KPAFFL 2026 Season Preview

 KPAFFL 2026 Season Preview

And so Year 24 of the KPAFFL begins.  The same 12 teams return from the 2025 season, with reigning champion and renamed team Coma Back Player of the Year looking to be the first repeat champion since 2013.  Because of the extensive experience all members of the KPAFFL possess, there were very few shocking surprises on draft day, but as always, I will break down which teams nailed certain positions, and which teams will be scouring the waiver wire as early as week one.

Best QB Situation - Pfunk

Team Pfunk snagged Josh Allen at the turn in round three, and no one can blame him for locking in the top fantasy quarterback of the 2020's.  Allen has finished as QB1 four of the last six years, and the two years he didn't finished QB1, he was QB2.  Pfunk didn't take a second quarterback, but why bother when rolling out Josh Allen every week is a no-brainer?  There will always be the possibility of injury or the Bills falling off a cliff, but Allen is the safest QB bet in the NFL.

Worst QB Situation - Holmes Crew

No KPAFFL team has a truly untenable quarterback situation, but it is always interesting to see who will completely forego the position until the last few rounds of the draft.  Holmes Crew snagged Tyler Shough in round 13 and Kyler Murray in round 14, opting to play the QB-by-committee game right off the bat.  Shough was QB26 during his rookie 2025 campaign, and the much maligned Kyler Murray will be attempting a career turnaround in his first year with the Vikings after being benched after five games with the Cardinals last year.  It will be interesting to see if either player warrants a starting spot in a twelve team league, but luckily there is no shortage of viable waiver options available at the quarterback position.

Best RB Situation - Team Tyler

This was a tough call, as Team Kevin, Wasted Talent, and Brett's Nasty Bunch all have solid running back stables.  But based off of 2025 performances, Team Tyler blows the rest out of the water.  Jonathan Taylor, taken in the first round, finished 2025 as RB2, ahead of Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs.  Derrick Henry, who was snagged in the second round, was 2025's RB7, and he has finished in the top 7 running backs each of the past four years.  Team Tyler's fourth round pick of Travis Etienne has the potential to make or break his team, as Etienne finished 2025 as the league's RB10, his second top ten finish in the past three years.  Team Tyler solidified their depth with late round picks of Aaron Jones and the ever important CMC handcuff of Kaelon Black.

Worst RB Situation - Team Sean

It was a given that this superlative was going to Team Sean based on his draft strategy, which no one can blame him for.  Sometimes you get pigeon-holed into taking the best player available, and that happened to be a WR for the first four rounds of Team Sean's draft.  The first running back he selected was Marshawn Lloyd in round seven, who is unproved but has a lock on the starting spot as long as Josh Jacobs is out.  Team Sean followed up the Lloyd selection with Broncos committee member RJ Harvey, who finished 2025 as the overall RB21.  Team Sean took Josh Jacobs in round nine in the hopes that he plays football again, and then proceeded to load up on depth pieces with Keaton Mitchell, Mike Washington, and Dylan Sampson.  Outside of the probably-suspended Jacobs, Team Sean has one running back that finished in the top 55 overall in 2025.  

Best WR Situation - Team Sean

This was another tough call, as Manifest Destiny and Football Fetish actually have more top 25 WR finishers from 2025 than Team Sean with four a piece.  But the receiving potential of Team Sean's roster is probably the best post-draft that I have seen in quite some time.  His round one pick of Ja'Marr Chase is the clear front runner for WR1, and Drake London, Chris Olave, and Garrett Wilson are all potential top ten receivers coming into 2026.  Team Sean will no doubt be rolling out two WR's in the flex spots early and often this season, and with the eventual return of stud rookie Jordan Tyson, he could have five WR's with the capability to start at any point in 2026.

Worst WR Situation - Pfunk

Pfunk has one WR from last year's top 38 in Michael Pittman, who probably has a downgrade in situation, going from a dome team with Daniel Jones at QB to the Steelers with a senior citizen QB with no arm strength.  His fourth round pick of Terry McLaurin is a gamble on a return to success for one of 2025's most disappointing WR's, as McLaurin managed just 38 receptions in ten games.  Adonai Mitchell has the talent to succeed in the NFL and has shown flashes, but I wouldn't bank my season on any Jets offensive players.  Xavier Worthy and Rashid Shaheed are gadget players who can hit homeruns at any time, but typically average 3-4 receptions per game and aren't starting WR caliber players for fantasy outside of a flex spot.  Fourteenth round pick Jalen McMillan might have the most potential of the bunch, having been named a starter alongside Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka.  Unfortunately, there are a plethora of mouths to feed in Tampa, and McMillan is coming off a subpar twelve-catch season in 2025.

Best TE Situation - Pfunk

Keep in mind these are my personal opinions, but I am baffled how certain the fantasy industry is that Brock Bowers is the run away TE1.  Trey McBride put up 252.9 fantasy points in 2025, which is the most of any tight end in the previous three years.  Neither TE has benefited from even average quarterback play, but McBride really hit his stride with Jacoby Brissett under center last season.  Over the past two seasons, Bowers has average 6 catches for 64 yards and .4 touchdowns per game, while McBride has average 7 catches for 72 yards and .3 touchdowns per game.  McBride also hasn't missed a game in his career, and as we know the best ability is availability.  Pfunk also followed up the McBride selection with old reliable Dallas Goedert as a depth piece, and despite basically being ignored by fantasy players, he finished as TE4 in 2025.  This category is probably the biggest crapshoot, as there have been four different TE1 finishers in the last four years, and this season could just as easily by led by McBride, Bowers, Warren, Loveland, LaPorta, Kraft, or even the sneaky Kyle Pitts.

Worst TE Situation - Kevin

There isn't really an accurate way to measure who has the worst tight end situation, as the position is extremely volatile and there are far more above average tight ends in the NFL today than there were five years ago.  Team Kevin opted to take Isaiah Likely as his starting TE in round eight and the change of scenery and starting opportunity may very well propel him into the top ten tight ends, but Likely has yet to catch more than 42 passes in a season and has never topped 500 yards receiving, so by default he is currently the lowest projected starting TE in the KPAFFL.  Team Kevin took rookie Kenyon Sadiq in round fourteen, but he is currently second on the Jets' depth chart after Mason Taylor and has missed almost all of the preseason after undergoing hernia surgery.  As I stated earlier, rarely are any Jets offensive players true difference makers in fantasy football.  Sadiq is a likely drop candidate to be replaced with whatever surprise TE pops in the first few weeks.

Best Overall Team - Manifest Destiny

This was my immediate post-draft selection and Yahoo backed it up with the highest draft grade and most projected points in the league.  Even the eventual league champions every season have some head scratching draft selections, but I don't see any glaring flaws in any of Manifest Destiny's fifteen picks.  JSN and Nico Collins can go toe-to-toe with any team in the KPAFFL as the best WR duo, and Jaylen Waddle and Stefon Diggs both have massive flex appeal and the potential to be top-20 WR's.  Manifest Destiny doesn't have any RB's that make opponents shudder when they see them on the schedule, but Javonte Williams is on of the few true bell cows in the NFL and was RB11 in 2025.  Jadarian Price is my pick for offensive rookie of the year, as he doesn't have any real competition in the backfield to start the season and steps into a starting role with one of the most run-dependent teams in the league.  Rico Dowdle and Jordan Mason should both lead their respective backfields in rushing and make for excellent flex options or the occasional start at a RB slot.  Harold Fannin and Mark Andrews will be matchup-dependent starts, but Fannin has one of the higher ceilings at TE in fantasy football despite one of the worst QB situations.  Manifest Destiny filled his QB slot in round 13 with Patrick Mahomes, and although he has underperformed from a fantasy perspective the last few years, he was QB1 just four years ago and has the weapons, coaching, and talent to be a top five fantasy QB in any given season.  Overall, none of Manifest Destiny's picks pop out as egregious reaches, and at the same time there were no shocking sleeper picks.  Sometimes a solid yet vanilla team is all you need to reach the promised land.

In Summary

I am obviously somewhat biased towards our league, but I think anyone would be hard pressed to find an abundance of fantasy football leagues that have been continuously running with the majority of the same members for 24 straight years.  The only downside is that the league all-time records no longer fit on one page of a spreadsheet, so I had to clip them into segments below.  Good luck to everyone in the 2026 KPAFFL season.