- Two new homes for the top fantasy running backs: Kenneth Walker and Travis Etienne will look to push for RB1 fantasy value as they sign big new deals this free agency period.
- Mike Evans brings his consistent production to San Francisco: Evans will look for a big bounce back season with the San Francisco 49ers as the team’s potential leading receiver in 2026.
- Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool. Get 25% off your PFF+ annual subscription with code PFFFANTASYPODCAST25.
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
The NFL's legal tampering period opened Monday, resulting in a surge of news as players agreed to terms with new teams throughout the league. The wide receivers stole the show this week, with the running backs taking a back seat, which wasn’t the case last year. Either way, there were plenty of fantasy-relevant moves to dive into.
Listed below are all the key moves from this past week and the first wave of free agency with initial thoughts on how these changes will affect fantasy values in 2026.
The Kansas City Chiefs land Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III
- Fantasy Value: Fringe RB1
The Chiefs were arguably the most running back-needy offense heading into this free agency period because Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco departed after carrying the large majority of the 2025 workload. Hunt and Pacheco accounted for over 80% of the team’s backfield carries and routes run this past season, which Walker can potentially absorb as a player capable of filling both roles.
Walker has experience and success as a lead back, delivering annual RB2 finishes in fantasy while often being held back by missed time. Walker has proven capable of being a receiving back as well recently, seeing 45 or more targets in each of the past two seasons, to go along with his sizable rushing workload. Walker has earned an elite 94.1 PFF rushing grade since entering the league in 2022, which trails only Derrick Henry among backs with at least 500 carries over that span.
Kansas City’s offense should have no problem leaning on Walker in the run game while allowing him to add value on passing downs as a potential three-down player. Assuming that Patrick Mahomes is back healthy in 2026 as well, the Chiefs should get back on track as one of the more high-scoring offenses, creating a lot of high-value goal-line touches for Walker to capitalize on as well. If healthy, fantasy managers could finally get that weekly RB1 season from Walker that we’ve been expecting for several years now.
Travis Etienne Jr. looks to take over the New Orleans Saints backfield
- Fantasy Value: Fringe RB1
Etienne has delivered two top-12 fantasy finishes over the past three seasons, including a great bounce-back year in 2025, which helped him land a juicy new contract with the Saints, potentially as Alvin Kamara’s replacement. As of this article, Kamara is still on the team, though there have been speculation that Kamara could be released or even retire this offseason. This would make a lot more sense now that the team has brought Etienne in on a large new contract, and he can play Kamara's rushing and receiving roles.
Etienne has over 900 carries and nearly 200 receptions in his four-year NFL career, which has been a massive part of his fantasy value through the years. With those high-end opportunities, Etienne owns an 86.1 PFF rushing grade, 25th among 38 running backs with at least 500 carries since 2022. While not stellar numbers, he has been effective and should be again in Kellen Moore’s offense. As a receiver, Etienne’s 67.7 career PFF receiving grade ranks 23rd among 51 running backs with at least 500 routes run since 2022. Considering he should be in for another big role, assuming Kamara is indeed done in New Orleans, there’s no reason not to expect strong results from Etienne again in 2026, operating as a potential low-end RB1, high-end RB2.
Mike Evans lands with the San Francisco 49ers
- Fantasy Value: Low-end WR2/high-end WR3
Evans to the 49ers was our ideal landing spot last week heading into free agency, and it was (the only) one to come to fruition, so we’ll absolutely take it for fantasy purposes. Despite coming off an injury-marred campaign in 2025, which caused him to fall well short of his 13th consecutive season of over 1,000 receiving yards, the 33-year-old Evans is not far removed from being one of the best seasons of his career in 2024. Evans delivered a career-best 2.52 yards per route run and the second-best PFF receiving grade (90.2) of his career two seasons ago and will look forward to a potentially resurgent year in San Francisco.
With the 49ers losing both Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne to free agency, that left a significant hole to fill in the passing game that Evans should have no real problem filling for at least another season. George Kittle is also coming off a torn Achilles, which leaves an even bigger hole for Evans to fill in the passing game, all of which should lead to solid fantasy production from Evans.
The 49ers passing offense heading into 2026 should be headlined by Evans, even with younger first-round pick Ricky Pearsall looking to take another step forward in his development. Evans should be the go-to target in the red zone and on the outside, so he’ll likely help his fantasy production with more quality targets, even if not through truly elite volume. A low-end WR2 season is certainly possible in Evans' new role, though it’s more likely he returns closer to WR3 value on the year.
Michael Pittman Jr. is traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers
- Fantasy Value: WR3
Pittman joins D.K. Metcalf in a new-look Pittsburgh offense, run by head coach Mike McCarthy. It's hard to view last year as anything more than a disappointment for Metcalf after setting career lows in receptions (59) and receiving yards (850). Now, the passing offense gets a little more crowded with Pittman joining the fray, as he’s been a 100-plus target-earner in each of the past five seasons and will provide much stronger competition for targets than what the Steelers had at the position last year opposite Metcalf.
Both Pittman and Metcalf may have relevant fantasy value together in Pittsburgh, but considering that the quarterback position is still a question mark, as they don’t know if Aaron Rodgers will return, it’s a questionable receiving corps for fantasy. McCarthy’s team passing rates over the years have typically been above league average, which was also the case for the Steelers last year with Rodgers under center, and it could create enough fantasy production for two pass-game options to be useful for fantasy, but again, the quarterback will likely matter.
As we await Rodgers’ decision, and knowing some of the other possible names out there that could move into the team’s QB1 role, Pittman isn’t in a terrible position to deliver for fantasy, but expectations should at least be tempered. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pittman come in under 100 targets for the first time since his rookie season, and that’ll likely push him into that WR3 range for fantasy purposes, as Metcalf is also sure to get his looks in the pass game.
Wan’Dale Robinson becomes a new target in the Tennessee Titans’ passing game
- Fantasy Value: WR3
Robinson is coming off a career year, finishing as the overall WR11 in PPR, in large part due to elite volume as the New York Giants’ top consistent option in the passing game following Malik Nabers’ early season-ending injury. Robinson became slightly more than the short-pass screen game option in 2025 out of necessity without Nabers, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll remain in a similar role, even with a receiver-needy Titans team and his 2025 head coach Brian Daboll running the offense.
Robinson fell into WR1 production in a perfect 2025 situation, though all of his efficiency numbers tell a better story for what to expect, finishing just outside the top-50 in PFF receiving grade, 21st percentile in fantasy points versus expected and much closer to a WR2 in his per-game stats. That was in an ideal situation where he was the clear WR1, though, while the Titans’ receiving corps is still thin, it will more than likely continue to add in that regard with plenty more cap space and a need to do so.
As a primarily slot receiver, Robinson will have to contend with Chimere Dike, who impressed as a rookie, though Robinson’s contract should give him a massive edge in that regard, as it could relegate Dike back to more of a specialist role. While 2025 was great for Robinson’s fantasy value, the more realistic view is that it was a likely outlier season, so he’s more likely to return closer to WR3 value in a less-than-ideal offense.
Isaiah Likely fills a significant need for the New York Giants
- Fantasy Value: Fringe TE1
Likely rejoins former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh in New York to serve as their new starting tight end and a top target in the passing game for quarterback Jaxson Dart. Likely is coming off a disappointing season in 2025, despite looking on track to potentially usurp long-time TE1 in Baltimore, Mark Andrews, after the 2024 season. Unfortunately, injuries have kept Likely’s career somewhat in check, though a fresh start may be just what he needs to succeed as a legitimate weekly fantasy option.
Without Andrews to limit his ceiling, Likely will have a shot to deliver on some of his promising underlying metrics, including a 1.45 career yards per route run mark, which ranks 17th among 40 qualifying tight ends since 2022. Fantasy managers should expect to see a significant improvement from his past fantasy seasons and make him more worthy of fantasy draft capital. Even though emerging as a top-six fantasy tight end is going to take a massive improvement, his range of outcomes as the Giants’ weekly TE1 should be good enough to create fringe TE1-TE2 fantasy production on a weekly basis, likely finishing as a low-end TE1 or high-end TE2 in a fully healthy season.
Malik Willis is the new starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins
- Fantasy Value: Low-end QB2
Willis is now expected to be the starting quarterback in Miami after the team took on a $99 million dead cap to release Tua Tagovailoa and sign Willis to a three-year deal worth over $67 million. It’s a bold move from an NFL standpoint, and one that should at least have us somewhat skeptical for fantasy purposes, as Willis is an unproven commodity that has rarely returned any real fantasy value in his four-year career.
Willis started three games for the Tennessee Titans as a rookie and none in Year 2 with the team before signing on as a backup in Green Bay. In his three starts in Tennessee, Willis averaged just 78 passing yards per game with no passing touchdowns. He averaged 31.7 rushing yards per game in those starts with one rushing touchdown. Obviously, not ideal production, though he improved slightly as a spot starter in Green Bay in 2024, starting two games and averaging 162 passing yards per game and one passing touchdown per game. He also added an average of 57 rushing yards per game and one more rushing touchdown. Still, not enough to be a true starting fantasy option. In 2025, Willis filled in for a concussed Jordan Love in Weeks 16 and 17, averaging a strong 23.4 fantasy points per game and the best showing of his career. However, a two-game sample size is hardly enough to get too excited about, as it still looks like an outlier for his career.
That being said, Willis can have value, not too dissimilar from Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield after bouncing around the league a little bit – though they also come with more pedigree as starters and draft capital. It’s good for Willis to hold some QB2 fantasy value that he might be able to outperform, but for the top fantasy options in Miami like Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane, it remains to be seen if he’s a notable enough improvement over Tagovailoa from the past few years to allow them to flourish in an above-average offense.
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