The opinions of fantasy pundits are mixed on Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2026 after an injury-marred 2025. Some are concerned that Jackson's best days (fantasy-wise) are behind him.

Others remember the long-ago days of 2024.

It wasn't Jackson's best fantasy campaign, in that by two years ago if you wanted to ride the highlight train the ticket was significantly more expensive than it once was.

But that doesn't make the numbers any less impressive—Jackson's lone season to date with 4,000 passing yards, a career-high in touchdown passes, over 900 yards on the ground and (in many fantasy scoring systems) the most points in PPR leagues by a quarterback.

Like, ever.

The fantasy football landscape is constantly shifting. As the NFL changes, fantasy changes with it.

And in the 21st century, we have all witnessed the emergence of the league-breaking tight end. And at his best, Jimmy Graham was most assuredly breaking stuff.

Had Graham not spent his heyday mostly in the (large) shadow of Rob Gronkowski, he'd get a little more run. But Graham out-shined all shadows back in 2013—he was targeted over 140 times for the second time in his career, topped 85 catches and 1,200 yards, led the NFL with 16 touchdown catches and posted a top-five season in PPR points among tight ends—of all time.

Here's the thing about "The Greatest Show on Turf."

Kurt Warner is one of the greatest stories the NFL has ever seen—the bag boy turned Hall of Famer. Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt were an all-time duo at wide receiver.

But it doesn't become a buzzsaw without Marshall Faulk.

In 2001 (A Space Odyssey), the Rams were two seasons removed from a title. An unstoppable offensive machine. They lost Super Bowl XXXVI that season because the Patriots took Faulk out of the game, not because of "Spygate."

In the regular season though, it was a different story—Faulk led the league in rushing yards per game, caught over 80 passes, sailed past 2,100 total yards and in general just did a lot of Faulk-esque stuff.

He's the Godfather of PPR.

From a fantasy perspective, Steve Young was a better quarterback than Joe Montana ever thought about being.

Because in fantasy, you should want your signal-caller the way I like my eggs—scrambling.

I'll take forced metaphors for $400, Alex.

By 1998, Young was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career. But in addition to throwing for a career-high 4,170 yards and leading the league in touchdown passes for the fourth time, Young also had his second-most rushing yards and added six scores on the ground.

At season's end, Young wasn't just fantasy's No. 1 quarterback—he beat out another omelet (Randall Cunningham) by over five points per game.

Gaps that big win leagues.

Pass the salsa.

Antonio Brown's career didn't exactly end on the best of terms. But fantasy football is all about numbers. Stats.

And in his prime, Brown racked up numbers as well as anyone ever has. Two of the six-highest seasons in PPR points ever are on his resume.

Wait for it...2015 was the best.

Brown didn't lead the league in receiving yards that season. Or in touchdown grabs. But he paced the NFL in catches and finished second in receiving yards behind Julio Jones.

Brown wasn't quite able to repeat as fantasy's No. 1 player overall (damn you, Cam Newton), but he missed being the king of imaginary football in back-to-back years by less than a point per game—at wide receiver.

Entering the 2011 season, Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots was coming off a solid (if unspectacular) rookie season where he finished outside the top-10 tight ends in PPR points. His ADP in 2011 was in Round 10.

That would be the last time Gronk was available that late in fantasy drafts.

That season was the first of several huge ones from the huge tight end. Gronkowski was targeted 124 times—over twice as many as his first season. He caught 90 passes, averaged nearly 15 yards a reception and led the NFL in touchdown grabs.

He was the only tight end in the league to surpass 300 PPR points.

A league-winner in every sense.

Were it not for Eli Manning and the New York Giants, the 2007 New England Patriots would be remembered as the greatest single-season team ever. They are still the only team to peel off a 16-game undefeated regular season.

And shock and amazement, Tom Brady played a big part in that unbeaten season.

All Brady did that year was complete almost 69 percent of his passes. Average just over 300 passing yards per game. Lead the league in both yards per attempt and air yards per attempt. And become the first signal-caller in NFL history to throw 50 touchdown passes in a season.

Brady finished with 398 fantasy points that year.

No other quarterback was within 80.

Last year, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was coming off a disastrous 2024 campaign where he played in just four games. Despite his astronomical fantasy ceiling, McCaffrey fell outside the first round in as many drafts as not.

And the teams who landed McCaffrey there probably won their leagues.

We were all reminded of that astronomical upside in 2025—McCaffrey led the NFL with 413 touches. Surpassed 1,200 rushing yards. Caught 102 passes. He racked up over 2,100 total yards—the second-highest total of his nine-year career.

And McCaffrey was the only 400-point player in fantasy football.

Still fading him in 2026 though—that workload is going to catch up to him.

In many respects, Cam Newton is one of one—and it's not just about his fashion sense.

The man wears what he wants. Credit where it's due.

There's plenty of credit to be given where Newton's MVP season in 2015 is concerned—the quarterback who ran like a halfback and looked like a fullback was at his cape-wearing best.

On the way to a 15-1 season and appearance in Super Bowl 50, Newton tossed a career-high 35 touchdown passes, surpassed 3,800 passing yards, ran for over 600 yards and added 10 more scores on the ground.

Newton outscored the No. 2 quarterback (Tom Brady) by nearly 50 points and finished as the highest-scorer among all players.

Michael Thomas is one of those wide receivers that just kind of gets lost amidst all the gonzo seasons we have seen at the position over the past decade—especially since his career was cut short by injury after his massive season in 2019.

But, oh what a season it was.

By 2019, Thomas had already posted back-to-back 100-catch seasons. But that was nothing compared to all the catching he did that year.

149 receptions—the most by any player in NFL history. Thomas averaged almost 108 yards per game, caught over 80 percent of his targets for the second year in a row and finished as the No. 1 wide receiver by a margin of almost 100 PPR points.