April 17, 2026
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller thinks that Arizona State wide receiver
Jordyn Tyson (hamstring) will go much higher in the 2026 NFL draft than most people previously expected. NFL teams are comfortable with Tyson's injury history. Miller believes that he could go off the board as early as No. 5 overall, and that he will not be on the board later than the 16th overall pick in the first round next Thursday night. The 21-year-old wideout suffered a hamstring injury in October of last year and then aggravated the injury in his second game back in his final season with the Sun Devils. It's why he didn't run during the scouting combine in February or during Arizona State's pro day, but Tyson is having a workout for interested teams on Friday in which he'll run routes. Despite also tearing the ACL, MCL, and PCL in his knee in 2022, Tyson figures to be one of the first receivers taken in this year's draft. In his final two seasons in college, Tyson produced 136 catches for 1,812 yards and 18 touchdowns in 21 games played.
--Keith HernandezSource: ESPN.com - Matt Miller
April 17, 2026
Arizona Cardinals veteran quarterback
Jacoby Brissett is not attending the team's first phase of their offseason program and is asking for a contract extension that would pay him as a starter, sources told Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Brissett is set to make $9.06 million in 2026 and has only $1.5 million in guaranteed money. He's looking for more security, and the Cardinals appear willing to address it. The 33-year-old took over for
Kyler Murray in Week 6 of last year after Murray suffered a foot injury, and he went on to have a career year, completing 64.9% of his 485 pass attempts for 3,366 yards, 23 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in 14 games played (12 starts) for the Cards. Murray is now in Minnesota, and Brissett is expected to enter the 2026 campaign as the starter under new head coach Mike LaFleur. Brissett was a valuable QB2 streamer, especially in superflex leagues last year, but in an offense that should be more balanced under LaFleur, fantasy managers should temper expectations with Brissett.
--Keith HernandezSource: NFL Network - Ian Rapoport
April 17, 2026
The Houston Texans and All-Pro edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. agreed to a blockbuster three-year, $150 million contract extension on Friday, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. The deal includes $134 million guaranteed to make Anderson the league's highest-paid non-QB ever. The deal also includes a rare no-trade clause. The 24-year-old is one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL after he was taken third overall by Houston in the 2023 NFL draft out of Alabama. Anderson has had double-digit sacks in each of the last two seasons and finished last year with a career-high 54 tackles (35 solo), a career-high 12 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits, three pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries (one returned for a touchdown) in 17 regular-season starts. He was a big reason the Texans had the top-ranked defense in the NFL in 2025, and he finished as the No. 6 defensive lineman in IDP fantasy formats. Anderson finished second behind Myles Garrett in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2025.
--Keith HernandezSource: NFL Network - Ian Rapoport
April 17, 2026
The Pittsburgh Steelers have done their homework on this year's quarterback class, including Alabama signal-caller
Ty Simpson, but ESPN's Brooke Pryor doesn't expect them to take a QB at No. 21 overall in the first round next Thursday night. The Steelers "continue to believe" that veteran free-agent QB
Aaron Rodgers will return for another season in 2026. Instead, they could take the best player available at that position late in the first round among wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line, or any spot in the secondary. There is no consensus player (or even position) for the Steelers in the first round this year. The front office addressed some of the team's most glaring needs (receiver, cornerback, and safety) in free agency and the trade market this offseason. Overall, Pittsburgh has 12 draft picks this year, including four Day 2 selections. If the Steelers do take a QB in this year's draft, it could come in Rounds 2 or 3.
--Keith HernandezSource: ESPN.com - Brooke Pryor
April 17, 2026
Eighteen NFL teams are expected to attend Arizona State wide receiver
Jordyn Tyson's (hamstring) workout on Friday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. Tyson, who is projected to be a first-round pick next Thursday night, is holding his own individual workout for teams at Arizona State. The 21-year-old did not run at the scouting combine in February or during the Sun Devils' pro day earlier in the offseason due to a hamstring injury. Tyson also dealt with several injuries in college, so scouts want to get another look at him before the 2026 NFL draft kicks off next week. Even though Tyson has an injury history, he could be in play as the first receiver off the board in the first round next Thursday night. He had 1,101 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on 75 receptions in 2024 at Arizona State and finished up with a 61-711-8 line in nine games in his final season with the Sun Devils in 2025. In addition to his hamstring injury, Tyson also tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL in his knee in 2022 and fractured his collarbone in 2024.
--Keith HernandezSource: ESPN - Adam Schefter
April 17, 2026
Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz has shut down trade rumors surrounding wide receiver
Quentin Johnston, according to Kris Rhim of ESPN. "There's a lot of rumors out there on Twitter," Hortiz said. "And I can tell you this, I have made zero calls about Quentin, and I've had zero calls regarding Quentin." The Chargers are still discussing the decision on whether to pick up Johnston's fifth-year option, which would pay him $18.1 million fully guaranteed in 2027. L.A. must decide before May 1. Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh have supported Johnston all along, which was evident after they traded
Keenan Allen to the Chicago Bears after Johnston's poor rookie season. The 24-year-old former 21st overall pick in 2023 out of TCU has rewarded the team's faith, going over 700 receiving yards in each of the last two years while scoring eight times each season in 29 total regular-season games. He led the Bolts in TDs and had a career-high 735 yards over 14 games in 2025. With Allen unlikely to return in 2026, Johnston should once again be a focal point through the air for quarterback
Justin Herbert in his fourth NFL campaign.
--Keith HernandezSource: ESPN.com - Kris Rhim
April 17, 2026
With less than a week until the 2026 NFL Draft, veteran running back
Najee Harris (Achilles) remains unsigned, and that is unlikely to change before teams have the chance to sort through the younger, healthier options of what is largely considered an underwhelming rookie class of runners. Following four serviceable seasons with the Steelers, Harris was signed by the Chargers, where he was expected to split time with rookie
Omarion Hampton, until a Fourth of July fireworks accident raised questions about whether his career might be over. He was ultimately able to return to the field for the start of the 2025 season, but after limited offseason conditioning, he tore his Achilles in Week 3, ending his Chargers career after only 15 carries. All reports suggest that his recovery has gone well, and while his fantasy heyday is likely behind him, in the right landing spot, he could still carve out just enough of a role to siphon touches from a team's lead back. Harris recently visited with the Raiders, where new head coach Klint Kubiak has a history of dividing the workload amongst his running backs and has already expressed an interest in continuing that approach in Vegas, despite the jarring lack of depth currently behind
Ashton Jeanty.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Notre Dame prospect
Malachi Fields is a big-bodied outside receiver who has split opinions throughout the pre-draft process. His collegiate career was defined more by brilliant flashes than any sort of consistent production, having never topped 811 yards or five receiving touchdowns over his five years in college. At 6'4" and 218 pounds, Fields took nearly 90% of his college snaps on the boundary, with a route tree dominated by fades and hitches. While he is more than likely to find a role in an NFL receiving room, that type of profile has not typically translated to fantasy success, with the game now favoring more versatile target-earners. Once garnering first-round buzz, Fields is now projected to hear his name called on Day 2 of the NFL Draft, and, in the absence of a known landing spot, he has fallen to rookie WR11 in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Before agreeing to a four-year, $48 million deal with the New Orleans Saints in the opening hours of free agency, running back
Travis Etienne Jr. had finished as the RB17 or better in three of his four seasons with the Jaguars, and twice inside the top 10. While it was his elite efficiency that got him there in 2022, averaging over five yards per carry, his 2023 campaign was buoyed by increased goal-line usage and his resulting 11 rushing touchdowns. After a down year in 2024, he put together perhaps his most complete season in 2025, finishing the year with 1,399 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns. Now part of a Saints offense that showed much to be excited about down the stretch, Etienne is expected to see the lion's share of the work out of a backfield that heads into the draft with a soon-to-be-31-year-old
Alvin Kamara, the oft-injured
Kendre Miller, and 2025 sixth-round pick
Devin Neal. After hitting a top-three dynasty value in his first year as a starter, the 27-year-old Etienne is now RotoBaller's RB18, presenting rebuilding managers with a rare second sell-high window after he had fallen as low as RB40 on KeepTradeCut.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Cardinals running back
Tyler Allgeier appears to have been hand-selected for Arizona's new offensive system. First-time head coach Mike LaFleur landed in the desert with a plan and wasted no time in naming Nathaniel Hackett as his offensive coordinator. The two will presumably marry Hackett's classic West Coast scheme to philosophies from the McVay-Shanahan system, with a run game dominated by outside-zone looks. Arriving in Arizona, though, they inherited a running back room of
James Conner and
Trey Benson, two backs who have spent the past two years in a more North-South man/gap system. Allgeier's two-year deal with the team was one of the first announced at the start of free agency, after spending the past two seasons in Atlanta with another McVay disciple, Zac Robinson. While the transition in Arizona may be more nuanced for the team's offensive linemen than its backs, Allgeier's past experience can not be discounted, as more than 76% of his career carries have come on some variant of zone run, while that number sits at a combined 42% for Conner and Benson. The most likely outcome for fantasy is that all three backs will eat into one another's workload, making all of them unreliable as weekly plays, but with Conner about to turn 31 and coming off a severe foot injury, and Trey Benson yet to deliver up his early third-round draft capital, Allgeier could be the early front-runner for a leading role in a system with which he should have some familiarity.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back
Kenneth Gainwell was one of the league's biggest surprises in 2025, with his career-high 73 receptions trailing only
Christian McCaffrey,
Bijan Robinson, and
Jahmyr Gibbs at the position. After keeping such elite company, he leveraged his receiving success into a two-year, $14 million deal with the Buccaneers, where he joins a team and a new offensive coordinator with prior histories of involving running backs in the passing game. Zac Robinson raised eyebrows when he initially stated his intent to deploy
Bucky Irving similarly to the way he used Robinson in Atlanta, but the signing of Gainwell on the first day of free agency would suggest the bulk of the running back targets could go elsewhere. Last season, while Gainwell was nearly doubling his career receiving production in Pittsburgh, an injury-slowed Irving was splitting time with, and ceding much of the passing game work to,
Rachaad White. While both backs bring versatility to what will be a new look Buccaneers offense in 2026, the safe bet will be for Gainwell to find most of his fantasy success as the dedicated passing back, as his 114 carries in 2025 also marked a career high, but were easily surpassed by Irving in only 10 games.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Georgia wide receiver
Zachariah Branch is expected to receive Day 2 capital in the upcoming NFL Draft, but with one of the more unique prospect profiles in recent history, there are questions about how his game might translate to the next level. At just 5'9" and 177 pounds, over a third of Branch's career receiving yards came on screen plays, while an astonishing 45.5% of his targets came behind the line of scrimmage, which is higher than any player ever selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft. While some have pointed to
Luther Burden III as evidence that a player with a similar profile can succeed in the NFL, Branch's career ADoT was a full four yards lower than Burden's, and players with similar collegiate usage have had a frighteningly low fantasy hit rate. In the right landing spot, Branch could become a useful gadget player for an NFL offense, but he's unlikely to find any consistently bankable fantasy usage.
--Patrick McGrathSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
San Francisco 49ers quarterback
Mac Jones is one of the more productive backups in the league, offering the ability to come off the bench and keep his team in the game. We saw Jones handle plenty of starter reps in 2025, as he started eight games last year with 2,151 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He even got onto the fringe of the fantasy radar by ranking as the overall QB16 from Week 2-10. However, as soon as
Brock Purdy was healthy enough to play, the Niners turned to him and sent Jones to the bench. There was some speculation that Jones could be traded this offseason if the 49ers felt he was too valuable to leave on the bench. Nothing is stopping the Niners from making that deal now, but remaining with the team this deep in the offseason seems to be a pretty good sign that he'll stick around. Jones has upside when he gets onto the field, but given how difficult the roster crunch can be in fantasy football, managers don't need the former first-round pick clogging up their bench spots. He can be dropped to waivers in most formats.
--Andersen PickardSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver
Tez Johnson wasn't a steady fantasy option last year, but his 322 yards and five touchdowns were enough to turn some heads. Scoring five touchdowns as a rookie isn't easy, especially for a seventh-round pick buried on the depth chart. Nevertheless, Johnson emerged as a decent fantasy contributor, often filling in productivity-wise for any injured players among the core of
Mike Evans,
Emeka Egbuka, and
Chris Godwin Jr. The good news for Johnson is that Evans has departed, leaving one fewer mouth to feed on offense. The bad news, though, is that Johnson's five touchdowns are not sustainable as long as he occupies a depth role. He's merely a depth receiver for now, but given how often wide receiver injuries occur in the NFL, there's a nonzero chance that Johnson could end up making a fantasy impact in 2026. Still, the anticipated touchdown regression has dropped Johnson down to WR95 in the latest RotoBaller dynasty rankings.
--Andersen PickardSource: RotoBaller
April 17, 2026
Arizona Cardinals quarterback
Jacoby Brissett offers a bridge or stop-gap option on his own team, and he could provide similar value to fantasy football managers in 2026. Brisett was thrust into the starting quarterback role somewhat unexpectedly last year, starting 10 games in the absence of
Kyler Murray (foot). The veteran signal caller was easily better than anyone could have imagined, accruing 3,336 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Not only did he unlock a level of fantasy dependability that Murray, who is now a Viking, was never able to achieve, but he also supported top-tier fantasy performances from his teammates. Most notably, tight end
Trey McBride was the year's overall TE1, and
Michael Wilson enjoyed a nice breakout of his own at wide receiver with 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns. Unless the Cardinals make an aggressive quarterback selection in the NFL Draft, Brissett will be the starter for most of 2026. He has a decent chance to pick up where he left off, but the fact that he isn't guaranteed to start games beyond 2026 certainly reduces his dynasty upside. He currently ranks as the QB30 in RotoBaller's latest dynasty rankings, only offering trade appeal to fantasy managers with no other quarterback options.
--Andersen PickardSource: RotoBaller
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