Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Dave Richard's All-In List! 14 Players to Prioritize for 2026! AJ Brown, Chase Brown, Emeka Egbuka, Colston Loveland, & More! (08/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Dave Richard reveals his 2026 All-In List — the players he’s willing to draft earlier than both the CBS Sports and FantasyPros ADP. From Chase Brown and A.J. Brown to Emeka Egbuka, Colston Loveland, Jaylen Waddle and more, Dave breaks down where he’d take each player compared to where they’re currently going in drafts.Plus, Dave highlights the players he’s been high on since early in the offseason and explains why he’s willing to reach for them.Dave’s 2026 All-In List includes: Chase Brown, A.J. Brown, Emeka Egbuka, Colston Loveland, Jaylen Waddle, Parker Washington, Rico Dowdle, Patrick Mahomes, Isaiah Likely, KC Concepcion, Jonah Coleman, Malik Washington, Ray Davis and MarShawn Lloyd.Who are you all-in on for 2026?

Dave Richards, all in list right now on Fantasy Football Today Express. All right, Dave, this list should get you excited to do fantasy drafts this year. Are you excited? I've been excited because a lot of the names on this list have been on the tip of my tongue since March, April. I mean, we're going back several months with a lot of these guys. And I'm just happy that they're in a position still to be big time factors in fantasy. I want to start with Chase Brown, who still does not have an ADP in round one. I think he absolutely deserves it.

Look and see what he did last year, week eight on through the rest of the season. This is right before Somaget P. Rines injury and the floodgates kind of open for him to get a lot of work in that Cincinnati offense. Burrow was there for a bunch of those games as well, 21.2 full PPR points per game, 16.5 non-PPR points per game on 19.4 touches per game. That is first round stuff. And Cincinnati's offense is healthy now. The offensive line should be better this year. The defense should be better. You've heard me mention that when we've talked about Chase Brown on the main show.

I am getting to the point where if we go a few more days where Christian McCaffrey is out with tightness and they're not clarifying what that is or when he'll be back, I'm going to play it safe and take 26-year-old Chase Brown over 30-year-old Christian McCaffrey. Chase Brown number one, number two, a different Brown, AJ Brown. Adam, you kind of helped talk me into this one because AJ Brown, what we got from him last year overall, 14.1 PPR points per game. I don't think that's who he is. And in fact, that is not who he is because in his last six regular season games, 19.8 PPR points on 9.3 targets per game. He's moving from Philadelphia to New England. He's moving from Jalen Hertz to Drake May. He's moving from Kevin Petulow's offense to Josh McDaniel's offense.

And we've seen number one receivers in McDaniel's offenses get north of nine targets per game 14 times in his coaching career. That's a lot. I think that's about 70% of the time, actually. So I'm going to bank on that on A.J. Brown. His ADP is between 20 and 24th overall wherever you look. I will take him 16th overall in full BPR. I love it.

so far. Ameca Abuka at the end of round three, round three, four turn. That's where a mecca abuka is going right now. And he's just left practice the day before with a toe injury. They're saying that it's minor. We've got about a month before the football season starts. And maybe I should remember that when I think about Christian McCaffrey too. But if a mecca abuka starts practicing again, even if it's 10 days, two weeks from now, talking closer to late August, as long as he's practicing with plenty of time before week one, I'm going to have no problem with this pick. We know that he was a stud to begin last year. And then the numbers fell off after he got hurt, but the targets didn't. It took Mike Evans coming back from his collarbone injury

last year for a Mecca Abuka's target volume to go down. I think it goes up now. We don't know when Jaylon's going to be back. We know Mike Evans is gone. I think this Bucke's team is going to throw a good amount. I think Abuka is being counted on to be their number one guy and a red zone threat. That was a role that Mike Evans had last year that Abuka couldn't. really touch. Now he can touch it. His ADP, after round three, I would take him in round three. A little nervous. I was a little nervous about Colston Loveland if I had to use an early round four pick. ADP suggests it's a mid to late round four pick. But now with the Luther Burden injury and burden, it's still not clear that he's going to be ready for week one, but let's just assume he is.

But he's going to be out for the preseason. Yeah, I'm fired up to get Colston Loveland now. When would you take him? I would take him end of round three at the earliest. But really I'm hoping that he slides into early round four. That means that I'm picking somewhere between pick nine and 12 in my drafts. It's a 10 team league. Now we're talking about pick seven through 10. And I can just nab him then. And the value should be outstanding.

I'm going to give you some cherry picked averages. This is going to make you even more hype for Colson Loveland. He had nine games last year with five or more targets. Average 10.6 non-PPR points on 7.6 targets per game. Let's up that by one target. five games with six or more targets, 10.2 targets per game, 14.6, non-PPR points per game, 21.2 full PPR points per game. I'm not going to draft him with that type of expectation. And if I did, he would be a first round pick. But he is going to be a game breaker in Chicago.

I think he leads the Bears and targets this year. He's going to be worth that round three slash four selection. Those are the top four players, at least in ADP that Dave is targeting Chase Brown, AJ Brown, Emeka, Buka, Colson Loveland. We're going to come back with more of Dave's all-in team after this. Jalen Waddle is a guy that you can get around 50th right now in average draft position. When would you take Jalen Waddle? I would take him as soon as 36th overall, but really I'm aiming for round four. And Adam, you can attest to this.

From the moment the Broncos traded for Jalen Waddle, I've been driving this bandwagon. I think they got him for a reason. He's a versatile receiver who can line up anywhere. We know that he's speedy. I think he's got great hands still. Remember, in Miami, he was third fiddle behind not only Tyree Kill, but Devon A. Chan, and that was with Tuatunga Vailoa, who was so hyper-focused on getting the ball out quick that that cost opportunities for Jalen Waddle. He was almost somebody that they just, they had him running routes, and he was getting cardio and he wasn't getting the type of target volume that we wanted him to have or that we think he deserved to have. Now he's going to Denver.

They are in desperate meat of a playmaker at wide receiver. they've tried it with Troy Franklin. They've tried it with Marvin Mims. I think Corlin Sutton is who he is. And I think Sutton's going to get some good target volume too. But I think Jalen Warren was brought in for a reason. It's to diversify this offense a little bit more, make them more explosive and put them in positions not only to get those layup targets that we love at them, but the long ball targets too. That's Jalen Waddle.

Next up is Parker, Washington, who right now is like around 7-8-ish pick. And you don't buy that. you don't think it's going to stay that way. Where would you take for Washington? I would take him in round five in full PPR. It would be a little bit later than that in non-PPR, probably round six. But I think you should go into your drafts expecting them to go in round six. And if you see him after round six, take them, put them on your team and you will benefit from it.

Oh, so much. We know that he had seven targets per game from week seven on last year. That's really when he started to two things happen. Number one, he started to click in the offense. And number two, Travis Hunter got hurt, didn't come back. And that opportunity gave Parker Washington the stepping stone he needed to be a full-time player in the offense. And on those seven targets per game, 14.4 full PPR points per game, 9.9 non-PPR points per game. That includes games he got hurt in.

You like to take those games out at him. I do not. And he had 19 plus PPR points in each of his last four games, including the postseason. I can't say he's going to get you 19. I think he might be right around 14. That's how I'm drafting him. I expect him to lead the Jaguars in targets, catches, and probably close in yards and touchdowns

between him and Brian Thomas Jr. Let's talk about Rico Dowdell going 73rd overall on CBS, going 82nd overall on fantasy pros, and he's the guy that you're looking for in the Steelers backfield. Rico, I will remind you that he came into this league as an undrafted free agent, courtesy of Mike McCarthy.

He was on the Cowboys, boys, even when he was hurting out for the year, thanks to Mike McCarthy. He was given a chance to be the starter for the Dallas Cowboys. Who was the head coach? It was still Mike McCarthy. He is now the head coach in Pittsburgh, and I think he knows what he's got in Rico Dowdell. And I would not be surprised in the least if Dowdell had an edge in carries and wasn't

too far behind in catches either. He's been better than Jalen Warren in Inside the Five success rate, each of the last two seasons. And Warren's had a little bit of an edge as far as receiving efficiency and avoided tackle rate over the last couple of years. But Dowdell's been really close in both of those categories. So there could be a scenario where they're rotating drives. There could be a scenario where Dowdle and Waddle kind of mix and match on every drive and then they see who the hot hand is and they go to them. I think Rico Dowdell can still pick up a good amount of the receiving share from this backfield, from Aaron Rogers when he does decide to get the ball out fast.

And I think Dowdell is best suited to handle the goal line for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That offensive line isn't bad either. His ADP is actually very different. On CBS, it's around 73rd overall. And on fantasy pros, it's 83rd overall. Let's split the difference. I would take him somewhere around that round seven range that we're talking about here. I would do one more in depth here.

It's Patrick Mahomes, a little bit after pick 100. and he was doing great last year. I guess my beef with Mahomes is he was doing so much of it with his legs. And now he's coming off a torn ACL. And each of the previous two years, 2023 and 2024, talking about like QB 10, QB 11, basically, per game. But is the guy that you like Patrick Mahomes?

There's no question that Kenneth Walker is going to make an impact on Patrick Mahomes and what he does and what this Chiefs offense does and how they operate. But that can also benefit Mahomes and make them a more efficient thrower because if defenses start to focus on stopping Walker, and I think that they might, if Walker gets off to the start that everybody thinks he's going to get off to, then Mahomes is going to take advantage

every single time he's got one-on-one matches. Remember, this is Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. If you have any questions about where this offense is going to run through, Walker is awesome, but it's going to run through Patrick Mahomes. That's how they got to the Super Bowl three years in a row once upon a time. It wasn't that long ago. I think that there's absolute appeal. for Mahomes based on the ADP.

He's going after 100th overall. He should go before then. And in some of our drafts where quarterbacks go later, I'm taking him as my second quarterback. I don't care. There was a draft that we did. I had Drake May on my team. That's a top five fantasy QB.

I don't care. I still took Patrick Mahomes in round 12 because that value is too good to be true. And you mentioned it, Adam, first six games last year. Again, this is without a big running game for Kansas City. But that was 28.1 fantasy points per game for Mahomes. And that was without Rishi Rice on the field.

His number actually went up when Rishi Rice was on the field in those first two games. And then obviously things fell apart for Kansas City. Their offensive line wasn't good. And then Mahomes got hurt. I still think he'll run a little bit. I'm not going to say he's going to run as much as he has in prior years. But I think he'll give you a couple of fancy points that way. And I think the efficiency will take a turn for the better in 2026.

All right. The rest of Dave's list is Isaiah likely, Casey Concepcion, Jonah Coleman, Malik Washington. Why him? I think he's going to be the top target getter in Miami, just a short area target, an easy guy for Malik Willis to throw two off of RPO's and short slant, stuff like that. And he's got good speed so he can make a couple of big plays after the catch. Ray Davis and Marshawn Lloyd, good handcuffs there at the end.

And we've talked a lot about likely. He's just the value is just so good for him. And the reports out of Giants training camp have been glowing for him. And everybody else, not as much. I mean, we can talk about neighbors and how he's ascending physically. And obviously, that's been glowing too. but likely seems to be the guy that's consistently been performing in Giants camp. Yeah, but on that note, even the offensive coordinator, Matt Nagy himself acknowledged Jackson Dart is struggling right now.

So that off, and likely is excelling right now with neighbors off the field. But I mean, I completely agree. I just think it's very important to note that it's not good when you hear bad stuff about an offense and training camp. Because right now, everyone's supposed to be great. And it's very clear that Jackson Dart is having a bad training camp. At least, you know, maybe it's not terrible. But again, he's not getting sacked. So every quarterback should be doing pretty well right now and he isn't.

Just keep that in mind. More so for Dart than for likely. Likeley's ADP is so good. Sure. If Dart's really struggling, then likely someone that he's going to lean on because that's a short area target and a guy, again, who can make a play after the catch. Two things in mind. Number one, we still have a month ago before the season starts.

So I would imagine the Giants practices will get better. better for Jackson Dart. And number two, just because a team looks bad in camp doesn't mean they can't get better in the season. The exhibit that I learned from last year, the exhibit A is the Chicago Bears offensive line. When I saw them in training camp, they looked terrible. There were so many penalties. And by the time we got to the middle of the season, they were one of the best offensive lines in the league. Right. And that was a team that also was just struggling offensively in camp. And it was a team that had a new offensive coordinator and a young quarterback, second year quarterback, the same exact situation as a giant.

So, yeah, we'll give them time to work it out. Thank you to Dave Richard with this all-in list. And we will talk to you tomorrow with a mock draft and a mailbag on fantasy football today. Podcasts.