Welcome to Week 4 of the 2026 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. We split the conversation into separate features.
This week's roundtable features these four topics:
- Large League Super Subs
- For Real, Fool's Gold -- Rookie Edition
- Reserve RBs Worth Adding
- Backfields in Flux
Let's roll...
Matt Waldman: Pick a rookie you believe is emerging as a viable player for 25-man rosters this year. Pick a rookie you believe had a good start, but you wouldn't bother with them this year.
- WR Chris Bell, MIA
- TE Kenyon Sadiq, NYJ
- WR Denzel Boston, CLE
Jason Wood: I like all three players and believe each will enjoy a sustainably impressive career, assuming their organizations keep building around them. But of the trio, it is hard not to choose Kenyon Sadiq. The first-round tight end was the laughingstock of the draft illuminati this spring, widely labeled the most likely bust of the rookie class because his sporadic college production lagged behind his elite athletic profile, and because he landed in a Jets offense most projected as bottom-five with incumbent talent in Mason Taylor.
Fast-forward three weeks, and the narrative has shifted dramatically. Despite missing most of the preseason following hernia surgery, Sadiq was active to open the year and has steadily acclimated to the offense. Through three games, he ranks TE11 in fantasy despite logging just 45 percent of the offense's snaps. Meanwhile, while the Jets are not a juggernaut, they rank slightly above league average in most key categories, far superior to the basement-dwelling offenses in Cleveland and Miami.
Tight ends typically need to be the No. 1 or No. 2 option in the passing hierarchy to be dependable fantasy starters. For Sadiq, that merely requires proving to be a more consistent playmaker than Adonai Mitchell. I will take that bet 19 times out of 20.
Darin Tietgen: I am torn between picking Denzel Boston or Kenyon Sadiq for the most viable rookie. I'll go with Boston just because he seems to have the confidence of Deshaun Watson and came to the NFL with an NFL-ready body.
KC Concepcion Jr. will continue to see the underneath routes, but Boston has the speed and physicality to win downfield. I think Boston will continue his solid start.
Maurile Tremblay: Kenyon Sadiq has gone from "intriguing" to "usable" faster than anyone. He missed nearly all of spring and summer with a hernia issue and reached full participation only days before the opener.
Then he caught Geno Smith's first pass of the season, scored on an end-around on the opening drive, and broke out at Detroit in Week 3 with 7 catches on 8 targets for 105 yards and a touchdown while playing a season-high 58 percent of the snaps.
The Jets' receiver room has been hollowed out around him. Omar Cooper Jr., Tim Patrick, and Arian Smith are all on injured reserve, and Adonai Mitchell is nursing a finger injury.
So the tight ends are no longer a complement to the passing game; they are the passing game, the way the bread becomes the meal once the restaurant runs out of everything else. Sadiq is the specific reason that works, because he can split out and beat a nickel corner.
The one thing to watch is Mason Taylor's return from the injury that kept him out of the Detroit game. But Sadiq's snap share was climbing before Taylor sat, and the coaching staff has all but abandoned the idea of throttling him. With a receiving group this thin, a first-round athlete with two touchdowns in three games and a growing role is exactly what a 25-man roster should be holding.
Chris Bell's Week 3 against Kansas City was a good glimpse of the talent: 4 catches for 67 yards, including a 44-yarder where he ran past the deep safety. The Dolphins staff considers him the highest-ceiling receiver on the roster. Everything else about his situation, however, is a polite but firm request that you wait.
He's less than 10 months removed from ACL surgery and just showed up on the injury report with soreness, tightness, and fluid in his knee, which is three more things than anyone wants in a knee. He's sharing an offense with fellow rookie Caleb Douglas, and the Dolphins intend to spread targets between them, which caps either one's breakout. Malik Willis is the quarterback.
The offense has produced 10 points or fewer in each of the last 2 games. And Bell had one target on 24 snaps as recently as Week 2. He's a great dynasty stash and a name to circle for next year. For a redraft roster, you'd bench him most weeks while waiting for the one game he pops.
Jeff Blaylock: Cleveland's offense has been far more competent than I expected, and one reason is Boston's emergence. He's played more snaps than any other offensive skill player on the team except for Deshaun Watson. Boston has the third-most targets overall and is the most-targeted Brown in the end zone. He's essentially kicked former WR1 Jerry Jeudy to the curb, and Cleveland will keep focusing on its trio of rising young stars: Boston, KC Concepcion Jr., and Harold Fannin Jr.
I wouldn't bother with Chris Bell, but that's an indictment of the Miami offense, not Bell's talent. Malik Willis is dead last in completions among quarterbacks who have played all three games this season, and he ranks 28th in completion percentage among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 45 passes. Even if Miami throws more in the wake of De'Von Achane's injury, I don't see it as enough to lift Bell over the other two names in this list.