Crème de la Crème! | 10 League-Winners to Carry You to a Championship in 2026
Ten league winners. Just list guys going in the first round, right? Simple. Job done. That’s boring. For this article, I used FantasyPros’ Real-Time ADP to build a list of 10 players who fantasy managers can realistically target through the first 10 rounds of an actual draft. My goal was to find one player in each round with either proven production or upside to help carry your squad to a championship in 2026. When you look up the word “consistency” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Amon-Ra St. Brown next to it. The Lions’ wide receiver has been as steady as you can get in fantasy. He’s finished as the WR4 in fantasy points per game (FPPG) each of the past three seasons. And because he rarely misses any time, St. Brown has been better in total scoring, finishing as fantasy’s WR3 in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Amon-Ra St. Brown’s Career Stats Guaranteed a ton of volume and tied to Jared Goff in one of the league’s most explosive offenses, St. Brown provides fantasy managers that rare combo of a high floor and a massive ceiling. That happens when you finish second in total targets (172) and first in red-zone targets (33) at your position. He wasn’t just a volume hog, either. St. Brown was also highly efficient. Last year, he ranked third in fantasy points per route run (0.59), fourth in first downs per route run (0.130), sixth in yards per route run (2.57) and ninth in EPA (+68.6). When I’m selecting someone in Round 1, I want a guy I know is going to smash while also providing reliability. St. Brown checks those boxes, making him one of the safest bets you can make at the top of fantasy drafts. The Big Dog keeps defying Father Time, and I’m betting he can hold him off a little while longer. Even though Derrick Henry is 32, the King has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, he looks better than he did when he signed with Baltimore two years ago. Derrick Henry’s Advanced Metric After three straight seasons of averaging between 4.2 and 4.4 yards per carry in Tennessee, Henry has averaged an absurd 5.6 YPC on 632 carries while with the Ravens. That’s right in line with De’Von Achane , the NFL’s current YPC leader. Over the past two years, Henry has averaged 1,758 rushing yards, 172 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns per season. Preposterous production from the future Hall of Famer. He’s not going to catch a ton of passes, but I can basically pencil him in for 1,500-plus rushing yards and 15-plus trips to the end zone as long as he stays healthy. Fantasy managers have lost a lot of money betting against Henry recently, thinking this is the year he finally slows down. Until I see it, I’ll keep riding him to championships. Here’s a titillating Josh Allen stat: he has six straight seasons with 39 or more total touchdowns. The next closest player in NFL history has only two. Insert any “mind blown” GIF you want, here. Everyone knows how good Allen is as a fantasy quarterback. If he retired today, he’d be the Mount Rushmore of fantasy signal-callers after finishing as the QB1 or QB2 for six consecutive seasons. Taking him near the Round 2-3 turns means you’re passing on some very good running backs or receivers, but you’re getting a player who can almost single-handedly drag your squad into the playoffs. Per Dwain McFarland of Fantasy Life , ESPN managers with Allen made the playoffs roughly 60% of the time over the past four seasons: Allen’s combination of consistency and spike-week potential makes it hard to skip past him when you’re on the clock. Take him and prosper; just adjust your build afterward by waiting on tight ends and hammering running backs and wide receivers over the next few rounds. On ESPN and Sleeper, D’Andre Swift is listed as a fifth-round pick. Kyle Monangai ‘s knee injury has pushed Swift’s ADP up a bit, to the point where he’s now regularly going in the fourth round. Round 4 or Round 5, it doesn’t matter. In either spot, I think fantasy managers are getting a potential RB1 with Chicago’s [... truncated ...]
