SportsLine model names 2026 Fantasy football top picks
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- SportsLine's model simulated the NFL season 10,000 times and released 2026 Fantasy football positional rankings, cheat sheets, tiers, and ADP guidance for QBs, RBs, WRs, and TEs as the season opens in less than three weeks.
- Josh Allen tops the QB rankings despite last season's lowest passing yardage (3,668) and touchdown total (25) in six years, with 41 rushing TDs over the last three seasons trailing only one player league-wide regardless of position.
- The model breaks from consensus ADP at QB3, slotting Dak Prescott ahead of Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye thanks to his receiver duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb.
- Bijan Robinson leads the RB rankings after posting 1,478 rushing yards (4th in NFL) and leading all running backs with 79 receptions and 820 receiving yards, with Robinson, Gibbs, and Taylor all inking contract extensions at camp.
- Puka Nacua tops WR rankings with a career 95.3 yards-per-game average the source calls the highest in NFL history, followed by Ja'Marr Chase (520 catches, 6,837 yards through five seasons) and reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1,793 receiving yards in 2025).
- Trey McBride leads TE rankings, averaging 8.1 catches for 80.3 yards and 10 total touchdowns across 12 games with Jacoby Brissett starting — compared to 5.8 catches, 55 yards, and 1 TD in five games with Kyler Murray.
- Colston Loveland, the rookie who took over as Chicago's top TE when Cole Kmet missed Week 8, ranks third at the position and projects via extrapolation to an 81-catch, 1,083-yard, 8-TD line over a full 17 games.
Why it matters: Fantasy drafters are about to spend weeks making irreversible pick decisions, and this model — which called Daniel Jones' 2025 Indianapolis surge, Terry McLaurin's down year, and Tetairoa McMillan's breakout a year in advance — is putting its track record behind a Dak-over-Daniels contrarian call at QB and a rookie TE3 projection, both of which would meaningfully change round-by-round draft room behavior if the rankings hold up.
Ask SkimNews
