10 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Wide Receivers (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: Wide Receivers

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: Wide Receivers

Rank	Wide Receivers	Team	ECR	ADP
1	Stefon Diggs	WAS	46	47
2	De’Zhaun Stribling	SF	62	53
3	Rashid Shaheed	SEA	57	52
4	Deebo Samuel Sr.	SF	54	50
5	Jalen McMillan	TB	61	63
6	Denzel Boston	CLE	58	60
7	Jalen Nailor	LV	78	61
8	Ryan Flournoy	DAL	67	83
9	Omar Cooper Jr.	NYJ	64	64
10	Travis Hunter	JAC	65	62

After a long offseason, Stefon Diggs is finally a Washington Commander. We’ve all speculated all offseason that Diggs would possibly land with Washington, and now it has come to fruition. Diggs had a strong 2025 season that proved that he has plenty left in the tank to post a strong fantasy season in 2026. Last year, he was the WR23 in fantasy points per game with only a 65.4% route share (62nd out of 109 qualifying receivers). Among 109 qualifying receivers, he was stellar on a per-route basis, ranking 22nd in target per route run rate (25%), 20th in receiving yards per game (59.6), and eighth in yards per route run (2.53) and first downs per route run (0.127, per Fantasy Points Data). Among the same sample of receivers, he was also 28th in overall separation score, 18th in separation versus man coverage, 22nd in route win rate against man coverage, and 11th in yards per route run against both man and zone coverages. Diggs didn’t show any falloff, so I’m not projecting that for 2026, being even further out from his ACL reconstruction. Diggs is a strong WR3 with upside this season. I expect the Washington passing attack to be funneled through Diggs and Terry McLaurin.
– Derek Brown

Rashid Shaheed’s 2025 season was derailed after a midyear trade from New Orleans to Seattle, but his early-season showed he is capable of thriving as a fantasy-relevant No. 2 receiver. Before the trade, Shaheed ranked top-15 in WR targets and consistently produced alongside Chris Olave in the Saints offense. Seattle never fully incorporated him after the move, though the Seahawks clearly believe in his upside after handing him a three-year deal this offseason. Shaheed should enter 2026 as Seattle’s clear WR2 behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, although target competition and the team’s run-heavy tendencies could make him more boom-or-bust week to week.
– Andrew Erickson

De’Zhaun Stribling has been zooming up draft boards and ADP since the news of Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL news. Many could pump the brakes on that now that San Francisco brought back Deebo Samuel on a one-year deal, but I’ll still be drafting Stribling at cost. Christian Kirk (calf) is also dealing with an injury to open camp. At this point in Kirk’s career, he can’t be counted on to stay healthy or be an effective weekly cog of an NFL passing attack. Stribling had a solid collegiate career, with his skill set fitting what the 49ers want from their receivers. During his final two collegiate seasons, he posted 2.15 and 2.44 yards per route run with 7.3 and 6.7 yards after the catch per reception (17 missed tackles forced across both seasons, per PFF). Stribling offers the 49ers a varied skill set with shades of what they have hoped to get from Pearsall. He can make players miss in space, outrun them with the ball in his hands (4.36 40-yard dash), and create yards after the catch. Stribling is a great late-round selection in fantasy football drafts in 2026.
– Derek Brown