Early 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings: Justin Boone's top quarterbacks for next season

6 days ago 2

Justin Boone won the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award in 2019 and has eight top-10 finishes in the competition. He now brings his rankings acumen to the Yahoo Fantasy audience after joining the team as an analyst.

Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season — starting with quarterbacks. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies will be available in future updates.

2026 Fantasy Rankings

Running Backs (Jan. 6)
Wide Receivers (Jan. 7)
Tight Ends (Jan. 8)
Top 150 (Jan. 9)

Takeaways from the early QB rankings

Josh Allen is the unquestioned No. 1 fantasy quarterback heading into next season. The 29-year-old has finished as the highest scoring fantasy QB in four of the last six campaigns and never fell below third at the position during that span. Let’s also hope the Bills make an effort to add some playmakers to the receiving corps this offseason.

Patrick Mahomes was averaging the second-most fantasy points per game among quarterbacks through 15 weeks before suffering a torn ACL that could put his Week 1 availability in jeopardy for next season. Even if he suits up in September, that could lead to a dramatic decline in rushing production, which was a big reason for his bounce-back in 2025. After finishing as the QB12 and QB13 the past two years, Mahomes found himself back among the elite producers at the position, thanks to career-highs in rushing yards (422) and rushing touchdowns (five) in just 14 games. However, most passers coming off serious knee injuries aren’t as aggressive running the ball the following season. I’m projecting Mahomes outside of the top 12 until we get a clearer timeline for his recovery, but regardless, you should be lowering your expectations for him in 2026.

It was a tale of two seasons for Justin Herbert in 2025, posting the fourth-most fantasy points among quarterbacks over the first nine weeks (21.8 FPPG) before injuries to himself and his offensive line took their toll. That led to him being the QB20 over the final eight weeks, averaging just 14.8 FPPG. Assuming the Chargers can get their star linemen back and perhaps even add some reinforcements up front, Herbert will have a chance to push for top-five fantasy numbers over a full season.

Two players I’ll be targeting heavily in 2026 fantasy drafts are Brock Purdy and Trevor Lawrence. Both passers finished as top-six fantasy QBs on a per-game basis and produced their best results when it mattered most in the fantasy playoffs. This is the third straight season where Purdy has averaged top-12 numbers at his position and may have been even better if injuries hadn’t cost him eight games this season. Meanwhile, Lawrence finished as a top-five fantasy QB in four of his last five outings and really seemed to get comfortable in Liam Coen’s offense down the stretch. With Jakobi Meyers signed to an extension and Travis Hunter coming back healthy next season, it’s possible we still haven’t seen Lawrence’s fantasy ceiling.

There are so many unknowns beyond the top 20, including some of the players who made this list like Kyler Murray (might not return in Arizona) or Malik Willis (should get a starting opportunity in free agency). For now, I’ve stopped at the 25 quarterbacks, since it didn’t seem useful to speculate beyond that point with so much uncertainty around situations with the Vikings, Falcons, Colts, Browns and Dolphins. I’ll also be adding rookies in the coming months once I’ve completed my prospect analysis.