A Way Too Early Look at Sleepers for the 2026/2027 Fantasy Football Season

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  • By Jon Mosales

    Last Updated on May 18, 2026 12:09 pm by Jon Mosales | Published: May 18, 2026

    We are still months away from pre season games and even longer from the real games, but it’s never too early to start preparing your fantasy football drafts.  It’s easy to draft the early rounds, but fantasy champions are made in the later rounds and nailing those picks that separate you from the herd and give you that extra push in the playoffs.  Without further ado, let’s look at some of the players primed to have breakout seasons and lead your team to the promise land.

     

    QB

    Malik Willis – MIA

    Willis is a complete unknown and that’s why his ADP is the QB19.  He just got a big contract and while he only threw 35 passes last season, he completed 30 of them and is primed to be a fantasy juggernaut.  The Dolphins are in a complete rebuild on the fly and they have a solid foundation on offense, despite the overhaul of most of the skill positions.  De’Von Achane might be the most explosive weapon in football and he will serve as a perfect safety valve for Willis who will be learning on the fly.  The real secret sauce to Willis is his ability to run the ball and even though he has progressed mightily as a passer, the bread and butter of his fantasy game will be gaining yards with his legs behind a top-10 o-line.  As long as MIA can add some weapons in the receiving game, Willis has a great shot to finish as a top-10 QB behind the Drake Maye mold from last season.

    Kyler Murray – MIN

    No one has banged the drum harder about hating Kyler in real-life and fantasy, but we’ve seen this story too many times to discount it out of hand.  Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold as two of the best reclamation projects we have seen as the entire league left them for dead.  Murray is just as talented if not more so than those two and now he heads to MIN, where fantasy QB studs grow on trees.  Murray is going as the QB18 right now and his floor is honestly the QB12 with the weapons on MIN.  The problem is the MIN o-line fell off a cliff last season and was ranked as a bottom-five unit.  They need to rebuild the o-line before we can advocate anyone on MIN.  Murray has five top-10 fantasy seasons in his career and is still in his prime.  The runway is clear and the upside is tantalizing, but it all revolves around Murray getting his act together and putting football first.

     

    RB

    Jordan Mason – MIN

    Mason is a monster lying in waiting, but again with Murray if the o-line doesn’t improve, what’s the point.  Aaron Jones is on the fumes of a great career and Mason went for 159 carries for 758 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns while Averaging 4.8 yards per carry.  Mason is going as the RB42 right now, which seems insane because we saw CHI overhaul their o-line in one just offseason.  In games Mason started in 2025, he averaged 90.7 rushing yards per start and while he’s an old-school, run-only RB, the upside is obvious.  Plenty of teams have two quality RBs, but this is one of the backfields not being priced appropriately ahead of fantasy drafts.

     

    Blake Corum – LAR

    Kyren Williams is still the RB1 and he’s probably not falling off a cliff with three straight seasons of at least 10 TDs, but Corum is coming and we’ve seen Sean McVeigh switches horses in mid-stream before. Corum could be the better back after recording 746 rushing yards and six touchdowns on an elite 5.1 yards per carry.  He’s going around the RB35 and he’s running behind maybe, the best o-line in the NFL.  The upside speaks for itself and Corum has league-swinging upside if Williams gets hurt or simply loses his RB1 slot.  Even in a timeshare, Corum has solid value, from Week 13 to Week 18 last season, Corum saw his usage jump to 10.5 carries per game, averaging 12.7 PPR points during that stretch.

     

    WR

    Michael Wilson – ARI

    Wilson saved my fantasy season last year as I picked him up in every league once Marvin Harrison Jr. went down.  I was never a huge believer in his talent, but the opportunity was there and ARI was  pure fantasy jet fuel last season with a terrible defense and a pass-heavy offense.  He had five top-10 WR finishes from Week 11 on and there is no looking back now.  His ADP is a staggeringly low WR37, which is insane considering he has a proven top-10 upside.  Sure, it was a small sample size and revolved around Marvin Harrison Jr. being in and mostly out of the lineup, but top-10 WRs don’t grow on trees.  Let’s see what the QB situation is in ARI, but Wilson is shaping up to be a must-draft player, maybe even Wilson no matter what.

     

    Parker Washington – JAC

    Washington is your classic under the radar WR as he was operating behind Brian Thomas Jr. and Jakobi Meyers, but numbers don’t lie, well sometimes they do.  An ADP of WR47 is blasphemous considering he was the WR1 on one of the best offenses in the leagues over the second half of the season.  BTJ is the clear bigger name, but names don’t win fantasy titles.  After the Week 9 bye, Washington has six top-20 finishes and the Jags offense isn’t in danger of a massive regression.  He was the WR3 over the final three weeks of the season.  HIs target share was 17.5 and when compared to BTJ 16.5 and Meyers 18.5, it’s a three-headed monster with Washington having the highest ADP and maybe the most upside.

    Adonai Mitchell – NYJ

    Officially my guy and I have still have regrets about benching him in Week 15 when the Jets had Brady Cook under center.  Mitchell is a pure stud, but the QB situation is a problem and Garrett Wilson is the WR1 on the Jets.  Other than than, it’s a pure ceiling play as Mitchell was a target machine once he was traded.  He has at least seven targets in the first seven games after the trade and while the efficiency was terrible, this was a mid-season trade and his first real action since being drafted.  Hopefully Geno Smith is an upgrade over Justin Fields last season, but Smith was terrible on the Raiders and it’s possible he’s just cooked.  Either way, Mitchell is going as the WR67, which means he’s essentially free, so you can’t afford to leave your draft without him.

     

    Jalen McMillan – TB

    McMillan was going to be a top-five target for me last season and then he got hurt in the preseason and had a lost season.  He only played four games and only one was elite, but with Mike Evans gone and Chris Godwin relegated to band aid status, there is a WR1 slot up for grabs.  Emeka Egbuka is a pure stud, but he’s going 45 WRs before McMillian and it’s not a lock that Egbuka has a better fantasy season.  The Buccs are primed for a bounce-back and it’s a WR revolution in Tampa, don’t buy the hype with Egbuka when you can get McMillian on a discount.  Betting on a top-10 offenses is always a great move and TB looks like it should be in that ballpark this season.

     

    TE

    Isaiah Likely – NYG

    Anyone who has ever followed me knows I love TEs and if you can snag an elite TE late in your draft, it’s a level jumper.  Likely was my number-one target last season, but he got hurt in the summer and it was a classic failure to launch.  Now, he is on a new team and doesn’t have to share targets with Mark Andrews and the path is clear.  The Giants were a sneaky, explosive offense last season and Jaxson Dart is a much more dynamic QB than advertised.  Likely is going as the TE15 and he has top-five potential if not a top-five floor.  The Giants do have weapons, but Likely should be the number-two option behind Malik Nabers and if he isn’t healthy, it could be a massive target share for the explosive TE.  Likely has his old coach in John Harbaugh and he is a player I will be targeting in every draft.

     

    Oronde Gadsden – LAC

    Gadsden was under the radar as Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland were the rookie TEs that got all the hype, but Gadsden has the best QB and is just as dynamic as the other two elite TEs.  He’s going as the TE9 and while he has all the talent in the world, he will have to fight for targets in what should be a run-heavy offense assuming the o-line bounces back.  The question is which TE is he? Is he the TE1 who went for 164 vs. IND or the guy who fell off down the stretch.  Either way, if you miss on Warren or Loveland, Gadsden is a great consolation prize.  This pick takes a hit with the Chargers signing David Njoku, but he remains an uber-talented prospect.

    May 18, 2026, 12:08 pm