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Andrew's worst landing spots for the top fantasy football rookies in the 2026 NFL Draft class. Which teams could hinder the potential of these top rookies?
Every dynasty fantasy football manager has been there. A franchise is on the clock, and you're sweating the selection.
Sometimes it's because you roster the veteran wide receiver and want less target competition for your guy. Other times, you love the prospect but hate the potential marriage between him and the team.
The latter is what we're going to talk about today. Here are the landing spots for the top offensive prospects in the NFL Draft (other than Fernando Mendoza) who may make you grimace.
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Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame
Worst Landing Spot: Arizona Cardinals
There's no bad landing spot for the clear-cut best skill-position player in this draft. Of all the potential destinations for Jeremiyah Love, he'd become the immediate starter at the running back position.
Tennessee Titans? The soon-to-be 29-year-old Tony Pollard could become a cap casualty. New York Giants? He may surrender a few carries to Cam Skattebo, but his breakaway speed, tackle-breaking ability, and receiving prowess will prove impossible to take off the field. And that's an ascending offense under Jaxson Dart. Washington Commanders? A pairing with Jayden Daniels couldn't be more perfect, and there is no backfield competition.
Love isn't being selected in the top 10 on April 23 to ease into a starting role. After totaling 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns in his final collegiate season, teams atop the draft order are clamoring for his services, despite the lower positional value.
There is one team linked to Love, however, that doesn't have as clear an offensive direction as its counterparts. There are two sophomore quarterbacks with tantalizing potential and a third-year former Rookie of the Year. And then there's Jacoby Brissett.
Not only do the Cardinals project to be the worst team of the four again in 2026, but they also have a loaded running back room. James Conner reworked his deal to stay in the desert, and Arizona added Atlanta's Tyler Allgeier on a two-year, $12M deal. Toss in Trey Benson, too.
Will any of those runners stop Love from taking over the backfield? Absolutely not, but it's still the worst of the landing spots.
Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State
Worst Landing Spot: Cleveland Browns
There are three teams most widely linked to early round wide receivers: the Browns, Jets, and Dolphins.
It makes perfect sense when perusing the respective depth charts. It's Jerry Jeudy, a throng of unproven youngsters, and Cedric Tillman. That's why the Browns have hosted nearly every top receiver prospect in this class for a top-30 visit: Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, Jordyn Tyson, Omar Cooper Jr., KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, Chris Bell, and Germie Bernard. With two first-round selections (six and 24), it seems inevitable that Cleveland selects one with one of those picks.
The case can be made that Tate is the best wide receiver in this class, although there are some red flags. Playing at a history-rich school for wideouts does come with its downsides. Tate was not a target hog at Ohio State; in fact, he never led his team in receptions or yards. Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, and Marvin Harrison Jr. took those honors.
The end zone view of the first Carnell Tate TD vs. Wisconsin is silly good.
An outstanding catch. pic.twitter.com/dKxVWB85FN
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) October 20, 2025
Tate's game is built on efficiency (3.02 yards per route run), and his tape shows a well-rounded receiver. But his 66 targets in his final season point to a receiver who is not up to par with the best prospects in recent drafts. A Malik Nabers, he is not.
Tate has all the makings of a productive receiver for a decade, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's a WR1 for a decade. And that's concerning, especially paired with a questionable quarterback room consisting of Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
Makai Lemon, WR, USC
Worst Landing Spot: Los Angeles Rams
In what can only be called a rare occasion, the Los Angeles Rams have a first-round pick. No, not their own; they traded that one. Rather, this one comes from Atlanta, putting them in a prime position to select USC's Makai Lemon.
If they do, it's a sign that Davante Adams could be on the move, or the Rams could eat $20 million in dead cap this offseason. Is that a win-now move in what is likely Matthew Stafford's final season? No, it's not.
However, they could still draft Lemon, with the intention of him replacing Adams next summer. If that's the case, Lemon slots in as the third option in Los Angeles (well, really, the fourth when including Kyren Williams) this season. Once he moves up the pecking order, i.e., when Adams moves on, Stafford is also gone, and Lemon will have to endure a franchise reset.
Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State
Worst Landing Spot: New York Jets
Injury concerns aside, because that doesn't matter in this exercise, Tyson may be the best wide receiver in this draft. That being the case, fantasy football managers want him paired with quarterback stability. That is, and will not, be the case in New York.
Geno Smith returns to the team that drafted him over a decade ago after one disastrous season in Las Vegas. Blame patchy offensive line play, a lack of elite receiving options, or age catching up to him, but Smith did not look like a quarterback who deserved another shot.
And yet, here he is, with (currently) only Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe to hold off for the starting job. Once the losses begin to pile up for one of the league's worst rosters, it could go from bad to ugly.
Tyson excels at creating separation and making plays in rhythm. He was a top-10 quarterback in completion percentage when he had a clean pocket. Given the Jets' offensive inefficiencies and mediocre offensive line play, that may not happen often. Plus, he'll be on a team with an established target hog (Garrett Wilson).
Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
Worst Landing Spot: Philadelphia Eagles
A successor to Dallas Goedert seems imminent. The longtime Eagle was rumored to be moving on from the team before a surprise one-year contract was agreed upon. Still, the search for his replacement is on.
With a pick in the low-20s, Kenyon Sadiq, the freak athlete from Oregon, could still be on the board; a prime opportunity for Philly to nab its tight end of the future.
However, the Eagles don't often use their tight ends as mismatches downfield, where Sadiq shines. Rather, it's as a blocker, or, in Goedert's case, a red-zone threat on designed routes. Sadiq could get some of those looks, but not with any consistency.
There's already a heavy competition for targets in Philadelphia. Of course, that could all change if A.J. Brown isn't in Kelly Green in September. Still, DeVonta Smith and Goedert are enough to keep Sadiq from blossoming in Year 1 in this low-volume pass offense.
KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M
Worst Landing Spot: Carolina Panthers
Outside of obvious spots already mentioned (New York, Cleveland), and one that will be discussed before the article is over (Miami), there are still a couple of teams we'd like to see KC Concepcion avoid. One is Pittsburgh, where he'd play behind DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr., with (presumably) a quarterback who refrains from throwing it downfield (one of the Texas A&M product's strengths).
The other is Carolina if the Panthers front office wants to triple-tap on the wide receiver position. Xavier Legette and Tetairoa McMillan were both selected in the first round in the previous two drafts. McMillan? He passed his initial test with flying colors, winning Rookie of the Year honors. Legette? That experiment seems to have failed.
The goal is still to build a contender around Bryce Young. The team picked up his fifth-year option in January, which means there are still two more seasons of Young under center. He's not winning games on his own, as a Josh Allen type would. Rather, he needs a strong supporting cast, and right now, it's average.
So don't count out an early wide receiver selection by the Panthers, and that's much better in a team-building sense (he's also a fantastic punt returner) than a fantasy football one.
80-YRD PUNT RETURN ➡️ TD 🤯@AggieFootball x 📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/BCaNvG3pWb
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) August 30, 2025
Young isn't a high-volume passer, and Concepcion would be competing with Jalen Coker for the scraps left over after McMillan's targets.
Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame
Worst Landing Spot: Atlanta Falcons
Going to take this opportunity to talk about the running back draft class as a whole, other than Love. Jadarian Price, Jonah Coleman, and Mike Washington Jr. are the consensus "next tier," but there are analysts in the Emmett Johnson camp. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen have their fans.
Point being, any one of those guys could be the second one taken at the position. Draft capital may wind up being more important than destination.
In the bigger picture, there are teams we want to select some of these backs (Seattle, Minnesota), and others that could look to bolster their backfields but won't help us in a fantasy sense (Detroit, Atlanta). The Falcons let Allgeier walk this offseason, while the Lions dealt David Montgomery and replaced him with the ineffective Isiah Pacheco.
The need for a backup is there, but only in case of an emergency. Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs are workhorses and the best of the best at the position. There will be limited opportunities for any of the middle-round rookies who land there.
Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama
Worst Landing Spot: New York Jets
This is a one-quarterback draft class, and that's why we're not even entertaining the idea of Fernando Mendoza going anywhere except Las Vegas. But it's the most valuable position in sports, so there will be another signal-caller pushed up draft boards, whether he's ready to be an NFL starter or not.
This year, that man is Ty Simpson.
The Dolphins have the ammunition to select Simpson in the back end of the first round or the middle of the second. He'd sit behind Malik Willis, at least to start the season, and would have few options in the passing game. That's not ideal.
What may be even less ideal is the fellow AFC East team, the New York Jets. Gang Green has worked out or visited with four quarterbacks, including Simpson, signaling that one selection will be used on a quarterback. When's the last time a quarterback selected by the Jets panned out for them? You'd have to go all the way back to Mark Sanchez, but even then, he had mixed results.
That's not to say it won't work out for Simpson, but the cards are stacked against a quarterback of his caliber. And if the Jets don't use an early pick on a wide receiver, it's Garrett Wilson or bust again for Jets quarterbacks.
Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt
Worst Landing Spot: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Eli Stowers is following the Jimmy Graham route. He'll be listed as a tight end, but for all intents and purposes, he's a large, interior wide receiver. This is exactly what Tampa Bay is missing now with the departure of Mike Evans.
An interesting note on #Vanderbilt's Eli Stowers: While officially he's a TE, several teams are evaluating him as a WR.
At 6-foot-4, 239, his build can be compared to Mike Evans. Stowers, by the way, visits the #Broncos next week, and he's done #Rams, #Titans, and #Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/B2VwS2Uzjn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 7, 2026
As they showed when they selected Emeka Egbuka last year, the Buccaneers are willing to take the best player available, even if it doesn't match a need. In the middle of the second round, Stowers may fit that bill.
Egbuka, although extremely talented, got lucky that Evans, Chris Godwin Jr., and Jalen McMillan missed time, opening his window of opportunity sooner than expected. It will take similar circumstances for Stowers to be productive in fantasy football, maybe even more, because he's not only competing with wide receivers but with Cade Otton, too.
Tampa Bay extended its veteran tight end in March. He's a far superior blocker than the incoming rookie, so his role is cemented for the next three seasons. If he's more of a receiver, then there are three proven pass-catchers to battle for playing time.
Denzel Boston, WR, Washington
Worst Landing Spot: Miami Dolphins
Denzel Boston doesn't profile as a WR1 in the NFL. If Miami selects him at 30 or 43, that's exactly what he'll be in his rookie season.
His production slipped against tougher competition when defenses keyed in on him. Schemes will help him get open and productive at the professional level, but it won't work when Tutu Atwell or Jalen Tolbert are lined up opposite Boston.
And that's before the quarterback question marks. We love Malik Willis as a fantasy asset because of his scramble ability, but he's yet to prove that he can support a WR1, albeit he's had limited starts to showcase that.
If Miami picks Boston in the late first, a double-dip could come next April when Jeremiah Smith, Cam Coleman, and Ryan Williams are eligible, pushing him down to the WR2 spot that he likely belongs in.
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