10 players to watch in new landing spots

The NFL offseason brought plenty of roster shakeups across the league. As the 2025-26 fantasy football season approaches, we’re taking a look at a handful of those players who swapped teams to determine their fantasy value in new landing spots.

For some, the change of scenery brings untapped upside. For others, their situation appears a bit more uncertain. Since this article focuses on dynasty formats in particular, we’re focusing on players who have at least a couple seasons under their belts but are young enough to hold varying degrees of fantasy heading into the future.

With that said, let’s dive in with these 10 fantasy football players to watch in new landing spots.

Justin Fields: QB, New York Jets

The lone quarterback on this list, Justin Fields once captivated fantasy football managers with his game-breaking rushing ability and earned his way to the first round of new dynasty startup drafts. It wasn’t totally shocking his ADP rose that much since he finished as the overall QB7 in 2022 with 19.7 FPPG. However, Fields finished as the QB18 the following season, then he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024.

Fields began last season as the starter and averaged 18.9 FPPG as the starter from Weeks 1-6. Over that span, he completed a career-high 65.8% of his passes with five touchdowns and just one interception — the passing production was modest, but Fields did his damage on the ground with 62 rushes for 289 yards and five rushing scores. However, veteran Russell Wilson assumed the starting role after that and relegated Fields to the bench. After signing a two-year, $40 million deal with the New York Jets this offseason, Fields steps back into a starting job.

We know what Fields is as he enters his fifth NFL season. His passing ability remains somewhat questionable with a career completion percentage of 61.1%, but the 26-year-old’s athleticism makes him a viable fantasy asset regardless thanks to his rushing floor. Fields also showed some progression over last season’s small sample with a career-best completion rate and TD/INT ratio — he can save his long-term value if those numbers stick, though it may be a tall task operating an offense devoid of talent beyond Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall. Still, he’s locked in as a starter for this season at the very least, if not next year as well.

Sam Darnold: QB, Seattle Seahawks

A former No. 3 pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Sam Darnold’s career has been a whirlwind. He spent three pretty rough seasons with the Jets before going to Carolina for a two-year stint. He flashed a smidge of upside through the first four weeks of 2021 with the Panthers before crashing back to Earth, then later spent 2023 with the San Francisco 49ers as a backup. Are you keeping up? Good, because we’re not done counting the stops yet!

He finally made his way to the Minnesota Vikings last season and suddenly became a top-tier starter in the NFL with career-best numbers across the board — Darnold completed 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns while tossing 12 interceptions. He finished the year with 18.1 FPPG to qualify as the overall QB9 and per-game QB11. The tutelage and scheme genius of Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell put the former first-rounder in position to not only succeed, but thrive. Granted, it helps when you’re throwing to the best wide receiver in football with Justin Jefferson as your primary target.

Darnold did admittedly turn into a bit of a pumpkin come playoff time and the Vikings passed on re-signing him in favor of their own first-round draft selection J.J. McCarthy. The younger passer was supposed to start over Darnold to begin with before a meniscus injury ended his campaign prior to the regular season. Darnold then took his talents to the Seattle Seahawks on a three-year, $100.5 million deal with potential outs after each season. His future there remains murky and while the situation there isn’t bad, it’s not stellar either. Jaxon-Smith Njigba is a great target and Cooper Kupp may have gas in the tank for one last ride, but in a new scheme with less talent around him, the 28-year-old must prove he’s not a system quarterback to stay in the long-term picture.

George Pickens: WR, Dallas Cowboys

One offseason move which gained significant praise from football analysts was the one which sent George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. Another former Steeler, the 24-year-old enters his fourth NFL season and first with the Dallas Cowboys with sky-high upside. Whether he can capture it is the question.

Pickens averaged 12.3 FPPG in 2023 and finished as the overall WR30. He spent much of 2024 building on that campaign and was pacing for a career-best season but injuries ultimately caused him to miss three games and prevented the young wideout from reaching new high marks in most stat categories. The good news is that he still posted 59 catches for 900 yards and three touchdowns on 103 targets, many of which weren’t exactly quality looks from Fields and Wilson. After missing a handful of contests it makes sense that Pickens ended the year as the overall WR42 in PPR, but the bad news is that his 11.7 FPPG slotted him as the per-game WR40.

However, there’s much hope for the Georgia product to finally unleash his untapped upside. Pickens now steps in as the clear-cut second option on a high-volume passing offense helmed by the best quarterback he’s ever played with in Dak Prescott. Pickens also brings a jump-ball threat in the red zone as a larger and more physical complement to CeeDee Lamb, whose presence should draw plenty of defensive attention to make life easier. A new career-high in touchdowns feels like a realistic outcome for Pickens and there’s much to like in his profile both now and in the future, especially if he can secure a long-term deal with Dallas. There’s plenty of hype as-is, but Pickens’ value could actually skyrocket even higher if he starts the year strong.

DK Metcalf: WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

This big-bodied wideout already has four WR2 finishes and a WR1 campaign to his name as he enters his seventh NFL season, so he’s an established veteran at this point. However, DK Metcalf heads to Pittsburgh to replace Pickens as the Steelers’ top target and catch passes from Aaron Rodgers following an offseason trade and subsequent contract extension.

Metcalf spent the first six years of his career with the Seahawks and consistently delivered fantasy-worthy production from his second season onward. Last year though, he posted a 66-992-5 receiving line for just 12.7 FPPG — he dropped to an overall WR32 and per-game WR34 finish with his fewest points per game since his rookie campaign, though he did miss two contests due to injury. That’s a slight cause for concern, as is the move to a less pass-happy and lower-scoring offense in Pittsburgh.

However, the good news is that Metcalf should earn plenty of targets as the surefire alpha in the receiving game, a role he hasn’t held in several years while sharing the field with Tyler Lockett, as well as Jaxon Smith-Njigba in more recent campaigns. New quarterback Aaron Rodgers loves to hyper-target his top guys and Metcalf provides a massive body at 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds. However, Rodgers’ own decline is another cause for concern, as is the fact Metcalf is more of an athletic wideout than a timing-based route technician like his quarterback prefers. This situation is one to monitor, but Metcalf can either explode with a better campaign or drop in value to the point he becomes a great buy-low at just 27 years old.

Christian Kirk: WR, Houston Texans

With a couple of stud receivers out of the way, let’s look at a name who faded over the last couple of years but could still provide value if the situation plays out as well as it appears on paper. Christian Kirk is the oldest player on this list at 28 years old, but he may still have good seasons ahead of him if health permits.

Kirk spent the first four seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals and emerged as a borderline fantasy-caliber option during his final year with the team in 2021 with 12.2 FPPG and an overall WR26 finish. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars the following offseason and posted 84 catches for 1,108 yards and eight scores on 133 targets during his first year there. Those numbers resulted in 14.2 FPPG to finish as the overall WR11 and per-game WR19. He averaged 12.5 FPPG in 2023 but played just 12 games, then appeared in just eight contests last season before injuries ended his season with 8.9 FPPG.

There are serious question marks regarding Kirk’s health, but there’s a reason he makes this list. He showed he can produce at a starter-worthy level in the past and now steps into the best offensive situation of his career as the Houston Texans’ primary slot receiver. C.J. Stroud may spread the ball around quite a bit and new offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s play-calling abilities are an unknown, but if Kirk is healthy again, who’s to say he can’t gobble up targets on the inside like Tank Dell did two years ago and score a handful of touchdowns if the offense looks good again? With trade value equivalent to the rookie 3.04 via KeepTradeCut, the veteran presents a high-upside buy-low option and could revive his career in Houston.

Josh Palmer: WR, Buffalo Bills

Am I going to fall for the Josh Palmer hype again? Maybe! I just can’t help myself since the 25-year-old now heads to a somewhat favorable situation with the Buffalo Bills and will catch passes from the reigning MVP himself, Josh Allen.

The former Los Angeles Charger enters his fifth NFL season and first in the frozen tundra of Buffalo, a far cry from the sunny beaches of the West Coast. Palmer’s best season came in 2022 with 72 receptions for 769 yards and three touchdowns on 107 targets while catching passes from Justin Herbert, another very talented gunslinger. He finished as the overall WR37 and posted 10.6 FPPG, far from game-changing production. It’s a bit concerning that the wideout never emerged with better numbers given the offense he operated in, but as health and playing time were both roadblocks, the context does help Palmer’s case a smidge.

In all actuality, the wideout probably won’t blossom into a consistent fantasy football asset now that he’s a Bill. Allen loves to spread the ball around and the team ran their offense primarily through the ground game, though there’s plenty of scoring upside to go around. Palmer may very well be deployed more as a field-stretcher rather than a real option in the receiving game, and we saw how the Curtis Samuel hype train derailed last season when he entered a seemingly wide-open receiver room on a similar long-term deal. Still, if Palmer can stay healthy and get on the field, he’s worth keeping on eye on to see whether he can become one of his quarterback’s favorite targets.

Dyami Brown: WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

A former third-round pick, Dyami Brown never quite panned out with the Washington Commanders. Through the first four seasons of his career, the wideout never posted more than 30 receptions or 308 yards in a season, both tallies which came last year with the best quarterback he’d ever had in rookie Jayden Daniels. He only saw the field in a part-time role during that campaign with just seven weeks of a 50% snap share or higher, which slotted him as the overall WR97.

Those aren’t encouraging numbers by any means, but the Jaguars felt comfortable giving Brown a somewhat lucrative one-year, $10 million contract over the offseason. While the team has a young alpha receiver in place with Brian Thomas Jr. and traded significant capital to select Travis Hunter in the 2025 NFL Draft, there’s reason to believe Brown has a role in this offense as well. Nobody truly knows what kind of snap share Hunter will see on each side of the ball as a two-way player, and it sounds like he may actually see varying workloads based on weekly matchups and available depth at cornerback/wide receiver.

There’s a lot of uncertainty here, but there’s a world (perhaps even several of them) where Brown actually runs more routes on offense than Hunter does this season. If that’s the case, there’s upside for the former Commander as he works under new Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen, whose Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense ranked third in the NFL in passing yards as well as second in passing touchdowns last season. They wouldn’t have given Brown that deal if he wasn’t going to play, so he’s a player to stash if available at just 25 years old on a prove-it deal.

Najee Harris: RB, Los Angeles Chargers

We’ve listed a lot of wide receivers thus far, which makes sense as the position is arguably the best to stash dynasty value in on your rosters. However, a handful of running backs also deserve some consideration — Najee Harris is one of them (and yet another former Steeler on this list).

The 27-year-old isn’t exactly young for a halfback, nor is he the most exciting play in fantasy football. As a grinder who hasn’t ever averaged greater than 4.1 yards per carry through his four NFL seasons, Hariis returned boring RB2 value with finishes of RB20 and RB23 overall in the last two campaigns. He’s never quite matched the 17.7 FPPG of his rookie year and finished with 12.0 FPPG last season, good for the per-game RB25 slot. What’s to like about him? Well, Harris has hit the 1,000-yard threshold on the ground every year with at least six touchdowns in each. The consistency feels admirable, even with his low ceiling.

The Harris hype train reached a fever pitch when he signed with Jim Harbaugh’s run-heavy Chargers but lost steam when the team drafted Omarion Hampton in the first round of April’s draft. That train slowed even more in recent weeks when Harris suffered an eye injury in a fireworks-related incident on the Fourth of July which will sideline him for the start of training camp. However, he’s expected to be full-go for the regular season and should begin the campaign as his team’s starting option in the backfield. Yes, his contract is just a one-year deal and Hampton looms in the background, but Harris should provide value this year as a bruising back with volume, especially on the goal line. That’s a role he can continue playing if/when his athleticism fades in the future, so he’ll likely remain a touchdown-dependent play you can trust for decent, if unexciting production.

Jordan Mason: RB, Minnesota Vikings

This halfback became a household name among the fantasy football community last season when he stepped in as the 49ers’ primary runner once Christian McCaffrey went down with an injury. Jordan Mason’s success was short-lived, but the few weeks of production felt like a fun time for those who rostered him.

At 26 years old, Mason is also on the older side for a running back. That’s the trend with these guys who change teams though since most are on their second or third contracts now. The difference with Mason is there’s very little tread on his tires since he’s only handled 236 carries across his first three NFL seasons. His 153 rush attempts last year were a career-high, as were his 789 rushing yards and three scores. In the weeks he worked as the starter with at least a 70% snap share, Mason posted lines of 22.2, 17.4, 10.8, 24.0 and 8.9 points. He averaged an efficient 5.2 yards per carry on the ground, but finished as just the overall RB41 while missing five games and playing just parts of others.

The Vikings traded a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and a 2026 sixth for Mason and a 2025 sixth-rounder. Their willingness to surrender draft capital for a running back rather than additional capital does imply they liked him a decent bit. Incumbent starter Aaron Jones turns 31 in December and isn’t exactly known for a clean bill of health or a massive share of rushing work, so it’s safe to assume Mason should have a role on the ground as more of a 1B than a backup. Plus, he signed a two-year deal with the Vikings and is under contract next year as well, so he could take that starting job over at some point on a high-powered offense.

Javonte Williams: RB, Dallas Cowboys

It feels like Javonte Williams’ career cratered nearly as quickly as it took off. The former second-round pick selected at No. 35 overall by the Denver Broncos in the 2021 NFL Draft proceeded to announce his presence to the league with over 1,200 scrimmage yards and seven total touchdowns — all while operating as the second back in a timeshare with a nearly-washed Melvin Gordon. By March 2022, Williams jumped to the dynasty RB2 spot on KeepTradeCut’s rankings and fantasy managers were trading massive hauls for a player they viewed as a future star. What a time, amirite?

Disaster struck when he shredded his knee by tearing both his ACL and LCL in October of that same year. Williams spent the remainder of the season sidelined and looked like a shell of himself over the two years since with 1,287 rushing yards, 574 receiving yards and just nine total touchdowns in 33 games. His efficiency still hasn’t recovered at a paltry 3.7 yards per carry and his lackluster fantasy production equated to just 9.3 FPPG last season, held up almost exclusively in PPR formats by 52 receptions on 70 targets for an overall RB30 finish.

Having signed in Dallas on a one-year prove-it deal, the argument for Williams isn’t necessarily talent; it’s opportunity. This depth chart looks open as Miles Sanders, and rookies Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah are the other names competing for the starting spot. Sanders dealt with many injuries and hasn’t done much since leaving Philadelphia. Blue and Mafah are interesting, particularly the former, but they’re young and probably won’t earn the starting job early on. That leaves Williams as the primary backfield option for an offense that scores plenty when Dak Prescott is healthy. The 25-year-old won’t return to his prior form, but Williams said he feels healthy and can take plenty of work. With a cheap cost via trade, contenders should consider taking a flier for a third but rebuilders who still roster him should hold in case his value rises with the starting job.