Fantasy Football Sleepers: Jonathon Brooks and Chig Okonkwo Lead The Best Consensus Options For 2026

With the heat of draft season on the horizon, we’re seeing more and more fantasy football sleepers being touted throughout various mediums.

Whether it be social media like Twitter/X and Reddit or your favorite fantasy analyst’s recent articles and videos, you’re bound to get inundated with takes about why player X is “the sleeper you NEED to target in 2026!”

While it’s important to have a list of under-the-radar players capable of smashing their fantasy football ADP, it’s equally as important to be intentional about your sleepers and recognize which ones are better fades than they are clicks.

To help sift through the noise and with the help of Claude, I’ve scraped the most commonly mentioned sleepers for 2026 across various mediums (social media, analysts, articles) to give my thoughts on whether they should be targets or fade.

Note: ADPs listed below are Underdog ADP; fantasy football projections mentioned are 0.5-PPR per-game projections. For QBs, these projections include all QBs projected for at least 10 starts.

Quarterback Sleepers For 2026 Fantasy Football

Kyler Murray (MIN): QB17 ADP; QB11 in per-game projections
Tyler Shough (NO): QB20; QB19
Malik Willis (MIA): QB21; QB23
Cam Ward (TEN): QB22; QB29

Of these four most commonly mentioned sleepers at QB, three of them fall outside the top-20 QBs in ADP, yet only two of them are viewed as positive values when you compare their ADP versus our per-game projections: Kyler Murray (QB17 ADP, QB11 in projections) and Tyler Shough (QB20 ADP, QB19 in projections).

Shough, rightfully, is widely touted as a sleeper after showing top-five weekly upside towards the back half of last season. Over his final six games (Weeks 13 through 18), Shough ranked as the QB9, averaging 19.4 points per game with hidden rushing upside (9% designed rush rate, 6% scramble rate versus 7% and 5% on the season overall). The Saints also invested heavily in offensive weapons to surround him. They drafted WR Jordyn Tyson in the top-10 picks of the NFL Draft, and paid Travis Etienne to be their RB1 via free agency. If waiting until the end of your draft to snag your signal caller, Shough is a bet I’m willing to make, and he checks in as my favorite sleeper QB of the 2026 season, assuming the Saints run a fast-paced offense again (they led the NFL at 2.2 plays per minute in 2025).

If you want a late-round quarterback but don’t want to wait as long in home leagues, Kyler Murray is the click to make. He has the widest gap in ADP (QB17) versus projection (QB11), projecting as a QB1 on a per-game basis (18.7 points per game). While Murray hasn’t showcased the elite upside that we saw from 2021, he certainly has the supporting cast (Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson) and coaching staff (Kevin O’Connell) to pull a rabbit out of the hat in 2026.

Malik Willis was a trendy sleeper pick at the QB position earlier in the offseason. He’s an elite rusher (19% scramble rate in 2025) and over the last 12 seasons, 31 out of 34 quarterbacks that recorded at least 100 rushing attempts in a season finished as top-12 options in fantasy. He’s also looked good as a passer in a limited sample. That being said, I’m not sold on how much it matters that he flashed as a passer when his pass catchers are headlined by (checks notes) Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert. I’m passing on Willis in redraft this season, but I'm totally fine with him as a later-round QB2 in best ball.

The final sleeper that surfaced across multiple mediums feels like a reach. Cam Ward (and Tennessee in general) was abysmal during his rookie season. Sure, he improved as the season went on and was a top-15 option from Week 12 onward. He also added pass catchers (Carnell Tate and Wan’Dale Robinson) as well as a new OC (Brian Daboll), but is this really a bet we feel the need to make in home leagues? I don’t think so, especially considering he projects as merely the QB29 in PPG. Ward will be available on the waiver wire if he gets hot and you feel confident that it continues. Don’t waste a later-round pick on Ward; opt for a handcuff RB or upside wideout instead.

Fantasy Football Running Back Sleepers For 2026

Cam Skattebo (NYG): RB19 ADP
Bhayshul Tuten (JAX): RB25
RJ Harvey (DEN): RB31
Jonathon Brooks (CAR): RB36
Kenneth Gainwell (TB): RB37
Jonah Coleman (DEN): RB47
Keaton Mitchell (LAC): RB44

Jonathon Brooks is by far and away the most-cited RB sleeper overall, and he happens to be my favorite of this bunch. The only back standing between Brooks and a featured role is Chuba Hubbard, and HC Dave Canales has only added fuel to the fire, noting that he will get every chance to compete. Learned (Twitter) doctors also have confidence that his second ACL tear is not as much a cause for concern as a second tear typically would be, viewing the second procedure as a stabilizer to make up for the lax first procedure. Brooks was a top-50 pick in the draft a mere two years ago. That talent doesn’t just go away, and his home-league price is surely going to be far lower than his current cost in best ball.

Of the more expensive “sleeper” running backs, I’m pretty in on both Cam Skattebo and Bhayshul Tuten. Skattebo is returning from a brutal knee injury, but all indications are that he’ll be ready to go and 100% for Week 1. He averaged 17.8 points per game in a seven-game stretch last season, and with such a depleted group of pass catchers, we should see the Giants rely on the ground game early and often. It also helps that Skattebo is an elite receiver out of the backfield, too.

Tuten is likely going to be cheaper than Skattebo on draft day, just like he currently is in best ball, but he’s tied to an offense with much more upside. He flashed upside as a rookie (7 TDs on roughly 100 touches), and the Jags offense ran the fourth-most plays in the NFL last season, ranking as a top-10 scoring unit. He’ll get the high-value touches (pass game, goal line), but will cede work to Chris Rodriguez between the 20s.

Two more that I’m more than willing to take shots on are Kenneth Gainwell and Keaton Mitchell. Gainwell is expected to contribute to a timeshare with Bucky Irving, and we saw elite pass-catching upside last season. With Irving largely relegated to work between the 20s last year and Rachaad White out of town, Gainwell should immediately slot into a high-fantasy-value role with upside, given Irving’s struggles with his health.

Mitchell is the cheapest way to get exposure to the high-powered Mike McDaniel/Chargers offense, and it’s worth noting that McDaniel put “Wanted” posters with Mitchell’s face on them in the Chargers’ GM’s office ahead of free agency. Clearly, the most creative offensive coach in the NFL has a plan for the game-breaking running back.

The two players I see myself passing on in home league drafts are the Denver running backs. Jonah Coleman has three-down upside and is a fine last-round dart, but more likely than not, he’ll be an available player on the waiver wire to start the season. That said, he did rank top-five in both elusive rating (4th) and yards after contact per rush attempt (1st) in his final collegiate season (per PFF). Because I have interest in Coleman’s upside (on the waiver wire), I’m largely avoiding RJ Harvey. He was highly touted as a rookie given his higher draft capital last season, but the Broncos prioritizing J.K. Dobbins in free agency and drafting Coleman in April signal that the belief in Harvey may be waning.

Sleeper Wide Receivers For Fantasy Football 2026

Jayden Reed (GB): WR40
Josh Downs (IND): WR43
Jalen McMillan (TB): WR60
Tre Harris (LAC): WR67
Isaac TeSlaa (DET): WR68
Antonio Williams (WAS): WR70

I’m going to reverse the cadence at WR and eliminate the players that I have absolutely no interest in drafting in my home leagues this season.

Tre Harris’ role as the WR3 in this offense is viewed as “sleeper” status, based on expectations for the Chargers this season and the thirst to get a piece of the offense in their drafts. That said, he falls behind Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston in the WR pecking order, while we should expect a healthy amount of touches in both the rushing and receiving departments for Omarion Hampton. So, already, he’s (at best) the offense’s fourth option. Then, factor in a high-upside TE in Oronde Gadsden (especially in the red zone), his backup in David Njoku (another proven red-zone weapon), as well as incremental touches for Keaton Mitchell, and there are simply too many mouths to feed to get me excited about Harris.

I feel similarly about Isaac TeSlaa of the Lions. Sure, Kalif Raymond is out of town and TeSlaa proved himself to be a TD merchant in limited playing time last season, but he still falls behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs in the pecking order for touches in Detroit. He’ll be a waiver wire target if a wideout in the Lions room gets hurt, but he’s not a player that will sniff your starting lineup otherwise.

Both Antonio Williams and Jalen McMillan seem like dart throws (at best) in redraft/home leagues, too, specifically McMillan. I’m especially high on Emeka Egbuka out of the TB pass catchers this season, and he’s flanked by Chris Godwin opposite of him. The Bucs also invested draft capital in Ted Hurst, who’s been the recipient of positive coachspeak throughout the offseason. There are simply too many mouths to feed in Tampa Bay for me to have any interest outside of best ball. Williams, though, has a clearer path to not only playing time but meaningful volume. There’s a chance we see Stefon Diggs end up in Washington, but as things stand, Williams is the WR2 behind Terry McLaurin with a healthy Jayden Daniels at the helm. After the rookie season we saw out of Daniels in 2024 and the pass-game upside he provides, that’s a dart I’m willing to throw in the last round of my drafts.

Now, the two sleeper WRs that I am not just highest on out of this group, but incredibly high on in general, are Josh Downs and Jayden Reed. I’ve talked ad nauseam about my thoughts on Downs this summer, but he’s set for the largest role of his career with Michael Pittman out of the picture—a situation where he drew 19 total targets in two Pittman-less games so far in his career. With Downs rocking a 29% targets per route run rate against man coverage last season, that points to a ton of fantasy upside. Dwain also recently moved his route share up to 84% (73% over the last three years) and moved him into pole position in the Colts’ pass-catching room, leading the team with a projected 109 targets.

My infatuation with Reed this season comes from a similar angle, with far less target competition in Green Bay than any previous season of Reed’s career. Despite the reality that Reed still may not be an every-down player and stick to a slot role, he goes almost 60 picks after WR1 Christian Watson, will get schemed touches (both in the pass game and out of the backfield) and is projected for only 4.8 points less than Watson on the season (169.8 vs 165).

Tight End Sleepers For 2026 Fantasy Football

Isaiah Likely (NYG): TE14
Chig Okonkwo (WAS): TE16

Outside of the top 12 tight ends in ADP, there is a pair of sleepers in the TE2 range and, frankly, I can get on board with both.

Isaiah Likely could very well serve as the No. 1 pass-game option for Jaxson Dart until Malik Nabers returns to full health, especially considering his familiarity with HC John Harbaugh from Baltimore and the downfield nature of his game. With Nabers recovering and Wan’Dale Robinson in Tennessee, there is plenty of vacated volume that Likely could step into.

While Likely is a late-round target I want to proactively draft more of this offseason, it’s hard for me to pass on Chig Okonkwo whenever he’s available in a late-round TE situation. He’s quietly topped 450 receiving yards in every season since 2022 (only four other TEs have done this), and he should be stepping into a featured role for the first time in his career alongside an elite QB. He’s replacing Zach Ertz, who posted a 21% target share last season (5th among TEs) and a 24% end-zone target share (6th). Ertz also topped a 78% route share in 2025, signaling that this could be the first season that Okonkwo tops a 65% route share in his career. He’s not just my favorite tight end sleeper this season; he’s one of my favorite overall sleepers on the board.