Fantasy Football 2026 Roundtable: Will New Coaching Staff Help Lamar Jackson Rise in the Rankings?

Now that we're fully into the groove of the NFL offseason, we can start to see how everything is shaping up for the coming season. That starts with 2026 rankings, when we turn the page and full point toward the coming season. Now we can see how last year's player performances will shape the early ahead.

So Dwain McFarland, Kendall Valenzuela, Matthew Freedman and Ian Hartitz joined up to discuss their own sets rankings, focusing on how they came to those decisions and which ones were the toughest conclusions. Enjoy this open discussion.

Fantasy Football Roundtable: Reviewing Early Rankings

1. Early rankings are awesome, but almost impossible to predict before the draft and free agency. What degree of aggressiveness did you use in putting this first set together?

DWAIN: Most fantasy players who want rankings to draft this early in the year are entering hundreds of best ball contests. With so many unknowns, at this point in the year, you want a diversified portfolio of players. Some free agent running backs might find the perfect landing spots, others will land in a committee and also drag down the value of their teammate. Some rookies will go higher than we think in the NFL Draft and land in a great situation. Other rookies will go later and land in muddled situations. However, I want exposure to the players with the widest range of outcomes. So, in many situations, I don't take aggressive stands. Instead, I have those types of players slightly ahead of the market, grouped closely together. As we get more information from free agency and the draft, I will start to take more aggressive stands.

FREEDMAN: Every time I make and then update rankings, I try to make them as functional as possible. So if there are players I like relative to the market, I want to be "aggressive" with them—but it doesn't take much to be aggressive.

Example: I'm currently the highest in our rankings on rookie Jeremiyah Love, whom I expect to go in Round 1 of the NFL Draft (probably in the top 12). I have him as my No. 7 RB. No one else at Fantasy Life has him higher than No. 9. Could I have been more aggressive and moved him up to No. 5? Yeah, I could've done that, just to make a point. But why? I'm already saying that I like him with my ranking. That's enough. Anything more than that—before we know his athletic testing, draft capital and NFL team—is overkill.

So I try to take clear stands with players, but I also want my aggression to be measured.

2. How did you approach players with new coaches and OCs?

IAN: I wrote an article detailing the 17 offenses facing some level of discontinuity in terms of play calling and offensive philosophy entering next season. You can check it out here! Knowing every piece to the puzzle when it comes to predicting the future in a sport using a ball that isn’t even round is of paramount importance …

And yet, I do often still find myself siding with the Jimmies and Joes over the X’s and O’s. Consider: Kevin Stefanski, Kellen Moore, Dave Canales, Kevin O’Connell, and Mike McDaniel were (and maybe still are) considered bright wunderkind-level offensive minds in the recent past, yet each coached an offense that finished among the league’s bottom-8 scoring units last season. Sean McVay IS one of the best offensive minds in the sport, and he only led the league’s 20th-ranked scoring offense despite getting 16 starts out of MVP Matthew Stafford in 2024!

For every Ben Johnson and Liam Coen that come into town and turn their team’s offense around, there’s a Tanner Engstrand and Chip Kelly who struggle to overcome their team’s lackluster roster. Being aware of play caller tendencies are especially important when attempting to project volume, although praising the efficiency and overall production at hand has always felt a bit reactionary to me.

KENDALL: Do. Your. Research. This season we have 10 new head coaches and a whopping 21 new offensive coordinators and with all that change comes changes to all the offenses. It'll be important to listen to the coachspeak during OTAs and training camp to see if anything is revealed, but honestly it's just important to know the background of these new coaches and coordinators.

Who is calling plays? Who is a first-time head coach? For example, Sean Mannion not too long ago was still on an NFL practice squad and now he is the offensive coordinator and first-time play caller for the Eagles. Declan Doyle is easily the youngest play caller in the NFL now for the Ravens, but he comes from Ben Johnson's Bears — could he recreate their success with Lamar Jackson? It's a lot of moving pieces.

3. Did any late-season performances get you digging deeper and changing your opinion on a player?

FREEDMAN: I find that it's useful to see how players (especially rookies) perform after the bye week, when teams have more opportunity to evaluate themselves and make large-scale adjustments. And that leads me to Saints QB Tyler Shough.

He fell in the NFL Draft because of his advanced age, but last year he looked like a typical 26-year-old veteran (not a second-round rookie), especially after the Week 11 bye, when he produced as both a passer (256.9 yards per game) and runner (25.0 yards).

Because of his age, Shough might be closer to his ceiling than the typical second-year player, but he still could take a step forward in 2026 with a full offseason to prepare as the starter in HC Kellen Moore's offense, and the Saints could give him a playmaker with the No. 8 pick in the 2026 draft.

Relative to the market, I like the Saints' odds to win Super Bowl 61, and I'm higher on Shough than any of the other Fantasy Life rankers.

IAN: Did Freedman just say he likes the Saints’ Super Bowl 61 odds? Put the bottle down, man.

Anyway, Luther Burden’s massive 8-138-1 performance in the fantasy championship had many anointing the Bears rookie as the next-big-thing at the position. How high would he go in 2026 drafted? 6th round? 5th? 4th???

Well, right now the nerds and virgins drafting over at Underdog Fantasy (I say that kindly, I am one of them), have Burden going at the Round 4-5 turn! He finished as the WR57 in PPR points per game in 2025! There are other good pass catchers in this offense! That ADP must be crazy, right?

I’m not so sure. The crowded nature of the Bears offense isn’t ideal, but we should probably give Burden a lot of credit for, you know, pulling off one of the most efficient rookie seasons the position has seen in recent history.

Most yards per route run by a rookie WR 2016-2025 (min 50 targets):

Now, that mark does drop to 2.36 (8th) if you include the two playoff performances, but still: That’s some good company!

Enough numbers for you? Fine. What do your eyes say? Mine say this dude moves in a special way on the football field.

Luther Burden pic.twitter.com/5aDAMMk6va
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) December 18, 2025

My first crack at the rankings has Burden as just the WR31–lowest among Fantasy Life rankers, but man, the upside here is undoubtedly tantalizing. I would not be surprised if that rank slowly but surely climbs into the top 24 as the offseason goes on–it’s hard not to be enthralled by the potential here.

4. Which player do you think will zoom up your rankings the most by June?

DWAIN: This will come down to free agency landing spots and the NFL Draft, which will wildly propel someone much higher. However, if looking at all the angles, Kenneth Walker III is a strong bet to move up no matter what. First, he is a great football player who passes the eye test to even the most casual football viewer. Second, the Super Bowl recency bias will be a factor. Third, he could secure an elite landing spot where he clearly projects as the RB1. Fourth, he could remain in Seattle, where Zach Charbonnet is recovering from an ACL injury in the NFC Divisional Round. He will likely miss a significant portion of 2026, leaving the door open for Walker to lock down a role for the year. Most of the paths for Walker are positive. He just needs to avoid leaving as a free agent to join a crowded backfield. Imagine how high Walker will climb if he lands with the Cowboys or the Chiefs? KWIII would probably be a Round 2 pick in fantasy drafts. He is my No. 33 player overall, slightly ahead of our 38 consensus.

KENDALL: Just like Dwain said above, a ton of my rankings movements will be because of free agency. There's been some rumors that maybe Brian Thomas Jr. could be on the move from Jacksonville, which makes sense.

New head coach Liam Coen brought higher expectations to a team that seemed to not be getting the best out of Trevor Lawrence, and Lawrence seemingly turned things around, it was not Thomas Jr. that benefited. BTJ was plagued by drops and just didn't seem to have consistent chemistry with Lawrence. He was drafted as the WR9 and finished outside the top 40. To make matters worse (even though it feels hard to do) he had only five games with 10 or more fantasy points. The team has Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington along with Brenton Strange. A change of scenery could rope me back into drafting more BTJ this summer and moving him up my ranks.