SportsLine model locks in 2026 Fantasy football top picks
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- SportsLine simulated the NFL season 10,000 times and released its 2026 Fantasy football positional rankings, cheat sheets, tiers and ADP guidance less than three weeks before the NFL season opener.
- Josh Allen tops the QB rankings despite posting his fewest passing yards (3,668) and passing touchdowns (25) of the last six years, buoyed by 41 rushing TDs over the past three seasons — second-most in the NFL regardless of position.
- Dak Prescott ranks third at QB as the model breaks from ADP to place him ahead of Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, citing his receiver duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb as a middle-round steal.
- Bijan Robinson leads the RB rankings after leading all running backs last season in receptions (79) and receiving yards (820) while adding 1,478 rushing yards, and joined Gibbs and Taylor in getting in-season contract extensions.
- Puka Nacua tops the WR list with a 95.3 receiving yards-per-game career average — the highest in NFL history — and had zero Fantasy duds outside the one game in which he got injured last season.
- Colston Loveland, a Bears rookie, ranks third among TEs after ranking second in positional Fantasy points from Week 8 through Week 18 and posting a 137-yard playoff game after seizing the top TE role when Cole Kmet missed time.
- The model has a track record of correctly calling past Fantasy outcomes, including Daniel Jones' 2025 breakout in Indianapolis, Terry McLaurin's down year, Tetairoa McMillan's 2025 breakout, and Derrick Henry's 2019 emergence.
- Trey McBride tops the TE rankings, averaging 8.1 catches for 80.3 yards and 10 total touchdowns in 12 games with Jacoby Brissett as Arizona's starter — compared to 5.8 catches, 55 yards and 1 TD in five games with Kyler Murray.
Why it matters: Fantasy drafters get a contrarian roadmap inside three weeks of kickoff: Prescott slotted ahead of ADP darlings Daniels and Maye, and rookie Loveland installed as a top-three TE. The model's stated track record — Jones, McLaurin, McMillan, Henry — gives the rankings editorial weight beyond a standard ADP sheet.
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