Upside Picks For Fantasy Football 2026 From Half-PPR Rankings: Emeka Egbuka Has League-Winning Upside

Playing to win and playing not to lose are entirely different strategies in fantasy football, and I firmly follow the former. If I'm not winning my league, I don't care whether I finish second or 11th (I do want to avoid a 12th-place punishment, though).

Catering to this strategy means targeting upside picks for fantasy football and identifying them in the fantasy football rankings.

Let's dive into a trio of my favorite upside picks for 2026 and where they fall in our consensus rankings.

Fantasy Football Upside Picks For 2026 Fantasy Drafts

Luther Burden | WR | Bears

Rank (0.5-PPR): WR22
ADP (ESPN): WR27

If not for a mid-summer groin injury, Luther Burden's fantasy football ADP would likely be more in line with our consensus ranking. He's been one of the most hyped-up players of the offseason:

GM Ryan Poles: "If there's a guy that I'm really excited about, it's Luther Burden just because of how much he's grown from the day he walked in this building. You can feel the fire inside of him, and I'm excited to see that show up."
HC Ben Johnson: "I've been around a few guys like this that they're just wired in a kind of way where – I don't know if it's at an early age, but they feel like this is their destiny. This is where they're supposed to be, and I feel that from him. I think he knows how good he can be, and in his mind that's probably top five, top three, top receiver in the NFL. I haven't talked to him specifically about that, but the way he goes about his business tells me that."

We saw a glimpse of what could be coming towards the end of last season, when he posted 45 catches and 481 yards over his final eight games while posting 2.36 yards per route run across the entire season. With DJ Moore out of town and Burden, not Rome Odunze, the wide receiver drafted under the Ben Johnson regime, there's legitimate top-12 positional upside in what should be one of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL.

Emeka Egbuka | WR | Buccaneers

Rank (0.5-PPR): WR21
ADP (ESPN): WR18

Speaking of offseason injuries, Emeka Egbuka's battle with his current turf toe injury has been a frustrating one to stay on top of, as is any injury when Todd Bowles is the head coach. Luckily, GM Jason Licht has said that the team is merely being cautious with Egbuka, and the expectation is to have him available for Week 1.

Had Egbuka's 2025 season been flipped and he started how he finished and finished how he started, his ADP may be in the Round 2/3 range instead of the Round 4 range. Through Week 5 last season, Egbuka ranked as the WR3 in PPR scoring, averaging 20.1 points per game with a 90% route rate, 23% target share (21% TPRR) and a gaudy 14.1-yard aDOT. This also happened with Mike Evans active in three of the five games.

Injuries to both Egbuka and QB Baker Mayfield derailed the rest of his season, but we were able to see the ceiling.

Now, with Evans out of town and Mayfield healthy, we could be looking at a massive breakout season for Egbuka as long as he can maintain a clean bill of health after this turf toe subsides. He could be in for a JSN-like Year 2 breakout, and I want to be ahead of it before it happens.

Christian Watson | WR | Packers

Rank (0.5-PPR): WR24
ADP (ESPN): WR33

Christian Watson is one of the most popular breakout candidates this season, but being a chalk choice doesn't detract from the fact that he's one of the highest-upside picks of the draft.

Not only does the ambiguity surrounding Josh Jacobs hitting the exempt list cater more towards the Packers going throw-heavy after being a run-first team last season (-2% DBOE; 22nd), but a healthy offseason for the first time in years has Watson positioned for a WR1 role and workload out of the gate. If WR1 volume follows, Watson should absolutely obliterate this ADP. He's been a top-five WR in terms of yards per route run (2.41) over the last two seasons, but just 106th in targets (108) (TruMedia). Locked into a full-time role in what should now be a pass-first offense and a highly concentrated target tree, Watson has legitimate 1,000-yard, 10-TD upside for a WR2 price tag.

If that's not upside, then I don't know what is.

More upside picks to target in 2026 fantasy drafts: Malik Nabers (WR, NYG), Ladd McConkey (WR, LAC), Jayden Daniels (QB, WAS), Bucky Irving (RB, TB), Bhayshul Tuten (RB, JAX), Tyler Warren (TE, IND)

Players Mentioned in this Article

LutherBurden
WRCHI
PPG
6.7
Proj
10.7
EmekaEgbukaQ
WRTB
PPG
9.5
Proj
9.0
ChristianWatson
WRGB
PPG
11.3
Proj
9.8

Published Sep 3, 2026, 4:00 AM ET