2026 Fantasy Football Breakout Player of the Year: Malik Willis And Kyle Monangai Are Honorable Mentions

It has come to announce our 2026 Fantasy Football Breakout Player of the Year. There were a ton of strong candidates, but one player stood out amongst the crowd. We will be going over a top honorable mention at each position before announcing our Breakout Player of the Year.

Honorable Mentions

QB Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins

Willis is the rare boom-or-bust quarterback that we get to draft once every few years. We have seen stars come from this spot like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. The ceiling is immense. However, this is also where we have found Trey Lance and Justin Fields, and you could even say Malik Willis in the past.

Nevertheless, we are willing to roll the dice on Willis. He looked great as both a runner and passer with limited playing time last season, and there is a reason that the coaching staff and front office that watched him every day in practice in Green Bay made him the Dolphins' top priority this offseason after taking over in Miami.

RB Kyle Monangai, Chicago Bears

We expect the Bears to have one of the top rushing attacks in the NFL, and Monangai is going to have a major role in that backfield. Ben Johnson loves to deploy a split backfield, and Monangai is set to take a huge step forward in his second NFL season. He is expected to take over the "David Montgomery" role from Johnson's days in Detroit, but the talent gap in Chicago is much closer than the talent gap in that Detroit backfield.

WR Carnell Tate, Tennessee Titans

This one isn't overly complicated. Tate is the best wide receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft, and he is set to immediately step in as the WR1 in Tennessee. We also expect quarterback Cam Ward to take a big step forward after showing a ton of improvement in the back half of his rookie season. Tate is going to have an immediate impact in the NFL and in fantasy football.

TE Chig Okonkwo, Washington Commanders

Okonkwo is young, athletic, and will finally get his shot in an offense with a tremendous quarterback. The Commanders love to target their tight ends, and they don't have a ton of great options in the passing attack. His talent is going to shine through with a big spike in targets and a huge quarterback upgrade.

Breakout Player of the Year

RB Omarion Hampton, Los Angeles Chargers

Our Breakout Player of the Year is Hampton! His rookie year was hindered by injury, but he is going to explode in that Chargers offense this season. While we are not buying into Justin Herbert or Ladd McConkey at all this season, we have Hampton ranked as our RB5 overall, and he has RB1 overall upside.

The Chargers are going to be designed to run the ball and play tough defense. Jim Harbaugh has clearly built that roster with that mentality. It's going to be a high-volume rushing attack and Hampton will see a near bell-cow workload behind a healthy offensive line.

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