\n<\/p>\n
NFL free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft will completely shake up the landscape of fantasy football in the coming months.<\/em><\/p>\n Before the roster moves begin, Justin Boone identifies one legendary player from every possible team during the 2026 season.<\/em><\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Benson seemed close to resting when James Conner went down with a season-ending ankle injury in Week 3. Unfortunately, just a week later, Benson suffered a meniscus tear in his knee and was unable to return for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n Although it was a small sample, Benson looked and acted like a more efficient runner early in the season, gaining 170 scrimmage yards on 29 touchdowns through the first three contests, compared to Conner’s 133 yards on 40 attempts.<\/p>\n Coming off a serious injury can be difficult for any back, but it’s especially concerning for the one who turns 31 before next season. Expecting Conner to return to his previous form seems unlikely.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The team also named Benson two years ago to be their tight end and we saw him get a bigger role before two linebackers were injured. The passing of the torch makes sense at this stage of their careers, as the former third-round pick is seven years younger than Conner.<\/p>\n While there is still much to be done in Arizona this offseason, including the hiring of new coaches, Benson has a good chance to emerge as the Cardinals’ leader back in 2026.<\/p>\n The power of a dream explosion<\/strong>: \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n Speaking of succession plans, the Rams made a significant investment in Ferguson, taking him 46th overall in last year’s draft.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The move was a clear sign that they were preparing to replace 33-year-old Tyler Higbee, who is a free agent this offseason.<\/p>\n Despite being buried on the depth chart for his rookie campaign, Ferguson managed to make a dream impact on several occasions. In five games in which he saw at least three targets, Ferguson posted 50 yards and\/or a touchdown four times.<\/p>\n Ferguson also finished the season with double-digit points in back-to-back contests, while Higbee was sidelined.<\/p>\n There will be plenty of quality tight ends to choose from in 2026 and a big reason for that is the influx of talent that came with last year’s starters, led by Colston Loveland, Harold Fannin Jr., Tyler Warren and Oronde Gadsden II. But there are additional members of that class who could emerge as fantasy starters with Ferguson, Mason Taylor and Gunnar Helm already lighting up.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The power of a dream explosion<\/strong>: \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n After starting the season with two 100-yard games in the first three weeks, Pearsall appeared poised to break out before a knee injury derailed his year in Week 4.<\/p>\n When he first tried to return to the lineup in Week 11, he didn’t look like himself and caught just five catches for 20 yards over the next three games.<\/p>\n Since then, he has been in and out of the lineup but posted stats of 6-96-0 in Week 15 and 5-85-0 in Week 17, helping managers who were willing to take a chance on him during a sweet playoff run.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The good news coming out of Pearsall’s sophomore campaign is that he was a top-24 fantasy player four times in six games where he was not limited by injury.<\/p>\n Brandon Aiyuk is not expected to return to the team and George Kittle is dealing with a torn Achilles that could sideline him for most of 2026. Therefore, Pearsall will be a key part of this offense moving forward and a possible fantasy WR2 if he can stay healthy.<\/p>\n The power of a dream explosion<\/strong>: \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n Horton was a rookie fifth-round pick who burst into action for the Seahawks and was playing about 48% of the games before groin and shin injuries sidelined him for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Before the injury, Horton was becoming a true fixture in Seattle’s passing attack with five touchdowns in his first eight games and two of the top 10 weekly legends.<\/p>\n If he was able to offer that as a part of the time, imagine what he will be able to do if his number is called more often in the future.<\/p>\n Also worth noting is that his offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, quoted Justin Jefferson when asked at the beginning of the season if there were any wide receivers he worked with that reminded him of Horton.<\/p>\n With Cooper Kupp fading into his age-33 season and Rashid Shaheed set to hit free agency, we could see Horton step into a more important role in 2026. He’ll be an interesting target at the end of the fantasy season this year, his value only lowered because he missed half the season.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The power of a dream explosion<\/strong>: \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n NFL free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft will completely shake up the landscape of fantasy football in the coming months. Before the roster moves begin, Justin Boone identifies one legendary player from every possible team during the 2026 season. Advertisement Early Exit Candidates Early NFC West Breakout Candidates Arizona Cardinals – Trey Benson, RB …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1882,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions\/1882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Early Exit Candidates<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
Early NFC West Breakout Candidates<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Arizona Cardinals <\/strong>– Trey Benson, RB<\/h3>\n
Los Angeles Rams <\/strong>– Terrance Ferguson, TE<\/h3>\n
San Francisco 49ers <\/strong>– Ricky Pearsall, WR<\/h3>\n
Seattle Seahawks <\/strong>-Tory Horton, WR<\/h3>\n
Early Exit Candidates<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n