Jonathon Brooks has played three NFL games and not appeared on a field since December 2024, yet he may be the most interesting running back value on Carolina’s roster this summer.

The reason is opportunity. The Panthers let Rico Dowdle, their leading rusher, leave for Pittsburgh, and NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe reported they did so in part because of what they expect from Brooks. “From what I understand, they may ease him in early on in camp and during the season. But the hope is, if he can go full-go, he could be a guy that defines this offense,” Wolfe said. He added that the team let Dowdle walk because it believed Brooks was ready to be the lead back.

That is a meaningful endorsement for a player whose career has been defined by his knee. Brooks tore the ACL in his right knee at Texas in late 2023, then tore the same knee again in his third professional game, costing him all of last season. The medical reality is sobering, and two repairs on the same joint raise legitimate questions about burst and durability that no single practice can answer.

The early signals, though, have been positive. Brooks has been a full participant in offseason work for the first time, and coaches and teammates have praised his speed and the way he is finishing runs. He even broke off a screen pass for a score during one session. For a back trying to reclaim the explosiveness that made him the first runner drafted in 2024, those are the right boxes to check.

The fantasy case is built on cost and upside. Brooks sits around the RB40 range in early redraft rankings, which prices him as a late-round flier rather than a building block. If he holds up through camp and wins the lead role, that range badly understates him. Chuba Hubbard remains the incumbent and is signed long-term, so this is not an uncontested job; Trevor Etienne and A.J. Dillon are also in the mix. But a true lead back in a run-leaning offense carries weekly starter value, and Brooks is the only player in the group with that ceiling.

The risk is equally clear. A reinjury or a slow ramp-up could leave him in a committee or on the sideline, and Hubbard is a capable veteran who could simply hold the job. Drafters paying a late-round price are buying a wide range of outcomes, not a safe floor.

That is precisely what makes him attractive at the current cost. The team’s actions, not just its words, point toward a larger role, and the price has not caught up. Managers who can absorb the volatility may find that Brooks is one of the better late-round swings available, with the arrow pointing up the more healthy reps he banks.

Saquon Barkley’s receiving role has quietly faded over the past several seasons, and a coaching change in Philadelphia is the reason fantasy managers should pay attention again.

Barkley caught 37 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns in 2025. It was a modest line for a back of his caliber, and it continued a trend. He has not cleared 300 receiving yards in a season since 2022. For a player whose dual-threat profile once defined his value, the passing-game production has shrunk to an afterthought.

That was not always the case. Early in his career with the Giants, Barkley was a true featured receiver out of the backfield, hauling in 143 passes for 1,159 yards and six scores across his first two seasons. The skill set never disappeared. The usage did.

The offense around him changed in 2025, and not for the better. Philadelphia finished 24th in total yards and 19th in scoring, a steep drop from its top-10 finishes the year before. Barkley’s rushing efficiency fell from 5.8 yards per carry to 4.1. The passing game leaned on Jalen Hurts, who tends to extend plays with his legs rather than dump the ball to his backs, and the checkdown work that lifts a running back’s reception total largely went missing.

Enter Sean Mannion. The Eagles hired him as offensive coordinator and play-caller for 2026, replacing Kevin Patullo. Mannion comes from a Shanahan-style background by way of his time in Green Bay, a scheme family that has historically fed its running backs in the passing game and put them in space on designed touches. Backs in that system have posted strong reception totals as a structural feature, not an accident.

For fantasy purposes, this is where the buy-in case lives. Barkley’s rushing floor is already elite, and he remains the clear lead back with no real competition for touches. Any meaningful bump in targets would stack receiving points on top of that base, the kind of profile that separates a high-end starter from a league-winner in points-per-reception formats. He has publicly welcomed a bigger role through the air and called the new system refreshing.

The caution is that none of this has been proven on the field yet. Mannion has never called plays at this level, the offense is still being installed, and a scheme’s tendencies do not always survive contact with a specific roster. Target projections built on system reputation carry real risk.

Still, the direction is favorable. A back with Barkley’s pass-catching history, paired with a play-caller whose scheme tends to use that history, is a reasonable bet to reverse a multi-year decline. Managers drafting him on his rushing value alone may be underpricing the receiving upside that a new system could unlock.

Kayshon Boutte will be on the practice field this week, and for dynasty managers, the more important question is how long he stays in New England at all.

Boutte skipped the voluntary portion of the Patriots’ offseason program as trade speculation swirled, then told WBZ in Boston he will report for mandatory minicamp when it opens Tuesday. He downplayed the noise around his future. “I try not to buy into it. At the end of the day, I can control what I can control,” Boutte said. “As long as I’m doing what I’m supposed to do off the field, everything else will play out.” He also said he wants to remain a Patriot for the long haul.

The football case for keeping him is real. Boutte led New England’s wide receivers with six touchdown catches in 2025 and cleared 550 receiving yards for the second straight season, finishing with 551 yards on 33 grabs and a healthy 16.7 yards per reception. He became a trusted deep target for Drake Maye, who finished as the MVP runner-up. Boutte carried that form into January, adding nine catches for 168 yards and a touchdown across four playoff games during the Patriots’ run to the Super Bowl.

Then the room got crowded. New England traded for A.J. Brown, a three-time Pro Bowl receiver, and had already signed Romeo Doubs in free agency. That pushes Boutte down the pecking order and clouds his target share for 2026. The Patriots have signaled a willingness to move him, and Boutte has at times signaled openness to a fresh start.

Fantasy Impact

For fantasy purposes, this is a hold rather than a sell-low. Boutte’s profile as a vertical separator travels well. A receiver who tracks the deep ball and converts touchdowns retains standalone appeal, and his value spikes if a trade sends him somewhere with a clearer path to volume. Best-ball managers in particular can stash him cheaply and bank on the spike weeks that come with a downfield role.

The risk is straightforward. If he stays put, the snaps and targets behind Brown and Doubs may be thin, and a contract year on a deep-thinking offense is no guarantee of opportunity. His scoring would lean on efficiency and big plays rather than steady work, which makes him volatile in formats that reward reception volume.

The contract adds urgency to both sides. Boutte is entering the final year of his rookie deal and could reach free agency in 2027, so his 2026 landing spot doubles as an audition. A move to a team needing a field-stretcher would lift his outlook immediately. Staying in a deep New England receiver group would cap it.

For now, he is in the building and saying the right things. Managers holding him are betting that his next address, whether Foxborough or elsewhere, hands him room to run.

Woody Marks enters 2026 in a smaller role than the one he held when last season ended, and that drop in projected volume is exactly what makes him interesting to dynasty managers right now.

Marks closed 2025 as Houston’s lead runner. He finished with 911 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns on 220 touches across 16 games, eight of them starts. He led the Texans in rushing with 703 yards, though he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry. The more durable part of his profile came as a receiver. He caught 24 passes for 208 yards and scored three times through the air, more than he scored on the ground.

Then Houston traded for David Montgomery this offseason, sending guard Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round pick, and a seventh-round pick to Detroit. Montgomery is projected to open 2026 as the lead back. That pushes Marks into the No. 2 spot and likely trims his early-down and goal-line work.

For fantasy purposes, the news cuts two ways. The ceiling shrinks in the short term. Montgomery is the more likely option near the end zone, and goal-line touches drive the kind of touchdown totals that lift weekly scoring. Marks should not be drafted as a back-end starter on that workload alone.

The floor, though, is sturdier than the depth chart suggests. Marks is set to keep the passing-down role he handled often last season, and receiving work holds steady value in points-per-reception formats regardless of who starts. A back who catches passes and stays on the field for third downs retains standalone value and gains more if the situation in front of him changes.

That last point is where the buy-low case lives. Montgomery turns 29 this year and has limited time left on his contract. Houston’s depth behind the top two is thin. Jawhar Jordan is expected to compete for a reserve job, and the room offers little proven production otherwise. If Montgomery’s workload tapers or he misses time, Marks is the clear next man up, and he has already shown he can carry a lead role over a full season.

Marks also stayed mostly available in 2025, missing only Week 16 with a light ankle sprain. He carries no reported injury into the offseason program. His postseason was quiet, with 17 rushing yards and a lost fumble in a 28–16 divisional-round loss to New England, but he had posted 112 scrimmage yards a week earlier in a wild-card win over Pittsburgh.

Houston opens the season at home against Buffalo on Sept. 13. Managers willing to hold a contingent asset with a real pass-catching floor can likely acquire Marks at a discount before that workload picture settles.

The best dynasty managers don’t just draft well; they trade well. Championship rosters are built in the margins, on the players nobody else wants (yet), and the ones everybody wants a little too much.

Buying low means seeing value where the market sees risk. It’s the injured star written off too early, the talented back buried on a depth chart, the rookie whose role hasn’t been handed to him yet. These players cost almost nothing because the upside is uncertain, and uncertainty is exactly what creates the discount. You’re not paying for what a player is today; you’re paying for what he could become.

Selling high is the other half of the equation. When a name is buzzing after one loud game or a hot camp report, that’s often peak value, not the floor of a breakout. Cash in before the shine wears off, then reinvest in the next undervalued bet.

It won’t all hit. Long shots are long shots for a reason. But you only need a couple to pay off to swing a season, and the cost of being wrong is low. Bet on talent, opportunity, and time, and be patient.

• Dynasty Rankings 2026
• Dynasty Rookie Rankings
• Dynasty IDP Rankings

Sean Tucker

RB | Age: 24 | Buried on Depth Chart

Sometimes the best dynasty buys are the ones nobody’s talking about, and Tucker fits the mold, a genuinely talented back stuck behind a name-brand starter, available for pennies. He flashes every time he gets real volume.

His Week 11 explosion at Buffalo last season (19 carries for 106 yards and two scores, plus a 28-yard receiving touchdown, 140 total yards and three TDs) was a reminder that he can take over a game. Tellingly, both times Tucker has finished as a top-20 half-PPR back in his career, he was the overall weekly RB1.

That’s league-winner upside hiding on a bench.

The path is clearer than it looks. Rachaad White left for Washington, and lead back Bucky Irving carries a real injury history, having missed seven games in 2025. One absence, and Tucker has already proven he can carry a featured role in a quality offense. At his acquisition cost, essentially free in most leagues, that’s the asymmetric bet rebuilds are built on.

One honest caveat: Tampa signed Kenneth Gainwell for passing downs, so Tucker’s value is contingent and early-down-tilted. But as a long-shot stash, the price is right, and the talent is real.

Tank Dell

WR | Age: 26 | Injury Recovery

This is the definition of a buy-low. Dell has been all but left for dead in dynasty after a catastrophic multi-ligament knee injury cost him all of 2025, and that pessimism is exactly the opportunity. The price has never been lower, and the upside is a player who, when healthy, was a real difference-maker. In 25 career games with Houston, he piled up 98 catches, 1,376 yards, and 10 touchdowns, and he did it as one of C.J. Stroud’s most trusted targets. That kind of rapport with a franchise quarterback doesn’t just evaporate; it’s the foundation on which a comeback is built.

The signs are encouraging. Dell has been working his way back all offseason and is targeting a 2026 return, with the Texans taking a deliberately patient approach. He’s still just 26 and signed through the season, so a healthy bounce-back carries real multi-year value. Slot him back into three-wide sets next to Nico Collins, and he could reestablish himself quickly.

The honest caveat: This was a severe injury, not a routine one, and Houston added Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel while he was out. But at this cost, you’re paying almost nothing to bet on talent, chemistry, and a story worth rooting for.

Jalen Milroe

QB | Age: 23 | Drafted to be the Future

If you want a true lottery ticket, Milroe is it. The 2025 third-round pick out of Alabama may be the most physically gifted quarterback of his draft class, with a cannon arm paired with genuinely elite, game-breaking rushing ability. In today’s NFL, rushing quarterbacks own the highest fantasy ceilings, and Milroe’s legs alone give him a path to QB1 production the moment he ever starts. That’s the bet.

Right now he’s invisible, which is exactly why he’s free. Seattle handed him a redshirt rookie season behind Sam Darnold, even designing a package of plays to ease him in. A team doesn’t spend a Day 2 pick and build a developmental runway for a quarterback it doesn’t believe in, and a full year learning behind a Pro Bowl starter is close to an ideal setup for a raw prospect.

The honest caveat: The path is now blocked. Darnold just led Seattle to the Super Bowl and is signed long-term, with Drew Lock also ahead of Milroe. He’s raw as a passer and may never get the keys. But quarterback situations change fast, and at this price, you’re buying elite traits and time. For a deep sleeper, that’s the dream profile.

Jalen Coker

WR | Age: 24 | Underrated, Injury Prone

You could argue that Coker shouldn’t be on this list; he’s far more well-known than the rest. Coker is the classic “shown promise, still cheap” dynasty target. An undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross, he’s quietly outplayed his pedigree and locked down a real role, the Panthers’ clear No. 2 receiver behind first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan, ahead of Xavier Legette. Head coach Dave Canales has confirmed the pecking order, and the team listed re-signing Coker among its top offseason priorities. When a staff member prioritizes keeping a former UDFA, they’ve seen something.

The flashes are real. A big-bodied 6-foot-3, 213-pound target, Coker has a knack for explosive play and the contested catch. He scored on an 83-yard bomb as a rookie and was a touchdown machine in college. After a quad injury wiped out the first half of his 2025, he came on strong, finishing second on the team in receiving, then erupting for nine catches and 134 yards in Carolina’s playoff game to lead all receivers. At just 24, with Bryce Young’s trust and an ascending Panthers offense, the arrow points up.

The honest caveat: health is the question; injuries have capped him at 22 games in two seasons, and he sits behind McMillan in the target order. But for a cheap, ascending 24-year-old in a rising offense, that’s a long shot well worth the dart.

[lv] Tre Tucker

WR | Age: 24 | Small, Not Memorable

Tucker is the kind of player dynasty managers scroll right past, a 5-foot-9 speedster who gets dismissed as a gadget piece. That’s the inefficiency to exploit, because the production is already here. In 2025, he set career highs across the board (57 catches, 696 yards, five touchdowns) and led the Raiders in receiving while playing nearly every snap. After Jakobi Meyers was traded to Jacksonville, Tucker stepped in as the team’s clear No. 1 wideout alongside Brock Bowers. That’s a real, every-down NFL role, not a dart throw.

And the ceiling flashes are legit. He’s torched defenses with his speed, including a three-touchdown explosion against Washington and a Week 3 in which he led the entire league in receiving yards. He’s improved every season, and at just 25, his best football should still be ahead of him.

The honest caveat: the Raiders’ offense has struggled, he’s entering a contract year, and a likely rookie quarterback (who are we joking, Mendoza will start by week 4) adds uncertainty to his target share. He’s more of a complementary speedster than a prototype alpha. But for a player with a locked-in role, game-breaking speed, and a dirt-cheap price, the risk-reward is exactly what a long-shot buy should look like.

Brenen Thompson (Rookie)

WR | Age: 22 | Rookie, Buried on Depth Chart

When a coordinator begs his front office to draft a player, pay attention. That’s exactly what happened here: new Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel reportedly pleaded to land Thompson, telling the draft room, “If you can find a way to get Brenen Thompson, I will take my shirt off in here.” 

That kind of internal champion is one of the best leading indicators that a rookie will get a real shot, especially a Day 3 pick who might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

And the trait that excites McDaniel is elite. Thompson ran a 4.26 at the combine, the fastest of any player in the entire class and one of the quickest receiver times ever recorded. He’s a true field-flipping vertical threat who led the SEC with 1,054 receiving yards in his final college season. McDaniel built his early Miami offenses around speed merchants like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and now he gets to run that blueprint with Justin Herbert’s arm. The DeSean Jackson comparisons write themselves.

The honest caveat: at 5-foot-9 and 164 pounds, he’s a slight, fairly one-dimensional prospect right now, buried in a young room behind Ladd McConkey. But with this much speed, this clean a scheme fit, and the play-caller already in his corner, Thompson has a shot with real league-winning juice.

In IDP leagues, position is everything. The same player can be a league-winner or a bench afterthought depending on a single label, because fantasy scoring settings and positional scarcity reward defenders differently.

A tackle-hungry off-ball linebacker, a slot corner who suddenly racks up run-game stops, an edge rusher whose entire value rests on sacks- they live in different fantasy universes, and the line between them is the position next to their name.

That’s why every offseason position change deserves a long look. A move can unlock a player’s IDP ceiling (a defensive back sliding into a tackle-heavy role) or quietly cap it (an edge buried in a rotation). Just as often, the right call is to buy before the market catches up to a new role. 

But a word of caution before you start trading: a lot of these changes are not permanent, and some were never real to begin with. Several are situational, appearing only in base packages that a defense barely uses. Others are pure nomenclature: a 3-4 team calling its edge rusher an “outside linebacker” doesn’t change what he does on Sundays. And rookie roles shift constantly between OTAs, training camp, and Week 1. Treat the labels below as fluid, and pay attention to the assignment, not the abbreviation.

Here’s the 2026 landscape, split into the moves that genuinely change a player’s job and the ones that only change his title. 

Quick Links

• IDP Dynasty Rankings 2026
• Dynasty Rankings 2026

True Position Changes (the role is actually moving)

These are the players whose on-field assignments are shifting, with different alignments, responsibilities, and IDP outlooks. FYI: Sites like MyFantasyLeague are slow on these positional changes.

Cooper DeJean

Position Change: Slot CB to SS (in base Formations)

Per defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, the reigning first-team All-Pro will start at safety in Philadelphia’s base defense and slide back to the slot in nickel. The IDP catch: the Eagles play base only about 20–25% of the time, so this is a part-time hat, not a full conversion. DeJean’s coverage value stays elite, but don’t bank on a safety-sized tackle spike, and watch how your platform lists him, because he may keep nickel eligibility.

Arvell Reese

Position Change: DE to LB

Projected edge to off-ball linebacker. Mocked for months as an edge, the No. 5 overall pick is being deployed at off-ball/Will linebacker next to Tremaine Edmunds, with head coach John Harbaugh describing the role as “positionless.” This is the most exciting IDP swing on the board: if Reese wins an every-down off-ball job, he steps into the most valuable position in the format. The risk is a crowded front and a rookie learning curve, but the upside is a true LB1 ceiling.

Sonny Styles

Position Change: SS to LB

Washington drafted the Ohio State product at No. 7 specifically to bring coverage range to a linebacker room that lacked it. At 6-foot-5 with 4.46 speed, he’s a modern three-down profile. If the snaps are there, converted-safety linebackers with coverage chops are exactly the kind of ascending IDP asset worth targeting early in dynasty.

Caleb Downs

Position Change: CB to SS

The No. 11 pick is slated to play safety in base and kick to the slot in nickel, essentially the DeJean blueprint. That box-and-slot deployment is the IDP-friendly version of versatility, since it puts him near the line of scrimmage and the football. He profiles as a high-floor dynasty safety with real tackle upside.

Kyle Louis

Position Change: Hybrid LB/SS (playing everywhere)

Linebacker/safety hybrid to sub-package role. Drafted as a linebacker, Louis projects as a coverage-focused sub-package piece rather than a traditional off-ball thumper. That limits his immediate IDP tackle floor, but the hybrid skill set is worth a late dynasty stash if the role grows.

Scheme Relabels (same job, new title)

This is the trap. Several edge rushers are now listed as “ROLB,” and it’s tempting to read that as a position change. It isn’t. In a 3-4 or hybrid front, the edge rushers are the outside linebackers; teams simply split them into LOLB and ROLB on the depth chart. A college “EDGE/DE” becomes an “OLB” the moment he joins one of these defenses, but his job is unchanged: rush off the edge, set the edge in the run game. The clean test is scheme plus assignment, a 4-3 team calls that player a DE, and a 3-4 team calls the identical player an OLB.

For real football, this means little. For IDP, it means a lot because the ROLB-vs-DE label drives fantasy eligibility, and that can swing a player’s positional rank far more than it swings his actual role.

Abdul Carter

Position Change: DE To ROLB

Last year’s No. 3 overall pick is a starting edge rusher, full stop. The Giants moved him around the front, but he hasn’t changed positions. His IDP value is sack-driven with a modest tackle floor; the only thing to “track” is whether your platform tags him LB, DE, or (incorrectly) DT; that designation is the whole ballgame for his ranking.

Gabe Jacas

Position Change: DE To ROLB

College edge/OLB to ROLB. New England traded up for the Illinois product in Round 2 and will rush him from their 3-4 front under Mike Vrabel. He played outside linebacker/edge in college (and defensive end back in high school), so “ROLB” is just the pro label for the same role. Rotational early, with pass-rush-dependent IDP value and the usual eligibility question.

Zion Young

Position Change: DE To LB

Baltimore took the Missouri edge in Round 2 and lists him as an outside linebacker. He’s a powerful run-defender with inside-outside rush versatility, sitting behind Trey Hendrickson and Mike Green to start. Same player, 3-4 label, not a major position change, and likely a back-rotation IDP option as a rookie.

T.J. Parker

Position Change: DE To OLB

College edge to OLB in a new 3-4. Parker is the one hybrid case here. He’s a college edge moving to outside linebacker, which sounds cosmetic, but Buffalo is transitioning to a 3-4 under new coordinator Jim Leonhard, so he’s genuinely learning a new front, including more two-point and drop responsibilities. Functionally still an edge rusher, but the scheme change makes his adjustment more real than a simple relabel.

How to Use This in Your Dynasty Leagues

Quick rules of thumb:

Scoring format is everything, but you should buy the real role-changers: defensive backs sliding toward the box (Downs) and edge prospects moving to true off-ball linebacker (Reese, Styles) are where the format-altering value hides. Don’t overpay for the relabels. Carter, Jacas, and Young are good players, but “ROLB” didn’t make them linebackers, and their IDP profiles are the same edge-rusher math as before. And mind your settings, confirm exactly how your platform lists each of these players, because eligibility, not on-field role, is what determines their positional rank on your roster.

Above all, remember the moves aren’t locked in. Base-package-only roles, rookie depth charts, and coordinator preferences all shift between now and September. Revisit these designations once training camp reps and preseason usage give us the real picture.