Andrew Cooper

Back in my day, the Robust RB draft strategy was what we called a “fantasy draft”. In the early 2000s, EVERYONE was taking running backs in the early rounds. ADP in some years had 12 straight running backs at the top of the rankings. And for good reason - running backs had a far bigger workload then. That has changed in the modern NFL, and thus, fantasy football draft strategies have changed.

Every year, ESPN posts the list of the most commonly rostered players on championship teams. And, as you would expect, there are a lot of highly drafted players on there, like first-round picks Puka Nacua or Bijan Robinson. But there are also always some fantasy football value picks on there every year. And, a few of those picks are often wide receivers.

Fantasy football wide receiver rankings have historically been the deepest position. For a long time, virtually every team has used three and sometimes even four wide receivers for a lot of their snaps. So you could have two and, on rare occasions, three wide receivers all from the same team at the high end of our fantasy football WR tiers. But the league is always evolving, and recent shifts have hurt the depth of the wide receiver rankings, to some degree.

Once you get to an advanced level of wide receiver draft strategy, you understand there is more to it than just picking names off a list. Different wide receivers have different ranges of outcomes. And, outside of the first couple of rounds, what you are really doing is constructing a “wide receiver room” that includes both guys you can start now, and upside plays for later. That is where the wide receiver tiers can be more valuable than wide receiver rankings for fantasy football.

Somewhere along the line, a fantasy football tight end rankings myth was created. A harmful myth. And it actually became a mainstream fantasy football draft strategy. That myth was that you should only ever draft one tight end in fantasy football. That there was NEVER any situation where you should draft two. And that, of course, proved to be wrong.

Alright, folks, it’s time. What you’ve all been waiting for. The 2026 fantasy football sleepers. Those league-winner fantasy players who can change your entire fortune in the later rounds. Even if busts and injuries devastate the plans you had made, finding the right breakout player from the later rounds or the waiver wire can bail you out. Sure, some of these guys might be long shots. But the upside is there.

There are a lot of NFL teams that could still use free agent help. I mean, just take a look at the Miami Dolphins depth chart. But the Washington Commanders have one thing that teams like the Miami Dolphins don’t have - money. The Dolphins are in rebuild mode with only ~$12M in cap space, while the Washington Commanders are a competing team with ~$43M available. So everyone is wondering what holes the Commanders might use that money to patch up this summer.

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Fantasy football analysis has evolved a lot since I started playing. I remember when average depth of target (aDot) was brand new. And we asked ourselves, “How do they even figure that out?” Now it’s a basic stat compared to WR target share, first read targets, DVOA, you name it. There’s an entire world of advanced stats out there, going as deep as you want to go.

Injuries. They are the unstoppable, unescapable nightmare of fantasy football players. No matter how good your team is, injuries lurk there in the shadows, waiting to take away your stars at the least opportune time. And no position is more exposed to this than fantasy football running backs. That’s why you need a good grasp on fantasy football handcuff rankings.