The NFL Draft is kind of a cruel process, if you really think about it. Imagine if your company had an influx of young talent willing to come in and work for more money every year, and you had to fight to keep your job. Perhaps some corporate atmospheres ARE like that, but in the NFL it’s strictly by design. Every year is a battle.

And the 2026 NFL Draft is no different. New guys come in and, naturally, that’s going to displace some veterans. For fantasy football, that completely changes the landscape as quarterbacks get new targets, but wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs get more competition for touches. So, why don’t we take a moment here now that the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft is over to look at who some of the early winners and losers are for dynasty fantasy football? 

2026 NFL Draft First Round Winners

Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona Cardinals

I understand that the Arizona Cardinals organization doesn’t have the best reputation. They’ve been around for 100 years and are tied for last in playoff wins with a team that didn’t exist until 2002. So maybe their ability to recognize and capitalize on talent isn’t all that great.

But one thing we cannot ignore is the astronomically high hit rate in fantasy football for running backs drafted this early. Given that it’s not a premium position, there’s no guarantee that Love was to go in the top few picks - I don’t think anyone would have been surprised by a bit of a slide. The Cardinals standing pat and taking him at three is a vote of confidence that Love is a special player. And there are worse offenses with tougher competition where Love could have landed. The Cardinals at least have good weapons to help move the football. 

Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle Seahawks

This one doesn’t need a huge write-up as it’s pretty obvious. There was no guarantee that another back was going to get drafted after Jeremiyah Love. And there were a lot of landing spots out there that are not particularly fantasy-friendly. Not only did Price go in the first, but he went to the Seattle Seahawks, who just lost Kenneth Walker in free agency and have Zach Charbonnet coming off a torn ACL. Definitely a winner here. 

Ty Simpson, QB, Los Angeles Rams

First off, we didn’t even know for sure that a second quarterback was going to go in the first round. Many were saying a team could trade back into the very end of the round or, at best, the Steelers would take someone at pick 21. So going at 13 overall is already a big win for Simpson. Historically speaking, quarterbacks drafted even in the second round have a terrible hit rate - there are only three active starting QBs who were picked in the second round (Jalen Hurts, Geno Smith, and Tyler Shough).

And, on top of that, he got picked by a good organization. Les Snead has been lauded for his ability to recognize talent to the point that teams continue to hire his employees as their own GM (like Brad Holmes and James Gladstone). Matthew Stafford is obviously getting up and will eventually hang them up, but we trust the Rams organization to stay solid with some of the young weapons they have. We can’t guarantee Ty Simpson will be good, but he was a big winner last night, no doubt about it. 

Tyler Shough, QB, New Orleans Saints

We just mentioned how hard things can be for second round quarterbacks. Well, that doesn’t mean that they ALL are going to fail. The Saints already had the best second round QB of all time in Drew Brees. And the pick last night shows that they are really going to give Tyler Shough a real shot here. When the team doesn’t invest heavily in you, the most important way you can protect yourself is to win games and put up big stats. Adding Jordyn Tyson and Travis Etienne this offseason to join Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson gives Shough and Kellen Moore the ammunition they need to win games and protect their jobs. 

Carnell Tate, WR, Tennessee Titans

It’s not the perfect landing spot. But let’s start with the basics here. Carnell Tate was widely believed to be the top WR for months, and then, in the week before the draft, Jordyn Tyson shot ahead as the betting favorite. That left Tate in a bit of an odd spot, wondering if maybe he would slide a bit. Instead, the Titans decided to make him the top wide receiver off the board with the fourth overall pick. When you consider that Calvin Ridley has basically already had one foot out the door and that Wan’Dale Robinson is more of an underneath threat, this positions Tate to be the top outside wide receiver for the Titans in the very near future. 

Michael Pittman Jr, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers were literally on the phone with Makai Lemon, telling him that he was about to become a Steeler with pick 21. But pick 20 hadn’t been made yet. Instead, Howie Roseman swooped in and stole Lemon out from under them. Instead of drafting someone like KC Concepcion or Omar Cooper Jr, the Steelers pivoted and took tackle Max Iheanachor. Even if the Steelers do end up drafting a wide receiver at some point, it won’t be a Makai Lemon-level guy. Nor will it be a Concepcion or Cooper level guy, as they were both drafted.  

 

 

 

2026 NFL Draft First Round Losers

Remaining QB Prospects (Garrett Nussmeier, Drew Allar, Carson Beck, etc.)

We already mentioned above in the Ty Simpson section that the hit rate for quarterbacks drops DRAMATICALLY when they fall out of the first round. And, in Jalen Hurts’s case, he was part of one of the best QB draft classes and generally great draft classes in modern times, with all four QBs drafted before him having some level of success. This has been widely accepted as a weak draft class so having multiple QB-needy teams poised to move back into the first and now doing it is an indictment. The Jets actually did move back into the first - and they took a wide receiver instead. Not good. 

Kenyon Sadiq or Omar Cooper Jr (and Mason Taylor)

Kenyon Sadiq was actually a big winner there for a minute. We wrote about how the Jets were a top landing spot specifically for this type of tight end. We even bet on Sadiq to the Jets at +2000. So we were quite pleased with that pick at 16, even if it meant Mason Taylor would become the inline tight end, where his value would be crushed in a similar fashion to Michael Mayer when the Raiders drafted Brock Bowers.

But then the Jets decided to trade BACK into the first round. And, when they did that, they took slot receiver Omar Cooper Jr. That is a bit of a confusing move. Garrett Wilson is the clear top target, and he’s on the team through 2030. It’s incredibly rare to have three fantasy-relevant pass-catchers on the same team, even on the best offenses. This is not one of the best offenses. This team might actually only have one fantasy-relevant pass-catcher in Garrett Wilson. And the situation creates a showdown to be the second target between Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr., and they are both tied to the team for four years (five if they pick up the fifth round options). 

Malik Willis, QB, Miami Dolphins

I completely understand that the Dolphins are trying to “do the right thing”. They took premium positions in offensive line and cornerback, which is what you are supposed to do when you are deep in a rebuild. But they had two picks in the first round where six pass-catchers were drafted. There is obviously still time for the Dolphins to have a lot of picks, but after Day One, the best pass-catchers for Malik Willis are still Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell, and Greg Dulcich. I guess you can consider those guys winners, for now. 

Harold Fannin Jr, TE, Cleveland Browns

We are always going to try to use mental gymnastics to justify how our breakout guy can stay hot. But, with the Browns, it really would have been much better for Harold Fannin if they had taken a perimeter wide receiver. Instead, they opted to take KC Concepcion there. With Jerry Jeudy also technically on the team, they have a lot of guys with overlapping route trees now in the short to intermediate area. That certainly complicates things for Fannin. 

Denzel Boston and Eli Stowers

After the top three wide receivers, we didn’t know for sure who would be considered the WR4. We didn’t know who would be a first round pick - or if any of them would be. But there were a couple more wide receivers to go in the first round in KC Concepcion and Omar Cooper Jr., but not Denzel Boston, who many thought could sneak in. 

One particularly disappointing aspect is that the Miami Dolphins were poised to take either one of these guys with pick 27, but didn’t. The Dolphins have had both Darren Waller and Jonnu Smith running 70% of their routes from a WR spot the last couple of years, which would have been nice for Stowers. Also, Bobby Slowik had tremendous success with the big-bodied Nico Collins in Houston in 2023, which is a role Denzel Boston could play. Instead, they took neither despite having a lot of targets available. The Dolphins pick at 43 and have ammo to trade up, so maybe that could happen here in the second.