When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and which 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 players our fantasy football experts love to draft.
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2026 Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Must-Have Picks
Here are players our experts love to pick in fantasy football drafts.
Last year, Javonte Williams was a massive surprise in fantasy football to everyone, including me. I was very bullish on his 2025 outlook, but I was hoping, at best, for a volume-driven RB2 in an explosive offense. Well, Williams crushed even my expectations as the RB11 in fantasy points per game, finishing with a career high 1,201 rushing yards and 13 total touchdowns. Among 49 qualifying backs, he ranked 16th in explosive run rate and third in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). His season was also a tale of two halves as he faded some down the back half of the year. In Weeks 1-8, he averaged 18.5 touches, 90.7 total yards, and scored nine total touchdowns as the RB8 in fantasy points per game. In Weeks 9-17, he averaged 17.4 touches, 76.5 total yards, and scored only 4 touchdowns, finishing as the RB25 in fantasy points per game. Much of his fantasy stock’s drop was related to the fall in touchdown production, which could simply be variance. His deeper analytics back up the fact that his play didn’t fall off from a per-touch efficiency standpoint. In Weeks 1-8, he had a 4.8% explosive run rate, an 11% missed-tackle rate, and 3.52 yards after contact per attempt. That yards-after-contact-per-attempt mark is otherworldly. In Weeks 8-17, he posted a 5.5% explosive run rate, a 13% missed-tackle rate, and 2.33 yards after contact per attempt. He improved his marks down the stretch in two of those three categories. If Williams can post production as he did over the first half of the 2025 season for an entire year, he is a locked-in top-10 back with top-5 upside. At his floor, he looks like a low-end RB1 or top 15 fantasy back.
Check out all of DBro’s top fantasy football draft picks to target 
The Chiefs have had a plodding backfield in recent years, with Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt producing few explosives in the running game. That should change with the arrival of big-play RB Kenneth Walker III.
Walker should get a chance to be a workhorse for Andy Reid’s Chiefs. The 25-year-old Walker thrived in that role in last season’s playoffs after teammate Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL, averaging 24.7 touches and 139.0 scrimmage yards over Seattle’s three-game title run, with four touchdowns in those three contests.
It’s exciting to think about Walker’s largely untapped pass-catching potential with Reid, who never met a screen pass he didn’t like. And it’s worth remembering that Reid had presided over some monster RB seasons, having coached the likes of Jamaal Charles, LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook.
One of my favorite maxims for fantasy drafts is, “Miss small, hit big.”
At worst, Blake Corum will be the backup to Kyren Williams all season in what should be an outstanding Rams offense. Corum won’t catch many passes — he had only eight catches in 2025 — and it’s possible he’ll be less efficient after a season in which he averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
A down season for Corum in 2026 would be a small miss, since his ADP as of this writing is RB34 (96th overall).
But what if Williams were to go down? Corum would become the lead back for the Rams, who are the current championship favorites and are likely to have a season full of run-friendly game scripts. In any week Williams misses, Corum would likely be ranked as a top-10 fantasy back.
You’d have hit big on a mid-round pick.
Check out all of Fitz’s top fantasy football draft picks to target
The Bengals RB finished the year on an absolute heater, despite ceding touches/snaps to Samaje Perine. After a slow start in a Joe Burrow-less offense, Chase Brown finished as the RB7 in PPG from Week 7 onward (18.3). Overall, he was fifth in xPPG.
Once Burrow returned to the lineup, Brown’s production spiked, averaging an impressive 20.6 half-PPR points per game and ranking as the RB3 across Weeks 13-17.
He rushed for over 1,000 yards and finished 5th among RBs with 69 catches for 437 yards. Through the last two years, Brown has averaged just shy of 1,000 rushing yards and nearly 1,400 yards from scrimmage. Entering the final year of his rookie contract, the former 5th-round draft pick will be looking to finish 2026 on his highest note to date.
So far this offseason, there has been no additional backfield competition besides Perine. Keep in mind that he split with Perine last year and was still smashing.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow loves him.
“He does everything. He’s a complete back,” Burrow said recently of Brown.
Bengals HC Zac Taylor loves him. He’s a talented ball-carrier. The former Illinois standout has improved as a pass blocker and receiver. Brown is the new, more explosive version of Kyren Williams.
List of RBs last season with at least 400 receiving yards and 1,000 rushing yards: CMC, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, De’Von Achane, and Chase Brown.
Justin Herbert finished the 2025 season as the QB10 in PPG, mostly on the back of his rushing production (6th in rushing yards per game at 31.1). The 28-year-old QB hit career highs in rushing yards and carries. He also tied Josh Allen for the most boom finishes (4). But the losses on the offensive line and his own injuries crushed his ceiling. With a healthier OL in 2026, Herbert can flirt with elite fantasy QB status. Five games with Joe Alt in 2025: Hebert averaged nearly 24 PPG (23.9). Twelve games without Alt? 16.2 PPG.
With Mike McDaniel coming in as the new OC, Herbert’s ceiling is sky-high behind a healthy offensive line. The interior blocking up front has been revamped with Tyler Biadasz, Cole Strange, and Jake Slaughter. A 12-personnel deployment with the TEs should also provide more help in blocking and keeping Herbert healthy. The Chargers have a wide array of weapons for Herbert to throw the ball to – Omarion Hampton, Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, Tre Harris, Oronde Gadsden, and David Njoku – along with speed depth to burn between Keaton Mitchell, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Brenen Thompson, and Derius Davis.
And the schedule is a recipe for success. Two lay-up matchups to start the year versus ARI and LV. Then the shootouts will start coming. The Chargers’ schedule is going from the 13th to the 21st (29th in Mike Clay’s 2026 projected Strength of Schedule) versus last season. The defense is primed for negative regression with the loss of DC Jesse Minter. As the 2nd-most-injured team in the AFC last year, they are also a prime candidate to have better luck staying healthy (specifically on offense).
Although Lawrence is my preferred target at cost in 1QB leagues, I’m not afraid to pull the trigger on Herbert in Round 7 or 8 (if he falls). Also very much into him in Superflex 2QB formats.
Check out all of Erickson’s top fantasy football draft picks to target
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