The 2026 redraft season is shaping up to be one of the more volatile cycles in recent memory, with coaching changes, free agency landing spots, and post hype veterans all scrambling the board. To cut through the noise, we pulled together a panel of dynasty and redraft voices to break down the players they believe are being undervalued at current ADP. Each analyst brought a different angle, a workhorse running back getting buried by name recognition, a sophomore quarterback whose situation flipped overnight, a tight end who just signed a real contract, and a true workhorse hiding behind a slow start last season. Here is what they had to say.
Aaron Jones Is Still a Starting NFL Running Back, and the Market Has Forgotten It
Dustin Ludke ( @theDunit13 ) opened the roundtable with a value case built on draft capital being spent elsewhere while a proven producer slides.
Jones is currently going off the board around RB39 in many redraft formats, a range typically reserved for committee backs, rookies with unclear roles, or aging handcuffs. That cost ignores the fact that Jones remains the lead back in Minnesota's backfield. The 2025 season was a forgettable one on the surface, Jones finished as the RB41 in standard scoring, but the underlying details tell a different story. Across just 12 games, Jones logged 132 carries (548 yards, two touchdowns) and added 28 catches on 41 targets for 199 yards and a receiving score. That works out to 11 carries per game, a workload befitting a clear lead back rather than a committee piece.
The depth chart behind him does not threaten that role. Minnesota's current running back room outside of Jones consists of Jordan Mason and rookie Demond Claiborne, neither of whom has shown enough to push Jones into a true split. The comparison point is 2024, Jones' first season in Minnesota, when he finished as the RB15 on 255 carries and 62 targets for five rushing touchdowns and two receiving scores. That kind of workload is well within reach again in 2026 if Jones stays healthy, and Minnesota has invested in a receiving corps that should keep defenses from selling out against the run.
Buying Jones in a round where other managers are taking dart throws on unproven handcuffs gets you a player with a real shot at weekly RB2 production. The market is pricing him like a name from the past instead of the player still anchoring an NFL backfield.Cam Ward Enters a Completely Rebuilt Offense, and Year 2 Quarterbacks Are Where Value Lives
Cam Ward Enters a Completely Rebuilt Offense, and Year 2 Quarterbacks Are Where Value Lives
The B.O.A.T Commish ( @BOATcommishFF ) pointed to one of the more dramatic situational upgrades in the league as the reason to buy in on a rookie season that looked rough on the surface.
Ward's rookie campaign was statistically unspectacular, 3,169 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and an NFL high 55 sacks taken behind a line that offered little protection. Factor in his rushing production (39 carries, 159 yards, two scores) and Ward finished with 17 total touchdowns in a true throwaway season for Tennessee, a 3 and 14 team that ranked near the bottom of the league in total offense.
What changes the equation entering Year 2 is the wholesale reconstruction around him. Tennessee fired its coaching staff and hired Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator credited with developing Josh Allen from a turnover prone rookie into an MVP caliber passer in Buffalo, as offensive coordinator under new head coach Robert Saleh. On top of the coaching upgrade, the Titans added wide receiver Carnell Tate with the fourth overall pick in the 2026 draft and signed Wan'Dale Robinson to a four year, seventy million dollar contract after his 92 catch, 1,014 yard 2025 season with the Giants. A healthy Calvin Ridley, who averaged 43.3 receiving yards per game before a broken fibula ended his 2025 season early, adds another established target if he returns to form.
Ward's own tape backs up the optimism. He threw 10 of his 15 rookie touchdowns from Week 11 onward, a sign of real in season development even as his supporting cast cycled through rookies at three of his top four pass catching spots. With a play caller who has a track record of accelerating young quarterback development and a receiver room that looks unrecognizable from a year ago, Ward profiles as one of the more interesting late round quarterback values in 2026 redraft leagues.
Chig Okonkwo Just Got Paid, and the Target Tree Behind Him Is Wide Open
Speedy ( @dyna_Speedy) built the case around a contract that signals real intent rather than a depth move.
Washington handed Okonkwo a three year deal worth up to thirty million dollars this offseason, choosing him over in house option Isaiah Likely to fill the void left by Zach Ertz's departure after a catastrophic knee injury ended Ertz's 2025 season in Week 14. That is not a contract you give a backup tight end. The target vacancy is real and significant: even in a season cut short, Ertz still drew enough volume to be a focal point of the passing game, and those vacated looks land in the lap of a player Washington just made its clear TE1.
Okonkwo arrives in Washington fresh off a career year, 56 receptions for 560 yards, both career highs, on a Titans offense that ranked among the league's worst in total offense and scoring. He led that team in both categories despite operating with a 14.9 percent target share and rookie quarterback growing pains around him for most of the season. The bigger story for 2026 is the quarterback change. Okonkwo now catches passes from Jayden Daniels, the same Daniels who leaned heavily on Ertz as a security blanket over the middle of the field during his Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign. That is the role Okonkwo steps into on an offense that still lacks proven pass catching talent beyond Terry McLaurin, with John Bates miscast as a primary receiving option and 2024 second round pick Ben Sinnott yet to establish himself.
The swing risk worth naming: Okonkwo has never scored more than three touchdowns in a season, and his ceiling has been capped more by touchdown variance than target competition. This is a bet on scheme and quarterback play unlocking traits that have always been present, four straight seasons of at least 450 receiving yards, rather than a sure thing. But at his current draft cost, that is exactly the kind of bet redraft managers should be willing to make on a player who is now the unquestioned lead tight end in his room.
Chase Brown Is a Proven League Winner Who Just Needs a Full Healthy Season
Lalo ( @LaloPedrozaFF ) closed the roundtable with a workhorse case hiding behind a slow start.
Chase Brown has quietly been one of the better fantasy running backs in football for two straight seasons, and the box score evidence is hard to ignore. In 2025, Brown set new career highs across the board, 232 carries for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns, the first 1,000 yard rushing season of his career, while adding 69 catches on 86 targets for 437 yards and five more scores. That receiving production tied him for fifth among all running backs in catches, underscoring how integral he is to Cincinnati's passing down plans, not just their ground game.
The bigger signal is what happened once the Bengals got healthy. Brown opened 2025 in a Joe Burrow less offense and struggled to find his footing, but once Burrow returned to the lineup, his production spiked immediately, Brown averaged 20.6 half PPR points per game and ranked as a top three back at the position across a five week stretch late in the season. With Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins all healthy and on the field together, Cincinnati's offense operates at a different level entirely, and Brown is the back getting the volume in that environment.
Cincinnati did not address the running back room with any meaningful additions this offseason, leaving Brown as the unquestioned starter with Samaje Perine in a clear complementary role. Entering the final year of his rookie contract with a full season of health for Cincinnati's top three offensive weapons, Brown is positioned to be a focal point in one of the league's most explosive offenses, with the receiving role, goal line usage, and proven per game ceiling all pointing in the same direction. Reaching for him in the second round is justified by a ceiling that already showed up for a full stretch of 2025.
Final Word
Four different player profiles, a forgotten veteran, a Year 2 quarterback in a new system, a tight end who switched offenses and quarterbacks, and a workhorse back who proved his ceiling once his star teammates returned to the lineup. What ties them together is a market that has not fully priced in the situational changes each of them is walking into for 2026. That gap between current ADP and real opportunity is exactly where redraft leagues are won.