This article takes five stances on pressing questions for the 2026 fantasy football season that could help win your league. Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments below.
Jahmyr Gibbs is not the 1.01
Lions coach Dan Campbell formally recognized Jahmyr Gibbs as the "bellcow" of the Detroit offense, a plan largely compelled by the departure of David Montgomery and the comparatively weak replacement of free-agent pickup Isiah Pacheco.
With Campbell's comments, Gibbs jumped Bijan Robinson as the 1.01 pick in ADP on at least Underdog — 1.2 ADP vs. 1.8 for Robinson.
This is an understandable enough reaction from the drafting public, but the reasoning is perhaps misguided. The assumption following Campbell's comments is not only that Gibbs will get more work than in 2025, but more than Robinson specifically. There is no basis for that leap.
Robinson's 2025 usage (287 carries, 79 receptions on 103 targets) should sooner be understood as his floor than his ceiling. That usage occurred even with Tyler Allgeier poaching 143 carries and 16 targets. Allgeier is gone now, and Brian Robinson is a lesser player.
Just as replacing Montgomery with Pacheco likely dictates a greater workload for Gibbs, replacing Allgeier with Brian Robinson almost certainly dictates a greater usage share for Bijan, if not greater volume additionally.
It's reasonable to rotate Robinson and Gibbs when you have the 1.01 pick — either player is capable of finishing as the top fantasy asset in 2026 — but Gibbs' ADP should not be ahead of Robinson's.
Ashton Jeanty is the workhorse RB in Las Vegas
New Raiders coach Klint Kubiak utilized a nearly even backfield usage split between Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet when he was the Seattle offensive coordinator because the two were nearly equal talents, with differing strengths that made for an obvious division of labor. There is no possibility of a similar workload split in the Las Vegas backfield.
Kubiak's usage strategy was based on pragmatism rather than some ideological dictate about always employing two equal runners. The pragmatic approach is to more or less give the snap to the most capable player, and Kubiak did exactly that.
The pragmatic approach with the Raiders is to therefore give the ball to Ashton Jeanty as much as possible. Jeanty's loud talent dictates as much on its own, but if it must be noted the Raiders clearly have no comparable players to justify taking any snaps away from Jeanty.
Fourth-round rookie Mike Washington is a rushing specialist but has ball security issues and no history of functioning on passing downs. Fellow rookie, the undrafted Roman Hemby, is about as good of a threat to take snaps as Washington in 2026, but don't expect either to hit 200 snaps on offense if Jeanty stays healthy.
Deshaun Watson is the starting QB in Cleveland
The Browns have an interest in making Shedeur Sanders look good in order to trade him, but for now Watson has a fairly firm grip on the starting quarterback role in Cleveland.
Deshaun Watson, who turns 31 in September, will never be as good as he was in Houston and obviously is a unlikable person. Call it cynical or whatever else, but the public's completely correct distaste for Watson as a person makes him a potential fantasy bargain in 2026.
The simple fact is Watson is a stuck asset — the Browns cannot move him — and the likely second fact is that he's a better quarterback in the meantime than Sanders. Given that second point, the Browns have reason to make this competition between Watson and Sanders drag out as long as possible — ostensibly to make Sanders look as good as possible before considering his market.
Sanders badly struggled as a rookie, however, and also managed to visibly alienate Jerry Jeudy when on the field. Even if Watson is basically bad at this point, the Browns would sooner have an interest in letting Watson play poorly through the entire regular season than let Sanders take the field just to tarnish his viability as a trade option.
Sanders predictably produced sacks and turnovers at a blistering pace last year (10 interceptions on 212 attempts, 9.7 percent sack rate), and even if Watson is in a diminished form physically there's still little doubt Watson can outplay Sanders in 2026 and probably beyond that too.
Travis Hunter will not be a top-4 pass catcher in Jacksonville
The more grand the prophecy, the less likely its followers accept its failure. The tall tales of Travis Hunter being some kind of half-Deion Sanders, half-Antonio Brown cyborg are no doubt fond in the hearts of its believers, and the pain of letting go might be too much to confront in 2026.
Nonetheless, Hunter is a three-down cornerback who will only play receiver on a part-time basis. Even if Hunter is very productive on a per-snap basis at wide receiver, he will not accrue the snap count necessary for the prophecy to fulfill.
Rehashing the various quotes between Liam Coen and James Gladstone will yield no new clues to this great legend. Hunter simply is a cornerback who will play receiver sometimes.
There remain dead-enders who believe the Jaguars are simply playing a trick on us when they said multiple times that Hunter is primarily a corner. Hunter owners in dynasty leagues should sell Hunter to those people.
The model for Hunter is Deion Sanders in 1996. If the prophecies around Hunter were true than Sanders and Champ Bailey would have done it already.
The actual top-4 Jacksonville pass catchers are underpriced
Brian Thomas, Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers will be the three leading pass catchers in Jacksonville this year. The fourth will be either Brenton Strange or Bhayshul Tuten.
The degree to which the betting and fantasy markets overestimate Hunter they sell short Thomas, Washington and Meyers.
That might be especially true about Thomas, around whom trade rumors will apparently swirl indefinitely, even though there were never indications that the Jaguars wanted to move Thomas. The public sort of just assumed they must be trying to trade him after a disappointing 2025 season.
Thomas probably isn't quite as good as he looked as a rookie in 2024, but he remains an uncommon downfield threat on a team that now has multiple established playmakers at wide receiver. Based on the reporting of Jaguars beat writer John Shipley, it sounds like Thomas is doing clearly better in 2026 practices than he did leading up to the 2025 season.
Between Thomas (X), Washington (flanker/slot) and Meyers (slot/flanker) the Jaguars have a balanced, almost ideal lineup at their three lead receiver reps. Hunter will no doubt factor in on a part-time basis, but to make room for the Hunter myth the betting/fantasy markets underestimate the actual three leading receivers on the Jaguars.
