The article identifies potential dynasty fantasy football ADP mistakes, highlighting Kyren Williams as overvalued due to decreasing production and the increased role of Blake Corum. It suggests tiering down from Williams to other running backs like Cam Skattebo, Travis Etienne, Javonte Williams, Bhayshul Tuten, Derrick Henry, or D'Andre Swift. Luther Burden is also mentioned as a polarizing prospect with flashing potential despite a concerning junior season
Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze enters year three with serious questions about his long-term dynasty value. The ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft showed legitimate flashes to open his sophomore campaign, ranking as the WR3 before a Week 5 bye. Things quickly went downhill from there as a nagging foot injury cost him five games and slowed him in several others, and at times, there appeared to be a disconnect between him and second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. Odunze's 87 targets led the Bears, but his team-low 50.6% reception rate resulted in only 44 catches, the fourth-most on the team. Even with the trade of DJ Moore to Buffalo helping to thin the ranks, there is still uncertainty about just where Odunze slots into a still crowded group of pass catchers. Tight end Colston Loveland dominated the team's target share through two postseason games, and Luther Burden III was the most dynamic offensive player in Chicago by the end of the season. There is an expectation that Williams will take another step forward in his second season with Ben Johnson. If he and Odunze can rediscover the chemistry that led to five touchdowns through the first four games of 2025, it's likely that the 23-year-old receiver is being priced well below his ceiling at WR23 in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings
Typical breakout lists this time of year are usually flooded with high-profile rookies and obvious names. I wanted to take a slightly different direction with this one. My focus was on guys already in the league, highlighting second-year players poised to take a leap and veterans entering their prime, when things should finally start clicking. These guys should be viable in all dynasty leagues in 2026, with some players at the end who could help managers in those deeper formats. These guys haven’t fully broken out yet for whatever reason. You know what’s funny? Last year, an analyst for another site listed his breakouts and included Calvin Ridley . I, too, was in on Calvin Ridley last season (bad call by me), but calling a 30-year-old receiver with a top-five season and a WR2 finish under his belt a “potential breakout” was silly. Lazy take. The oldest player on my list is 27 years old or younger. Following are my top 10 players with the talent and situation who could break out in 2026. Okay, one obvious name. There’s a massive amount of excitement surrounding Luther Burden as he heads into his second season. After a slow start to his rookie campaign, he took off down the stretch and averaged 12.9 fantasy points per game from Week 12 on. That stretch included a monster Week 17, where he earned WR1 overall honors after torching the 49ers defense for 138 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions. Luther Burden’s Efficiency Metrics Now, with D.J. Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus gone, that’s roughly 30% of last season’s target share now up for grabs. Those additional targets should fuel Burden’s breakout, which feels imminent after he finished top 10 in several efficiency metrics as a rookie: target separation (2.63), yards per route run (2.79), fantasy points per route run (0.55), and yards per target (10.9). The arrow is pointing up, and in head coach Ben Johnson’s offense, Burden seems destined to take a major leap in 2026. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the 2026 schedule is undoubtedly Quinshon Judkins . Cleveland has one of the softest slates in the league, and that should help the 2025 second-round pick as he looks to bounce back from injury after a pedestrian rookie campaign. Judkins was serviceable in Year 1 — 998 total yards and seven scores. But he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry, and his 12.1 fantasy points per game ranked just 25th among running backs. An easy schedule theoretically means the Browns shouldn’t be trailing nearly as often. That’s huge for Judkins, who was often phased out late in games as Cleveland was slinging it to try to play catch-up. Some closer contests will allow Judkins to pile up touches and wear down defenses late with his 221-pound frame. It remains to be seen whether the Browns can get into scoring position enough for Judkins to become a truly elite fantasy back. RB1 ascension might be tough to pull off, but high-end RB2 output is definitely in his range of outcomes. Bhayshul Tuten could be this year’s low-key breakout running back. The former Virginia Tech Hokie heads into his sophomore season with Travis Etienne no longer blocking his progression. He left nearly 300 touches available for Jacksonville to redistribute. Of course, some of those will go to newly-signed Chris Rodriguez Jr., who played for head coach Liam Coen at Kentucky. “C-Rod” is just an early-down guy only, though; he has just six career catches across three NFL seasons, so Tuten should be the one getting the high-value targets in the passing game. Bhayshul Tuten ‘s Athletic Score If he can get double-digit touches with a few receptions per game, Tuten has the athletic skill set to flourish. He’s lightning-quick with 4.32 speed and shifty enough to make tacklers miss in space. There’s RB2 upside going forward in this Jacksonville offense if he gets enough opportunities. It’s kind of funny how quickly people went from joking about Tyler Shough ‘s age to thinking he’s an up-and-coming fantasy quarterback. They
[... truncated ...]
This group of articles will take a look at the newly released Panthers schedule, review the opponents, and take our best guess at predicting the outcomes of each game. Here, we’re starting with the first “quarter” of the schedule, the first four games before the Week 5 bye. For the first time since the 2022 season, the Carolina Panthers are starting the regular season in the friendly confines of Bank of America Stadium. This time, they’ll be hosting the newly crowned Kings of the North, the Chicago Bears. After an 11-6 campaign that won them the division, the Bears retooled their roster quite a bit this offseason. They traded DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills , center Drew Dalman unexpectedly retired, Tremaine Edmunds was a cap casualty, and both safeties Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard both left in free agency. To replace the talent lost, the Bears brought in Garrett Bradbury and Joe Thuney to upgrade the offensive line, drafted CSR draft crush Dillon Thieneman to help in the defensive backfield, and signed Coby Bryant and Devin Bush in free agency. This game also has the “Bryce Young vs Caleb Williams” intrigue as the Panthers trading up for Bryce Young handed the Bears Caleb Williams the following year. With another year under Ben Johnson, Williams and the young pass catching trio of Odunze, Loveland, and Burden should take another step forward this season. The defense will be the main area of concern due to the massive turnover, especially in the back seven. They also don’t have much consistent pass rush outside of Montez Sweat . With Brad Idzik taking over the play calling this season for the Panthers offense, this will be a good litmus test with some inevitable growing pains. Final: Bears 27 – Panthers 24 The Panthers first road game is also their first divisional game this season as the I-85 rivalry is renewed early in the year. The Falcons fired their coach and brought in Kevin Stefanski to be the head coach while also adding franchise legend Matt Ryan as President of Football Operations. This first offseason has been an interesting one for the new leadership group, as the team parted ways with Kirk Cousins and brought in Tua Tagovailoa to compete with the rehabbing Michael Penix at quarterback. Offensive lineman Kaleb McGary retired, and thorn-in-the-Panthers-sides Darnell Mooney was released. The Falcons Jawaan Taylor at offensive tackle and Jahan Dotson and Zachariah Branch as depth receiving options. They also drafted AJ Terrell’s little brother Avieon, adding to an already very good defensive secondary that includes Jesse Bates III and Xavier Watts . The offensive playmaker trio of Bijan Robinson , Drake London , and Kyle Pitts are still together for one more season after Pitts got the franchise tag. With the lack of a first round pick this year and the uncertain future of last year’s first rounder James Pearce Jr , the top end talent — especially on defense — could be lacking. I think Bryce Young and the Panthers take advantage of that and cancel out the new coach bump that often happens. Final: Panthers 31 – Falcons 17 The Browns are another team with a new head coach in Todd Monken. Monken will likely be mostly hands-off with the already elite defense the Browns have. Led by Myles Garrett , that unit has been one of the best in the league for several seasons. Monken was brought in to fix the anemic offense. The Browns completely overhauled their offensive line, bringing in Elgton Jenkins , Zion Johnson , and Spencer Fano. While they lost tight end David Njoku , they added multiple rookie receivers (KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston) and still have Harold Fannin Jr at the tight end position. They even added to their insanely good defense by signing Quincy Williams . With an offensive head coach and potentially much improved offensive line, the Browns might actually have a respectable offense. The most important position, however, is their biggest question by far: quarterback. Cleveland is going into camp with a
[... truncated ...]
After an up-and-down rookie season in 2024, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams started to come into his own in his first season with Bears play-caller Ben Johnson in 2025. Across 17 games, Williams completed 58.1% of his pass attempts for 3,942 yards, 27 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, and added another 388 yards and three scores as a rusher. While the 24-year-old still needs to dial in his down-to-down consistency, Williams routinely flashed high-end upside in 2025, particularly down the stretch of the season. While the Bears traded away veteran wide receiver DJ Moore this offseason, Chicago maintains a strong nucleus of young pass-catchers between wide receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland. As Williams gets more time under his belt in Johnson's system, he should only continue to improve. Dynasty managers should value Williams as a solid QB1 heading into 2026
We’re getting closer to our first look at the 2026 Chicago Bears , and there’s one thing in particular ESPN’s Ben Solak wants to know about this squad: what are sophomore stars Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III about to do now that their roles are set to expand this season? As Bears fans know, general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson moved veteran receiver DJ Moore this past offseason to make room for the glut of young talent in the pass-catching corps, which also includes 2024 No. 9 overall pick Rome Odunze . Assuming Odunze is healthy, he’s likely to see substantial targets and hopefully return to the level of production he enjoyed before leg injuries derailed his own sophomore campaign. But after what Loveland, the No. 10 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Burden, the 39th pick in the same class, did down the stretch of their respective rookie seasons, there’s no way they’re not going to be major parts of the offense. Burden’s case is especially intriguing because he figures to slot alongside Odunze as a starter in Moore’s place—a scenario one could envision after he started to break out late in his rookie campaign. “Burden averaged 2.92 yards per route run during the regular season. That’s tied with A.J. Brown for the best mark for a rookie receiver (minimum 50 targets) in the past 15 years. Just below Burden and Brown are Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr. , Puka Nacua and Ja’Marr Chase. Those players did it on remarkably higher volume than Burden, but even the low-usage rookies who spiked in yards per route run ( Tank Dell , Christian Watson , Tyreek Hill , Doug Baldwin ) indicate a promising future for Burden,” Solak wrote. After a slow start that likely had to do with a combination of inexperience and too many bodies ahead of him, Burden started getting more opportunities after Odunze went down and Olamide Zaccheaus ’ hands turned into a liability. His explosive run-after-catch ability and improving route-running continued to earn him more snaps until he posted a three-game stretch of 67, 84, and 138 receiving yards in three of his final four regular-season games. Johnson sounds extremely committed to giving him more opportunities in 2026. Assuming Burden makes the strides with the playbook that we’d expect, we should expect him to take advantage. That said, we all know who the real top dog in this pass-catching pecking order is now. Loveland’s insane finish to last season placed him almost immediately into top-five tight end conversations, punctuated by his monstrous eight-catch, 137-yard performance in the Wild Card Round against the Green Bay Packers . Calling him “unguardable” in that game didn’t do it justice. And there’s more where that came from, suggests Solak. “Loveland is an impossible cover. Long and rangy, Loveland eats up ground similar to a receiver in his route stem. Loveland is snappy enough to separate from linebackers, but the real issue is how his size and toughness make him nearly impossible to play through. Safeties keep trying to light him up at the catch point with big hits. They look like they’re hit-sticking a telephone pole. “The real needle-mover for Loveland is his blocking ability. He can dig out defensive ends and hold his water one-on-one in the running game. This makes him doubly dangerous in the play-action pass game, as his pre-snap alignment doesn’t tip Johnson’s hand to the opposing defensive coordinator. Safeties and linebackers have to meet him aggressively when he’s blocking downhill. But if they guess wrong and he’s climbing vertically for a route, their goose is cooked,” he wrote of the rising second-year tight end. Loveland’s massive surge, plus some injuries to the receiving corps, pushed him into the team lead for catches and receptions by year’s end. While the likes of Odunze will undoubtedly get a high share of targets in 2026 now that he’s back, Loveland is the real problem in that offense right now. The scary part: he doesn’t have Mo
[... truncated ...]
A second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III recorded 47 receptions for 652 yards and two touchdowns on 60 targets. The 22-year-old's production took off down the stretch of the year, as he collected nearly half of his yardage total for the season over his final four games played. Heading into 2026, Burden III could be in line for an expanded role in Chicago following the team's offseason trade of veteran wideout D.J. Moore to the Buffalo Bills. He also appears to be in an excellent offensive situation in Chicago thanks to the emerging quarterback/play-caller combination of Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. Burden III has already proven he can be an explosive player with the ball in his hands, so he could be poised for a full-scale breakout with more consistent target volume in his second season. Burden III's dynasty stock is soaring ahead of 2026
The Chicago Bears were the feel-good story of the 2025 fantasy football season. In the first year under head coach Ben Johnson, Chicago produced multiple fantasy-relevant players, including Caleb Williams (QB6), D’Andre Swift (RB15) and Colston Loveland (TE14). [ Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season ] At wide receiver, things were a bit more spread out with Rome Odunze starting the season hot, the WR3 in fantasy scoring through the first four weeks. He would end up falling off after injuring his foot but DJ Moore and Luther Burden III spent weeks as viable fantasy options. Now, Moore is in Buffalo and Odunze has a clear path to being the No. 1 receiving option in what should be an elite offense in 2026. That is, if the third-year wideout can stay healthy and get back on track. Play 2026 Soccer Pick 'Em with FOX One and make your picks for the world's biggest soccer tournament Matt Harmon was joined by Footballguys’ Dave Kluge on the latest episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast to talk the Bears’ receiving room and if Odunze can bounce back this upcoming season. Harmon believes there’s room for all three of the Bears’ top receiving options — Odunze, Burden and Loveland — to all be impactful in 2026. Kluge agrees with the sentiment but what worries him about Odunze is that he could turn into a “sacrificial X-receiver” as Harmon has penned. Kluge mentions some similar situations from Johnson’s time in Detroit when receivers like DJ Chark, Allen Robinson, Josh Reynolds were the X-receiver but weren’t getting the target volume you’d like for fantasy football production. Those players were just opening stuff up for the better receiver (Amon-Ra St. Brown for the Lions). Could that be the case with Odunze opening things up for Burden and Loveland in 2026?
Despite playing in only two playoff games as a rookie in 2025, Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland's 25 postseason targets trailed only Puka Nacua, while only Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba amassed more receiving yards. Standing out from a loaded group of pass catchers when the games mattered most certainly drew the attention of dynasty managers, and with the Bears thinning their pass-catching ranks this offseason by trading away veteran DJ Moore, Loveland has become one of the most sought-after assets in fantasy. Loveland's 25 targets against the Packers and Rams were more than All-Pro Trey McBride saw over any two-game stretch in a year in which he broke the tight end reception record. While accuracy issues from quarterback Caleb Williams limited the impact of some of that raw volume, the former first overall pick is expected to take another step forward in his second season in Ben Johnson's offense, potentially elevating the entire Chicago offense. With the passing game expected to run through Loveland, Rome Odunze, and Luther Burden III, the second-year tight end has risen to RotoBaller's dynasty TE3, and at only 22 years old, he is already knocking on the door of the fantasy elite
Burden has less competition for playing time and targets after the Bears traded DJ Moore to Buffalo, Patrick Finley of The Chicago Sun-Times reports. Burden would've been a popular 2026 breakout candidate even if the Bears had kept Moore, who was targeted on just 16.0 percent of his routes last season. Burden had a team-high 26.1 percent target rate while ranking fourth among all qualified pass catchers with 2.83 yards per route, but with a mere 41 percent route share across 15 regular-season games. His playing time and production improved as the season progressed, with Burden catching at least three passes in each of his final 10 appearances (including two playoff games). With Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus (Falcons) no longer playing for Chicago, the passing attack figures to flow through Burden, WR Rome Odunze and TE Colston Loveland
