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10 middle-round picks experts love to draft (fantasy football)

FantasyPros · Jul 22, 2026 11:04 · 6 min read

15 Players on New Teams (2026 Fantasy Football) — 10 Middle-Round Picks Experts Love to Draft (Fantasy Football)

Rounds six through 10 in fantasy football drafts are where real roster differentiation happens. Our analysts each picked their favorite value in every one of these rounds, arguing head-to-head for the best player on the board. Here’s the full breakdown, ... read more »

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Middle-Round Picks Experts Love to Draft in 2026 Fantasy Football

Round 6: Bhayshul Tuten (RB – JAC)

Bhayshul Tuten was picked almost entirely on per-touch efficiency. Among 55 qualifying running backs last year, he ranked fifth in rushing success rate and 11th in missed tackles forced, elite marks for a rookie. Even against a more heavily used teammate near the goal line, Tuten graded out as the more efficient runner in short-yardage situations by nearly every measure available. His new front office has publicly emphasized exactly these kinds of underlying efficiency metrics, which matters for how much rope he gets. There’s also a what-could-have-been element here: Tuten was gaining more volume down the stretch of his rookie season before an injury cut things short, and the belief is he was building toward a much larger role before that setback.

Round 6: Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI)

Marvin Harrison Jr. was the counter-pick, a name whose price has fallen far enough after a disappointing rookie season that the risk is worth taking. The pre-draft concerns about his game, including route precision and getting free off press coverage, showed up early in his rookie year, compounded by a quarterback situation that never seemed to click. That quarterback is no longer with the team.

Once a new starting quarterback took over midway through last season, a four-game stretch where Harrison and his top receiving teammate were both fully healthy told a clear story. Harrison was treated as the unquestioned number one target, posting a 23% target share compared to his teammate’s 13%, and out-producing him significantly in receptions, yards, and touchdowns over that span. He was also targeted in the red zone in a way he simply wasn’t under his rookie-year quarterback. With his ADP now firmly in wide receiver two or three territory as a sixth-round pick, the talent bet is viewed as worth taking regardless of whether his current quarterback situation holds for the full season.

The Harrison case was called compelling, even drawing a joking comment about giving away an upcoming breakout-receiver article by covering him so thoroughly, though Tuten’s more contained range of outcomes is the more conservative sixth-round pick, especially since Harrison isn’t clearly his own team’s leading target earner once the tight end position is factored in.

Round 7: Tony Pollard (RB – TEN)

Tony Pollard was picked as a bounce-back value coming off a rough situation. His offense was genuinely bad last year, ranking near the bottom of the league in points per game and red zone scoring opportunities, which limited his counting stats significantly. But his underlying efficiency metrics, including a 22nd-ranked mark in yards after contact per attempt, suggest the talent held up even as the context around him struggled. His offensive line also performed better than its reputation, ranking top 15 in yards before contact per attempt even without much of a passing threat to open running lanes, a number that could improve further with better quarterback play this year. His new coaching staff also has a track record across multiple stops of funneling volume to a single clear lead back rather than running a true committee, which favors Pollard holding onto a workhorse role.

Round 7: Sam LaPorta (TE – DET)

Sam LaPorta was the counter-pick, a name being drafted at a discount after a frustrating, injury-interrupted season. Once he got fully healthy, a several-week stretch last season showed him as the clear number two target earner on his team, trailing only the top wide receiver in target share and finishing ahead of every other pass catcher on the roster, including a young receiver whose emergence seemed to come partly at LaPorta’s expense. Extrapolating that healthy usage rate over a full season projects to roughly 80 catches, 1,000 yards, and 10 touchdowns, and even 90% of that pace would restore him to true top-three tight end form. He’s currently going in round seven despite that path.

Round 8: Parker Washington (WR – JAC)

Parker Washington was picked purely for ceiling. Over a four-game stretch late last season, he averaged more than 22 PPR points per game, backed by real underlying volume: a nearly 29% target share, six red zone targets, and 13 deep targets across those four games. At an eighth-round price, the risk of him not repeating that stretch is already priced in, while the upside if he does isn’t.

Round 8: Jaxson Dart (QB – NYG)

Jaxson Dart was the counter-pick, valued almost entirely on his rushing floor. Excluding an early, unrepresentative sample, he averaged 20 fantasy points per game across his actual starts last year, a number that held up even without his top receiving weapon healthy for most of that stretch. The pitch doesn’t require him to become an elite passer, just to stay on the field, given how much of his fantasy value comes from his legs. The public skepticism around his game is compared to the skepticism a well-known dual-threat quarterback faced early in his career, before that skepticism proved overblown.

Round 9: Quentin Johnston (WR – LAC)

Quentin Johnston was picked as a way to access his teammate’s level of production without paying that teammate’s price tag. Isolating the stretches of last season when Johnston was fully healthy and excluding a clear hamstring-driven outlier period, he led his entire team in target share, deep targets, red zone targets, and missed tackles forced. Over that healthy sample, he averaged nearly 14 PPR points per game, a pace that would have ranked as a top-16 fantasy receiver last year. The pitch is simple: get his teammate’s production for a fraction of the draft cost.

Round 9: Jordan Addison (WR – MIN)

Jordan Addison was the counter-pick, a receiver who was a top-25 fantasy wide receiver in each of his first two seasons and still finished as a fantasy WR4 even in a difficult season last year. With a significantly upgraded quarterback situation now in place, the comparison drawn is to another young receiver’s productive rookie-year role playing behind an established number one option, a comp that projects real touchdown upside even without needing 100-plus targets. The main risk flagged is added target competition muddying his role if the team adds or leans into another pass catcher.

Both analysts agreed on the same risk factor to monitor here: added target competition could muddy Addison’s role as the season goes on.

Round 10: Isaiah Likely (TE – NYG)

Isaiah Likely was picked as the go-to option for anyone skipping the top tight end tier entirely. He projects as the clear number two target earner in his offense, with a real path to being the number one target earner if his team’s top receiver misses time, which remains a real possibility. Tossing out an injury-limited down year entirely, his last healthy season graded him top 10 among qualifying tight ends in both yards per route run and first downs per route run. He’s currently going as essentially a free, double-digit-round alternative to paying up at the position.

Round 10: Josh Downs (WR – IND)

Josh Downs was the counter-pick, one of the few receivers going in double-digit rounds with a real path to 100 targets. His last healthy season produced over 10 PPR points per game on modest overall volume, a level that typically checks in as a low-end wide receiver three. Target competition around him currently looks close to an even three-way split, but there’s real sell-high upside attached: if a teammate’s lingering injury costs him early-season time, Downs could open the season as his team’s clear target leader, spiking his trade value well before that competition returns to full health.

It’s viewed as one of the better values of the entire exercise given how many favorable scenarios are stacked in his favor, particularly in full-PPR formats.

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