Fantasy Football: 6 Quarterback Sleepers (2026)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football sleepers below. And check out all of the fantasy football sleepers experts love in our consensus sleeper rankings.

Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft

Here are fantasy football sleepers the experts love to target in drafts.

Who are Fantasy Football Sleepers?

Fantasy football sleepers are players who have a strong chance to exceed expectations and become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers.

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Quarterbacks

Quarterbacks	Team	ECR	ADP
Kyler Murray	MIN	17	17
Tyler Shough	NO	20	21
Malik Willis	MIA	19	20
Jared Goff	DET	16	16
C.J. Stroud	HOU	22	23
Jordan Love	GB	18	18

After seven topsy-turvy seasons with the Cardinals, Kyler Murray will make a fresh start with the Vikings in 2026. Murray may or may not be in a quarterback competition with JJ McCarthy for Minnesota’s starting job, but it’s widely expected that Murray will be taking the snaps when the Vikings face the Packers in Week 1. Murray played only five games last season before sustaining a foot sprain that eventually landed him on injured reserve. Murray’s yearly finishes in fantasy points per game among quarterbacks with at least five starts: QB11, QB4, QB4, QB7, QB9, QB12, QB20. Murray steps into a good situation with Kevin O’Connell as his playcaller, and he’ll have Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings as his wide receivers. Murray has always added rushing value, having averaged at least 30 rushing per game in all seven of his NFL seasons. The perception might be that Murray is damaged goods, but he could be one of the better QB values in 2026 fantasy drafts.

Tyler Shough is a wonderful late-round quarterback who could be a QB1 in 2026. Last year, in Weeks 12-18, Shough was the QB6 in fantasy points per game while averaging 25 rushing yards per game. That rushing yardage mark per game would have placed him at 12th-best last year had he kept it up for the entire season. In Weeks 12-18, among 30 qualifying quarterbacks, Shough was 12th in yards per attempt and highly accurate throw rate, ninth in hero throw rate, and seventh in passing yards per game (per Fantasy Points Data). With Travis Etienne, Bryce Lance, Oscar Delp, and Jordyn Tyson added to the offensive firepower this offseason, I expect the Saints offense to take another leap this season if Shough is up to the task, which his strong finish to last season says he is primed for.

Yes, I understand Jordan Love has been a mid-range QB2 over the last two years (QB17, QB16) since his massive breakout in 2023 (QB5), but that hasn’t been because Love sucks. He has been locked in a run-first, run-always offense. Could that still be the case this year? Possibly, but if Green Bay increases its pass rate to even league-average standards (last year Weeks 1-15, eighth-best in neutral rushing rate), Love could return to QB1 land. Love has proven over the last three seasons that he can sustain above-average passing touchdown rates (5.5%, 5.9%, 5.2%), so I don’t see him backsliding in that category. Last year, among 38 qualifying quarterbacks, Love was eighth in yards per attempt, fifth in hero throw rate, 15th in catchable target rate, and 13th (tied) in fantasy points per dropback. Love’s QB2 production is priced into his ADP; his upside as a QB1 is not.