At the top of fantasy football drafts for 2026, youre going to find the usual suspects Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, JaMarr Chase. These players have been staples at the top of fantasy drafts for a handful of season now. Thats the easy part of ranking players. The difficult part is ranking the rest of the player pool, whether its because of injuries, being on a new team or incoming rookies leeching usage. Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL seasonYahoo analysts Hayden Winks, Joel Smyth, Josh Norris, Justin Boone, Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski share the player theyre having a difficult time ranking for 2026. Omarion Hampton, RB, ChargersThe upside is obvious. Fast and extremely strong, its easy to see how hes the best pick in Round 2 if he reaches his potential in the Chargers suddenly explosive rushing offense with Mike McDaniel. His offenses in Miami were routinely first in YPC against single-high or two-high shell coverages because hed get his backs to the perimeter in unique ways. The OL looks improved as well. At the same time, Hamptons rookie tape did not routinely stand out. He played hesitant between the tackles and really struggled in pass protection. If the former remains an issue, its entirely possible that Keaton Mitchell carves out 8-10 touches per game as the most efficient back in the nerdy rushing categories since 2023. If protection remains an issue, its entirely possible that Kimani Vidal carves out the passing-down role as a quality protector and receiver. Theres history of a tandem approach here, and that makes me nervous at the top of Round 2. I totally understand others taking the McDaniel goes brrrr approach. I rank him 19th, while my Yahoo teammates rank him 15th. Were splitting hairs. Hayden WinksRJ Harvey, RB, BroncosI have generally been out on Harvey, not because his situation is poor, but because of the gap in rushing efficiency we saw last season between himself and J.K. Dobbins. Im not the biggest believer in his rushing talent after plenty of red flags in Year 1, but Harvey managed to finish as a low-end RB2 in his rookie season on great receiving and some TD luck. On one end, Dobbins returns, with what came across as an emphatic need for the veteran leader to come back to Denver out of Broncos camp, on top of the addition of Jonah Coleman leads me to believe Harvey is seen as more of a role player than future star RB. And yet, at the same time, hes being drafted very late with a lot of crazy-good factors to aid his fantasy potential. Denver may very well have the best run blocking offensive line in football, a great coach and QB pair for a fantasy RB, receiving volume for their backs, with the other two running backs being a rookie and the most injury-prone starting RB in the league. In my mind, Harvey is going to be riding your fantasy bench all season, or eventually finding himself with enough volume in such an amazing scenario its difficult to ever take him out of the lineup. To show how difficult its been for me, I have him in my not drafting list, and then when it came to the Yahoo analyst mock draft, he fell so far that I selected him anyway. Joel SmythLuther Burden III, WR, BearsIf Burden vs. Colston Loveland vs. Rome Odunze wasnt already a headache to predict we were just handed a fantasy football chaos timeline with Burden expected to miss the remainder of the preseason with a groin injury, but be fit to play for Week 1. Nightmare. The optimistic side: Ben Johnsons ability to generate space and force the football into the hands of his best players is an ideal fit with Burden, who is a maverick with the ball in his hands. Crossing routes, screens, in-breakers the catch and run opportunities are endless, and Burden showed during his rookie season that he is developing isolated route-running chops to win versus man coverage and a feel for zone. The step forward in Year 2 could actually be a gigantic leap as the headline pass-catcher. The pessimistic view is obvious there was already a chance Burden was being overdrafted in the fourth/fifth round before the injury. Now? Weve seen a number of players have disappointing seasons after missing training camp, either due to holding out or injury. And even if Burden does play in Week 1, will he be 100%? 80%? And how high is the re-injury risk? Burden is equally a potential league-winning talent and a possible landmine early in drafts. Josh NorrisTreVeyon Henderson, RB, PatriotsWhile I love Hendersons talent and obvious high-end potential for fantasy, its impossible to ignore the likelihood of another year spent sharing time with Rhamondre Stevenson. As a rookie, Henderson was productive with 1,132 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns, but that was boosted by the stretch run when Stevenson dealt with injuries. From Week 8 on, Henderson flashed as the RB12 in fppg, including two outings with at least 150 yards and two scores. However, when you listen to people around the team, its evident the veteran is still the one the coaching staff trusts more. Theres no doubt an explosive young ball carrier like Henderson offers a league-winning ceiling, unfortunately hes been unable to prove himself worthy as a pass-protector and consistent between-the-tackles runner. If the mistakes continue, it will be difficult to justify the ADPs in this backfield with Hendersons being taken at the Round 4-5 turn as the RB22 and the starter Stevenson going off the board as the RB28 at the end of the sixth round. Unless something changes, Stevenson will begin the season offering RB3 fantasy production with Henderson being a boom-or-bust weekly RB3/flex with massive upside if/when the depth chart shifts. Justin BooneRashee Rice, WR, ChiefsI recognize that over the last two seasons, Rashee Rice has been WR5 in points per game and WR12 since entering the NFL in 2023. While the per game is clearly doing a lot of heavy lifting for someone who has only played in 12 contests during that time, the analysis should be simple here; when Rice is on the field, hes one of the most productive players at the position, so just dock him a slight bit based on the off-field risks. He is the consensus-ranked WR11 in industry rankings and WR12 in Yahoo ADP the last week. That should be enough but those designations assume that hell have the same high-volume role hes always held and thats where Im unconvinced. To put into context how much volume matters for Rice: 112 wide receivers have run 600 or more route since 2023 and Rices 4.69 air yards per target ranks 112th, with a decent gap to 111th in Greg Dortch at 5.23. With Kenneth Walker III in town to provide a real-deal rushing game, some of those underneath extension-of-the-run-game targets could disappear, especially around the goal line. The Chiefs were a massively underwhelming offense last year while funneling so many short targets to Rice; they have every incentive to mix up their approach. To this point in his career, Rice has shown little evidence on film he can win against man coverage and down field to offset any loss in volume. Juggling his impressive past production against the future projection is tricky and thats without mentioning off-field and injury red flags. Matt HarmonMalik Nabers, WR, GiantsThe pro case for Nabers is obvious, as he was the sixth pick in his draft class and finished WR8 as a rookie. But his second year was a washout, as ACL and meniscus tears ended his season in September. Nabers was able to avoid the PUP list this summer, but hes yet to participate in 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 drills hes not out of the woods yet. Hes starting from scratch with QB Jaxson Dart, as they played just one game together last year. John Harbaugh was an inspired hire at head coach, but can we trust new OC Matt Nagy? Although Nabers presents tantalizing upside with an ADP in the mid-30s, we have to accept that hes working with a shaky floor, too. Scott Pianowski