20 NFL Free Agency Winners & Losers (2026 Fantasy Football)

2026 NFL Free Agency came in with a BANG as many of the big names came off the board in Day 1. Let’s take a look at some of the early fantasy football winners and losers from 2026 NFL Free Agency. And you can follow along for our analysis on all of the notable signings here: 2026 NFL Free Agency Moves & Fantasy Football Impact.

Fantasy Football Winners & Losers | 2026 NFL Free Agency

Let’s take a look at a few of the fantasy football winners and losers from 2026 NFL Free Agency

Fantasy Football Winners

Kenneth Walker III (RB – KC)

Walker finished last season as the RB22 in half-PPR, but the ranking doesn’t tell the full story. Just ask anybody who drafted Walker…and then watched him go NUCLEAR in the real-life NFL playoffs.

His fantasy production was heavily impacted by the committee with Zach Charbonnet, which often limited his volume despite elite efficiency.

When Walker operated without Charbonnet in the lineup, the upside was obvious (final three postseason games and Week 3 of the 2025 season).

23.4 half-PPR fantasy points per game during the postseason
22.0 half-PPR points in a 2025 regular-season game without Charbonnet

Those performances offer a glimpse/upside-down case of what Walker can do when given feature usage.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Chiefs signing Kenneth Walker III

Travis Etienne Jr. (RB – NO)

With Alvin Kamara turning 31 in July and coming off a season abbreviated by injury, the Saints are bolstering their backfield with the signing of Etienne, who had 1,399 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns for Jacksonville last year.

Etienne has topped 1,000 rushing yards in three of his four NFL seasons. After a down year in 2024, when he had only 558 rushing yards and two touchdowns in Doug Pederson’s final year as the Jaguars’ head coach, Etienne had a strong rebound year in 2025. He had 260-1,107-7 rushing and 36-292-6 receiving in Liam Coen’s first season as Jacksonville’s head coach and playcaller. Etienne finished RB10 in PPR fantasy scoring last season and RB14 in PPR points per game.

Coen has a reputation for being a rainmaker for running backs, with Bucky Irving having a big season for the Buccaneers in 2024, when Coen was the offensive coordinator in Tampa, and Etienne thriving in 2025.

Bhayshul Tuten (RB – JAC)

With Etienne leaving Jacksonville, second-year RB Bhayshul Tuten could get a major workload increase in 2026, although the Jaguars are likely to add to their RB room via free agency and/or the draft.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Saints signing Travis Etienne Jr.

Alec Pierce (WR – IND)

Alec Pierce was one of the most coveted free-agent receivers on the market, and the Colts decided that they couldn’t let Pierce get away.

The Colts are re-signing Pierce to a four-year deal worth a reported $116 million, as first reported by the Pat McAfee Show. The deal reportedly includes a $16 million signing bonus and $84 million in guaranteed money.

A four-year veteran, Pierce is coming off his finest NFL season to date. He had 47 catches for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games. That came on the heels of an eye-opening 2024 season in which he had 37 catches for 824 yards and seven TDs.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Colts re-signing Alec Pierce

Emeka Egbuka (WR – TB)

While the 49ers signing of Mike Evans impacts San Francisco’s offense, the ripple effects may be even more significant in Tampa Bay.

With Evans departing, second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is positioned for a major increase in opportunity.

Egbuka already saw significant usage as a rookie, finishing the season with 126 targets, which ranked inside the top 10 among all wide receivers.

His splits without Evans highlight just how much his role expanded in those situations.

In games without Evans, Egbuka averaged:

8.56 targets per game (up from 6.25)
4.0 receptions per game (up from 3.38)
63 receiving yards per game (up from 46.4)
12.3 fantasy points per game (up from 10.4)

Those numbers suggest Egbuka could be poised for a Year 2 breakout.

Success is rarely linear — in football or in life — but Egbuka’s rookie usage profile was extremely encouraging. Had his production peaked late in the season rather than early, the narrative around his rookie year might look very different.

Worth noting that Egbuka’s off-on splits from last year with Chris Godwin are also closely resemeble his ones with Evans. Obviously with both guys…his targets dipped by nearly 50% (four games).

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the 49ers signing Mike Evans

Isaiah Likely (TE – NYG)

TE Isaiah Likely is signing a three-year deal with the Giants, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz. It’s reportedly a $40 million deal that could be worth up to $47.5 million.

Likely had some big games for the Ravens, but the presence of veteran TE Mark Andrews kept Likely from having a sustained fantasy impact.

Likely’s best season in Baltimore came in 2024, when he had 42 catches for 477 yards and six touchdowns. He had a memorable performance against the Chiefs in the NFL’s 2024 Thursday-night season opener, with nine catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. Likely nearly had a second TD catch in that game at the end of regulation, but his toe came down out of bounds in the end zone, as the Ravens lost 27-20.

Likely has never drawn more than 60 targets in a single season, but he’s likely to surpass that target total with the Giants in 2026 if he can stay healthy.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Giants signing Isaiah Likely

Tua Tagovailoa (QB – ATL)

Tua Tagovailoa lands with the Atlanta Falcons on a one-year deal to compete with Michael Penix Jr. Yes, Tagovailoa could easily be the backup in Atlanta, but with a new coaching staff that has no previous ties to Penix and the fact that he tore his ACL in Week 11, Tagovailoa could easily be the Week 1 starter. If Tagovailoa plays well, I could easily see him holding onto the job for the 2026 season (and moving forward).

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Falcons signing Tua Tagovailoa

Jacoby Brissett (QB – ARI)

Hours before the Cardinals signed veteran backup QB Gardner Minshew, Arizona announced that Jacoby Brissett would enter the 2026 season as their starting quarterback. Brissett played reasonably well in 2025, but his play tailed off a bit late in the season as Arizona lost its last nine regular-season games, and Brissett has been a backup for most of his 10-year career. Still, he has a solid group of pass-catchers to work with, including star TE Trey McBride and WRs Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson. The team also added running back Tyler Allgeier who has proven effective behind Bijan Robinson in Atlanta, and broke out as a rookie prior to the team drafting Robinson in the first round.

Jalen Nailor (WR – LV)

Jalen Nailor becomes one of a bevy of new Raider Nation members during the first day of NFL free agency. He inked a three-year deal with the franchise. I doubt that the Raiders are done adding to the receiving depth chart, so I won’t go as far as to say that he will be the number two option in the passing game in 2026 behind Brock Bowers. I will say that we need to look deeper than his WR69 finish last year in fantasy points per game to understand the smash signing that the Raiders made by bringing in Nailor. Yes, Nailor had only a 10.3% target share, 1.19 yards per route run, and a 10.8% first-read share last season (per Fantasy Points Data), but he was much better than any of those metrics illustrate. Among 109 qualifying receivers last season, overall Nailor ranked 33rd in separation and 51st in route win rate. If we look deeper, the numbers are even more scintillating. As a perimeter wide receiver among the same set of players, Nailor ranked sixth in separation and 13th in route win rate (141 routes, per Fantasy Points Data). The Raiders could have just signed a diamond in the rough. He’s worth investing cheaply in all formats for the 2026 season because if these metrics are a true reflection of his talent (they are), then he could be an amazing late-round value that will go massively overlooked.

Other Winners:

Tyler Warren / Josh Downs (IND)
Omarion Hampton (LAC)

Fantasy Football Losers

James Conner/ Trey Benson (RB – ARI)

With the free agent signing of running back Tyler Allgeier, Arizona still has RBs James Conner and Trey Benson on the roster.

The Cardinals recently restructured Conner’s contract, which has one year remaining. The 30-year-old Conner had 1,000-yard rushing seasons for Arizona in 2023 and 2024, but he sustained a season-ending foot injury in Week 3 of 2025.

Benson, a third-round pick in 2024, has two years left on his rookie deal. A meniscus injury limited Benson to four games last season, and he’s missed 17 games during his two seasons in the Arizona desert.

Allgeier’s new contract suggests that he’ll have a key role in the Arizona backfield, but he isn’t likely to be a workhorse.

I’m tentatively ranking Allgeier RB34 in redraft leagues, with Conner slotting in at RB43 and Benson at RB56.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Cardinals signing Tyler Allgeier

Alvin Kamara (RB – NO)

If the Saints keep Kamara, who has one year left on his contract, he might continue to be the Saints’ primary passing-down back. That could drain some of the fantasy value from Etienne, who’s averaged 42 receptions a year since coming into the league. But Kamara is unlikely to be a threat to Etienne’s primacy on early downs.

The Etienne signing obviously tanks the fantasy value of Kamara, who becomes little more than a late-round dart throw. The Etienne signing also nukes the speculative appeal of young Saints RBs Devin Neal and Kendre Miller.

Jaylen Warren (RB – PIT)

Moving over to Jaylen Warren. Rico Dowdle and Warren could work interchangeably in 2026, but at first glance, we could see Warren return to his passing-down, centric role of yesteryear while Dowdle handles the bulk of the early down work and goalline opportunities. Last year, Warren took over the role for Pittsburgh that had previously belonged to Najee Harris, but that could easily be over. Last year, Warren had only a 29.2% route per dropback rate and 8.3% target share, while Gainwell soaked up a 51.2% route share and 14.9% target share (per Fantasy Points Data). Warren remained incredibly efficient when utilized as a receiver with a 27% target per route run rate and 2.01 yards per route run. He wasn’t bad on early downs, either. Last year, among 49 qualifying backs, Warren ranked sixth in missed tackles forced per attempt and ninth in yards after contact per attempt. It’s possible that he and Dowdle just split the work down the middle, but Dowdle isn’t on Warren’s level as a receiving talent, which leads me to believe that he’ll be the early down grinder and Warren will reprise his previous role.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Steelers signing Rico Dowdle

Bucky Irving (RB – TB)

Kenneth Gainwell lands in Tampa Bay with a two-year deal to work alongside Bucky Irving. Gainwell is coming off a career-best season as the RB19 in fantasy points per game, finishing with 187 touches and 1,023 total yards. He was particularly impressive as a pass-catching weapon out of the backfield, which is where he’ll likely make his money in 2026. Last year, among 47 qualifying backs, Gainwell ranked fifth in target share (14.9%) and receiving yards per game (28.6), 11th in yards per route run (1.60), and eighth in first downs per route run (0.076, per Fantasy Points Data).

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Buccaneers signing Kenneth Gainwell

Theo Johnson (TE – NYG)

I had Theo Johnson ranked RB24 before the Likely signing but am dropping him to TE35. He’s probably going to be unrosterable in redraft leagues.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Giants signing Isaiah Likely

Rashid Shaheed (WR – SEA)

Hopefully, with a full offseason and a fresh contract in his back pocket, he can become the second option in Seattle’s passing attack, but that isn’t a certainty. With Cooper Kupp and A.J. Barner competing with Shaheed in 2026 for targets and Seattle’s run-centric nature, I’ll be avoiding Shaheed in the later rounds of redraft fantasy formats. He’s a last-round option in best ball, only.

Check out our full article for the fantasy impact of the Seahawks re-signing Rashid Shaheed

Other Losers: