Eight teams are using one of their first two picks, which just goes to show that we didn’t find a ton of talent in later rounds. In fact, six of the 13 players being kept in rounds seven or later are being kept for a second and final time.
Only three players drafted between rounds 3-6 are being kept. Five players are being kept in the first round. That’s the most first round keepers ever.
Anyhow, now that our keepers are in, let’s rank these bad boys. Remember, talent matters most, but I also care about where you’re keeping the players and who you might have passed up.
1. Bob Castrone
Christian McCaffrey, RB-SF | Round 1
When healthy, he’s the best back in football. Last year, he earned First-Team All-Robio honors, averaging 314 points per game. Of course, health is always the concern with CMC. He’s played a full slate in back-to-back seasons just once in his career (2017-19). Now 30 years old and coming off a season in which he touched the ball 413 times, does his body have another great season in him? Probably. Bob certainly hopes so. Nobody wants a 2008 Shaun Alexander.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR-SEA | Round 10
The Seahawks star receiver is the steal of the draft, just as he was last season. Unlike McCaffrey, Smith-Njigba has never missed a game, and he’s coming off a career year in which he caught 119 passes for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Bob gets the top spot in my rankings, even though he’s using a first-round pick, for two reasons. First, that pick is No. 11, so he’s still getting solid value. Second, he’s the only player returning two First-Team All-Robio players in 2026.
2. Colby Hall
Jonathan Taylor, RB-IND | Round 1
Another first-round keeper, another stud. Taylor was 2025’s MVP, averaging 337 points per contest after racking up 1,963 total yards and 20 touchdowns. Obviously, there’s always going to be some injury risk with Taylor. Last year was just the second time in his career that he played every game, but he’s heading into 2026 looking like he’s 100%. The bigger question is whether Daniel Jones will be back. That’s important because Taylor’s numbers took a hit when Danny went down. In the four games without his starting arm, Taylor had 76 carries for 229 yards (3.0 per carry) and two touchdowns, while adding 11 catches for 74 yards. I’m sure there was a brief moment Colby flirted with keeping Breece Hall in round three, but I think he made the wide choice.
Cam Skattebo, RB-NYG | Round 10
The ceiling for Skattebo is damn high, but the floor is awfully low. If he’s fully healthy, the kid is the real deal, but he’s coming off a fractured fibula and ligament rupture. I’m no doctor, but that sounds like things that could take a while to fully recover from. The good news is the new coach loves to run the ball, so the opportunity will be there. The question is how much of it will go to Skattebo with Tyrone Tracy and Najee Harris also sharing the backfield. Me? I’m a believer. I think he’s good for 1,100 yards and double-digit scores.
3. Rob Masterson
Chase Brown, RB-CIN | Round 7
There isn’t a lot about Chase Brown that is sexy. The guy has never averaged more than 4.4 yards per carry. Yet, he’s a damn good steal in round seven. He plays on a solid offensive, with a really good quarterback and he has almost no competition in the backfield. He’s like Diet James Cook. Last year, with Burrow missing most of the season, Brown had nearly 1,500 total yards, thanks to 88 targets and 69 receptions, and a total of 11 touchdowns. If Burrow’s can stay upright this season, Brown could challenge for an All-Robio award. Rob could have also kept Omarion Hampton, but that would have cost him a third-round pick. Even if Hampton is as good as Brown, in this scenerio, Rob gets Brown and his third-round pick.
Bucky Irving, RB-TB | Round 12
At the beginning of 2025, Irving looked like a stud keeper, but these days, the experts are down on him. He’s coming off a season where he missed seven games and only averaged 3.4 yards per carry. That’s not great. Worse, the folks are projecting that both Sean Tucker (goal line) and Kenneth Gainwell (third down) are going to steal too many carries. It’s hard to argue with that. Yet, I’m going to argue with that. When healthy as a rookie, Bucky was impressive. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and had 1,122 yards, despite not starting for most of the year. Tucker is fine and Gainwell is a nice vet, but the Bucs need a playmaker and Irving is that playmaker.
4. Rich Calderon
James Cook, RB-BUF | Round 2
For a guy who most people don’t mention when they’re talking about the elites, Cook put up some elite numbers last year. In 2025, he rushed for 1,621 yards and added another 291 via the air. He scored a total of 14 touchdowns. This earned him a third-team All-Robio award. There is no reason not to expect him to do that again. The Bills added no one to their backfield this offseason, so Cook should again cook in 2026.
Travis Etienne, RB-NO | Round 8
I put Calderon fourth in my rankings, but that’s because I wanted to keep things safe. In reality, this could end up proving to be the best keepers in the league. While Cook isn’t quite Taylor of McCaffrey, he’s close and Rich gets him in round two. Yet, for Calderon to earn the top spot, it will fall on the shoulders of Etienne. The former Jaguars back is now in New Orleans and I expect the Saints offense to be sneaky good in 2026. Of course, the expectation was that he would share carries with Kamara, but the Saints veteran back is already hurt. If Etienne can prove he deserves most of the touches early in the season, he could be a sleeper All-Robio candidate.
5. Michael Evangelist
Trey McBride, TE-ARI | Round 3
Only a handful of tight ends have ever been worthy to be taken in the first round. McBride might be one of those guys. Last year he earned first-team All-Robio, averaging 181 points per game. That would be good enough to make him the fifth best wideout in football. He averaged 45 more points per game than the second best tight end. Mikey gets him in round three.
The only other guy I would have considered is Wan’Dale Robinson, who Mike could have had in the 7th round, who had a 1,000-yard season last year and is just one of six players to have at least 180 catches over the last two seasons. Of course, one of those six is also Trey McBride.
Brian Thomas Jr., WR-JAC | Round 10
After a rookie campaign that produced 87 catches, 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns, Brian Thomas had an epic sophomore meltdown. He finished with only 48 receptions for 707 yards and two scores. So… which Thomas Jr. is Evangelist getting? My guess is somewhere in the middle, but if I was Dudelove, I wold have kept Luther Burden III. The second-year Bears wideout had a decent rookie season and looks primed for a stat bump in his second year under Ben Johnson.
6. Matt Neatock
Tetairoa McMillan, WR-CAR | Round 6
McMillan had a quiet 1,000-yard season as a rookie in Carolina, responsible for over 30% of his teams’ receiving yards. That’s the positive. The negative is that this is still the Panthers. Bryce Young looked better last year, passing for over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns, but unless he makes another leap forward, he’s simply going to hinder any receiver on his squad becoming a legit WR1. I think McMillan is a wise keep, certainly the best option for Matt, but I would find it hard to pencil him as a week one starter right off the bat.
Quinshon Judkins, RB-CLE | Round 10
A solid late grab for Matt. Judkins started the year suspended and hurt, but as soon as he got on the field, he was labeled the starting back in Cleveland. He played in only 14 games, but if he had played a full slate and averaged what he averaged, he would have finished with over 1,200 total yards and roughly 10 scores. Not bad. The issue with Judkins is that he’s on the Browns and they have no worthy quarterback. Running room is hard to come by when no one respects the arm. Having said that, I would be comfortable starting the season with Judkins as one of my two starting backs.
7. Eric Vozzola
Zay Flowers, WR-BAL | Round 5
There’s an old saying in my house, if you’re trying to win fantasy games with a Ravens receiver, you’re doing it wrong. Yet, let’s not completely shit on Flower, who had a solid 2025. He caught 86 balls for 1,211 yards and five scores. That’s not bad. That’s high-end WR2 numbers. Eric is getting that in round five, so gold. However, for Flowers to make the leap to elite, he needs more targets. The great ones get targeted 150-200 times in a season. Flowers has never been targeted more than 118 times.
Jameson Williams, WR-DET | Round 9
Williams finally played a full 17 games last year and he had his best season ever, 65 catches, 1,117 yards and seven touchdowns. Yet, he continues to play second fiddle to St. Brown. There have certainly been great wide receiver duos on the same NFL team, who both dominated in fantasy; Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne for Indy comes to mine, but it’s still hard to see two fantasy worthy wideouts coming out of Detroit. For me, Williams isn’t starter-worthy, but instead, a nice option off the bench.
8. Robio Murray
Puka Nacua, WR-LAR | Round 2
Nacua is arguable the best wideout in football. He’s also being sued for biting a woman and saying antisemitic remarks on New Year’s Eve. He had to apology for making antisemitic hand gestures on an Incel’s podcast and he eventually checked himself into a metal health facility to grow up. To me, all this just screams major leg injury by week six. If not, he should be great. I even like the Rams backup QB if Stafford can’t survive the season.
Drake Maye, QB-NE | Round 13
Last year Maye surprised the world finishing as the fifth best quarterback in fantasy. He had nearly 4,000 yards passing and 28 touchdowns with a receiving core that resembled a Division II school. This year he has A.J. Brown, so one has to assume his numbers are only going to go up from here. I have no shame projecting him to earn a third-team All-Robio award.
9. Don Vozzola
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB-DET | Round 1
Gibbs is too good to pass up, even though he’s a first-round pick. Last year he had over 1,800 yards (thanks to 77 receptions) and 18 total scores. He did that with just 243 carries. Just imagine what he could accomplish with 300 carries. With Monty gone, the Lions back could easily pass up McCaffrey, Taylor and Robinson to be the league’s to back in fantasy. No complaints. No notes.
Bo Nix, QB-DEN | Round 8
He’s not going to become Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, but Nix is a solid arm, capable of finishing among the top-8 quarterbacks again this year. In his second season, he passed for nearly 4,000 yards and 25 scores. He also ran for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Don can safely pencil him in as a day one starter and not look back.
Despite Don keeping two week one starters, I’m only ranking him ninth. Fact is, quarterbacks are players we usually draft later, so 8th round keeper isn’t amazing value. To make winning easier, it’s always better to have a solid back or wideout being kept in category two.
10. Griff Coomer
Kenneth Walker III, RB-KC | Round 2
With Charbonnet gone for probably most of the season, if not all, the backfield belongs to Walker. What will he do with it? Stuck in a timeshare since he entered the league, Walker has had over 1,000 total yards in three of his four seasons. Last year was his best, finishing with over 1,300 yards on only 252 touches. If the rushing and catching all numbers go up, Walker could finally compete for an All-Robio award.
Tucker Kraft, TE-GB | Round 9
Kraft was on his way to becoming the league’s top tight end, after a 400-point effort in week seven. A week later, he blew out his knee and his season was over. If healthy, he could end up being a stud keeper in the ninth round. The problem is, we don’t know how that knee is doing. In fact, he’s already questionable for week one. If Griff is patient with him, perhaps even drafts another tight end, Kraft could end up being that stud he needs later in the year.
11. Richard Burrier
Ja’Marr Chase, WR-CIN | Round 1
Keeping Chase seems like a no-brainer. He’s arguable the best wideout in football. With his star quarterback out for most of last year, he still caught 125 balls for 1,412 yards (while missing a game). He’s the real deal. The issue is, Rich has the fourth overall pick. Odds are he would have either been able to draft Chase again or at least someone as good as him. Instead, Burrier could have kept D’Andre Swift in round four, who is projected to score over 3,000 fantasy points. Hell, he could have kept Jordan Mason in round seven. That’s may not sound like a wise decision since he’s trapped in a timeshare in Minnesota, but I’m willing to bet, by midseason, Mason will be the lead back and Aaron Jones will not be. Last year, Mason produced 758 yards on only 159 carries, compared to Jones, who had only 548 yards.
Brock Bowers, TE-LV | Round 11
After a fantastic rookie season, Bowers struggled to stay on the field in 2025. Yet, he still finished with 680 yards and seven scores in 12 games. He did that with shit at quarterback. The Raiders have upgraded the QB position, so if Bowers can stay healthy, he could compete with McBride for the title of best tight end in fantasy.
12. Jeff Greenblatt
Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR-DET | Round 1
Perhaps St. Brown will never be the league’s top wideout. He’s never going to catch 150 balls for 1,800 yards, but he continues to do plenty. In his last four years, he has 106, 119, 115 and 117 receptions. He has 1,161 yards, 1,515 yards, 1,263 yards and 1,401 yards over those four seasons. Most importantly, he has 39 total touchdowns, with double-digit scores in his last three seasons. Best yet, at 26, he’s just now entering his prime. As long as he’s healthy, he’s a must-start each and every week.
Yet, I might have gone a different direction. Jeff could have had Chris Olave in round seven. Last year, he finished with his second career 1,000 yard season on a suspect Saints offense. But most of Olave’s stats came after Tyler Shough become the starter. I think the Saints offense is going to be sneaky good and Olave is going to benefit the most. No, he won’t put up St. Brown numbers, but he’ll be borderline top-10 and Jeff would still have his first-round pick.
Harold Fannin Jr., TE-CLE | Round 9
I like Fannin Jr., and I think he’s going to be a top-6 tight end. He had 731 yards last year and he wasn’t even the starter. He is this year. He could even compete for an All-Robio award. Yet, this is not who I would have kept. I would have kept Javonte Williams in round nine. The Cowboys will have the exact same backfield as last year. Sure, Blue might steal a few opportunities, but Williams is going to be the lead back on a good offense, getting all the looks at the goal line. CBS only has him as the 21st rated running back, but I can’t figure out why. If healthy, I see him as a top-15 back easily.