least, there were times when they looked like that. Ward, in particular, had consistency issues, but much of that was due to a poor supporting cast.

What should we make of these three quarterbacks in dynasty? Let's take a look at their future outlooks and determine what dynasty managers should be doing with them.

Buy or Sell Cameron Ward in Dynasty Fantasy Football?

I am a firm believer in Ward's talent, but the Titans certainly didn't put him in a great position to showcase that talent. The No. 1 overall pick only got to play with his No. 1 receiver, Calvin Ridley, for seven games, and his top healthy receivers were a pair of fourth-round rookies.

The lack of a supporting cast explains some of the weirdness of Ward's numbers. He ranked 35th among NFL quarterbacks in receiver target separation and 37th in yards after the catch per reception, numbers that are pretty bad when you consider there are 32 NFL teams.

Cam Ward rushes for a touchdown!

TENvsJAX on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/FH1okZzdlg

— NFL (@NFL) January 4, 2026

We have to assume that the Titans have a plan in place this offseason to actually support their first-round pick. Tennessee enters this offseason with the second-most cap space in the league, so going out and adding a receiver and offensive line help for Ward should be expected. There's no guarantee they actually add a top receiver in what's a pretty thin free agent class, but there are solid names available who could at least improve things. Like...Wan'Dale Robinson and Alec Pierce aren't stars, but if you could add both at a reasonable price, things will be looking up.

As far as what dynasty managers should do about Ward, I'm all about going out and grabbing him if the Ward manager in your league is low on him after his first year. We saw moments of true brilliance from Ward, times when he made something out of nothing, or even times when he made nothing out of nothing, but the only reason it didn't become something was a drop from a receiver.

Ward should be viewed as a top-20 dynasty quarterback going forward, and he still has the upside to develop into a top 11-15 guy. I'm not going to trade away the superflex 1.01 for him in this class because I'm high on Fernando Mendoza, but if I could get him for the 1.04 or somewhere around there in superflex, I'd still be interested. In 1QB leagues, I'd trade an early second for Ward.

Buy or Sell Tyler Shough in Dynasty Fantasy Football?

I'm going to accept the L here. I thought drafting Shough at all was a wasted move by the Saints, and I especially thought that when Shough was unable to beat out Spencer Rattler for the starting job.

But then it turned out that Rattler actually had some good stuff to show, even if it didn't translate into wins. That made it make a little more sense why the team didn't start Shough immediately. Eventually, New Orleans went with the rookie, and he was pretty good!

In just nine starts (and parts of two other games), Shough threw for 2,384 yards and 10 touchdowns while completing 67.6 percent of his pass attempts. More importantly, he went 5-4 as a starter, taking New Orleans out of the running for a 2026 rookie quarterback and guaranteeing that Shough gets another season as the starter.

There were times when Shough looked like the best rookie quarterback, but it's also worth noting that he probably should have looked like that. He had a better supporting cast than the other two, and he was also 26 years old. Ward is 23. Dart is 22.

The age thing is why I'm a little wary of Shough going forward. It's not that I don't think he can be a solid NFL quarterback. Some of his advanced numbers are very encouraging, like ranking 10th among quarterbacks in aDOT and 13th in yards per attempt. The problem is just that I'm not sure his ceiling is that much higher than his current level of performance.

Tyler Shough takes off for 29 yards with 4 minutes to go!

NOvsATL on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/eucvVbevRR

— NFL (@NFL) January 4, 2026

So, what does this mean for dynasty managers? I think it's very roster-dependent. I wouldn't go out and buy Shough at his current price unless I was pretty desperate for a QB2 in superflex for the next couple of seasons. Likewise, if I'm currently rostering him and don't have other paths to upgrade at quarterback, then I'm fine with holding him as my QB2.

However, if you have Shough on your superflex roster and have a decent quarterback situation outside of him, this might be a great time to sell high. Shough got a lot of momentum in the fantasy community near the end of the season, and I don't think it would be tough to finagle a late first out of a manager who is weak at quarterback, especially with the 2026 quarterback looking pretty weak.

You aren't getting a starting quarterback at 1.09 in a rookie draft this year, so maybe you can talk with managers with picks in that range and a hole at quarterback, allowing you to flip Shough when he's arguably at his most valuable.

Buy or Sell Jaxson Dart in Dynasty Fantasy Football?

There was a lot of excitement about Dart when he took over for Russell Wilson. It seems like some of that enthusiasm disappeared down the stretch, but a big part of that is that injuries left Dart with a group around him that wasn't that much better than what Ward had in Tennessee.

Dart definitely did more with what he had, throwing the same number of touchdowns as Ward in five fewer starts and posting a better completion percentage and fewer interceptions.

Jaxson Dart is the first rookie QB in NFL history to end the season with the following:

2,000+ passing yards
450+ rushing yards
15+ passing TD
9+ rushing TD's
5 INT's or less

Dart started 12 games this season…what a season 🔥

(via @WBG84) pic.twitter.com/iK1PELUINS

— SleeperGiants (@SleeperGiants) January 5, 2026

The best thing Dart has going for him, though, is that the Giants should have significantly more talent around him in 2026 as long as injured players come back close to full strength. Malik Nabers was injured during Dart's first start and missed the rest of the 2025 season. Running back Cam Skattebo went down in late October. By the final game of the year, Dart was throwing to Gunner Olszewski and Isaiah Hodgins.

Dart is an accurate, dual-threat quarterback who happens to be younger than both Ward and Shough. There's a lot of upside here, and fantasy managers who are lucky enough to already have Dart on their roster should hold on to him. It's hard to get a quarterback with top-10 upside in dynasty leagues, and Dart is that.

If you don't have Dart, this might be a good time to aggressively pursue him. A 2026 breakout with his full supporting cast would boost his stock to unattainable levels next year. I'm not sure I'd be willing to deal the 1.01 because I'm very high on Mendoza, but the 1.02? Yeah, I'd move that for Dart, or I'd package a mid-first with a future second if that could land him.

I'm willing to be more aggressive going after Dart than the other two because I trust the talent around him more. I still love Ward and might prefer him in a vacuum, but we have to acknowledge how much harder the Tennessee front office will have to work to put a viable offense around him.

More Dynasty Fantasy Football Analysis