Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Rankings: Jeremiyah Love and Fernando Mendoza lead top tier

Heath Cummings' top 30 rookies for Dynasty Fantasy football leagues

April is one of the best months of the year for Dynasty Fantasy Football players. Rookie draft picks are being traded, prospect evals are being filed, and hope is in the air. Well, that is true most years. This year, it seems to be a mix of lament about the 2026 NFL Draft class and arguments over who the WR1 in this class is. As you will see below, I have all three of the top wide receivers in the class in my top tier, and I hope that communicates that I do not have a super strong preference. If I am on the clock at 1.03 and my top two players are gone, I am happy to trade down to pick five and acquire additional draft capital, preferably in 2027.

This is the first full edition of my rookie top 30, and you should expect changes before we even get to the actual NFL Draft. The reason is that over the next month, I get to talk to some of the best in the business about these rookies, and they will certainly change my mind on a few guys. If you want to mark your calendar, here is the Fantasy Football Today Dynasty schedule for rookie previews:

April 3: Jacob Gibbs, Tight End Preview April 7: Matt Waldman, Wide Receiver Preview Part 1 April 10: Rich Cooling, Wide Receiver Preview Part 2 April 14: Dave Kluge, Running Back Preview Part 1 April 17: J.J. Zachariason, Running Back Preview Part 2 April 21: Jeff Bell, Quarterback Preview

Needless to say, you do not want to miss any of these episodes if you are a Dynasty Fantasy Football manager. Before I talk to any of these guys, here is my initial Superflex top 30, broken into four tiers:

They might be superstars

1. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame 2. Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana 3. Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State 4. Makai Lemon, WR, USC 5. Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State

For all the talk of this being a down year for rookies, anyone who has a top-five pick should feel fantastic about it. You could probably break this tier down even further; almost everyone has either Love or Mendoza as their top pick. Either is defensible in Superflex, though I do find it more likely that Love is a true superstar at his position. Tyson's injury history makes him the riskiest pick in this range, and that is the only reason he's a definitive third for me at wide receiver in 2026.

In one-quarterback drafts, you can drop Mendoza at least a tier. I feel far more confident that he will be an NFL starter for the next three to five years than I do that he will ever be a top 12 quarterback in Fantasy Football. That creates a wide chasm in his value between the two formats. I would not expect him to start Week 1 now that the Raiders signed Kirk Cousins, but I would expect him to grab the starting job by Week 9 and hold on to it for quite some time.

They might be starters

6. KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M 7. Omar Cooper, WR, Indiana 8. Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama 9. Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon 10. Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt

This is another one where the top player in the tier probably belongs in his own tier. Concepcion in the clear WR4 for me in this class, and he has the upside to challenge the guys in Tier 1. In fact, if Concepcion is a top 20 pick in the NFL Draft, then he probably moves into the top tier. Speaking of moving, I would expect at least one running back moves into this tier after the NFL Draft, but as of early April, there is little consensus about who that will be.

Simpson's rankings are simply a reflection of the value of quarterbacks in Superflex leagues. I expect he will be a top 20 pick in the NFL Draft, and that means he needs to be a top 10 pick in a weak rookie class. I do not have much hope he will ever be more than a QB2 for Fantasy purposes, and I would not draft him in the first two rounds of a one-QB rookie draft.

Let's see where they get drafted

11. Denzel Boston, WR, Washington 12. Chris Brazzell, WR, Tennessee 13. Emmett Johnson, RB, Nebraska 14. Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame 15. Mike Washington, RB, Arkansas 16. Elijah Sarratt, WR, Indiana 17. Nick Singleton, RB, Penn State 18. Chris Bell, WR, Louisville 19. Jonah Coleman, RB, Washington

Yeah. Could use the Chris Farley, "No idea!" GIF here. There is a lot of reason for hope in this tier, but draft capital and landing spot will tell us how much is reasonable. I took a sampling of four sets of rookie rankings, from sources I really respect, and found three different answers as to who RB2 is in this class. The truth is, we are probably going to let NFL teams determine that. A back or two will get drafted on Day 2 to a good landing spot, and they will probably end up in Round 1 of rookie drafts because of that. I sure hope it is Emmett Johnson, because I like watching him play football.

Never say never

20. Germie Bernard, WR, Alabama 21. Zachariah Branch, WR, Georgia 22. Antonio Williams, WR, Clemson 23. Malachi Fields, WR, Notre Dame 24. Skyler Bell, WR, UConn 25. Ted Hurst, WR, Georgia State 26. Ja'Kobi Lane, WR, USC 27. Demond Claiborne, RB, WF 28. Kaytron Allen, RB, Penn State 29. Max Klare, TE, Ohio State 30. Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor

The thing I love about this final tier is that there is someone for everyone to get mad about and say I am too low on. Pre-draft, this list makes me want to try to trade any late Round 2 pick for a 2027 Round 2 pick, but I am sure there will be a couple of diamonds in this rough. The main thing you should note is that the strength of this class is at wide receiver. Almost half of my top 30 players in this class are wide receivers. So maybe be a little more hesitant about dealing those second-round picks if you are in need of depth at that position.