7 NFL Draft Predictions With Fantasy Football Implications

After the usual circus that is NFL Draft season, we're finally just days away from the 2026 version. Countless mock drafts and big boards have been written and redone, and we will finally see where these rookies will call home in the NFL. To celebrate draft week, the staff at 4for4 got together in a virtual draft room to share predictions they believe will have fantasy implications in 2026.

4for4 will be following along live throughout the first two days of the draft with an updated tracker on landing spots and fantasy impacts of each relevant rookie drafted.

More NFL Draft Resources: 2026 NFL Mock Draft: Connor Allen's 3.0 | 2026 NFL Mock Draft: Scott Smith's 3.0 | 10 Dynasty Players to Buy Before the NFL Draft | 10 Dynasty Players to Sell Before the NFL Draft |

2026 NFL Draft Predictions

Denzel Boston Slides to the Top of Round 2 (Stephen Hoopes)

Boston is a prototypical outside WR, hitting only a 15.1% career slot rate and a high-12.9-yard aDoT in college. That is right in line with Carnell Tate’s usage. Boston’s career efficiency and volume in yards and targets per route run were good, but not nearly as spectacular as those for Makai Lemon and Jordyn Tyson. So, analytically, draft capital is a huge part of the bet on Boston. And he’s been trending in the wrong direction lately.

His place on NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board has dropped 10 spots over the last month. Meanwhile, Omar Cooper Jr.'s stock has rocketed ahead. I now would put Boston’s odds to go in the first round on the wrong side of a coin flip. The fact that Cooper’s a near-lock to go in Round 1 is interesting because Cooper’s analytical profile is even worse than Boston’s. Cooper largely seems like a bet on his massive avoided tackle rate translating to the NFL. That’s just not the style of WR I typically want to bet on.

But it’s not all negative for Boston. His career first downs per route run is right in line with the top of the class. And he got some high marks from the film community, including his rank as WR3 from Sports Info Solutions. If he does slide to the top of Round 2 like I’m predicting, I’d love to see him on the Chiefs. Beyond the obvious upside of playing with Patrick Mahomes, Boston would really complement the rest of the WR room with slot Rashee Rice and small-burner Xavier Worthy.

The Giants draft Jordyn Tyson, and he becomes a high-end Fantasy Football WR3 (Connor Allen)

Jordyn Tyson has seen his draft stock skyrocket amongst the media as he went from a mid-first rounder to now being a heavy favorite to be a top-10 pick (-350). He has multiple outs in the top-10, including the Giants, Browns, Saints, and Commanders. However, I think Tyson lands with the Giants, either with Pick 5 or 10. Malik Nabers is reportedly recovering slowly and isn’t a sure thing to start the season healthy. The Giants also lost Wan'Dale Robinson in the offseason. The rest of the Giants' pass-catching group leaves a lot to be desired, with Darius Slayton, Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin, and Isaiah Hodgins rounding out the crew.

Tyson’s film is that of a top-5 pick, even if his full-season stats don’t back it up. He was often injured, missing nearly a third of his potential collegiate games. When he did play, he dominated. He had a 97th percentile target share at Arizona State and was an early breakout as a freshman. When he is drafted by the Giants, Tyson will have a chance to get off to a hot start as the immediate WR1 on a Giants team that should be much improved after hiring John Harbaugh, bolstering the OL a bit, and minimal target competition. Even when Malik Nabers returns, it will likely take a bit for him to ramp up. There are also multiple teams each year that support multiple WR3’s or better, a comfortable range for Tyson to produce alongside Nabers and be a value in fantasy football drafts.

The Dolphins' Eventual First-Round Wide Receiver Will Earn 120+ Targets (Justin Edwards)

The Dolphins’ offense is entering a full reset. Tyreek Hill is gone, Jaylen Waddle is out, and what’s left behind is one of the thinnest pass-catching rooms in the league (Tutu Atwell, Jalen Tolbert, Malik Washington, etc.). There’s no established alpha, no clear pecking order; just opportunity.

Miami may not project as a high-scoring offense (currently sitting around a 4.5-win team), but volume has to go somewhere. With essentially zero target competition, the first wide receiver they select —whether it’s their first pick or not— will immediately step into a featured role. And with seven picks inside the top 100 (including No. 11 and No. 30), Miami has more than enough ammunition to address the position early and often.

A player like Makai Lemon, who has been linked as high as No. 11 overall, would instantly become the backbone of this passing game. The Biletnikoff winner's route-running ability and versatility would allow him to command targets from Day 1, much like we’ve seen from recent high-volume rookies (Malik Nabers, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Brian Thomas Jr.) stepping into barren depth charts.

It may not be efficient, but 120+ targets feels like a very reasonable outcome.

Kenyon Sadiq Will be The 1st Pass Catcher Drafted in 2026. (Neil Dutton)

The 2026 NFL Draft does not appear to be a blockbuster. It’s not full of prospects that will shift season tickets and have players flocking to buy jerseys of the players taken. There are plenty of good players, I have no doubt. But superstars? Doesn’t look like it.

This is especially the case with pass catchers. There is no Ja'Marr Chase in this class. Nor a Justin Jefferson. The Carnell Tate’s and Jordan Tyson’s of the world are not viewed as elite, “10 targets off the bus every week” prospects. That is why I predict that a team - and I don’t know which one - will make Kenyon Sadiq the first pass catcher drafted in 2026.

The college production is somewhat lacking - with just 80 receptions and 891 yards over three seasons - while a 1.62 yards per route run in 2025 is nothing to blow your hat off. But as a physical specimen, Sadiq’s assets demand attention. A 4.39 100-yard dash, a 100th-percentile Speed Score, astonishing vertical and broad jumps…the upside is tantalising.

The wide receivers projected to go early in 2026 all seem to be bumping their heads on their ceilings. But Kenyon Sadiq could be ANYTHING, and that makes him fascinating, and will make someone pull the trigger. Probably earlier than they should.

The Panthers take Eli Stowers in Round 1, but still don't have a fantasy-relevant TE in 2026 (Jennifer Eakins)

Those of us in the streaming world have been perennially hoping that Carolina can provide us with a viable TE. There are rumblings of the Panthers not taking a WR for the third straight year and investing in Vanderbilt's Eli Stowers, which initially offers some hope. Stowers is a hearty 6'4" 235, and profiles more like a big slot receiver than your typical TE, which is indeed appealing, but the landing spot is the concern.

HC Dave Canales has been a committee TE guy in Carolina over the last two seasons, with Tommy Tremble and Ja'Tavion Sanders seeing 69 and 77 targets, respectively, in 2024 and 2025. To boot, as a room, the Carolina TEs sit 29th in targets in the NFL in that time frame. With Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker likely taking a step forward in 2026, it's tough to see a TE1 season coming from Stowers if he's wearing a Panthers uniform this season.

Jacob Rodriguez is the IDP LB1 of this class, and it's not even close (Ryan Noonan)

If you're looking for this year's Carson Schwesinger, look no further than Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez. Rodriguez was the highest-graded player in all of college football in 2025. Not the highest-graded linebacker. Not the highest-graded defender. The highest-graded player, period, according to Pro Football Focus. His 93.7 overall grade topped everyone, and he swept the board during the award season, winning the Bednarik, Butkus, Nagurski, and Lombardi awards, finishing fifth in Heisman voting, and leading Texas Tech to its first Big 12 championship.

His production at Texas Tech was absurd. In 2025, he posted 128 tackles, seven forced fumbles (led the FBS), four interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and he even threw in a pair of rushing touchdowns for good measure. He's the only FBS player since 2005 to record at least five forced fumbles, four interceptions, and two fumble recoveries in a single season. Rodriguez is the complete package. He posted top-five percentile marks across the board in 2025: tackle rate, PFF run-defense grade (95.3, best in the nation), PFF coverage grade (93.0, also best in the nation), and first-contact rate.

The background is worth noting, too. Rodriguez started his college career at Virginia as a quarterback before transferring to Texas Tech and walking on as a linebacker. That quarterback background shows up in his coverage instincts and route recognition. He's trending up as the draft approaches, and could go off the board anywhere between pick No. 20 (Dallas) and the early-second round. If he has a clear path to a starting role as a rookie, he'll likely be a top-20 IDP asset in 2026.

A Team Moves Up to Grab QB Ty Simpson, But it Doesn’t Matter for 2026 Fantasy Football (Justin Edwards)

Whether it’s Arizona, Pittsburgh, New York (Jets), or another team without a long-term solution in their quarterback room, someone is going to get an itchy trigger finger either at the end of Day 1 or the beginning of Day 2. At the time of writing, the Cardinals are the betting favorites (-175), trailed by the aforementioned Steelers and Jets, with the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns not too far behind.

The near-consensus QB2, Ty Simpson, is coming off his first full season as a starting quarterback (15 games) after attempting just 50 passes through his first three years in Alabama. Stuck behind Bryce Young and subsequently Jalen Milroe, Simpson’s lack of starting experience showed itself when under duress, where he had 12 turnover-worthy plays (7.0% rate) and took 30 sacks, including seven fumbles. Simpson’s moderate size (6’1”, 211 pounds) presents a bit of a red flag, but it’s also been reported that he dipped below 200 pounds at times as he dealt with wear and tear stemming from his first consistent collegiate action.

Passers of somewhat diminutive size have typically been able to lean on above-average athleticism to get them out of tough situations, but there isn’t a lot of evidence here to show that Simpson is anything more than a base-level NFL athlete. The best-case scenario for the former Bama QB is that he lands somewhere that can ease him into a great offensive infrastructure —like Los Angeles— and get a firm grasp on a scheme he can lean on. The problem with that positive scenario is that he wouldn’t be seeing the field in enough of a capacity to put him on our fantasy radars.