Early 2026 Rankings: Josh Allen and Chase Brown Among Tops at Their Positions

The Super Bowl has come and gone, meaning seven long, cold months separate us from consuming meaningful professional football.

Some might use this offseason period as a time to relax and catch up on real-life responsibilities, but not us over at team Fantasy Life! The grind never stops—and accordingly it's time to *best Bob Seger impression* turn the page and start looking ahead to next season!

This brings us to today's goal: Way-too-early 2026 positional ranks along with some key offseason storylines to watch out for during the upcoming months.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Way-too-early 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings

Quarterback

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QB1 Josh Allen has finished as THE QB1 in fantasy land four times in the last six seasons.
QB2 Drake Maye led the NFL in completion rate (72%) and yards per attempt (8.9) during his breakout 2025.
QB3 Lamar Jackson's down 2025 doesn't change the reality that he's responsible for two of the position's top-six highest-scoring single seasons … ever.
QB4 Joe Burrow is just one season removed from throwing for an NFL-best 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns.
QB5 Jayden Daniels joins Mike Vick, Justin Fields, and Lamar Jackson as the only QBs in NFL history to average north of 40 career rushing yards per game.
QB6 Caleb Williams enters Year 2 with Ben Johnson fully capable of making the hard look easy—good luck to everyone if Williams starts to hit his layups.
QB7 Jaxson Dart trailed only Josh Allen in fantasy points per game *from rushing* in 2025.
QB8 Jalen Hurts had just 5 rushing touchdowns from inside the 3-yard line last season—a far cry from what we saw in 2024 (11), 2023 (13) and 2022 (9). His fantasy production would really suffer if we do, in fact, see the tush push outlawed ahead of 2026.
QB9 Patrick Mahomes will hopefully be back from last season's torn ACL sooner rather than later, but we probably shouldn't expect another career-best rushing campaign.
QB10 Dak Prescott is essentially a discount Burrow when considering his ability to rack up passing numbers with his two alpha receivers … and dogshit defense.
QB11 Brock Purdy has worked as the QB7, QB10 and QB6 in fantasy points per game during the past three seasons.
QB12 Justin Herbert is a near-consensus top-5 real-life QB who could perhaps unlock peak form under new OC Mike McDaniel.

Running Back

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Is it time to fully appreciate Chase Brown as a high-end RB1?

It sure is! The rising fourth-year back racked up production as a rusher (231-1,019-6) and receiver (69-437-5) on his way to an RB8 finish in PPR points per game in 2025.

And yet, that still almost underrates just how good Chase Brown was down the stretch once Joe Burrow was healthy enough to return to action. Even with Samaje Perine stealing away a handful of touches per game, Brown couldn't stop, wouldn't stop racking up fantasy points:

Week 13: 113 total yards, 0 TD, PPR RB11
Week 14: 35 total yards, 2 TD, RB6
Week 15: 90 total yards, 0 TD, RB13
Week 16: 109 total yards, 3 TD, RB1
Week 17: 141 total yards, 2 TD, RB3
Week 18: 90 total yards, 1 TD, RB7

Brown has the three-down role, big-play ability, pristine offensive environment, and pass-down volume that we look for in elite fantasy RBs … which he's been for the better part of the last two seasons.

What teams look like spenders for this awesome free agent RB class?

The current free agency class already looks pretty fooking stacked with guys like Super Bowl 60 MVP Kenneth Walker, Breece Hall, Travis Etienne and Javonte Williams, among others. And that's before even considering the potential for potential cap casualties like Josh Jacobs, Alvin Kamara and D'Andre Swift entering the fold.

Of course, not every team has the sort of available cap space to get into bidding wars over free agent RBs. This begs the question: Who has the sort of financial resources and team need at the position to potentially be a big free agent spender at running back?

Answer: These guys…

Titans (No. 1 in available cap space): This is fairly dependent on if the team will indeed part ways with Tony Pollard. While Tyjae Spears is a tackle-breaking machine, it's possible the new coaching staff views him more as a 1.B/pass-down complement as opposed to someone who should be thrust into a three-down role.
Commanders (No. 4 in available cap space): Each of Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez (RFA) are hitting free agency, leaving Jacory Croskey-Merritt as the last man standing. Fantasy Life's Matthew Freedman debated having Washington draft Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love with the seventh overall pick in his latest mock draft.
Jets (No. 5 in available cap space): This decision could be as simple as re-signing Breece Hall, although the pair didn't seem to have the greatest relationship down the stretch of 2025.
Seahawks (No. 6 in available cap space): Like with the Jets, this "hole" could be filled in a hurry should the team simply re-sign Kenneth Walker. This makes a LOT of sense with Zach Charbonnet (January ACL injury) a candidate to miss some early-season action.
Steelers (No. 9 in available cap space): Perhaps Mike McCarthy is content rolling forward with Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson. The team could also bring back free agent Kenneth Gainwell. It'd be pretty f*cking awesome if Warren finally gets a legit three-down role—he's consistently been one of the league's best tackle breakers.
Cardinals (No. 13 in available cap space): With James Conner turning 31 in May and a cut candidate, Arizona needs to add youthful resources to a room with very little proven production considering Trey Benson's early-career struggles with staying healthy.
Broncos (No. 14 in available cap space): Certainly will have RJ Harvey in a key role, but free agent J.K. Dobbins was pretty easily leading the way before suffering a season-ending foot injury. Bringing back Dobbins or adding an early-down complement to Harvey would make a lot of sense.

Wide Receiver

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Could Ricky Pearsall be in store for a Year 3 breakout?

Is having Ricky Pearsall as a top-24 receiver in the first edition of my 2026 ranks aggressive? Yes, but we're also talking fantasy ranks in … February … so let's have a little bit of an open mind here!

Injuries have unfortunately robbed us as a society of seeing Pearsall operate at full health for any level of extended stretch during his short two-year career. And yet, one quick look at the #film reveals that we are truly looking at one of the league's top-tier route tacticians here.

Ricky Pearsall pic.twitter.com/NmVgZjmdzn
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) February 5, 2026

And then there's the whole target competition side of things:

Brandon Aiyuk has seemingly played his last snap in San Fran.
Jauan Jennings is hitting free agency.
George Kittle figures to miss early-season action while recovering from a torn Achilles.

The 49ers will obviously need to add resources to their WR room this offseason, but there seems like a better than decent chance that Pearsall is THE No. 1 pass-game option for a Brock Purdy-Kyle Shanahan partnership that has, you know, arguably been the most efficient duo in league history.

Maybe your attitude on Pearsall is simply, “He'll just get hurt again.” My counter? What if he doesn't?

What trades could RAPIDLY change the league's WR landscape?

There seem to be three potential big trade candidates at the position.

Eagles WR A.J. Brown: Certainly didn't seem to be enjoying himself in Philly last season. The logistics of his contract don't seem overly great when looking at a potential trade, although those details could be perhaps re-worked. The best potential landing spot here certainly seems to be a reunion with Mike Vrabel in New England. Old pal Derrick Henry also seems interested.
49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk: Could be released instead of traded. Either way: Aiyuk's time in San Fran is almost certainly over, which is a shame considering just how damn good the man was pre-2024. Maybe we'll see Aiyuk finally get his wish and link back up with former Arizona State teammate Jayden Daniels in Washington.
Cowboys WR George Pickens: Almost certainly won't hit free agency considering the likelihood the Cowboys either figure out a long-term deal or (probably more likely) slap the franchise tag on him. Maybe Pickens is fine with this process … or maybe he won't be! Who knows, but 24-year-old receivers coming off a 93-1,429-9 season don't hit the open market, so failure to figure things out in Dallas could quickly make the ex-Steeler the most coveted player at the position in dem trade streets. Any offense would be better with Pickens' services, although I'd especially like to see the Titans or Raiders try to get Cam Ward or Fernando Mendoza a legit alpha No. 1 WR should the opportunity present itself.

Tight End

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Could any cap casualties change fantasy's TE hierarchy?

The fine folks at Over The Cap published their top 100 possible cut candidates earlier this year, and the list included 10 tight ends who could potentially enter the free agency equation sooner rather than later:

Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson ($5.3M in dead money, $16M in cap savings)
Bills TE Dawson Knox ($5.1M dead, $12M savings)
Texans TE Dalton Schultz ($4.5M dead, $11.5M savings)
Bears TE Cole Kmet ($1.6M dead, $10M savings)
Patriots TE Hunter Henry ($2.5M dead, $9.3M savings)
Rams TE Colby Parkinson ($2.1M dead, $7M savings)
Broncos TE Evan Engram ($7.7M dead, $6.5M savings)
Panthers TE Tommy Tremble ($2M dead, $6M savings)
Falcons TE Charlie Woerner ($1M dead, $4.8M savings)
Chargers TE Will Dissly ($1.5M dead, $4M savings)

Potential newfound starting roles? (TJ Hockenson, Dalton Schultz, Hunter Henry, Evan Engram, Tommy Tremble): The Patriots, Broncos, and Panthers have enough cap space to presumably keep their incumbent lead tight ends; none are exactly "must cut" players when looking at the dead money and savings involved anyway. A similar sentiment can't quite be said for Hockenson and the Vikings (second-least cap space), as well as Schultz and the Texans (11th-least cap space):

Hockenson averaged a career-low 29.2 receiving yards per game on a putrid 8.6 yards per reception last season, and simply doesn't profile as a staple of this offense as long as Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are leading the way.
Schultz feels like he has a slightly better chance of hanging around after bouncing back in 2025 following a down 2024, although the Texans do have a capable group of backups between Cade Stover, Harrison Bryant and Brevin Jordan.

Oh, this could be GOOD for that other guy currently splitting snaps (Dawson Knox, Cole Kmet, Colby Parkinson): The Bills and Bears are both in the red when it comes to current 2026 cap space, which could perhaps compel them to part ways with their veteran tight ends and lean into the Dalton Kincaid and Colston Loveland experiences at more of a full-time level. Both worked among the league's most-efficient pass catchers at the position last year and would vie for top-5 fantasy treatment with a secured full-time role (Loveland will probably be ranked that high regardless).