- It's tough to predict which Bears pass-catcher will thrive: Although D.J. Moore‘s trade opened up a swath of targets, Chicago has multiple young options.
- The Broncos‘ backfield is crowded: J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey return next to intriguing rookie Jonah Coleman.
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In fantasy football, it’s easy to draft a player who is the clear-cut top dog at their position — it’s mostly baked into their ADP mostly. What can be a nightmare is when an offense has so many mouths to feed that you sometimes just close your eyes, pick a player and roll with it.
After all, you want a part of good offenses. But the production may not be there week to week.
Here are some of the muddiest position groups for fantasy football ahead of the 2026 season.
Chicago Bears pass-catchers
Both Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland have received the coveted training camp hype in 2026, while there is hope that Rome Odunze will make a third-year leap. They can all reach their potential in 2026 in real-life football, but the Bears’ offense would need to be historic if all of them were to be week-to-week fantasy-relevant contributors. That may not be a problem after Ben Johnson told The Athletic that he wants to outscore the 2013 Denver Broncos (37.9 PPG), but the likelihood is one of these Bears pass-catchers may end the season as a relative disappointment in fantasy circles.
DJ Moore’s departure has freed up 80 targets, meaning there is a world where at least two of the aforementioned three can see 100-plus targets. Burden recorded just 60 in the regular season, and while his 2.69 yards per route run (second among wide receivers with at least 60 targets) is incredible, will it sustain if another 30 to 40 targets are added to his workload?
After four weeks, Odunze was second among wide receivers in touchdowns with five, and his 76.2 PFF receiving grade was 10th among qualifying receivers. Then injuries took their toll, and it has impacted his fantasy stock since.
With Odunze’s current ADP sitting at 80.4 and him being PFF’s WR29, it showcases a once-potential WR1 in fantasy formats being drafted as a WR3, plus a drop-off in just two short seasons.
Cleveland Browns quarterbacks
If you are in the position whereby you have to start any Cleveland Browns quarterback, things have not gone well for you in a fantasy capacity — at least that’s my guess. The Browns have done absolutely nothing to provide clarity on the situation by naming Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders as co-starters atop the depth chart, meaning the competition figures to be dragged out further.
Watson spent his 2025 recovering from two separate Achilles injuries, while Sanders posted a 42.3 PFF passing grade as a rookie, worst among quarterbacks with at least 250 dropbacks. Sanders was the fantasy QB17 from Week 12, when he got his first start. But don’t be fooled: 34.5 of his 94.4 points came in a Week 14 game against the Tennessee Titans.
The last time we did see Watson, he ranked 24th out of 28 qualified quarterbacks through the first seven weeks of the season with a 63.1 overall PFF grade and had tossed just five touchdowns to three interceptions. Watson was also the QB23 in that time, a very low-end QB2 in superflex formats.
Both are nothing more than spot starters for fantasy right now, covering for injuries and bye weeks. And if you play in deep superflex formats, you may be in a position where you need one of them in a pinch, but it’s not going to be pretty. The fact you could pick the wrong dog in this fight if one plays their way to the bench feels even worse.
Denver Broncos running backs
This situation was rocky enough from a fantasy perspective before the Broncos went out and drafted Jonah Coleman in the fourth round (108 overall) in the spring. Both J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey were making claims to be fantasy starters when given the chance, but which week that would be was a nightmare to predict.
Harvey recorded three top-10 weekly finishes during the first 10 weeks of the season, but amid that were some unusable games of 4.6 and 3.8 points. Meanwhile, through 10 weeks, Dobbins didn’t post a single top-10 finish, but tally five spots inside the top 10, giving him safe RB2 appeal. Then he got injured. From Week 10 onward, Harvey netted two top-five finishes in Dobbins’ absence, and then back-to-back weeks where he was the RB11.
Given Dobbins’ return to health, and the fact he is a very effective rusher when healthy — his 5.0 yards per carry through the first 10 weeks of the season tied for seventh with Bijan Robinson — he still has juice to offer. Likewise, Dobbins’ 80.8 PFF rushing grade was also seventh amongst qualifying backs, showcasing that though Harvey was the exciting rookie from a fantasy perspective, Dobbins was still the No. 1 producer.
Once Dobbins went down, however, Harvey took his chance. From Week 11 onward, Harvey’s five touchdowns tied for third in the NFL. Harvey’s 22 catches in that span were also ninth among running backs. The UCF product was one of just 10 backs from Week 11-18 to generate at least 25 targets, and his 8.2 yards per catch was fifth out of those 10 players.
Injuries have impacted Dobbins’ ADP as he currently sits at 110.9, compared to Harvey’s 83.1. But it’s close enough that both are suffering through the presence of the other. Now, Coleman is in the mix, too. Good luck predicting this backfield from week to week.
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