Bryce Lance and 3 Other Rookie Studs Rising in the Fantasy Football Rankings
These four rookies are making a statement. At training camp, their coaches have grown happy. In our world of fantasy football, we find value in them. They may be viable draft picks, and when undrafted, they are going to be worthwhile waiver wire targets. Let's tell you why.
Jadarian Price
I have been higher than the consensus on Price. That has been due to an everlasting confidence that the Seahawks are without a meaningful Zach Charbonnet for about half of this season. Just the other day, Seattle placed Charbonnet on the IR. He will miss at least four games, and, as stated, Charbonnet is unlikely to be a factor offensively until after Halloween.
Zach Charbonnet (knee) was moved to the reserve/PUP list Sunday, meaning he'll miss at least the first four games of the season.
— RotoWire Fantasy Football (@RotoWireNFL) August 30, 2026
Via @Curtis_Crabtree
The Seahawks will lead with Price. George Holani will have a "heavy dose," mainly as the third-down back. I measure this split as 75/25 in favor of Price.
In 2025, Price was among the best skill players in college football. He averages one touchdown per 10.3 touches. 65.7% of his yards came after contact, and he averaged 6.0 yards per attempt. As a nice bonus to complement the rookie, he even had 2 kick return touchdowns.
Denzel Boston
The Browns have awarded Boston the X-receiver job on their starting offense. He will have the chance to leverage his big-bodied frame in 1-on-1 coverage. Oftentimes, when a cornerback goes to shadow a Brown, it's Boston. That is not a bad thing, but rather, permitting Boston to do what he does best.
Boston is not just the X-receiver, but the only one in that position on the Browns' official depth chart. It would not surprise me to see the rookie lead all Browns wideouts in snaps per game. Yet, he is being drafted at value in fantasy football, 14 spots behind KC Concepcion.
Caleb Douglas
The wide receiver room was wide open in Miami this training camp. Truly, anyone could reach as high as WR1. While that label is going to Malik Washington, that so-called "role" is not true. All wide receivers will get their fair share of routes. There should be little variance in snaps played from one to the other.
The receivers I refer to feature Washington, Douglas, and Chris Bell. Given that Bell has just returned from injury, Douglas gets the first jump at a large lump of this Dolphins offense.
The key note I scribble down is that of the Dolphins'scribbled final preseason game. They sat two wide receivers — Washington and Douglas. That further confirms they are the two sure-thing starting wide receivers.
I currently project Douglas as the WR71 in PPR and WR72 in Non-PPR formats. It is more of a knock on the Dolphins being among the NFL's worst teams. If they can be at least average, Douglas can quickly rise up the rankings.
Bryce Lance
The Saints are without Jordyn Tyson for at least 6 more weeks. They start Chris Olave, who has "glass bones," as I tend to call it. Olave has eight grade one injuries, including five concussions since 2019.
DeVaughn Vele is the Saints' WR2 on paper. He is among the less desirable WRs in the NFL. That paves a path for a breakout. The name worth knowing? Bryce Lance, also known as the little brother of the Chargers quarterback, Trey Lance.
I've got #Saints QB Tyler Shough at 15/20 with two touchdowns on the day in the joint practice with the Rams. My yardage estimations are around 158 or so. He had two touchdown passes to Bryce Lance, who caught all four of his targets from Shough.
— Ross Jackson (@RossJacksonNOLA) August 20, 2026
Lance is a very low-risk item at the low-risk current cost. I have him projected only roughly around WR100 overall. Yet, his ceiling is much higher than that of his projected cohorts, such as Isaiah Williams, Luke McCaffrey, and Troy Franklin.
The current ADP lists Lance only as WR142. He is not worth a draft pick in anything other than a dynasty fantasy football league. Even then, Lance's best-case short-term scenario is a WR3 role on the Saints' offense post-Tyson's return.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.