NFL OTAs are in full swing, and highlight clips have been coming at us like we’re drinking out of a fire hose.

Sifting through what to take seriously in the midst of all this noise can be a challenge, so let’s run through four players who are legitimate risers throughout the first portion of OTAs and what we could see happen to their fantasy football rankings over the next few months.

Latest Risers For Fantasy Football From NFL OTAs

Daniel Jones | QB | IND

Last Wednesday, the Colts held their first open-media OTA practice for media, and per Kevin Bowen of 107.5 The Fan, Daniel Jones expects to be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season. He took part in individual drills but has not moved on to 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 yet, with the expectation that he will move on to 7-on-7 drills this upcoming week. In the interim, Anthony Richardson and Riley Leonard are splitting first-team reps.

Just six months removed from his torn Achilles, Jones was on his way to a career year in 2025, posting a 68% completion rate, 5% designed rush rate, 5% scramble rate and 20.8 fantasy points per game through the first 14 weeks—good enough for QB1 treatment (QB10). He flashed immense ceiling, especially between Weeks 5 through 8, where he averaged 25.4 fantasy points per game (QB8).

The looming question surrounding Jones, though, is how this affects his rushing ability, as that’s the skeleton key to unlocking his true ceiling. It was noted that Jones has been doing some straight-line, full-field sprinting, but “cutting harder is something that still needs rehabbing”. 

Being three-plus months out from Week 1, Jones does feel like a safe bet to start the season as the starting QB and be close to 100%, but it’s fair to knock him with the unknown of his rushing upside post-injury. He’s currently going off the board with a fantasy football ADP of QB25, and there’s simply zero downside in clicking his name that late in drafts, especially given the upside we’ve seen.

With Josh Downs and Tyler Warren already being popular clicks with the departure of Michael Pittman Jr., Jones makes sense as a low-risk, high-reward QB2 click in Superflex drafts or backup option in redraft and best ball formats who could turn into your every-week starter.

Luther Burden | WR | CHI

There isn’t a player with more fantasy football hype than what we’re seeing with Luther Burden, and second-year HC Ben Johnson recently poured kerosene onto the fire …

While Burden’s ADP is already in a range where it likely won’t steam much higher (+0.8 spots in the last 7 days)—he’s currently off the board as the WR21—he’s one of the key clicks in any Chicago stack, and even at his mid-range WR2 price tag, there may be WR1 upside here if things break right. As Kendall pointed out, Burden averaged more yards per route run (2.71) in his rookie season than any other rookie wideout over the last decade. Pretty, pretty good.

There are a lot of mouths to feed in Chicago, and while Colston Loveland remains my favorite click of the bunch at cost, I’m making a proactive effort to be overweight on Burden heading into 2026.

Brian Thomas Jr. | WR | JAX

I campaigned that Brian Thomas Jr. is the Jaguars' WR to draft in fantasy football this year earlier in the month, and OTA reports are only instilling more confidence in that take.

In his latest Jags OTA report, SI beat John Shipley reported was asked if BTJ will have the lowest snap count of his career this year. A scary question, but the answer was exactly what BTJ stans hoped to hear—”I still think they run a lot of 11 personnel this season, so I do not think the additions at tight end change things that much. I believe Brian Thomas Jr. will either lead the team in receiver snaps or be second, though. His ability as a field stretcher just keeps his value on the field and not on the sidelines”.

In addition to the vote of confidence from the local beat, Trevor Lawrence himself said that he and Thomas are “clicking more and more every day”, as the two have been working to improve their chemistry. This is in addition to HC Liam Coen emphasizing that he wants Lawrence to push the ball downfield more in 2026.

We’ve talked ad nauseam about Thomas’ field-stretching upside, and while it’s a more volatile role for fantasy purposes than we saw him assume towards the end of the 2024 campaign, he provides upside that few other clicks in his current range on draft boards do. At cost, I’m all in.

Greg Dulcich | TE | MIA

Scraping the bottom of the barrel with our last OTA riser, second-year Dolphin Greg Dulcich has reportedly emerged as new QB Malik Willis’ favorite target early in OTAs.

While this would typically be something to take with a grain of salt, the extreme lack of pass-catching depth and the recent reports that there is no timetable on rookie wideout Chris Bell’s return from his ACL tear leave little competition for Dulcich to fend off when it comes to attracting Willis’ attention.

Dulcich showed promise in his rookie year with Denver—411 yards on 55 targets in 10 games—he hasn’t had anything close to a meaningful role since. He logged 26 receptions in his first year in Miami last season, 19 of which came in Dolphins territory. He’s currently a free square on Underdog, being drafted as the TE32 with an ADP of 207.8 (+1.3 spots over the L7 days), coming with virtually zero risk in drafting him. He’s the prototypical last-round TE who could provide you with multiple usable weeks. You can’t ask for much more than that at that point in drafts.

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