Sportsnaut
The arrival of NFL training camp means that fantasy football drafts start to get underway as we all look ahead to another great season. While the likes of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Drake Maye will always be prioritized early in drafts, there are a few other fantasy football quarterbacks we’ll be targeting.
Let’s dive into our list of quarterbacks you should target for fantasy football this season. For this exercise, we’ll focus on ESPN’s average draft position.
We certainly anticipate the Dallas Cowboys taking a step forward defensively in 2026, so it’s not as if Dak Prescott and this passing game will need to win shootouts every week. Now, with that said, Prescott ranked third in passing yards per game (267.8) in the NFL last season, and he put up 30-plus passing touchdowns for the second time in three years. That happened with CeeDee Lamb missing time with an injury. With improved offensive line play, and another year in this system, we believe Prescott could challenge the production put up by the top-five fantasy quarterbacks.
Related: 2026 Dynasty QB Rankings
Based on ADP, Brock Purdy is typically the 12th quarterback off the board. We get he missed time in 2025, but we’d also like to remind fantasy football managers that the San Francisco 49ers quarterback had the second-highest passing touchdown rate (7 percent) in the NFL with the second-best completion rate (69.4 percent), and he averaged 240.8 passing yards per game. In Kyle Shanahan’s offense, as long as he stays healthy, we think Purdy could replicate his numbers from 2023 (4,280 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns), and it wouldn’t shock us if he’s one of the six best fantasy quarterbacks in 2026.
Related: 2026 Dynasty TE Rankings
We couldn’t be more excited about Justin Herbert‘s opportunity to work with Mike McDaniel. Let’s remember that in this same system, Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating (2022), passing yards (2023), and completion rate (2024) with a 5.4 percent touchdown rate in that three-year span. Herbert is vastly more gifted physically, meaning we could get a version of McDaniel’s offense that is just as efficient but now with more explosive plays. We won’t go as far as saying that Herbert could put up MVP-caliber numbers this year, but he can be one of the best fantasy football quarterbacks in 2026.
Don’t sleep on second-year quarterback Tyler Shough. As a rookie with the New Orleans Saints in 2025, Shough averaged 260.1 passing yards per game with a 70.3 percent completion rate and an 8-3 TD-INT line from Weeks 10-17. Equally important for fantasy football managers, Shough had 138 rushing yards (19.7 rush ypg) and 2 touchdowns in that seven-game span. New Orleans made his supporting cast even stronger this offseason, adding Jordyn Tyson to serve...
