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I'm not going to sit here and sugar coat it. Overall, the middle rounds of your fantasy football drafts here in 2026, they're going to suck. I mean, it's a bunch of fringe guys that could either win you leagues or end up breaking your heart. Most of them are in the first five rounds of your fantasy football draft for a reason. Now, sure, there's a few gems out there, but if you do not know what to do between the rounds six and 10, better luck next year.
Now, you're going to see so much fantasy content on social media that's really built around how great the mid rounds are. And while that sounds good and all, and it gets likes on social media, it's a damn lie. There are not a lot of great picks at the running back and wide receiver position between rounds six and 10.
Now, I'm sure people are scrambling to the comment section right now and say, "Yeah, but what about this guy?" Or "What about this guy? We think he's going to explode." And honestly, I get that. That's great. There are like 20 guys that are probably going to be pretty freaking good. But 20 out of 60, for all you non-math scholars, that's not a very good percentage.
So, let's go ahead and look at the running backs and wide receivers that currently have an ADP here in the middle rounds of 2026. And once we start getting into these names, you're going to see that there aren't a lot of great options. For the running back position, this is where we're going to start first. So, let's pull up all the current running backs between picks 61 and 120, which is rounds six through 10. And we do this, you're going to see some names that maybe you do like Kendre Miller. We love Kendre Miller, but we really don't know what his role is going to be all season long. We don't know when Zach Charbonnet is going to be coming back. How about Jaylen Warren? Solid 2025 year, but now we have a new coaching staff who brought in one of his former running backs in Rico Dowdle. It creates questions. Tony Pollard, sure the offense should be better in Tennessee, but Pollard has been more successful than ceiling for a couple years. Chuba Hubbard. Now, he has to worry about Jonathan Brooks in this backfield. Don't forget this Dave Canales team drafted Jonathan Brooks as the first running back drafted just a couple years ago. So, if he's healthy, he's going to have a role that creates questions. Ramondre Stevenson season. He earned his role last year, but so many people love Treyvion Henderson. That's going to be a split all year. Then we got R.J. Harvey. Well, they brought back J.K. Dobbins. They drafted Jonah Coleman. More questions in the backfield. Kenneth Gainwell. We love Kenneth Gainwell this year. He goes to a new team in Tampa Bay. He gets the Rashad White role, but is Bucky Irving actually going to stay healthy this year? There's questions, which then brings us to Rico Dowdle. Like we said, what kind of role is he going to have alongside Jaylen Warren, who has definitely earned a role in that offense. Then we get Jonathan Brooks here as well. And like we've already mentioned, if he's healthy, he's getting touches. We have Kyle Monangai, who's stuck in a backfield split with De'Andre Swift. He's not going to get the lion's share of touches. Same thing with Blake Corum. He's taking away scraps from Kyren Williams and getting the occasional goal-line carry, but not somebody we can rely on week one. J.K. Dobbins. He's back in Denver, which is great. And what a lot of people fail to realize is when J.K. Dobbins is healthy and on the field, he's probably one of the most consistent running backs we've had in fantasy football in quite some time. Obviously, keeping him healthy and on the field is the problem. After that, we got Rashad White, who now finds himself in Washington behind Bill or Jacory Croskey-Merritt. What type of workload is he going to get? Is he going to see the goal line? Is he just going to get pass-catching work? Because we know they don't throw the ball to JCM. How about Jordan Mason? What is that split going to look like with him and Aaron Jones? A lot of people have high hopes for Jordan Mason, but Aaron Jones is the fantasy dingleberry that won't go away in the backfield. So I don't feel like I'm just making this up. It's full of running backs that have a lot of question marks. There are very few guys that I would like to draft here and be reliant on to start the fantasy football season. Now obviously, like I've mentioned, a few of these guys we do like. We like their potential. We don't want to have to rely on them right away though.
Now let's bring up the wide receivers that we find between picks 61 and 120. The mid-round wide receivers. We got the rookie Carnell Tate. You know he's going to see 120 plus targets in this new and improved Tennessee offense. We got Brian Thomas Jr. Can he make a comeback in 2026? 2025 sucked for BTJ. We kind of saw the writing on the wall for that one, but there is a chance for a bounce back slightly this year, especially with a great price. How about Marvin Harrison Jr. in Arizona? How does that new coaching staff utilize Marv? Can he finally shake the bust tag that has been placed on him? Parker Washington, he's fighting with two other guys in Jakobi Meyers and Brian Thomas Jr. for targets. DK Metcalf, they've brought in Michael Pittman in Pittsburgh, which means probably boomer bust DK Metcalf once again. Jordan Tyson here in New Orleans having to split a lot of targets with Chris Olave, with Juwan Johnson. They just brought in Travis Etienne or Etienne if you haven't heard the news yet. They just restructured the deal to Alvin Kamara to keep him in town. A lot of mouths to feed all of the sudden in New Orleans. We got Courtland Sutton. They've added Jaylen Waddle. They still have Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant. Lots of people to feed in Denver. Quentin Johnston, love the potential for a bounce back this year, especially with no Keenan Allen on the team. QJ could be the red zone threat that a lot of people are looking forward to. Alec Pierce, dude was just paid 100 mil. Pretty sure he's going to have a pretty healthy role. Chris Godwin could be starting in the slot. Now have Mike Evans. The return of Chris Godwin being a reliable fantasy option could be here in 2026. Then we got Michael Pittman who's now in Pittsburgh. Can we trust Aaron Rodgers? Jayden Reed in the Green Bay passing game that has kind of been hard to trust. We like Matthew Golden. We do think that there's a chance that Christian Watson gets a little bit more here this year. Whether he can stay healthy or not, that's a different question. Michael Wilson in Arizona. I feel like everybody's forgotten about Michael Wilson at this point. Dude was drafted like the wide receiver 80 and finished like the wide receiver 13 last year and nobody wants to talk about it. Which then brings us to Mecole Hardman in Philadelphia, a crowded Philadelphia offense. So many people expect DeVonta Smith. I had someone in the comments section the other day say that they expect DeVonta Smith to go for over 1500 yards. I mean, come on. That's just not the That's not only the offense in Philadelphia. They're going to spread it around more. They have more people to throw the football to. And I don't know if I trust Jalen Hurts enough to supply multiple thousand-yard receivers at least on a consistency basis. Right now we're having to play these boomer bust games every single week. Josh Downs, he could be a reliable option in the slot this year for the Colts with no Michael Pittman. Ricky Pearsall, it's all about health. As long as he's healthy, he's going to get his, but can he stay healthy this year? Jordan Addison, really like Jordan Addison a little bit more until they brought in Jauan Jennings. Now they have Addison, Jennings, Hockenson, and don't forget about Justin Jefferson. Wan'Dale Robinson, last year's darling in fantasy football. Nobody even wants to talk about him anymore. I still love the potential in Tennessee because the offensive coordinator is who? Yes, Brian Daboll, his former coach in New York. Then after him we got Jakobi Meyers in Jacksonville splitting with Parker Washington, BTJ. And then we get Xavier Worthy in Kansas City and he hasn't really done much of anything so far in his career. And there's still questions surrounding the availability all season long of Rashee Rice. How about Matthew Golden? Didn't do anything in 2025. Do they give the former first-rounder more of an opportunity this year because there's no Dontayvion Wicks and no Romeo Doubs? That's definitely potential, for sure. And then lastly, Romeo Doubs himself, who is now in New England. Loved myself some Romeo Doubs a little bit more before they brought in A.J. Brown, but don't kid yourself, Doubs could still have some big-time weeks in 2026.
So really, as you can see after going through the available players here in the mid-rounds, there are more than twice as many wide receivers as running backs. But what does that tell you? Well, I'm going to tell you. Let's dive into this draft strategy plan that you need to be following.
Number one, there are more wide receiver options later on that have thousand-yard upside than there are running backs. And this isn't just in the middle rounds, you're going to have wide receivers in the later rounds as well that still have thousand-yard upside. There are just more wide receivers with value this year than there are running backs. The position is super deep in 2026. So if you grab two higher-end wide receivers within the first five rounds of your draft, you're going to be drafting all of these wide receivers later on as bench depth. You're not going to be overly dependent on them in week one, and that's key. We don't want to be dependent on a lot of these guys that have a lot of question marks. If it's me, give me two high-end studs and then let me fill my bench with a mixture of safety and upside at the wide receiver position.
Number two, I want a running back in my flex spot if possible. Because you cannot score fantasy points if you don't touch the football. I want to try and lock up close to 20 touches a week in my flex spot if I can. Because having almost 60 available touches between your two running backs and your flex spot is a huge advantage in weekly matchups. Now, in order to do that, you have to grab three running backs before this mid-round void. This prevents you from having to play mid-round roulette trying to find a running back that you can rely on starting weekly. Just like wide receivers, I would rather these mid-round guys, once again, at the running back position be some bench depth for my team, some potential upside, maybe a handcuff.
Number three, the potential upside of mid-round tight ends is pretty close to the same as early-round tight ends. There are only four tight ends being drafted inside the first five rounds in 2026. The potential of the tight end four really isn't much different than like the tight end seven, eight, or nine. So, just waiting makes a little bit more sense. I mean, just look at some of the tight ends available in the mid to late rounds. Tucker Kraft, he was a top five tight end before his injury last year. Kyle Pitts, he has a top three season underneath his belt now. Harold Fannin Jr. was a stud as a rookie. We have some young talent in Cleveland, but he could definitely become the Binky if Shedeur Sanders is named the starter. Sam LaPorta, he's got a top five season. George Kittle, once he returns, hopefully he's healthy, we know what George Kittle can do in a San Francisco offense. Travis Kelce, probably his last year, probably going to try to go out on top, probably going to be force-fed a lot of targets. We know about the potential upside of Isaiah Likely, now in New York with Harbaugh. Hopefully they unleash him a little bit and utilize him down the field for Jackson Dart. I mean, we already know that their wide receiver group there is a bunch of question marks. We have no idea who's going to be catching footballs as of right now for the New York football Giants. We then got Dalton Kincaid, we've seen him produce at a high level. Same with Jake Ferguson. I'm all aboard the Mark Andrews bounce back in Baltimore this year. Remember, Baltimore got rid of Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar. It is the Mark Andrews show right now. A A of people have lost all faith in Mark Andrews, but the fact that he could be the number two receiving option and not going to be challenged too much for it leads to a huge ceiling. We've seen Mark Andrews be a top tight end before. How about Dallas Goedert? Okay, go dare cuz you better believe I'm feeling fancy right now. He has double-digit touchdown upside in a huge Philadelphia offense. We've seen that numerous years. So, don't tell me there's nothing available at the tight end position after the first four are off the board. We still have potential later on.
Now, number four, every year the team that nails the mid-round quarterback has an overall better chance at winning their fantasy football championships. For example, just last year, Matthew Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott, Caleb Williams, Jared Goff, should I go on? Those guys were all drafted in the late to mid-rounds and won people fantasy football championships. And it's not like there's no options in the middle rounds at QB this year. Just listen to this laundry list of potential names. Joe Burrow, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, Jackson Dart, Matthew Stafford, Bo Nix, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield. I mean, Baker was hurt himself last year and all of his wide receivers missed time at some point and people just want to forget that Baker Mayfield has been a top 12 quarterback for three straight years.
So, let me go ahead and recap this cuz that was a lot of information. Number one, leave round five of your fantasy football draft with three running backs and two wide receivers. It doesn't matter in which round you take them. Number two, identify the quarterback and tight end that you want and when you will have to draft them. Number three, in the remaining three middle rounds, get yourself one running back and two wide receivers.
Now, maybe you need some help figuring out who are those players you should be taking in the first five rounds. You got to get yourself a draft guide at tfhdraftguide.com. It is full of all the information you need to straight dominate fantasy football in 2026. It's web-based, which means we can add and update it all off season long. We've got our new and improved rankings dashboard, rookie scouting reports, sleepers, breakouts, busts. You actually get access to our Discord if you become a draft guide member here. 170 plus player profiles. The only place you can find the dynamic running back rating is here in this draft guide. Vacated targets, free agent moves, strength of schedule, offensive line rankings, whatever you need, we have you covered. And it's not a bunch of boring Excel spreadsheets. No, we made it visually appealing. You want to know about any player? Pull up that player profile. You'll get access to their overview, our take, their analytics, depth chart, ADP tracker, whatever it is you need, we have you covered. So, once again, head over to tfhdraftguide.com and get yours right now. Links down below in the description.
So, let me go ahead and and give you a little bit of an example. Say you have highlighted that you want Brock Purdy and Isaiah Likely to be your quarterback and tight end this year. Now, obviously, you're not locked into these names, but those are guys that you're targeting. Well, Purdy's going in round eight, Likely in round nine. So, that tells me that in round six, seven, and 10, that's where you need to grab your two wide receivers and your running back. That way, by the time you leave round 10, you have four running backs, four wide receivers, one quarterback, and one tight end. That means your core is built, and now you can go for straight best player available and try to find those late-round sleepers.
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