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jonah coleman

Dynasty Rookie Round-Up: Week 8

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In this series, I’ll spotlight the standout performances from the 2026 rookie class and highlight both promising and concerning trends. Let’s dive into how these rookies fared in Week 8.

Quarterback

Stock Up

Fernando Mendoza: Did not play in Week 8. If you need a quarterback and you are rebuilding, I would check with the team that has Fernando. They might be tired of waiting.

Jalon Daniels: Did not play in Week 8. A capable handcuff if Baker sustains another injury that forces him to miss time.

Joe Fagnano: Played for an injured Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley. He completed just ten passes out of his 21 attempts for 91 yards. He also rushed three times for three yards. He is starting Thursday night, and we will see how he does with more practice with the first team.

Stock Down

Athan Kaliakmanis: Did not play in Week 8. Droppable in Dynasty formats.

Jack Strand: No new playing time since Week 1. Likely a hold in Dynasty, but a potential drop, with Penix playing well and Tua as the QB2.
Running Back

A few trends are worth noting regarding running backs after Week 8.

Stock Up (Above 40% of team carries)

Jonah Coleman: In Week 8, he had 11 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. He also added four catches for 63 yards. He led the team in carries again and is clearly the top RB in that room. I hope the Broncos do not trade for another running back like Jonathan Taylor or Tony Pollard. I would be trying to buy as a rebuilder for Alec Pierce or RJ Harvey, but his buy window will be closing soon.

Kaelon Black: In Week 7, he had 12 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown. Christian McCaffrey left but did return from an injury. Week 8 was his bye week. He is the clear backup and handcuff to CMC, and I would roster him immediately in Redraft leagues. He should already be owned in Dynasty leagues.

Mike Washington: In Week 8, he had 25 carries for 83 yards. He had more rushing yards than Ashton Jeanty last week but is currently the clear backup and handcuff. He dominated the carries in Week 8. Was the coaching staff annoyed at Ashton Jeanty, or will this continue in Week 9?

Jadarian Price: He played for the first time since Week 3 after recovering from his injury. In Week 8, he had 10 carries for 29 yards and added 2 catches for 8 yards. A good first game back after a month off.

Seth McGowan: In Week 8, he had 5 carries for 29 yards, with 26% of the team’s carries. Should the Colts trade Jonathan Taylor, Seth would be the lead back. I would be stashing him now.

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Jonah Coleman

5 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookies Whose Value Will Rise in 2026

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The NFL season is so close. So close that JJ McCarthy would miss it on a quick slant. Oh! Although there hasn’t been as much hype as usual around this year’s class, we have another batch of wet-behind-the-ears rookies looking to make an impression in the big league with more online sports betting opportunities to throw your dollars at.

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De'Zhaun Stribling

Rookie Report Ahead Into Preseason Week 2

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De’Zhaun Stribling (WR – 49ers)

Did the 49ers just fast-track their rookie wideout for a sizeable role right out of the gate? Sure seems that way. The No. 33 overall selection looked awesome in his first game action, catching seven of eight targets for 63 yards. Stribling played mostly in the slot and consistently moved the chains for the offense. He also showed his contested-catch ability on a deep ball down the sideline, hauling it in with a defender draped all over him. He won in a variety of ways, something you love to see out of a young wideout. With Ricky Pearsall out for the season, Stribling could be featured heavily opposite Mike Evans. At this rate, he will crack the top-100 in Dynasty ranking in no time and could be a weekly WR3/FLEX option in what should be an explosive San Francisco offense. 

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Eli Heidenreich 2

Late Round Dynasty Gem: Eli Heidenreich

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Within the Dynasty Fantasy Football community, most die-hard Dynasty enthusiasts have heard the name Eli Heidenreich. But the main question is: does he have potential? After being selected by his hometown Steelers in the seventh round (230th overall), he’s a very underrated player who would have gone a bit higher if he had played at a larger college football program and gotten more national recognition. Heidenreich will land on the Philadelphia Eagles schedule on November 22 and is an intriguing hybrid offensive player with elite pass-catching ability. When digging deeper into the analytics on Heidenreich, he’s actually an intriguing prospect who has all the talent to become a hidden gem of Dynasty rookie drafts. Let’s dive in! 

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koziol

Late Round Dynasty Rookie Draft Gems

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Eli Heidenreich is an off-the-radar player from Navy who played in one of the most unique offensive systems in college football, notorious for amplifying a singular player’s productivity. 

Heidenreich has some eye-popping analytics. Yards per route run is one of the strongest singular predictors of future fantasy production. On its own, YPRR carries a 0.43 correlation when using current-year data to project next year’s performance. Heidenreich’s 4.73 yards per route run is easily tops in this class, well above the wide receivers who were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. 

His draft capital was poor. But he was drafted. And his Pittsburgh landing spot was pretty solid. Kenneth Gainwell was the RB 20 overall in fantasy points per game last year.  Heidenreich has a shot at a similar role eventually.

Steelers beat writer, Mark Kaboly, posted on X, “ I am not saying that Eli Heidenreich should even be mentioned in the same breath as Christian McCaffrey because C-Mac is elite and a different breed … but you can’t help but notice similarities in how they move around a football field. (yeah, this is going to be taken out of context, oh well).”

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My Top-Owned Dynasty Rookies

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

This weekend, we wrapped up my final dynasty rookie draft of the offseason (outside of my home dynasty league, which drafts during the preseason). With rookies now rostered in 17 of my 18 leagues, I thought it was a good time to discuss my top-owned dynasty rookies. 

Using the “exposure” feature in the Dynasty Control Room, I’m able to see my ownership percentage of every single fantasy player. Being a “portfolio manager” in 18 leagues, this feature is especially useful, showing me who I need to invest more heavily in, as well as the guys I should look to lower my exposure on. The tool also shows you which players DFF expert consensus is above and below market on, to give you an idea of whether you’re investing in the right players. 

With that, let’s take a look at my top 5 most-owned rookies right now. 

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stewart

“Colossus Jr.” 2026 Final Rookie RB1 Analytical Model Rankings

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

After years of proven success with my WR1 Analytical Model outperforming NFL Draft Capital at predicting future fantasy success of rookie wide receiver prospects, I unveiled the RB1 Analytical Model last year.  Similar to my long-running WR1 model, which you can find here, this RB1 model was developed using a recipe of the most predictive advanced college statistics that prior NFL fantasy superstars exhibited. 

The goal of these analytical models is to outperform draft capital, as it should. After all, fantasy managers are trying to accumulate the most fantasy points. NFL teams are trying to win football games. For example, in 2024, Bucky Irving and Tyrone Tracy were drafted 6th and 12th in the NFL draft among running backs. The model ranked them 4th and 6th, respectively. 

You can find last year’s 2025 RB1 post-draft published model here. Our model was largely in line with draft capital, with 7 of the first 8 players selected in the NFL draft also in the model’s top 7. A big outlier came a little later. Our model ranked Jacory Croskey-Merritt 11th overall, despite the NFL drafting him 26th among all running backs. 

Now on to the 2026 class. 

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stribling

“Colossus” 2026 Final Rookie WR1 Analytical Model Rankings

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

The Prospect Analytical Model Rankings are one of our members’ favorite series each year at Dynasty Football Factory. Years of refining and enhancing the models to accurately predict future fantasy value have brought us to today. 

This article covers the final post-NFL Draft analytical model rankings for the wide receiver position. These WR1 model rankings will be your ultimate guide to predicting which prospects will produce the most fantasy points in their NFL career.

You can find the running back RB1 model here.

For those new to the WR1 rating, it is a proprietary formula I developed in 2019 that provides a data-driven forecast of future fantasy production for incoming rookie wide receivers. There are many advanced metrics available today; we at DFF know it can be difficult to determine which ones matter and how much each matters. The WR1 model distills all that hard work into a single, easy-to-understand number. The model evaluates rookies across 13 of the most predictive metrics and combines their individual metric scores into a total WR1 rating. It was a pioneer in the fantasy analysis industry, being the first to incorporate a film-grade into the model. The goal is to provide an easy-to-use score for those who don’t want to spend hundreds of hours dissecting different metrics. Based on the prospect’s model score, I provide their probability of achieving at least one top-24 NFL Fantasy Points Per Game Season, using historical prospects with similar score ranges.

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Projecting Quarterback Success for Dynasty

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

I am trying to help us find ways to avoid the bust at quarterback, especially in rookie drafts. This is the cheapest most of these quarterbacks will ever be, but if you miss on one and spend a first-round pick on them, it could set you back even further.

I am looking at quarterbacks drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft and breaking them down into 4 tiers from 2015 to 2025.

I call the 1st tier the “green tier”. These are the quarterbacks who score a 90 or higher in my model and went to a Power 5 school. My model includes a film grade from Lance Zierlein, fantasy points per game in college, and their passing touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio.

There have been 37 quarterbacks drafted since 2015 in the first round, but only 13 ended up in tier 1, the green tier.

Below are the names of those 13 guys.

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2026 NFL Draft Coverage: Brenen Thompson

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In 2025, Thompson was third-team All-SEC. He set a Mississippi State single-season record with 1,054 receiving yards, was the first Mississippi State player to lead the SEC in receiving yards, and led the SEC in average depth per target. He was also a nominee for the Conerly Trophy (top player in Mississippi) and made the Biletnikoff Award Watch List. Thompson is projected as a 4th-round selection by NFL Mock Draft Database, and Lance Zierlein has a player comparison to J.J. Nelson.
STRENGTHS
Thompson is a smaller-built vertical threat who has an eye-popping 39.8 yards per touchdown catch. Seven of these ten career touchdowns have come on plays of 42 yards or more. Clearly, he’s a dynamic playmaker based on these statistics alone. His speed allows him to have easy wins over the top that require safety help in man coverage. Thompson shows a shifty release against press coverage and runs past cornerbacks before they can even turn and run. He adds an immediate vertical dimension that can loosen defenses.

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