Every year in fantasy football leagues around the country, someone inevitably lands one of those picks: the players whose pre-draft rankings belied the true potential that their lucky manager (obviously) saw in them. These are the sleepers of fantasy football: The players who exceed expectations, post a breakout season and win leagues.
Of course, landing a true sleeper for your roster isn’t entirely guesswork and luck (though sometimes it is!). A little pre-knowledge of each player’s team situation, matchups, history and projections can help you identify all of this year’s top sleeper candidates.
Fortunately, we’ve done some of the heavy lifting for you! Here’s our list of the players most likely to become fantasy football sleepers at each position.
Don’t forget: You can watch all of these players pass, rush and scramble their way to the top of the fantasy football scoreboards this season during NFL games on DIRECTV.
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2026 Quarterback Sleepers
Kyler Murray – Minnesota Vikings
Kyler Murray’s time in the Arizona desert has come to an end, and it’s likely that he’ll get the start under center for the Vikings after their disastrous 2025-26 season at the QB position. He’ll be stepping into the richest passing situation of his career so far, with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings as his top targets, which will complement his historically solid running game and give him true dual-threat fantasy upside. If there are any downsides to waiting a bit to take Murray as a late QB, it’s that he’s been injury-prone in the past.
Malik Willis – Miami Dolphins
Malik Willis impressed when he filled in for an injured Jordan Love in Green Bay last season, and anyone watching knew he was essentially auditioning for his next team. Willis, too, is a strong rusher, and logged four rushing TDs last year. Willis’ passing also improved while in Green Bay, but one of the risks of rostering him is the generally low quality of his receiver room. Still, he’s got plenty of upside as the Miami starter and he’s a comfortable later-round QB pick.
Tyler Shough – New Orleans Saints
Yes, New Orleans was bottom of the barrel by almost any measure for most of last season, but things started to look a little more positive for the Saints after Shough replaced Spencer Rattler under center in Week 9. This season, head coach Kellen Moore will be calling plays for a much more talented cast, with wideout Jordan Tyson, the eighth overall draft pick, joining Chris Olave and tight end Juwan Johnson in the receiver room and Travis Etienne Jr. entering the backfield from Jacksonville as another potential target. Shough finished 20-26 strong and is in an even better position entering this year.
Jaxson Dart – New York Giants
Dart stepped in for New York in relief of Russell Wilson, and it looked like he immediately provided the spark the team needed to start showing signs of life. The Giants still ended up being one of the league’s worst teams last season, which led to Daboll’s firing. Their struggles were only accentuated by season-ending injuries to Cam Skattebo and Malik Nabers, but Jim Harbaugh takes over as head coach this season after his own firing by the Ravens. Dart will both have his top weapons back and a new veteran leadership presence entering this season. He’s primed for a breakout.
Cam Ward – Tennessee Titans
The 2025 draft’s first overall pick went to perhaps the most QB-needy team in the NFL, but even bringing in that caliber of a player couldn’t fix the Titans’ problems last season. Ward essentially never had a chance, considering the pitiful play of his offensive line and lack of talent in his receiving corps. This season, he’ll be playing for Robert Saleh, with Brian Daboll as his offensive coordinator and throwing to Wan’Dale Robinson, the latter two of whom both jumped over from the Giants. Those two changes alone could be enough to amplify the upside Ward showed late last season as he settled into his role. He’s a decent stash as a backup QB.
2026 Wide Receiver Sleepers
Luther Burden III – Chicago Bears
Luther Burden III will have a little more room to operate in his second year with DJ Moore headed to join Josh Allen in Buffalo. He’ll still face competition from fellow wideout Rome Odunze and TE Colston Loveland, who is also well positioned for a big season. That dynamic has the potential to limit Burden’s ceiling a bit, but he’s primed to take on a much larger role on the Bears offense this season.
Jayden Higgins – Houston Texans
Jayden Higgins was impressive in his rookie season, tying for the team lead in touchdowns. This year, the Texans O-line has seen some upgrades, and Christian Kirk has left, leaving Higgins to take on the WR2 position opposite Nico Collins. With Collins injury history and Tank Dell’s status still up in the air, Higgins could be set up to see an increasing target share as the season goes on.
Antonio Williams – Washington Commanders
Washington’s third round pick is expected to take on an immediate starting role for the Commanders. He’ll compete with Luke McCaffrey and Dyami Brown for time in the slot, but he’s likely to be on top of that trio and should be expected to trail only WR1 Terry McLaurin for target share among receivers. The wild card will be whether Jayden Daniels can stay healthy this season.
Jordyn Tyson – New Orleans Saints
The eighth overall pick to New Orleans in the 2026 draft, Tyson is another rookie receiver who has the potential to put up big numbers this season. He joins a team primed to look much better in 2026-27. He’ll compete with Chris Olave and Travis Etienne, Jr. for targets, but he’ll likely slot in as the WR2 from day one. QB Tyler Shough is another of our sleepers, having improved in the tail end of last year, making this a solid sleeper stack for 2026-27.
Romeo Doubs – New England Patriots
Romeo Doubs joins Drake Maye’s New England Patriots after four seasons in Green Bay. Even with AJ Brown arriving to reunite with his former Tennessee Titan head coach, Mike Vrabel, Doubs is well-positions to settle in nicely to a perimeter role. He should benefit from the attention Brown commands from opposing defenses, as well as an offense that’s both more willing and more capable of pushing the ball through the air.
2026 Running Back Sleepers
Jeremiyah Love – Arizona Cardinals
Sure, we’re coming off a year where one of the RBs floating around the Top 5 by ADP in this season’s rankings — Las Vegas’ sixth overall pick in 2025, Ashton Jeanty — put on a relatively disappointing show. Anyone who took him as their RB1, and likely as their first-round pick, is probably feeling a little stung, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from snagging this year’s third overall pick, Jeremiyah Love. Love’s entering a very different situation from Jeanty’s, who suffered from one of the league’s most porous O-lines. He’s also a three-down back and will almost certainly be used as such. We’d love to have Love rostered.
Jonathan Brooks – Carolina Panthers
We haven’t seen a whole lot of Jonathan Brooks, considering he’s torn his ACL twice and only appeared in three NFL games so far, but if he can bounce back to the form that convinced the Panthers to spend a second-round pick on him in 2024, he’s set to compete for touches with Chubba Hubbard and Trevor Etienne, and has the potential to pick up a heavier workload as the season goes on considering Rico Dowdle left for Pittsburgh.
Kenneth Gainwell – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Gainwell steps into a backfield behind Bucky Irving to replace Rachaad White, who left for the Commanders. Irving has been the Buc’s clear number one for the last two seasons, but his 2025-26 looked a lot less efficient, opening up space for Gainwell to get some meaningful touch share and a role that could grow as he settles in.
Jordan Mason – Minnesota Vikings
Jordan Mason was dominant in Minnesota last season while filling in for Aaron Jones over five weeks, racking up six TDs and 159 carries over that span, leading the team on the season despite his limited playtime. Jones is starting to show his age, opening up a potential opportunity for Mason to take over as the Vikings RB1.
Bhayshul Tuten – Jacksonville Jaguars
Travis Etienne Jr. has left Jacksonville for New Orleans, leaving Bhayshul Tuten to step into the Jags’ RB1 role. He’s quick and shifty, with an elite missed tackles forced rate and seven touchdowns in his rookie season. He’ll likely pick up the lion’s share of Etienne’s vacated receiving reps, priming him nicely for a breakout season.
Kyle Monongai – Chicago Bears
He’s currently slotted in as the RB2 behind D’Andre Swift in Chicago, but Kyle Monangai is in a good position to start taking over the backfield duties. Eventually, most expect him to take on the starting role, and this could be the season we start to see him take meaningful steps toward that outcome.
2026 Tight End Sleepers
Chig Okonkwo – Washington Commanders
Washington is one of the best places to be for a tight end in the NFL, and Chig Okonwko gets the pleasure of taking on the TE1 role for the Commanders this season. Antonio Williams, another of our sleepers, is likely to see a prominent role from Week 1, but the Commanders love throwing to tight ends, which means Okonkwo is likely to end up as the number two target on the team, behind only Terry McLaurin.
Brenton Strange – Jacksonville Jaguars
Injuries made Brenton Strange a bit of a disappointment in his first season with Jacksonville, but he’s primed for a breakout this year. When healthy, he was highly targeted and has the potential to be a top-tier player at a position notorious for its shallow depth. He’s also going very late right now, making him an ideal TE sleeper pickup.
Isaiah Likely – New York Giants
Likely follows Jim Harbaugh to New York from Baltimore. He’s been a solid backup for years, but now he’ll step out of Mark Andrews’ shadow and will almost certainly be the TE1 on this team in Week 1. If Malik Nabers isn’t fully healthy, Likely will be in a position to absorb most of those targets.
Gunnar Helm – Tennessee Titans
Okonkwo’s move to Washington leaves Helm as the obvious TE1 in Tennessee in his sophomore year. Whether Tennessee’s new look coaching staff and Brian Daboll entering as OC can translate into a big leap for Cam Ward and the Titans offense this season remains to be seen, but if it happens, Helm is likely to be one of the primary beneficiaries. That could happen regardless of a major offensive improvement, making Helm a solid sleeper tight end candidate.
Oronde Gadsden II – Los Angeles Chargers
Gadsden was a hot waiver wire pickup in 2025 after he saw some breakout performance halfway through the season, and he’s set to take on an even more prominent role under new OC Mike McDaniel. David Njoku came over from Cleveland, but Gadsden will likely put up some meaningful competition for target share, making him a bargain for his low draft cost at the moment.
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Looking to win your Fantasy Football league in 2026? Find even more stats, tips and tricks right here:
- 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings & ADP
- 2026 Fantasy Football Rising & Falling Players by Position
- Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings
- Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings
- Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings
Frequently asked questions
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