Fantasy Football Player Outlooks for The 2026-26 Season

There's a strong case to make for Robinson as not just the fantasy RB1, but the 1.01 pick in most formats. As much as players like Jahmyr Gibbs and Christian McCaffrey are capable of claiming the RB1 title themselves, Robinson's combination of huge workload (including pass catching), elite efficiency and uncommon durability give him the highest combination of floor and ceiling. With Tyler Allgeier off to Arizona and a strong offensive line still in place back in Atlanta, Robinson's workload is locked in around a league-leading level. He compounds that volume with explosive production as both a runner and pass catcher, averaging 4.9 YPC and 6.7 YPT for his career. New Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski will probably want to use backup RB Brian Robinson at times, but Robinson may quickly prove a downgrade on Allgeier, who poached 143 carries and eight rushing touchdowns last year, including 10 carries inside the 5-yard line and 19 carries inside the 10. With standout power, 4.46 speed and polished pass-catching skills, Robinson should continue to provide elite per-touch efficiency while boasting better volume/durability projections than Gibbs or McCaffrey.

With at least 5.0 yards per carry and blistering touchdown production in each of his three NFL seasons, it's easy to make the case that Gibbs is the most explosive from-scrimmage threat in the league. Even in what was a down year for the Detroit offense Gibbs still finished with 18 touchdowns (five receiving) while averaging 5.0 yards per carry, proving that Gibbs carries the Detroit offense rather than the other way around. The Lions traded David Montgomery to Houston and have so far only replaced him with Isiah Pacheco. As much as the Lions might want to be a little more careful about overworking the 5-foot-9, 199-pound Gibbs, with their present running back depth chart they might not have much choice but to put even more work on Gibbs in 2026. The Detroit offensive line is undergoing notable transition for the second offseason in a row due to the subtraction of long-time left tackle Taylor Decker, but Penei Sewell should be up to the task of moving to the left side, and 17th overall pick Blake Miller was a rock-solid four-year starter at Clemson. There's no guarantee the Detroit offensive line improves from its disappointing 2025 results, but it shouldn't get any worse.

The arrival of Daniel Jones proved a godsend for Taylor and the Colts offense to begin the 2025 season, with the improved quarterback play such a contrast to what Anthony Richardson provided previously that it looked like Taylor was playing on a lower difficulty level entirely compared to his previous NFL seasons. Though Taylor has always been highly successful for the Colts, that was often the case in spite of the offense around him. If Taylor were ever truly empowered by a surrounding offense then it's easy to imagine him enjoying a glow-up not unlike when Christian McCaffrey escaped to San Francisco from Carolina, or when Saquon Barkley went nuts in Philadelphia after years of the Giants holding him back. Unfortunately for Taylor and the Colts, Jones was made less effective by a fibula fracture before suffering an Achilles' tendon tear Dec. 7 while playing through the previous injury. Great as Taylor's numbers were in the 2025 season, scoring 20 touchdowns (18 rushing) and posting career-high receiving numbers, the season was still largely a tale of before and after Jones' injuries, because before Jones' injuries Taylor was on pace for a truly monstrous season. Taylor still has the stuff to pull off a 2,000-yard season and as a pure runner he might be the best in the NFL, but Taylor will never catch as many passes as most other elite fantasy backs, which puts more pressure on his rushing and touchdown production. It would be a lot easier for the Colts to get into the necessary scoring range if Jones can come back healthy, yet there are minimal or no guarantees there.

Famously just a fifth-round pick, Nacua came out of the gate in 2023 with a rookie record of 1,486 receiving yards. He then led the NFL in yards per route run (3.70) in 2024, but a knee injury limited him to 487 snaps over 11 regular-season games. Healthier last year, Nacua again led the league in YPRR (3.80), only this time across 16 regular-season games (727 snaps), averaging a WR-leading 23.5 PPR points. His route share (75.1 percent) was still low relative to other top wideouts, but that helped him stay fresh and sustain absurd per-route usage, similar to Tyreek Hill's 2022-23 peak in Miami. Targeted on a league-high 36.1 percent of routes last year, Nacua did damage at every level, even catching 13 passes (t-3rd) 20-plus yards downfield (to equal his combined total from 2023-24). The lone disappointment? Nacua's 17.0 percent target share in the red zone, where Davante Adams (34.8 percent) took precedence. Nacua nonetheless scored 12 times in 19 total games, putting up 129-1,715-10 during the regular season and 24-332-2 across three playoff outings. Epic campaign aside, Nacua's unusual off-field behavior became a repeated source of public interest throughout the winter, culminating in a March trip to a holistic treatment facility. The Rams reportedly discussed trading Adams and acquiring A.J. Brown around that same time, but stability is otherwise the story in Los Angeles, with every 2025 starter on offense under contract for 2026. Continued off-field problems are the only thing that would prevent Nacua from being a consensus top-five pick in fantasy.

Cook was one of the best ADP values at running back each of the last two years, and while the price might be higher than ever going into 2026 there is no obvious reason why Cook should fall off anytime soon. The formula between Cook, Josh Allen and Buffalo's elite offensive line is one that coach Joe Brady perfected in 2025, as Cook averaged 5.2 yards per carry over 309 carries -- 102 carries more than Cook's previous career high (2024). Cook's workload has become unexpectedly heavy and there's maybe some long-term cause for concern given how thin he is at around 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, yet Cook doesn't take many direct hits and has an unprecedented amount of cover due to Allen and the offensive line. As long as Allen is on the field there's reason to assume the Bills will get into scoring range, and as long as the Buffalo offensive line remains dominant there will continue to be space for Cook to exploit. That Allen is unconditionally the bigger threat to defenses means Cook will never get schemed against the way a running back normally would with production like this. Even if Cook is shredding the defense for 200 yards on the ground, the defensive coordinator has no choice but to prioritize defensive resources toward Allen, even if it cuts loose Cook in the process.