Every fantasy football season delivers a few players who go from “interesting sleeper” to “why didn’t I draft this guy everywhere?” Identifying those breakouts before the rest of your league catches on is one of the easiest ways to gain an edge on draft day.
We asked our Featured Pros to highlight early breakout candidates for 2026. Some are trendy names already climbing draft boards. Others might still be flying under the radar… for now.
Here are the players our experts believe could be this year’s “I swear I meant to draft him” stars.
Early Fantasy Football Breakout Candidates
Quarterbacks
What QB has the best shot of having a breakout year this season and why?
Brock Purdy (QB – SF)
“I’m calling for the re-breakout of Brock Purdy in 2026. I get it. George Kittle will likely start the year on the PUP. Jauan Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, and Trent Williams may all leave town. The Rams and Seahawks are the best teams and also defenses in the league, and they lurk in the 49ers division. It’s not an easy row to hoe. But consider that Robert Saleh is also out of town and no longer manning an aging and oft-injured defense. Mike Evans is a supreme red zone threat, just recently signed. And a healthy CMC and motivated Kyle Shanahan are poised to run it back. If Purdy stays healthy, he could easily see a repeat performance of his 2023 QB6 finish. Last year’s QB24 was actually 5th in the league in points per game, so a healthy season, with a defense in decline and a full-strength complement of weapons for a good portion of the season, makes the perfect recipe for another top-6 finish. He’ll be a steal in both dynasty and redraft leagues based on the fact that he’s underperformed solely due to injury over the past two seasons.”
– Jeremy Shulman (Fantasy Football Universe)
Malik Willis (QB – MIA)
“It has to be Malik Willis, whose rushing ability gives him a high floor and a high ceiling. In six career starts, Willis has averaged 44.8 rushing yards per game and has run for four touchdowns. He’s averaged about 8.5 fantasy points per game just with his legs. And Love made huge strides as a passer while spending two years as Jordan Love‘s backup in Green Bay. When Jordan Love sustained a concussion midway through the second quarter of the Packers’ Week 16 game against the Bears, Willis came in and completed 9-of-11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown in two and a half quarters. The next week against the Ravens, Willis started, played the whole game and completed 18-of-21 passes for 288 yards and one touchdown. In those two games, he completed 84.4% of his passes and averaged 12.8 yards per attempt. Willis isn’t going to put up huge passing numbers as Miami’s starting quarterback in 2026, but as well as he runs, he doesn’t need to. Willis is going to be drafted in QB2 range, but his rushing ability gives him a chance to be a top-10 fantasy quarterback.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)
“Malik Willis has a real chance to emerge as the breakout quarterback in 2026. Since 2014, there have been 34 quarterbacks with 100+ rushing attempts in a season, and 31 of them (91%) finished top-12 in fantasy points per game, underscoring how powerful that rushing profile can be for fantasy production. In the three games Willis started across 2024 and 2025, he averaged 23.3 fantasy points per game while producing nearly 60 rushing yards per game and a rushing touchdown in each start. The passing profile still has limitations, but he posted a 90.8 PFF passing grade with an 85.7% completion rate in 2025 while leading the league in passer rating during that stretch. Now the unquestioned starter in Miami, the rushing floor alone gives Willis a clear path to QB1 fantasy production.”
– James Emrick-Wilson (The Armchair Sports Corner)
