2026 Rotoworld Mock Draft

**Patrick Daugherty** (0:09)
Hello, everybody, welcome to the 2026 Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft. I am Patrick Daugherty, joined here in person by Denny Carter, Kyle Dvorchak, Lawrence Jackson, three of the very best in the business, all Rotoworld, NBC employees. And we are joined by some of the other best in the business, other NBC employees, Mr. Zach Kruger, Mr. Rivers McCount, and then some of our friends from around the industry, Matt Harmon from Yahoo!, Scott Pianowski from Yahoo!, Hayden Winx, also from Yahoo!
Ian Harditz from Rotowire. We have Chris Allen from Yahoo! and Fantasy Life. We have an all-star crew. We have 15 rounds. We have PPR. We got quarterbacks. We got running backs, receivers, tight ends. It's going to be a 15-round fun little PPR draft for you guys.
I am prepared. Are you prepared? Are you guys prepared for the trends of the 2026 season? You know, everything, fantasy rhymes from year to year, Denny Carter, but every year, things are a little bit different.

**Denny Carter** (1:09)
Absolutely.

**Patrick Daugherty** (1:10)
What is something you have noticed that has been different so far in 2026 Fantasy Football drafts?

**Denny Carter** (1:15)
I mean, I think we're back to, you know, 10, 12, even 15 years ago with the way that people are valuing running backs early on. You know, we saw that sort of fade during the zero RB. Renaissance in like 2015 to 2022 or so. Defense is adjusted. They said no more of this stuff.
They're forcing teams to run. So last season and the season before, we saw a huge increase in the number of rushing attempts in the league. You know, running back stayed healthy at an unusual rate, I will say. So that's something to remember. Why receivers got injured at an unusually high rate last year as well. My question coming into a draft like this is, does this make why receivers, elite-wide receivers even more valuable because people are chasing those high-end running backs and for good reason. I understand why. But it's something that I sort of question myself, is it okay to zig when others are zagging?

**Patrick Daugherty** (2:08)
Denny, to your point, the running back, the RB1 tier, I think is as deep as it has been since the glory days of Fantasy Football. We all came up, quote unquote, in the era where if you did not draft a running back in the first round, you were a total slappy. That's just how we were taught to play the game. Then, Lawrence, people like Denny came and taught us, they know actually you should occasionally draft wide receivers. But that RB1 tier is as deep as it's been in maybe 20 years. The RB2 and 3 tier, not nearly as deep. Lawrence, I know you like to start running back, but with running back super top heavy and then the depth falling off very quickly, how are you approaching the beginning of the draft?

**Lawrence Jackson** (2:45)
I'm gonna just draft more running backs, Pat. That's literally what I'm gonna do. But I think to what Denny said earlier, I think the PPR leagues is what changed things and how people draft.
Back in, probably before I even played Fantasy Football, even if you go to the early 2000s, it was standard leagues. So it was all about getting your running back.

**Denny Carter** (3:06)
Two running backs off the top.

**Kyle Dvorchak** (3:08)
Off the top. No matter what.

**Lawrence Jackson** (3:09)
And then you figure it out at receiver, right? But I think the reason running backs are back is because they catch in 70 and 80 And if a guy like Christian McCaffrey, he's getting 100 receptions. But even if you get a guy who could get you 40, 50 receptions, that's valuable in these PPR leagues.

**Denny Carter** (3:29)
And that's a good point about running backs catching more passes out of the backfield. That is a trend that we've seen in the last couple of years. And I think that relates to even the rocket arm quarterbacks being forced to check down more. Because especially you're talking about the Josh Allens, the Burroughs, the Mahomes, they're facing an unprecedented level of too high coverage, right? So it's all check downs, it's tight ends, and it's running backs. That does make a difference, especially in PPR.

**Patrick Daugherty** (3:53)
I would be remiss, by the way. I knew when I was naming everyone who was drafting, I would forget somebody. Four, four, four, four, four, four footballs, say that ten times. Jennifer Eakins also joining us today. Longtime NBC freelancer, one of the very best in the business. Kyle, though, he's one of the absolute best in the business. We got the fancy football boomers over here, even Denny. We all mentioned running backs, running backs, running backs, running backs. What do you have to say about wide receivers, Kyle, or any trends in general heading into 2026 drafting season?