• Jahmyr Gibbs has less competition: The Detroit Lions replaced David Montgomery with Isiah Pacheco on a one-year contract.
• Romeo Doubs shakes up the New England Patriots: The Patriots added a wide receiver with similar strengths to the best wide receivers currently on the team.
• 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

The majority of big free agent moves happened on the first day of the tampering period. Since then, there have been a few under-the-radar moves, some of which will have a big impact on fantasy football

To break down the free-agent movement that happened after the first day, here are the players whose fantasy values have risen or fallen due to recent signings and trades. These winners and losers are based solely on fantasy football implications and do not account for contract value, trade costs or real-life team impact. 

Winners

Gibbs was a winner when the team traded away David Montgomery. While Gibbs’ share of touches and offensive snaps improved in 2025, Montgomery still took five touchdowns away from Gibbs on carries when the Lions were within three yards of scoring. 

The Lions were inevitably going to add a second running back either in free agency or the draft, given their lack of depth remaining on the roster. There was a chance Detroit ended up with one of the top eight free agents or a mid-round draft pick on a running back. Instead, they added Isiah Pacheco on the second day of free agency to a cheap one-year contract. While there is still a chance Pacheco will play a high percentage of his snaps in short-yardage and goal-line situations, Gibbs is more likely to see end-zone touches now than when Montgomery was in the backfield.

Gibbs will be competing with Bijan Robinson for the top spot in fantasy drafts. Robinson similarly lost his backup running back with Tyler Allgeier signing with the Arizona Cardinals. The Falcons haven’t found a new backup yet, and that could determine which back is worth selecting at the top spot.

Pacheco is worth considering in the late rounds of fantasy drafts. While he is no longer a starter, if Gibbs suffers an injury, Pacheco would be worth starting in fantasy leagues, given the strength of the Lions’ offense and offensive line.

Most of the teams that needed a starting running back in free agency were able to find one. The Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints were the teams most in need of a back, and they invested heavily in new starters. The Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all lost running backs and replaced them.

The Jaguars and Seahawks were the two notable teams that lost a starting running back and didn’t sign anyone during the first 48 hours of free agency. The Jaguars added Chris Rodriguez Jr., who was a restricted free agent, on Wednesday. While Rodriguez has graded well as a runner, he only has one game with a snap rate above 45%, which was a game at 52%. He has six career receptions in 35 career games.

Every other running back available in free agency was a backup last season or injured, and every notable player will be at least 27 years old by the start of the season. There is certainly a chance the Seahawks also add a free agent running back, but he won’t provide nearly as much competition for Charbonnet as Kenneth Walker III.

This year’s running back draft class is led by Jeremiah Love, but he will be long gone by the time the Seahawks make their first pick at No. 32 or the Jaguars make their first pick at No. 56. While either team could pick a running back on the second day of the draft, the track record of Day 2 running backs has been hit or miss.

The Seahawks will need a running back to start Week 1 until Charbonnet is healthy, but most of the worst-case scenarios for these running backs are off the table. Both will have an opportunity to be a must-start fantasy option once the fantasy playoffs arrive.

Most teams have kept their top receiving tight end from last season, which includes the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins re-signing Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelce, Cade Otton and Greg Dulcich. Isaiah Likely moved to the New York Giants, but most other movement involving tight ends over the first two days was for second options in 12 personnel.

This left few opportunities for Okonkwo, Dallas Goedert and David Njoku. One of the few spots for a starter was the Washington Commanders, where Zach Ertz is 35 years old. He tore his ACL late in the 2025 season and is a free agent. While Washington could have stuck with a combination of Ben Sinnott and John Bates, they instead paid Okonkwo to be their lead receiving tight end. He is generally making more money than the blocking tight ends and tight ends on their first contract but less than other veteran tight ends who are fantasy starters.

Okonkwo has shown some sparks of greatness. His 2.62 yards per route run led all tight ends with at least 150 routes in 2022, a mark that has only been surpassed once since then by Dalton Kincaid with 2.79 last season. He also scored the fourth-most fantasy points by a tight end during the 2024 fantasy playoffs.

Okonkwo will only be a late-round sleeper option during fantasy drafts, but the combination of quarterback and opportunity for targets was better in Washington than most other potential destinations for Okonkwo.

Honorable Mentions

• The Kansas City Chiefs re-signed wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, while JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown remain free agents. While Thornton was often fifth on the wide receiver depth chart when everyone was healthy, this suggests he could move up to third on the depth chart for this season.
• The Chicago Bears signed wide receiver Kalif Raymond. He’s currently penciled into the third spot on the Bears‘ depth chart. He is unlikely to have fantasy value unless there is an injury, but it seemed unlikely he would be as high as third on a team’s depth chart heading into free agency.
• The Philadelphia Eagles signed tight end Johnny Mundt while re-signing tight end Grant Calcaterra. While they could add yet another free agent or draft a tight end, there is also a possibility that one of those two will be the Eagles‘ leading tight end for fantasy purposes.

Losers

Heading into free agency, multiple teams could have been looking for a new starting quarterback. The Miami Dolphins signed Malik Willis, and the New York Jets traded for Geno Smith, taking two of the jobs, while Tua Tagovailoa landed with the Atlanta Falcons, where he and Michael Penix Jr. will compete. The Arizona Cardinals decided to stick with Jacoby Brissett while the Indianapolis Colts re-signed Daniel Jones.

This leaves only two clear openings: the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers. There has been mutual interest between Kyler Murray and the Vikings, while Aaron Rodgers seems likely to return to the Steelers.

This leaves several quarterbacks who were hopeful for a chance to start without a home. Derek Carr was considering coming out of retirement, and Anthony Richardson and Mac Jones both would have preferred an opportunity to start, while Kirk Cousins would have also liked a starting opportunity.

There are still a few landing spots that give them a fighting chance. The Cleveland Browns plan on having a competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, but a third quarterback may join that competition. The Raiders would like a veteran to start at the beginning of the season to ease Fernando Mendoza into action. The Colts could also need a quarterback if Daniel Jones isn’t ready for the start of the season. While these are OK situations, these quarterbacks would have rather been the starter in Miami, New York or Arizona.

Mason appeared destined to join Bhayshul Tuten and Zach Charbonnet as running backs who could see less competition for touches in 2026. There were reports that the Vikings would release or trade Aaron Jones. Minnesota similarly missed out on all of the top free-agent running backs, and all of the remaining options were unlikely to provide as much competition for touches.

Instead, the Vikings and Jones agreed to a pay cut, allowing him to stay in Minnesota. Mason was the higher graded of the two running backs, particularly in the run game. Mason had an 82.9 PFF grade compared to Jones’ 69.5. Despite this, Jones played 57.8% of the offensive snaps over the last four weeks of the season compared Mason’s 18.4%, while Zavier Scott, Ty Chandler, and fullback C.J. Ham also played some snaps.

Jones is 31 years old and has missed time due to injury in two of the last three seasons, so there is still a chance Mason can be a fantasy starter at some point this season. However, it will be harder with a healthy Jones, whom the Vikings trusted late last season, compared to a mid-round rookie or some other free agent.

The Patriots employed a unique wide receiver rotation last season. Kayshon Boutte was the lead X receiver while Kyle Williams was his backup. Mack Hollins played mostly the Z role, and DeMario Douglas played in the slot, but Stefon Diggs also played over 50% of the offensive snaps, taking over half of the 11 personnel snaps away from Douglas while also taking a third of the Z snaps in both two- and three-receiver sets from Hollins.

New England released Diggs, creating a void in the wide receiver room. The Patriots missed out on some of the top wide receivers in free agency, which was good for the other receivers in New England, but ended up with Doubs, who played primarily in the slot to start his career with the Green Bay Packers and has been their starting X receiver the last two seasons. 

Among the top five wide receivers in New England, Doubs has the highest receiving grade over the last two seasons when lined up in the slot and also the highest grade when lined up outside and on the line of scrimmage, typical of an X receiver. Doubs has the lowest grade when lined up at Z.

The Patriots’ new best lineup is Doubs at X, Hollins at Z and Douglas in the slot. Boutte will likely rotate in and still make some big plays throughout the season, but he will likely be less involved in the offense rather than more. Similarly, this isn’t great news for Williams.

Honorable Mention

• Bucky Irving was one of the biggest losers on the first day of free agency after the team signed Kenneth Gainwell to a two-year contract. The Buccaneers also tendered Sean Tucker after initial reports that they would not be tendering him. Tucker took the majority of goal-line opportunities when he and Irving were both healthy. The Buccaneers have a new offensive coordinator in Zac Robinson, so that won’t necessarily be the case this season, but losing both receiving downs and goal-line snaps would be detrimental to Irving’s fantasy value.