Fantasy Football Experts Break Down Their 2026 Drafts

It’s safe to say DataForce’s annual Experts Charity league is one of the strongest fantasy football competitions anywhere. Our own Fantasy Sports writer Matthew Hill assembled this cast of superstar drafters way back in 2016, and it’s stayed pretty much intact over the years.

The 2026 draft finished a few days back, and our experts have compiled their notes about the draft. Here’s a peek at the draft board, and you can meet all of the experts here.

Each contributor was posed a series of questions about the draft, and asked to just pick a couple to respond to. Some went a little overboard and we’re happy they did!

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Drafting at #1: John Paulsen
4for4.com
Follow: @4for4_John
Playing for: Children’s Hospital of Orange County

My strategy going in was to utilize a Hero RB/Late-Round QB approach and focus on receivers in the early rounds to maximize the 3WR + flex + PPR scoring format. I thought I could put together a great receiving corps while at the same time getting good production at RB2/QB/TE via a committee approach.

I got sniped in round six with Tucker Kraft going to Joe Dyken. At that point, I decided to shore up my RB room with Jaylen Warren, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Rico Dowdle, and utilize a late-round TEBC approach since it’s best ball and a weapon at the TE position is not necessarily as valuable as it is in a standard redraft format.

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Drafting at #2: Pat Thorman
EstablishTheRun.com
Follow: @Pat_Thorman
Playing for: Boston Children’s Hospital

My best pick was Kyler Murray in the early 11th, with whom I was able to pair with Jordan Addison and kick off the final quality-QB run that included Shough, Dimes, Baker, Willis, Stroud, and Arnold before it got back to me. No other QBs were picked until late in the 13th, and only the dregs were left.

I like my chances due to a strong RB group, enough capital at WR to compete, mobile QBs, and the 3K/3DEF structure that has served me well in these formats. The competition is obviously elite, especially Mr. Paulson whose team looks strong on top of sniping me a couple of times – including on Mondre in the seventh.

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Drafting at #3: Kev Wheeler
WheelRouteFF.com
Follow: @FF_Wheeler
Playing for: The Children’s Village

My best pick was Sefon Diggs in the 12th round. It was pretty obvious to me that Diggs was going to sign with Washington or some other competitive team so getting him in the 12th round when he is now going in the 9th is a huge value. I also really liked Kenneth Walker falling to me at the 2.10, I haven’t seen him drafted that late since May and I expect him to have a top-6 RB season. 

My strategy going in was to scoop value wherever possible. It might seem impossible to scoop value against analysts that project player value for a living, but I’ve drafted far more best ball teams so far this year (over 500) than the rest of these guys so I understand the current drafting meta and where to find positional value. 

I don’t really feel like I got sniped although I would have preferred Christian Watson to Mike Evans in the 5th round. I knew John Paulsen would make the “homer” pick there though. 

The best team not my own is Pat Thorman. Starting with a heavy RB build, scooping up value at WR and QB when I let some players pass, and grabbing Pat Bryant and Michael Mayer in the late rounds, made it very difficult to draft next to Thorman. 

I snagged a sleeper in round 12 with Stefon Diggs. 

My only mistake was not drafting Dart, Love or Murray in the 10th, needing up with Shough as my QB2 is not optimal. 

I like my chances because my first four rounds were stronger than everyone else, I scooped some great value in the mid rounds, and if Burrow stays healthy the connection with Chase could be unstoppable.

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Drafting at #4: Bob Harris
FootballGuys.com
Follow: @footballdiehard
Playing for:
Tunnels To Towers Foundation

My best pick was … De’Von Achane at 2.09.
My strategy going in was … to remain flexible and aggresively pursue perceived value.
I got sniped in round … 3, when Breece Hall went the pick before me.
The best team not my own is … John Paulsen.
I snagged a sleeper in round … Rashod Batemen in Round 24.
I like my chances because … my first five picks stayed healthy and met expectations.

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Drafting at #5: Joe Dyken
Fantasy Nerds
Follow: @ffnerd
Playing for: Stand Up To Cancer

My best pick was JSN at #5. It feels like the first four picks are pretty interchangeable and predictable. Drafting from the five spot is where the fork in the road is. Four good options to consider: Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Christian McCaffrey, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jonathan Taylor. As much as I wanted to pull the trigger on CMC, JSN just felt like the slightly safer pick. The reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year was a monster last year posting a 36% target share. He’s got one of the easier schedules this season from a fantasy perspective…and he’s just getting started.

My strategy going in was to take the best available player on the board but watching for depth at certain positions.

I went WR-WR with my second pick taking Nico Collins. When he’s on the field, he’s scary good. It’s also a bit scary that he has yet to play a full season. I just expect him to miss some time. Coming off his third 1,000-yard season, his talent and production are worth the risk to me. He’s also a nice target when they’re near the goal line.  

Then I did what I said I wouldn’t do. “Wait on quarterbacks. Wait on quarterbacks.” Yep – I said it to myself a dozen times, so when I saw Josh Allen sitting there, of course I drafted him. I took him right at his ADP, so it’s not like I overpaid – at least that’s what I told myself. The cool thing is that you can learn from my mistake. While Allen is one of the safest picks on the board (finished in Top 2 QBs the past six years) and has DJ Moore this season, I in fact did overpay. Here’s the lesson: know your league mates. In a home league, Allen is going at his ADP or earlier. In this league, everyone is an expert, so I could reasonably conclude that they’re waiting on QBs. Experience and tendencies matter.

Lamar Jackson came off the board when Rob Waziak took him in the 5th. It’s completely reasonable to think that I could have gotten Allen in the 4th if I really wanted him that badly. By taking Allen in the 3rd, that meant that I couldn’t take another top WR or RB. The RB position this year feels like the depth is much shallower, which means that nabbing a Breece Hall or Kyren Williams may have made more sense. Instead I invested my next two picks into David Montgomery and Bucky Irving as my starting RBs, and I’m not in love with the Irving pick. Long story short – it’s OK to wait on QB.

My sleeper pick is a late round gamble that Sean Payton and Taysom Hill will reunite in Denver. This league is a deep league with 24 draft spots, so the one or two big games that Hill produces works great in this format. Now Denver just needs to sign him…

This was the first year that I used the Draft Wonk and it was really helpful. I toggled between the rankings from Fantasy Nerds and Fantasy Pros – especially as we got deeper into the draft. It’s a great reference tool when drafting!

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Drafting at #6: Sean Koerner
The Action Network
Follow: @The_Oddsmaker
Playing for: Colon Cancer Alliance

My best pick was:
Jameson Williams in Round 5 as WR27. His week-to-week range of outcomes makes him ideal for best ball, where I don’t have to predict when the boom weeks are coming.

I snagged a sleeper:
Ja’Kobi Lane in Round 21 as WR77. He’s had a great camp and has a real chance to emerge as Lamar Jackson’s No. 3 target as a rookie.

I like my chances because: 

I have a nice mix of floor and ceiling at WR, two QB stacks, and an elite TE in Trey McBride. If CMC stays healthy, I really like my RB room at cost.

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Drafting at #7: Rob Waziak
Fantasy Life
Follow: @WazNFL
Playing for: Nourishing Hope

My best pick was …
Patrick Mahomes in the 9th, next to Lamar in the 5th. Two QBs that early gets called -EV because you only start one, but that misreads the format. Best ball counts your highest QB every week, so the second one isn’t a backup, it’s a second ticket on the same slot. Both have 35-point weeks in them and I get whichever one hits. The cost was a WR5 who rides the bench in a league that starts three, and I never had to draft a QB3.

My strategy going in was …
Drafting 7th, take the best WR on the board and lean into full PPR the whole way. Amon-Ra St. Brown made that easy.

I got sniped in round …
Probably 8. Sutton, Kittle and LaPorta all went in the four picks before mine, so I landed on Fannin, who I wanted anyway. He caught 72 balls at 10.2 yards a pop as a rookie while splitting the room with Njoku. Njoku’s gone, Cleveland has no ideal answer at QB, and a high volume underneath TE is who eats when things aren’t working downfield.

The best team not my own is …
Pat Thorman. Bijan and Henry with Swift behind them is the deepest backfield in the league, and then Rice, Adams, Metcalf and Addison. He’s three deep at QB, TE, K and defense on top of it. There’s no weak spot to attack.

I snagged a sleeper in …
11. Jacory Croskey-Merritt. Washington is pushing him toward the lead role, and the receiving work he put in this offseason might be what unlocks it.

I like my chances because …
Seven WRs in a league that starts three, and a QB slot that never has a bad week. I also staggered my byes on purpose. QBs, kickers, TEs and defenses are all on separate weeks, which nobody thinks about until a starting slot is empty and there’s no waiver wire.

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Drafting at #8: Matthew Hill
DataForce
Follow: @MatthewHill_FF
Playing for: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

My strategy going in was to be the last team to pick a quarterback, knowing that there were a number of QB’s that would likely be available late that I would be very comfortable selecting to form a 3QB, best ball committee. That played out as I did not take a quarterback until the 10th round, which allowed me to build a strong RB/WR/TE corps, while still feeling good about the three quarterbacks I was able to select in rounds 10, 11, and 13. 

My favorite late-round “sleeper” picks were taking both of the projected wide receiver starters for the Raiders, Tre Tucker in round 12 and then Jack Bech with my final pick. While neither one is expected to put up monster numbers, they should both have serviceable weeks and I was happy to get the pair to round out my wide receivers. 

Denzel Boston may end up being my best pick, or contribute little to nothing. Boston has been praised heavily during training camp and seems to be someone whose ADP should steadily rise throughout the preseason. Landing him in the 15th could end up being one of the draft’s steals. 

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Drafting at #9: Joshua Larky
Follow: @JLarkyTweets
Playing for: Feeding America

Usually, I’m a heavy WR drafter in the early rounds, but I couldn’t resist Saquon Barkley in the second and Jeremiyah Love in the third. Both profile as the type of league-winning back capable of delivering several straight 20+ point fantasy weeks. Because two of my first three picks were running backs, I wanted to make sure I had some upside at the receiver position, given that it’s a start-three receiver PPR format. I probably got a little carried away with three first round rookie receivers, but still managed to get the Cowboys stack and the Eagles battery. Hopefully, the charity money gets funneled to Feeding America *fingers crossed*

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Drafting at #10: Justin Boone
Yahoo Fantasy
Follow: @justinboone
Playing for: Alzheimer’s Association

My favorite pick was … George Kittle. By all accounts, his recovery is going well, giving him a legitimate chance to be ready in the first week or two of the season. According to Kittle, the Achilles’ injury was a clear tear that occured higher up, so they didn’t have to drill into his heel – allowing for more blood flow and a faster rehab process. Even at 32 years old (turns 33 in October), Kittle is one of the few tight ends who can post per-game fantasy stats to rival the elite options at the position. 

I got sniped in Round 3… Jeremiyah Love. Most of my team builds this year have involved drafting two running backs in the first three rounds. Love would have been the perfect third-round pick, if he had fallen just one more spot to me at 3.10. All of the rookie running backs who are taken in the top-12 of the NFL Draft over the last 13 years finished as RB14 or better during their debut campaigns. Bijan Robinson even did it while sharing a backfield with Love’s new teammate Tyler Allgeier (who I was actually able to get at an incredible value in the 15th round. 

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Drafting at #11: Patrick Fitzmaurice
FantasyPros.com
Follow: @Fitz_FF
Playing for: The Michael J. Fox Foundation

Picking near the end of the first round, my strategy was to double-tap RB, then hammer the WR position in Rounds 3-6, but, well … I have trouble resisting the siren’s song of Brock Bowers this year. I think Bowers has the potential to put up the sort of numbers you get from an elite receiver, so I wound up grabbing Bowers and James Cook with my first two picks, then cutting corners a bit at the RB2 and WR3 positions with, respectively, TreVeyon Henderson and Rome Odunze. Hopefully I’m deep enough at RB and WR to justify the first-round splurge on Bowers.

I like a lot of the other teams, but I’m especially intrigued by John Paulsen’s team. Paulsen had the good fortune of drawing the 1.01 and getting to select Jacob Gibbs. Then I loved how he hammered WR with his next four picks — George Pickens, DeVonta Smith, Terry McLaurin and Christian Watson — and was able to backfill RB with Jaylen Warren, Rhamondre Stevenson and Rico Dowdle. 

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Drafting at #12: Chad Parsons
UTHDynasty.com
Playing for:
HappyDoggo.com

My best pick Kyren Williams at the 3/4 turn. Williams has zero buzz or respect among the fantasy (or dynasty) community and keeps chugging along as the lead back of one of the best offenses in the NFL. At worst, Williams is spelled with Blake Corum until critical games or weeks for the Super Bowl-hopeful Rams, but Williams is still their trusted option. Starting running back on an elite offense as RB15 off the board? Yes please.

My strategy going in was to be flexible and aggressive. I prefer to be in the middle of the rounds to avoid runs, and ending up at 1.12 in the order is the opposite. Having 20+ picks between my selections means to be aggressive if I’m worried a position could run away from me (start a run instead of finishing one) and grab the player I would most regret if I assumed they would fall to my next pair of selections.

I got sniped in Round 7 with Jonathan Brooks going at 7.11, just before my selection. Brooks is one of ‘my guys’ for the upside of winning the Carolina job outright over Chuba Hubbard this season. If healthy, Brooks is a superior player, and Hubbard was leaking oil last year and lost the job to Rico Dowdle as the hot hand. I love getting Brooks as RB3/4 in a build, but the build might have been better for it as I still needed a WR3 at the 7/8 turn and snagged Jayden Reed as a pivot to the departed Brooks.

The best team not my own is Rob Waziak. I like his blend of floor and ceiling plays and snagged Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes despite not going too early at the position. He faded tight end – which is more acceptable in stock formats but got upside with Oronde Gadsden and Pat Freiermuth late. Omarion Hampton in the mid-2nd and Malik Nabers in the mid-3rd (who I would have auto-drafted if falling to me) are home run type selections who can fuel championships.

I snagged a sleeper in Round 11 with Deebo Samuel. The news broke right around coming on the clock with Samuel signing with San Francisco, and I was lucky to grab him. He’s my WR4, and I am lighter than usual at receiver as I selected two quarterbacks and a tight end before Samuel in the build. Samuel is perfect for best ball and with top-18 upside if used in a similar way to his previous stint with the 49ers. Considering their early injuries, Samuel could be elite in the weeks where the passing game is affected by an injury or two.

I like my chances because I was aggressive with upside plays but also avoided a glaring flaw by missing out on a positional run. In the past, I would get cute and potentially only have one defense, or a main kicker who could lose their job by October, or not be balanced enough. With that focus, I was keenly aware to get three starting quarterbacks, add more wide receivers late due to being weaker than usual at WR3/4 (like Malik Washington, Ryan Flournoy, Dontayvion Wicks, Caleb Douglas), and shoot for ceiling with running back plays like Jadarian Price, Blake Corum, and Tyrone Tracy in my RB3/4/5 spots. A tidal wave of injuries can derail any best ball squad, but I like my chances to be drawing live late in the season.

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