Lineup Fantasy Football Show - 5 Sleepers for Dynasty Fantasy Football 2026 (with one League Winner)

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

We share five of our favorite sleepers to buy and target in Dynasty Fantasy Football leagues...including one LEAGUE WINNER! Analysis and thoughts on the 2026 Fantasy Football season's biggest sleepers and breakouts in Dynasty Leagues! 1:07 - Jonathan Brooks 7:13 - Isaiah Likely 11:10 - Jack Bech 15:05 - Tory Horton 19:45 - Malik Washington Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2025, we saw sleepers breaking out like Drake May, Michael Wilson, and Rico Doudal. Today, we've each brought two of our favorite sleepers for Dynasty Fantasy Football in 26, and then we will close it out with our shared league winner that you can go out and acquire for Dynasty Fantasy Football. Welcome into the lineup Fantasy Football Show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mellow. And we are not going to waste anybody's time.

Let's jump right into things. Actually, I will waste your time quickly. I would have put Parker Washington on this list, but I've said his name. 3,200 times this off season. So just consider Parker Washington an honorable mention. Parker Washington is like an implied member of any list we make.

That's a good thing. If we're talking about anything good, just know, okay, Parker Washington is also on this list, even if they didn't talk about them. I can't call him a sleeper anymore because I'm hoping we've woken everyone up. Yeah, we're going to keep waking people up.

All right, let's jump into our dynasty sleepers, Mello, give me your first one. We're getting nastier than Parker Washington today, Mitch. We're going to be disgusting, absolutely. nasty boys today. The disgusting boys are back. We are the disgusting boys. I'm starting off with Jonathan Brooks.

Ugh. It's so disgusting, but that is exactly why I love it. That is why he is a sleeper to me. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Let's talk about why this is so gross. He has devastatingly torn his ACL, the same ACL, twice in the last three years, first in 2023 while playing for Texas and college. and then obviously in 2020 is for gear with the Panthers as well.

That first ACL tear really adversely affected his draft stock. He fell into the second, I think largely because of that ACL tear, that injury concerns. And then of course we saw it come to fruition in 2024 when he tore it again. And that's why he's super risky. Somebody people do not want to invest in tearing that same ACL twice. He's on a team that had two mostly effective running backs last year. so he's kind of this forgotten man anyways.

But all of this is why you can get him for so cheap and why he is such a great sleeper. Rico Dattle, the first of those two running backs in Carolina, I refer to. He's gone. He was really their starter last year. He was the better of those two guys. He's a stealer now, so you don't have to worry about him.

And the Panthers haven't really done anything else in free agency to replace him aside from sign A.J. Dillon, who has injury issues of his own. and hasn't been good in years and years. So I'm not really concerned. I think AJ Dylan's a bigger threat on like farm simulator on Twitch than he is on the field. Yes. I think that is a great way to put it.

Not to get too off track here, but I don't think any player has gotten as many ad deals doing as little as he did in the NFL. So shout out AJ Dylan. I feel robbed that I didn't get huge quads because I would have milked it too. Yeah, it is the quads. It's 100% the quads. But he's not a real threat in this backfield. So that just leaves the other guy from last year, Chuba Hubbard,

who I think is very far from a lock to get workhorse treatment or even to hold on to the job, considering he couldn't hold on to it last year. He lost the starting job just last year. I don't think he's all that good. In fact, last year, he only averaged 3.8 yards per carry and 2.45 yards after contact per carry, which ranked 101st in the NFL among all halfbacks.

Yikes. Not good at all. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Rico Dattle, who we talked about, with that same offensive line in that same system, averaged a whole 0.7 yards more in terms of yards per carry and a whole 0.67 yards per carry. Mitch, never let me do that again. I was like, cut the episode. Can we end the episode right now? I feel disgusted with myself that I even tried to do that. Being nasty boys right now, so I'll allow it. I feel even more. I'm going to go take a shower after this episode. I feel even more disgusting right. now. But my point being is Chuba is not good.

Rigo Dattle was much better in the same system for a reason. And now without Dattle there, it's just Jonathan Brooks, who again, I know the risky injury history, ACL, all that shit. But going into next year, he'll be well over a year removed from

that second ACL tier. And he was considered the best running back prospect in that 2023 draft for a reason. He is very, very good. And we've seen, other running backs, high prospects with early ACL tears in their careers in college that make it work. Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, probably two of the best examples who had phenomenal careers, maybe not the longest careers, because the entry is eventually caught up,

but really superstars for, what, four or five years apiece probably. And I'm not saying we see Jonathan Brooks reach those heights, but I actually do think that kind of upside is there. And if nothing else, I think he can be a starter for the Carolina Panthers if he takes his job from Chuba. yet he's the 51st ranked dynasty running back on fantasy pros, consensus rankings. He's kind of a forgotten guy that you can now get an incredible discount on. Yeah, I think this is, when we talk sleepers and we talk about guys that you're looking for

that are a low price that actually have that lottery ticket potential, like this, this is perfectly fitting that archetype. You talked about Chuba just simply not being that good last season, but we're getting buzz and people getting excited because Canales came out and said Chuba Hubbard can absolutely handle being a running back one. I just want to remind people that, like, there was a lot of positive coach speak last year when Chuba came back and we're not going to let a guy lose his job to injury and all that.

So, like, take it with a grain of salt. I think people are like, of course, it's March. That is what we have to go off of is what your head coach is saying. But, like, at the end of the day, I'll be honest, like, Dave Canales, like, this team's got to start actually winning soon and winning legitimately. And, like, he's not just going to throw Chub out there because of some, like, loyalty to him, like, he's going to put out the guy who gives them the best chance to win. And like you're saying, if Jonathan Brooks comes back healthy, like, the talent is there. The situation should be there. We just

saw what Rico Dowdell did. And I don't think Rico Dowdell is like a world beating talent at running back. So, like, I think this is a smash, smash pick for a guy that you don't have to pay all that much for. Yeah, he's, he's being priced fully as like a backup running back. But I think of all the backup running backs. He has, he's toward the top in terms of the upside of what he could be immediately. And the fact he's so young, he's got a whole career ahead of him, hopefully. So he's a lottery ticket, like you said. And it's one I want to pay for. Yeah, I feel like we're more commonly taking shots on guys that we've seen enough out of to know that they're not going to take the next step. Here's a guy that like, we haven't seen a large enough sample size to know what he is.

Like, it could be anything. It could even be Chuba Hubbard. Hopefully not. Although honestly, ironically, if he does turn into Chuba Hubbard, at least for a couple of years, he's still being under value. He'd still be a value at right at 51. Yeah, he could be a boat. I love that pick, though. I'm going to talk about a guy who's a little bit more high profile. I talked about two wide receivers for our buys, and so I was like, I got to get out of the wide receivers for a little bit. I just wrote an article talking about this guy and how excited I am for him. But let me talk about the 25-year-old tight end, Isaiah likely, being priced right now as the 10. tight end 15, officially now tied to Jackson Dart. From week four when Dart got his first start

to week 17 last season, Theo Johnson, a fourth round second year tight end received 64 targets from him. In comparison, Isaiah likely received 34 from Lamar Jackson and his fellow Ravens tight end end Mark Andrews, who is the starter, received 57. So neither one of those guys got as many targets as Theo Johnson got in this Giants offense. Now fast forward to 26, the Giants just paid Isaiah likely three years, $40 million with incentives up to 47 and a half. Money talks. We're already seeing the buzz about how excited in New York is to have likely. Dan Duggan of the Athletic reporting that the expectation is that the Giants are going to make likely a quote, featured piece. In nine games in his career as the starting tight end without

Mark Andrews, Isaiah likely averaged 3.4 receptions for 50.4 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game, which I feel like when you hear that in a vacuum, it doesn't sound like a lot. But if you extrapolate that, over a 16-game stretch for a full fantasy season. Guess where Isaiah likely would have finished last year? Tell me, brother. Tight-end three. Jeez. I think there is incredible value here for a tight end

who's shown the flashes, obviously, and the ability to be an elite tight-end one, who will now be back with his former head coach in John Harbaugh and unleashed with a QB who seems to make it a point to get his tight ends involved in the offense. I think if you can move a mid-second round pick, especially this year in a weaker draft class or even like a wire receiver three or four

on your roster for Likely, it's like an absolute smash pickup. I love Isaiah Likely. I think a lot of people do. A lot of people thought he should have played more in Baltimore over the corpse of Mark Andrews, which Now he gets the chance to be the full-time started with the Giants.

And if you look at the guys being ranked ahead of them at the tight-in position, you have a 32-year-old George Kittle who I can't say anything bad about George Kittle, except for the fact he's 32 and coming off a torn Achilles. But I don't think he should be being ranked above Isaiah Likely. Brenton Strange, like, what are we doing? What are we talking about? What are we talking about with Brenton Strange?

He doesn't have nearly the upside of likely. Dalton Kincaid, who we are not Dalton Kincaid guides. We've talked about that on this podcast. I think people are still sleeping on Isaiah Lakeley despite getting the contract. And despite being the clear top tight end on an offense where they could take a huge step up. and he could be on this high-powered offense. So now I do think is the time to buy before the breakout does fully happen, which I do anticipate it coming soon.

And I think a lot of people, like, if you want to go and poke holes in this argument, you might say like, oh, well, Malik Neighbors is back. So what are those 64 targets to Theo Johnson? Isaiah likely is a hell of a lot more talented than Theo Johnson, and it has done a lot more already to show that. And so, like, I don't care that Malik Neighbors is coming back. Isaiah likely is going to get his. and he is surely going to be more talented and more, like, impressive than the Titan 15.

His production, I mean. Billion percent. And also, for what it's worth, we talked about on last episode, Wondale's gone. So, like, Wondale's gone. Yes, Malik is going to eat up a lot of targets because he wasn't there last year. He was hurt. But it's not like Wondale's still there who was the one eating up those targets. So there's still going to be plenty of targets to go around.

That's 140 vacant targets from Wondale Robinson. Great, great point. Yeah, Malik will take a ton of those, but I mean, Isaiah likely is going to be the next biggest beneficiary. So I love Isaiah Luckily going forward. Hell yeah. All right, give me your next one.

All right, let's keep rolling around in the mud here. Mitch, I'm getting even nastier here. I'm getting real nasty today. I'm just feeling it. I am going to talk about another receiver here, and I'm going to talk about Jack Betch of the Las Vegas Raiders. Talk about a podcast.

Post-hyped sleeper. Post-hyped sleeper. Oh, people were enamored with Jack Betch coming out as a rookie drafted by the Raiders in the second rounds. People loved him. Did not work out at all. He is now being ranked as the 91st highest-ranked dynasty receiver on fantasy pros. And it would be more than fair to say his rookie year was a complete disappointment.

Because it was, just like the rest of the Raiders season. It was a complete disappointment. Yeah, it's like, you could say that about every player on the Raiders roster. Literally, every single player. but I think there is such hope for year two. And we've already talked about in the show both of us. We are bullish on the Raiders starting to turn things around. Clint Kubiak, obviously.

They get the first pick with Mendoza, the offensive line changes. So they are going in the right direction. Yet this wide receiver room is still putrid on paper at least. And they didn't really do anything in free agency besides bring in Jalen Naylor, who doesn't really scare me all that much. Like, okay, Jalen Naylor, he was the wide receiver. 3 on the Vikings. And sure they could draft a wide receiver, and I think a lot of people are projecting that

with one of their top picks. But I think that risk is more than baked into how Jack Betch is being evaluated right now in Dynasty and in redraft as well for that matter. So I'm not too scared. And even if they do draft a receiver, I think Jack Betch will likely still have to be a big part of this offense. And he started to be at the end of last year in terms of. of snap count. He took a while to get going. His first four games, he only averaged seven and a half

snaps per game. But by his final four games, he was averaging 37 and a half snaps per game, which is kind of typical for rookies. We see them eventually get going. He's big. He's fast. He's strong. All of these things we talked about when he was a rookie getting drafted, which is why he was a second round pick. He's got super reliable hands. Last year, he led all Raiders wide receivers and contested catch percentage. That just shows the type of receiver he is, reliable. Is he a lot to break out? No, of course not. But that's why he's a sleeper and I think a worthwhile one to pursue. If you believe in this offense turning it around and you believe in him having that year to breakout and being a part of this offense, it's fully in his range of outcomes. And he's so dirt cheap right now. He's a

guy I want to take a shot on. This is such a good pick. Last summer, he peaked as the wide receiver 48 in Dynasty, midsummer around like July, June. And so can you really realistically expect any wide receiver to break out with what Gino Smith did last year? No, and none of them did. Like, of course not. And so we've talked with Bowers and with Gentie about burning the tape a little bit. And I think Jack Bash deserves that same grace. And now getting him at the 91st pick, it's like, look, if you felt a certain way about Jack Bash, did he do anything on the field? last year that made you lose confidence in him? I don't think so.

And so if he believed in the talent before, you're getting him at such a lower price, it's not even like close. And so I think this is a great, great shot. If you never believed in the talent to begin with, and of course not, but like most people did, I know for a fact, because he was like one of the biggest rookie names and biggest sleepers last off season.

So I think this is a fantastic pick. I have been talking up Gentie and Bowers for this exact reason that this offense will go. get better. So when you're looking at a guy in an offense that will get better that's expected to get more opportunities and his price has been cut in half, how can that not be a steal? And just 23 years

old. Only 23 years old. He's just a kid. He's just a kid. What are we doing? Don't be disrespectful to the kid. All right, let's move on. I've actually got a second year player two, second year wide receiver. I'm back to my wire receiver well. Let's talk

Torrey Horton from the Seattle Seahawks. You nasty boy. I know. This is a little nasty. It shouldn't feel so nasty, but the Rashid Shaheed's signing is what makes it nasty. But before his injury last year, Tori Horton was like the definition of boom or bust. He played eight games and he logged two separate top six finishes, which I had to like double check that stat. That's absolutely crazy how explosive he was when he was out there. The knock on him is that, as I just said, they just committed to Rashid Shahid on a three-year deal and another like kind of electric big play pass catcher.

But Tori Horton is 23 years old being valued as the wide receiver 84 and consensus rankings for Dynasty behind Keon Coleman. Oh. Tori Horton is better than Keon Coleman and does not have the same affinity for cookies, so he will stay on the field. As I said, he only played in eight games. He scored five touchdowns, the fifth among all rookie receivers. And of any rookie receivers that played in eight or more games,

Tori Horton ranked fifth in PFFs receiving grade ahead of guys like Ameca Abuka from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What we'll need to see from Tori Horton for him to actually become like a weekly start valuable fantasy asset is obviously the volume and not just being an explosive play guy. I think Cooper Cups on his way out and I think this is the year that we see Tori Horton jump above him in targets. And I'm going to give an extremely, extremely hot take here that I don't think a lot of people are going to like. I think Tori Horton finishes 2026 with more targets than Rashid Jihad.

I think he finishes second on the team. If I'm a betting man, I wouldn't take that. But I actually think it's so possible. And let me be very clear. Well, I guess if you're a betting man, it depends on the odds. True. It depends on the odds. If it's a 50-50 plus 100, no. No. But I am a huge believer in Tori Horton's talent. You do not have to. The talent. The talent is obviously there. And I think anyone who watches him or looks at what he put on tape, how he produced last year when he was playing, particularly the first half of the season. He's good. He is legitimately a very good NFL talent. Yeah, I think you're right. I think what makes us icky and what scares me personally is the Shahid contract. Cooper Cup's still there. Won't be for the long run. So we'll see how that goes. But if you're trading on him,

it's essentially a bet that Cooper Cup is burnt toast and won't really be a part of this offense much next year. And also that Rashid Shaheed will kind of be used how he was like in the playoffs last year, which is like almost gimmicky, like obviously a field stretcher, deep threat, some like gimmicky plays, but not like a really foundational part of the offense, which Tori Horton could potentially be as like the second like the second piece really to Jackson Spith and Jigba in that passing game. That's my exact argument. I know they threw a lot of money at Rashid Shahid, but it's something that people have to consider is like how seriously they take. take their special teams in Seattle and like, you look at the postseason and like it worked. Yeah. And Rashid Jehid was their most electric special teamer. So part of that contract is baking that in and you're going to look for those like 40, 50 yard bombs to Rashid Jihad.

But do I think Rashid's getting like five targets a game even? I don't think so. I think Tori Horton is a guy that could be getting five targets a game. I think so. I think he's good enough. And that's like I think what makes this a potential worthwhile trade is it's a bet on talent. we already know Tori Horton is good. So despite the situation being a little murky right now

just with all the other guys in the room, it's a bet on talent and the talent of a really young guy going into year two on a good team. So there's absolutely upside there. And we talked about this on Thursday's episode with Rashad White is you look at these guys who kind of blew up in the middle of the season and whether it was in Rashad White's case, Bucky Irving comes back and so he gets put down to the bench,

whatever, or in this case, Tori Horton gets hurt. Like, these are the guys that people don't remember as much. Yeah. They don't remember in weeks. I think it was like seven and eight that he had two top six finishes or six and eight, whatever it was. Like, people aren't going to remember that.

And so I think you can get a really good value here. Wide receiver 84. I think that is so, so worth taking a shot. And we always talk about like, you're not looking for median outcomes all the time in fancy football. You're looking for the guys that could make a big explosive difference. and Tori Horton is that kind of talent. I'm going to let you start.

Let's jump into our league winner guy in one of the most explosive, exciting offenses in the NFL for 2026, the Miami Dolphins. Mello, you start us off talking about Malik Washington. Who wouldn't want a piece of this explosive Miami Dolphins offense, right? This is our grossest pick. It is genuinely my favorite, though.

Like, there is a potential league-winning sleeper in Dynasty. I truly believe It is Malik Washington. And the main reason is this. Somebody has to catch passes in Miami. I don't care how bad they are. Somebody is going to catch passes for the dolphins this year. And yes, I know, they very likely will draft someone.

But what if they don't with their first couple picks? They have two first round picks. It's a solid receiver class, not a particularly elite one, though. And the dolphins have so many freaking needs. The whole roster. Yeah, I was like, why receiver is a huge need, but like, you can argue a lot of other positions. Every position is a huge need for the dolphins.

They have blown up this roster. They are going full rebuild. And honestly, just from like a real life football perspective and like a philosophical perspective, if you're going with a full on rebuild, I don't know that receiver is the first position I want to address. I probably want to address the trenches first. But regardless, even if they do draft a receiver with their first couple of picks, I think Malik Washington still will be on the field very consistently and will still be

be a part of this offense. He's currently only 25 years old. And as it stands today, at least, he is by far the best wide receiver on this roster, I think. The other guys are like complete afterthoughts, Tutu Atwell, Jalyn Tollberg, Terrace Marshall, guys that have kind of already had their chance and did not work out and have not worked out. Malik Washington has at least showed some promise, some flashes, especially last year when he was

thrust into a bigger role. And yeah, the offense could just suck. and it could be something you don't want anything to do with. You don't want any pieces of. But what if Malik Willis is just good? Can we ask ourselves, what if Malik Willis is just really good? He was effective the last two years when asked to step in for the Green Bay Packers. In fact, and I cannot emphasize this enough, he was pro football focuses single highest graded quarterback last season.

Single highest. Oh, but a lot of it was the running ability, the big plays with his feet. What about the passing? Okay, just the passing. He was the third highest-created passer last year. All of pro-football focus. The third highest created passer. And I'm not saying I think Malik Willis is going to be like the next Tom Brady by any means.

But let's not act like he's hopeless. He could be really good. Don't count him out just yet. And if he's going to be successful, he'll need someone to step up. And I think Malik Washington is by. far the best bet. And if you're still not sold, this is the biggest piece. He is currently ranked as the 100 second receiver in Dynasty Leagues by Fantasy Pros behind veterans like Christian Kirk and Calvin Ridley and Dontavian Wicks and Cooper Cup. Guys who I don't... Calvin Ridley could have an AARP

membership at this point. I forget Calvin Ridley's in the league still. It's just been the most disappointing guy of the last few years. I would genuinely rather have Malik Washington over any of those guys in redraft. He's 25 years old. We just talked about Cooper Cup. I think Cooper Cup's retiring at the end of this year. Calvin

Ridley, I genuinely didn't. I saw a picture him the other day and someone was like, this is not how a 31 year old should look because he looks like 50 years old. Don Tavian Wicks, sure, he's like another guy you can take a chance. Christian Kirk, the ghost of Christian Kirk, haunting the electric substation in San Francisco. I'm all set.

This is, admittedly, admittedly, this is a plug your nose when you go to make the trade. I know it's stinky. I know it's gross. I know your dumpster diving. But the wide receiver 102 in Dynasty makes zero sense for a 25-year-old that finished last year as the wire receiver 57 and now has almost zero target competition outside of his running back. Did you know we had more red zone receptions, by the way, than Jalen Waddle and A. Chan last year? Yeah, they like to use him down there. And now he's the number one guy.

we also love a pass catcher on a team of the bad defense. Miami ranked ninth in points per game allowed in 2025. I know that's not Dallas who was number one or Cincinnati who was number three, but like this is still a team that's going to be playing keep up, catch up, whatever. And then also like the Malik to Malik connection. Come on. Any chance you got with a Malik square.

That's going to go. That went through my mind. That absolutely, that actually elevated him a little bit for me. Like it actually. I made sure to make that my last point because it means absolutely nothing, but it is fun. No, it's fun.

No, it's worth something. It's fun. But yeah, the ranking makes no sense to me. I think, like, the Dolvin's receiver room and just the team in general look so bad that people are just, like, burying everyone. Because there's, like, I don't. We just did a bit about it on socials with the, who's stopping this offense, and every comment is 31 teams. Something I'll say about this one as well is I actually do think you have about a month window here,

where I think everyone's really worried about what you said about Miami drafting a wire receiver. And here's what I'll say to that. I don't think they could draft anybody that would make me say wide receiver 102 is a bad price from Malik Washington. Agree. Actually, scratch that. Here's the world. They use both first round picks on wide receivers. They won't. That's not going to happen. No. And so this is a great, great value no matter what. And if they don't draft a receiver early, this is like such a smash, smash pick. And I think like this is a guy like you can pay absolutely nothing for and has the opportunity because of the volumes specifically in

PPR to be a weekly starter at least in your flex. It makes no sense how low he is. He could be a guy you were starting very consistently in your flex spot. Absolutely. Let us know your thoughts down below on

all of our dynasty sleepers and let's know if we missed anybody or if there's somebody we should talk about in next week's episode. Melo, we miss anything? Nothing for me. All right, we will catch you guys next week with brand new video see you guys next time