Not every disappointing season tells the full story. Injuries, bad luck, and shifting roles can sink a player’s value one year and create a buying opportunity the next. Our experts highlight fantasy football bounce-back players for 2026 who underperformed in 2025 but have the talent, usage, and situation to deliver at a discount.
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Players Who Deserve A Second Chance
Which player deserves a second chance in 2026 despite a disappointing 2025?
Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN)
“Three wide receivers disappointed fantasy managers last season in a major way: Justin Jefferson, Brian Thomas Jr., and A.J. Brown. As of this point in the offseason, only one of those players has any change in his circumstances from 2025: Justin Jefferson. Jefferson was once regarded as the top player in fantasy football. Last year, with abysmal quarterback play, he disappointed fantasy managers to the tune of 1,048 yards and 2 touchdowns. While the yardage wasn’t terrible for most players, it wasn’t up to Jefferson’s standard, and the 2 touchdowns aren’t what owners expected from a top-tier wide receiver. Minnesota is attempting to upgrade the quarterback position by adding Kyler Murray, and while he isn’t a threat for a large number of touchdowns, he can’t be worse than J.J. McCarthy and company’s quarterback play that led to Jefferson’s poorest season as a pro, which will lead to happy managers who give him a second chance and draft him in the late 1st or early to mid 2nd rounds of their fantasy drafts.”
– Adam Dove (The Fantasy Couriers)
“Justin Jefferson is the easiest second-chance, bounce-back candidate for 2026. 2025 was driven by unstable quarterback play, the offense rotated between J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz, and it showed up everywhere in his production. He finished as the WR25 despite seeing 141 targets and a 31.4% share; somehow, he still went over 1,000 yards but pulled in just 2 touchdowns with a 60.3% catch rate. The offense couldn’t stay on the field or create scoring chances, so enter Kyler Murray. The bar for 2026 isn’t a high one for Murray; it’s just keep the offense functional and on schedule, and if he does, Jefferson will return to the elite form we’ve all come to expect from the Vikings’ All-Pro.”
– James Emrick-Wilson (The Armchair Sports Corner)
Isiah Pacheco (RB – DET)
“The season wasn’t exactly a breakout, but writing off Isiah Pacheco misses the underlying signs that still point forward. Even in a down year, he ranked 13th in rushing success rate (min. 50 carries), managed just 1.88 yards before contact (43rd) per attempt, which shows a weak offensive line, and still didn’t fumble once. That’s not dominance, but it’s controlled, efficient football in less-than-ideal conditions. In the right situation, that profile still fits cleanly into a role similar to David Montgomery, where he can help form a steady 1-2 punch like what the Detroit Lions have built alongside Jahmyr Gibbs.”
– Joe Pepe (Beyond The Gridiron)
Jalen McMillan (WR – TB)
“I would debate calling this a “second chance,” considering the disappointment to be injury-related, but savvy fantasy managers should refuse to overlook Jalen McMillan. The Tampa Bay WR missed most of the 2025 season with a neck injury, and his return was overshadowed, but the also-injury-related returns of Mike Evans and (to a lesser extent) Chris Godwin. Evans is now in San Francisco and McMillan will assumedly start his third pro season at full health, meaning his range of outcomes is somewhere between the player who scored 8 TDs on 37 receptions as a rookie (a rate of 1 TD every 4.65 receptions), also finishing as a top-20 WR in each of the final 5 weeks of the season, and the boom-or-bust WR4 with weekly top-10 upside he briefly displayed as a sophomore. The absence of Evans means more targets for Egbuka, Godwin, and McMillan. In some ways, each of that Bucs trio is a second-chance player in 2026, but McMillan’s draft capital is far less than either of his two counterparts (McMillan is ECR 210, compared to the next closest of Godwin, who is ECR 96), making him the ideal second-chance player with true league-winning upside.”
– Tim Metzler (FantasyPros)
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