The 2026 NFL season’s Week 1 slate is fast approaching. While some fantasy-relevant players have successfully rehabbed their training camp injuries and can be relied upon in fantasy football lineups this week, others require close monitoring.

While many roles across the NFL have already been determined, some teams enter Week 1 with a potential in-house competition looming.

The NFL’s running back landscape shifted during and immediately after teams were forced to trim active rosters down to 53 players, and the league dolled out punitive measures. While some high-upside backup running backs benefitted, others tumbled out of re-draft-relevance.

PFF's signature Power Rankings model establishes a hierarchy of all 32 NFL teams going into the 2026 season, with the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks claiming the first two spots.

Tua Tagovailoa will start at quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 after beating out Michael Penix Jr. Tagovailoa earned a 61.7 PFF grade in 2025 but ranked fifth among qualifying quarterbacks in perfectly accurate throw rate.

Fantasy football draft strategy in 2026 starts with understanding positional value, and for 10-team PPR leagues that means aggressively targeting running backs before building a deep wide receiver corps. PFF's round-by-round blueprint recommends securing two elite running backs through the first two rounds before attacking wide receiver in the middle rounds with players such as A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Luther Burden III.

Nathan Jahnke highlights his perfect draft strategy for 12-team, single-quarterback PPR fantasy leagues ahead of the 2026 season.

The Week 1 fantasy football waiver wire features potential starters, high-upside handcuffs and early-season stashes across every position. Jordan Love, Mike Washington Jr., Rashid Shaheed and Chig Okonkwo headline the players available in more than half of ESPN leagues. PFF’s Waiver Wire Tool can tailor available players and rankings to synced fantasy leagues.

PFF’s Week 1 fantasy football rankings provide PPR rankings for the opening week of the 2026 season. Justin Herbert enters Week 1 as a top-five quarterback with the Chargers facing the Arizona Cardinals. Use PFF’s fantasy tools to find weekly rankings in additional formats.

Nathan Jahnke provides his top 500 players and units in PPR leagues for the 2026 fantasy football season.

Julian Sayin and Arch Manning delivered impressive Week 1 performances before Ohio State and Texas meet in a marquee Week 2 matchup. Sayin earned a 93.1 PFF overall grade against Ball State, while Manning posted a 90.7 PFF passing grade against Texas State. PFF grades and advanced metrics show how both quarterbacks excelled in their 2026 season openers.

College football Week 1 featured LSU’s 51-10 win over Clemson, Miami’s 45-6 victory against Stanford and several one-score finishes. This scoreboard collects the 2026 Week 1 results with direct access to each matchup in PFF Premium Stats Pro. Explore PFF grades, EPA, success rate, pressure and coverage data and other metrics behind each game.

Miami quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Malachi Toney headline PFF’s Week 1 College Football Team of the Week after spectacular performances against Stanford, while Texas quarterback Arch Manning, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and LSU edge defender Jordan Ross are among the other marquee names to earn spots on their respective conference teams.

The 2026 fantasy football quarterback rankings place Josh Allen alone in Tier 1, followed by Drake Maye, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow in Tier 2. Seven tiers rank 32 quarterbacks for redraft leagues while highlighting where meaningful value drops occur at the position. The depth of the rankings gives fantasy managers several opportunities to wait at quarterback and still find weekly starting value.

Quinshon Judkins, Jonathon Brooks and Jacory Croskey-Merritt enter 2026 with opportunities to outperform their fantasy football ADPs. Judkins could benefit from Cleveland's rebuilt offensive line, while Brooks has a clearer path to significant work in Carolina following Chuba Hubbard's injury. Croskey-Merritt enters the season atop Washington's unofficial depth chart with an opportunity to expand his receiving role.

These five players carry significant downside relative to their current ADPs in 2026 fantasy football drafts. Rashee Rice, Cam Skattebo and Davante Adams face concerns ranging from changing roles and workload uncertainty to potential touchdown regression. PFF grades and usage trends also highlight reasons for caution with Lamar Jackson and TreVeyon Henderson at their current draft prices.

Fantasy football wide receiver rankings for 2026 begin with an elite trio led by Puka Nacua, whose NFL-best 96.3 PFF receiving grade over the past two seasons places him atop the position entering draft season.