The WalterPicks team predicts breakout picks, bounce-back candidates, and bust alerts for the 2026 fantasy football season.

The Trey McBride advantage will be short-lived! Fantasy drafters have the memory of a goldfish sometimes, and the disaster that was the 2025 Las Vegas Raiders will quickly be cleaned up. Fernando Mendoza + a healthy PCL will restore Brock Bowers to the top!

Malik Willis showed he has the potential to lead all quarterbacks in rushing in his limited action this season, and he looked great as a passer, too. In his only full game, he scored 31.5 fantasy points, and in ~6 quarters of playing time this season, Willis completed 27/32 pass attempts (84%) for 409 passing yards (12.7 YPA), and two passing TDs. He also ran for 104 yards and two rushing TDs.

The likeliest landing spots for him include: Dolphins, Cardinals, Vikings, and Jets. The Steelers are also possible but less likely.

After averaging a solid 15.1 PPR fantasy points per game in 2025, Omarion Hampton gets two major upgrades to jump up the draft boards in 2026. The Chargers' talented offensive line will start off healthy again, and new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel will be calling the plays. 

Emeka Egbuka started 2025 off on an insane pace but ended the year terribly. If the end of the year pushes his draft cost down, he could easily pay that off with the talent he displayed as a rookie.

Colston Loveland dominated when given opportunities as a rookie, and he is going to be on an absurd amount of my fantasy teams. I love Loveland. 

Christian McCaffrey is coming off another overall RB1 fantasy season. But concerns about his 2025 workload and age could make him a major bust candidate. He saw a career-high 413 touches in the regular season and had another 37 touches in the postseason. McCaffrey will also turn 30 years old this summer.