“This is the WORST draft for fantasy football in the history of fantasy football,” said every fantasy analyst online this weekend.
There were some great landing spots and potential hidden gems. However, we do have to come to terms with reality. This was a very frustrating draft from a fantasy football perspective because the draft class wasn’t particularly deep to begin with, and the landing spots for several of our most beloved prospects were extremely demoralizing.
What were the worst landing spots for fantasy football? Is any of this salvageable? Can we ever forgive the Jets and Browns for what they’ve done to us?
- Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator
- Dynasty Rookie Rankings: Expert Consensus
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- DBro’s Dynasty Rookie Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
2026 NFL Draft Worst Landing Spots for Fantasy Football
Kenyon Sadiq (TE – Oregon) + Omar Cooper Jr. (WR – Indiana): New York Jets
Every year, we fully expect some of our favorite prospects to be completely nuked by a poor draft landing spot. However, we rarely have multiple promising prospects consumed by the same destitute team. Leave it to the New York Jets to earn this honor.
When the Jets hit a full rebuild last year, trading away multiple players and stacking away draft capital, this was bound to happen. Their rebuild just so happens to be consuming Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, plus the addition of Sadiq and Cooper. It’s a very formidable group of talent, but it’s very unlikely that Geno Smith has the volume or consistency to supply enough fantasy points to the entire group.
You can make the argument that Smith’s issues were really driven by a terrible offensive line and a lack of receiving weapons outside of Brock Bowers, who played injured and missed significant time, and a portion of Jakobi Meyers. However, 2025 wasn’t the first year we saw concerning numbers from Smith, and his 2022 comeback campaign simply might’ve been an outlier. The Jets’ offensive line is still a concern. Moreover, for Sadiq and Cooper Jr., Wilson’s specialty is handling extreme volume. Perhaps in 2027, after a successful season of tanking, the Jets snag a franchise quarterback who can turn the entire organization around. However, for 2026 purposes, we’re likely looking at extremely underwhelming volume for our top tight end prospect and a very promising Cooper.
Denzel Boston (WR – Washington): Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland landing spot is a tough situation to read because of the lack of clarity in the quarterback situation and a new offensive scheme. My initial reaction when the Browns drafted KC Concepcion was rather neutral. It’s not an ideal landing spot, but Concepcion would likely be the target leader, playing more underneath while Jeudy handles vertical work. I could live with the landing spot.
Unfortunately, the Browns didn’t stop at Concepcion; they added Boston, making the situation very murky. It doesn’t help that Harold Fannin Jr. garnered over 100 targets last year, even with David Njoku on roster. Concepcion remains the safer option due to potential volume. However, Boston is in a precarious spot. Can Boston push Jeudy out of the way, or are both receivers stuck in a boom/bust scenario where neither will garner consistent targets and be at the mercy of big plays – a terrible scenario with quarterback inconsistencies.
We can make the argument that Cleveland’s struggle in air yards was a catch-22 scenario. Their offensive line couldn’t give even the best quarterback enough time to get the ball downfield. Cleveland used their first pick to invest in the offensive line, so perhaps better success in blocking can yield better results with deep balls. Unfortunately for Boston, he’s now a part of a highly questionable situation, disappointing considering the ample high-end landing spots available this year.
Jonah Coleman (RB – Washington): Denver Broncos
Coleman’s landing spot is awful because it not only pigeonholes him into a less-than-ideal situation but also ensures the Broncos’ backfield is wildly unusable for the entire 2026 season. At least with the combination of JK Dobbins and RJ Harvey, you could argue that Harvey is worth the wait because Dobbins is highly unlikely to make it through the season healthy. After Dobbins’ 2025 injury, Harvey had four top-12 performances in half-PPR through a fairly rough stretch of run defenses.
Coleman’s addition likely stops this backfield from ever fully belonging to Harvey. That may seem like an overdramatic reaction, but Harvey was exactly prolific on the ground. Much of his fantasy production was driven by receptions and touchdowns with very mediocre efficiency on the ground, concerning given Dobbins comparative success on the ground. Coleman either lives within a committee for the majority of his contract, where his role likely leans towards that of JK Dobbins, or he fails to make even a dent in the committee. If Coleman does assume Dobbins’ role, Sean Payton has used a role-driven committee where Coleman would have a capped ceiling due to a lack of receiving work and be touchdown-dependent. Overall, a messy backfield became even messier for what is likely a multi-year issue.
Mike Washington Jr. (RB – Arkansas): Las Vegas Raiders
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a landing spot the way I hate this one. We have countless teams that either have a legitimate need at running back or have untested backfields that do in fact need more bodies. Why did Washington go to a team where he factually cannot be a starter, barring injury to Ashton Jeanty, for the entire duration of his contract?
There’s also a greater issue afoot. We knew Vegas would add a running back in this draft because the Raiders’ depth behind Ashton Jeanty is nonexistent. I also felt fairly confident that a player of Jeanty’s caliber wouldn’t be subjected to the Kenneth Walker III treatment of 2025. However, with Washington, I do have legitimate concerns because his size and skillset leans to him being more of the short-yardage and goal line contributor between the pair.
I do caution against overreacting because it’s entirely possible his contribution will have minimal fantasy effect on Jeanty. While his talent certainly warrants it, there’s no guarantee Seattle’s backfield split directly translates to Vegas. Washington may simply be a backup and a solid back that ensures Jeanty doesn’t get slated with excessive usage and play upwards of 80% of snaps every week – a rather unsustainable level of usage in the long run. However, it should give us pause, considering Jeanty’s lofty ADP.
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