Believe it or not, the NFL Draft is where every team looks to build their foundation in hopes of winning a Lombardi trophy. Finding value on rookies can help you allocate more resources elsewhere to fix a roster’s glaring weaknesses. This is how dynasties are formed.
Every year, the league coordinates an NFL Combine and invites some of the NCAA’s best young prospects to test their athletics in front of NFL teams. Despite how important the combine may seem to the NFL community, it’s important that rookies are ranked mostly off of their collegiate production and not how well they test at the NFL Combine.
For a brief overview, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is the RB1 and top-ranked offensive skill-player in the draft, which should not come as a surprise. USC’s Makai Lemon has been my WR1 since the end of this past season and has recently generated some considerable hype, but that is not consensus. All three of Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson, and Makai Lemon are in the running for the top wideout in this class – but Lemon is easily my favorite offensive weapon in the 2026 NFL Draft. Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers is my highest ranked tight end in the class, as I am far less fond of the consensus TE1 and likely first-round pick, Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq. Although Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is without a doubt the QB1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, there is another quarterback I do see value in by the name of Diego Pavia.
This year’s offensive rookies are overall underwhelming in comparison to recent years, but there will be prospects with glaring value simply because there is not a locked-in consensus ranking at each position outside of Love, Mendoza, and Sadiq (even though I have Stowers TE1). I certainly favor the wide receivers and tight ends as opposed to the quarterbacks and running backs in this class. I project 13 of the 20 wide receivers I have ranked to be selected within the first three rounds of the NFL Draft, while I only expect about four to five running backs to be selected before the end of Round 3.
Besides Makai Lemon — Elijah Sarratt, Eric McAlister, KC Concepcion, and Omar Cooper Jr. round out the wide receiver prospects I am highest on for this year’s draft. As for tight ends outside of my TE1 Eli Stowers, Tanner Koziol and Rohan Jones are prospects I am targeting at the position. Kaytron Allen and Emmett Johnson are great selections for any team trying to capitalize on value at the running back position. Diego Pavia should be in the same conversation as Ty Simpson, who is projected to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
Of course, rookie rankings are always subject to change over the course of the offseason due to draft capital, landing spot, new details regarding prospects and a variety of other factors. After an in-depth review of the 2026 NFL Draft Class, below are my rankings for each offensive skill position, as well as what prospects I favor more or less versus consensus that lie within my first two rounds. As a forewarning, I do like all of Kenyon Sadiq, Denzel Boston, and Jonah Coleman — but believe they are being slightly overvalued, as I preferred other prospects who might have the same if not more upside at a far cheaper price.
2026 NFL Rookie Rankings (1.0 PPR, SuperFlex, TE-Premium)
*Rankings are made for full PPR, 2-QB leagues with tight-end premiums (QBs/TEs obviously lose value in other formats) — Overall and SuperFlex rankings are the exact same*
There will be multiple live streams and articles coming soon referencing these rankings. I will also be posting short-video breakdowns of each prospect I have ranked here to X, YouTube, and Tik Tok over the course of this offseason – stay tuned!
