2026 Fantasy Football Rookie Report: Denzel Boston emerges, Carnell Tate surges

Another new season is here to bring in a new rookie class with a lot of fantasy football uncertainty. Despite the injection of new talent, rookie usage and trends may not have fantasy managers jumping for joy just yet. Here, I aim to give you an update every quarter of the NFL season on how rookies are doing and their fantasy values. As we approach Week 5, trends are beginning to form for top rookies.

Rookie rankings

Top 10 fantasy rookies to roster right now

1. RB Jeremiyah Love, ARI
2. WR Denzel Boston, CLE
3. WR Carnell Tate, TEN
4. TE Kenyon Sadiq, NYJ
5. WR KC Concepcion, CLE
6. WR Antonio Williams, WAS
7. WR Jordyn Tyson, NO
8. WR Ted Hurst, TB
9. WR Malachi Fields, NYG
10. WR Makai Lemon, PHI

Just four games into the season, injuries and slow starts shake the rookie leaderboard out with some unexpected contributors. We’ll see some injured players (Jordyn Tyson) soon, and maybe even some quarterbacks (Fernando Mendoza). Between no immediate starting quarterbacks and a banged-up running back (Jadarian Price, Jonah Coleman) class, it’s the wide receiver position having the most fantasy viability of the 2026 group.

Biggest risers and fallers since start of season

Risers

Cleveland Browns WR Denzel Boston

Boston was drafted as the second Browns rookie off the board with an ADP around WR60, well beyond the top-120 draft picks. He is now the leading rookie receivers in fantasy points per game, catching 13-of-23 targets for 286 yards and two touchdowns on the season. The Browns have utilized Boston as the team’s deep-ball receiver and his 18.0 average depth of target is No. 5 among all receivers. Boston is squarely in the fantasy WR3 range as a result.

New York Jets TE Kenyon Sadiq

Though he was already drafted in the mid-to-low end fantasy TE2 range before the season, Sadiq is a riser after the first quarter of the NFL season. He has caught 12-of-18 targets for 143 yards and a touchdown through the air, scoring his first career touchdown with a three-yard carry in Week 1. The Jets made it a point to get him designed touches early and he exploded with 105 yards in Week 3. though he laid an egg in Week 4, it was a historically low-volume game for the Jets. Sadiq is a high-end TE2 moving forward.

Fallers

Seattle Seahawks RB Jadarian Price

Price was the second Notre Dame running back off the board in the first round, heading to a Seahawks team that lost Kenneth Walker and had Zach Charbonnet start the season recovering from a torn ACL. He debuted playing 48-percent of the Seahawks’ offensive snaps in Week 1, leading a committee backfield. Fumbles in back-to-back weeks dented Price’s production before a chest injury put him on injured reserve. Price was taken around RB25 this season but is an IR stash with RB4 viability later in the season.

Philadelphia Eagles WR Makai Lemon

Results and expectations not aligning is the main driver of a fantasy value dip. So, we have another first-rounder; Lemon’s unusable is a byproduct of the disappointing Eagles offense. He’s seen several touches behind the line of scrimmage, averaging 6.5 yards per reception. A total of 15 targets has yielded 65 scoreless receiving with negative five rushing yards. Devonta Smith’s hamstring injury may give Lemon more opportunities, but the Eagles offensive environment is hostile to fantasy production. He is a dart-throw for fantasy points at this stage of the season.

▶ Position-by-position report

Quarterbacks

The 2026 quarterback class has not yielded any weekly starters yet. No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza currently sits behind veteran Kirk Cousins for a surprising upstart Raiders team. A 3-1 start keeps Cousins in the starting spot for longer, but Mendoza is still a possibility to make an appearance the second half of the season.

The two quarterbacks that have debuted are seventh-round pick Athan Kaliakmanis and undrafted free agent Jalon Daniels. The Commanders’ first two quarterbacks were hurt in Week 4, prompting Kaliakmanis to enter the game and make some splash throws in the team’s loss to the Colts. Daniels is the Buccaneers starter with Baker Mayfield out; he started Week 4 and will be a fantasy QB3 until Mayfield’s return.

Running Backs

The running back class for 2026 starts with a pair of Notre Dame running backs and sprinkles into a few quality backup runners. The chart below shows that Jeremiyah Love is the only running back thus far with some sort of starting opportunity. As a result, he is the only running back fantasy managers will consider starting on a weekly basis, though ankle issues may throw a wrench in some of his opportunities.

Wide Receivers

The 2026 rookie class has yet to have an alpha every-week starter emerge, but there are a few with the paths to head there. The chart below shows Carnell Tate and the Browns rookie duo getting the most targets en route to fantasy production. Despite lower opportunities, Josh Cameron is efficiently getting fantasy value out of little opportunities.

Tight Ends

The only fantasy-relevant rookie tight end thus far has been Kenyon Sadiq. Though Mason Taylor (thumb) will return to the tight end rotation soon, Adonai Mitchell and fellow rookie Omar Cooper are still dealing with injuries. I touched on him having rising value earlier in this column; Sadiq is worth rostering beyond just streamer tight end value.

Matthew Hibner and Eli Raridon have also seen small volume as a part of their offenses. Hibner has five receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown with the Ravens. Raridon has caught three passes for 44 yards and a touchdown with the Pats. They are worth rostering in Dynasty leagues as the potential futures of their respective tight end rooms.

▶ Looking ahead

Rookies whose roles could change before the next quarterly rookie report.

Miami Dolphins WR Chris Bell

For standard 12-team leagues, it’s time to think of streamers and stashes as bye weeks approach. Bell is coming off a torn ACL and has seen increased snaps while the Dolphins’ other third-round receiver, Caleb Douglas, nurses an ankle injury. He had a 68-yard touchdown wiped out by a toenail in Week 4 and has a good chance to earn and keep a larger role in an unproven Dolphins receiving corps.

Jacksonville Jaguars WR Josh Cameron

The Jaguars have a very fantasy friendly offense, with Cameron having a role in 12 personnel. Liam Coen has given the sixth-round rookie a role garnering around a third of the team’s offensive snaps. He’s caught two touchdowns and would see a bump in usage if Brian Thomas Jr. is traded away this season. Cameron is a candidate to see a role increase over the next quarter of the season as a player already making an impact and having his target competition on the trade block.

New Orleans Saints RB CJ Donaldson

Let’s dig deeper through the grit and grime and really look for a deep league target…Undrafted rookie CJ Donaldson finds himself on this list just four weeks into the season as a result of the Saints’ ambiguous backfield. Travis Etienne is on injured reserve, Kendre Miller has been ineffective, and Alvin Kamara is 31 years-old with his own injury history. It see a larger role over the next quarter of the season.

Various stats from Pro Football Reference and PFF.