2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Five Late-Round Players to Target

Fantasy In Frames Team
2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Five Late-Round Players to Target

Welcome to our 2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Five Late-Round Players to Target!

Nailing the later-round picks in your fantasy football drafts is imperative to winning your fantasy football leagues! While everyone knows the early-round stars, league titles are often decided by the undervalued players who dramatically outperform their average draft position (ADP). Those hidden gems tend to get the “fantasy football sleeper” label, and let’s be honest, everyone loves a good sleeper! To help uncover said hidden gems in your drafts, we asked five of our writers here at Fantasy In Frames to highlight their favorite fantasy football sleeper, and why they are set to provide a huge return on investment for fantasy football managers!

Colby Conway: Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts

Of the top 12 quarterbacks from the 2025 season in fantasy points per game, 11 of them are off the board within the top 16 quarterbacks by ADP this year. The lone outlier? Indianapolis Colts’ Daniel Jones, who is QB24 off the board, per NFFC. Yes, he’s coming off an Achilles tear, so running may be limited, but reports out of camp are positive, and let me remind you: he was QB12 in fantasy points per game (18.3) last season! In fact, in Weeks 1-13, he was the QB7 overall!

The concerns with his receiving core are legitimate, and the likely fact that he may not run as much early on surely dings his fantasy value. However, I don’t believe much in this Indianapolis defense, meaning the offense is going to have to score. I believe Shane Steichen is a good offensive mind, and the Colts may find themselves in some shootouts. He’s not someone I’m trusting as my QB1, but with how late he’s going in drafts, he’s a solid late-round QB2 target with some tangible upside.

Kyle Zeigler: Kenneth Gainwell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay backfield looks crowded, but Gainwell is being drafted as an RB3 yet carries high-end RB2 upside. Make no mistake, Bucky Irving isn’t going anywhere, but I don’t think he will average over 20 touches per game like he did last season. Irving missed seven games because of multiple injuries. He also scored only once on 18 red-zone carries, leaving room for Gainwell to carve out a role near the goal line.

The Buccaneers made him a priority in free agency, signing him to a two-year deal with nearly $10 million guaranteed. As much as Baker Mayfield pushes the ball down the field, he will dump it off as well. Since 2023, Mayfield has ranked no worse than QB8 in pass attempts at or behind the line of scrimmage, per Fantasy Points Data Suite. Let your leaguemates sleep on Gainwell while you scoop up one of the biggest draft-day values on the board.

Drew Scott: Jonathon Brooks, Carolina Panthers

If you’ve watched 4th and Frames over the last couple of years, my appreciation for Jonathan Brooks has been well documented. To the point that I selected him as a “My Guy” heading into the 2024 season (hopefully this call works out better than that one). The injury luck has been horrible, but I still believe in his talent and the upside that he could be the best running back to come out of the 2024 NFL Draft class. It’s not like the Panthers disagreed with me either. The dude tore his ACL in November 2023 and Carolina still spent the 46th overall pick in the 2nd round on him despite the injury.

Even though it’s not ideal that he’s now had two ACL tears in the same knee basically one year apart, he appears to be fully healthy (at least as healthy as you can get after two ACL tears) heading into this season. Now, if I was going to bet on someone bouncing back after a brutal injury history like that, I would want it to be a young dude that’s still in the prime years of his career. With almost 1 ½ years since the last injury, I believe he can do what the Panthers drafted him to do, which was take over this backfield. 

I don’t necessarily think Brooks is going to take this job before the start of the season, but pound for pound I do believe that Brooks is a better player than Chuba Hubbard, and I think that’s something the coaching staff won’t be able to ignore once Brooks starts getting involved. Whenever it comes down to it, I just don’t think Hubbard is a starting-caliber NFL running back. There were 49 RBs with at least 100 rushing attempts last season, and among those guys he was:

Right now Hubbard is going off the board as RB29 and Brooks is down at RB34, but I’ve Brooks up at RB30 and Hubbard down at RB38. In my opinion, the running back you want from the Carolina Panthers is currently being drafted as the backup. 

Aidan Weingartner: Chris Rodriguez, Jacksonville Jaguars

I foresee the Jacksonville Jaguars being a very pass-heavy team/offense this season, as their current RB room is a bit shaky from a real-life perspective, to say the least. However, there is a lot of fantasy value here because of that. If you ask me, the Bhayshul Tuten hype is getting out of hand right now, because at best, this is going to be a split backfield between both Tuten AND Chris Rodriguez.

If you are someone who likes to lean into narratives, the clear connection between Rodriguez and Liam Coen is there, as the two spent a dominant season together at Kentucky a few years ago. If this is going to be a committee-type approach from the Jaguars with LeQuint Allen even mixing in on some third downs for pass-catching and/or pass-pro purposes, I want the player who’s going to get those key short-yardage and goal-line carries, which is very likely going to be Chris Rodriguez. 

Jorge Edwards: Jordan Mason, Minnesota Vikings

As a 10th-round selection in 12-team leagues, Jordan Mason finds himself in a position to outperform his ADP and outcarry fellow teammate Aaron Jones. As we all know, volume is King in Fantasy Football, and in 2025, Mason checked all the boxes on efficiency metrics as a pure runner when given bell-cow duties.

Amongst Running Backs on the Vikings last season, Mason was first in:

With an upgrade at the quarterback position in Kyler Murray, whose rushing ability will help move the ball down the field along with his vertical threats at receiver, Mason will be in a great position to maximize his rushing efficiency and opportunity when the Vikings find themselves in scoring position.

Thanks for checking out our 2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Five Late-Round Players to Target. Make sure to check out our fantasy football breakouts and fantasy football busts articles.

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