21 Players Trending Up/Down in 2026

If you aren't following this channel, I highly recommend that you hit subscribe, especially if you love these kind of videos, offseason news that you wouldn't hear on any other mainstream football show. And in this video, I'm going to name about 20 players or so, and give insight on whether they're trending up or trending down based off of what we're hearing in OTAAS and mini camp. There are also timestamps in this video, so feel free to skip around. We're going to first start with the players that are trending up that are having a good off seasonason. So, let's go ahead and change the background to green, meaning that it's good. Starting with Bears wide receiver Luther Burden. This mainly stems from his head coach Ben Johnson back in May saying that if he had stock at Luther Burden, he would invest in it. Also, keep in mind that Burden had the talent of being a round one wide receiver in the draft, but he fell to round two because of some character concerns. Uh Roma Dunes, who was dealing with a foot injury, he's healthy now, but he says that whatever he dealt with is the new normal. So he may not be the wide receiver one. It might be the wide receiver two because DJ Moore also was traded away paving the way for Luther Burton to possibly be Kale Williams most targeted receiver. Don't want to confirm anything just yet but he is on the rise. Luther Burden stock is going up. The next player that's trending up. There's a lot of wide receivers on this list. Amecha Ibuka Bucks wide receiver. Zack Robinson the new offensive coordinator back in May stated that Abbuka will be playing that Z role in the offense. That's the spot that he played in the Bucks offense in the beginning of 2025. If you remember the beginning of 2025, Ibuka was on fire. He looked unstoppable. He had to shift away from that because of some injuries to the wide receiver room. For instance, Mike Evans, he dealt with a couple of injuries. And then Chris Godwin, he was coming back from an injury as well. So, Ibuka had to stray away from what really helped him excel to make up for the lack of wide receiver depth. That's not the case this year. Everybody's healthy and could be having the production that he had in the beginning of 2025 for the entire duration of 2026. Let's continue that trend with wide receivers and talk about AD Mitchell. Remember, he came from the Colts to the Jets last half of the season in 2025. Looked great to finish out that season. He could be the wide receiver, too. Remember, wide receiver one is Garrett Wilson. Wide receiver three could be first round pick Omar Cooper Jr. AD Mitchell allegedly is building chemistry with starting quarterback Gino Smith. So, it could be Mitchell as wide receiver 2. That's not locked in. Anything could change, but as of right now, it's looking like AD Mitchell is locked in as that wide receiver 2 over Omar Cooper Jr. to the next player that's trending up in the right direction, Eagles wide receiver Dantavian Wixs. He was traded from the Packers to the Eagles. He'll be at least the wide receiver three for the Eagles. I say at least because Dvonte Smith is the wide receiver one. What's expected or who's expected to be the wide receiver 2 is Mai Lemon. Now, Melaman was dealing with a hamstring injury throughout mini camp and OTAAS. He returned eventually, but in his absence, Wix was stepping up as a wide receiver, too. But if an injury were to occur to either Devonte Smith or Mai Lemon, it would be Wix that would step up as the next man up. Falcons rookie wide receiver Zachariah Branch is trending up in the right direction as well. People that have attended OTAAS and mini camp have been saying he's been turning heads. People have been taking note of his explosiveness. And listen, I don't know who the quarterback is going to be, whether it's going to be Michael Penn or Tuvaloa, but if it is Tua who's used to playing with these speedy wide receivers like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle who has the timing down on those throws with those speedy guys, that could bode well for Zachariah Branch. We actually came out with a video about Branch. Talk about him meshing well with Kevin Stfansky and Tommy Reese at offensive coordinator. If you want to go back to our channel, watch that YouTube short. But Zachariah Branch is impressing and is trending up in the right direction. A player that might be frustrating to some Jaguars fans, but is also trending in the right direction this off seasonason is Bryant Thomas Jr. We came out with a video kind of breaking down what went wrong with him in 2025. That video came out like end of May if you want to go back and watch that on our channel. Last season was weird. He was dealing with injuries. He didn't want to deal with the contact. Uh there's a lack of chemistry with Trevor Lawrence, which Trevor Lawrence himself said this offseason that there's been a huge step up in the chemistry between him and Brian Thomas. And I mean at practice he's just been looking great. He should be at the absolute worst. Though wide receiver two, I still view him as a wide receiver one with the Jaguars. I know a lot of people are saying, "Oh, Jacobe Myers is good at blocking. He'll be on the field a lot." Parker Washington, who looked great at the end of 2025. He could be taking a step up. I don't see Parker Washington jumping over Brian Thomas on the depth chart. He might be heavily involved, but I still view BTJ as the primary receiver, the exceiver in the Jaguars offense. His Jaguars teammate Bashar Tutin is trending up in the right direction as well. Now, that running back room, they lost Travis ETN, but they also added in Chris Rodriguez. He'll be working in with Tuton, but Tutin is expected to be that running back one. A lot of people in attendance have been saying that he's been making several big runs, uh, some explosive plays. It looks like one of the more explosive pieces of the Jaguars offense. Now, take all this with a grain of salt. While all this is important to note, it's also mini camp and OTAA, so you have to ease off on contact just a bit, which allows offensive players to make those big plays, but Tootton is trending in the right direction, and he's expected to be the starting running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pittsburgh rookie wide receiver Jeremy Bernard has also been trending up in the right direction. His head coach, Mike McCarthy, has said that he's been crushing it, playing in different spots on that offense. Now, you have the X and the Z, which are on the outside, and you also have the slot. Apparently, Jeremy Bernard has been doing great at all three positions. That versatility is very, very important. We're going to talk about another player coming up and his versatility and why that could mean that you get more snaps on the field. But the top two wide receivers are expected to be DK Mechaf and Michael Pitman, but it looks like Jeremy Bernard is trending in the direction of being the wide receiver three. Let's mention that player that has that versatility to play multiple spots, and that's rookie wide receiver for the Commanders, Antonio Williams. There's no set wide receiver 2 in Washington. And there's Terry McLuren who's going to get 110 to 130 targets in the offense. I mean, in previous years, it was Zack Z at tight end. We'll just talk about the tight end in just a moment, but Antonio Williams could be competing for that wide receiver 2 spot. Let's see if he can step up and be that guy behind Scary Terry. Let's mention that tight end that's been trending up for the Washington Commanders, and that is Chigazim Aonquo. If you have been following this channel or Tik Tok or social media, I made a specific video talking about Chickazim Aquo, a whole one minute long video if you want to go back and watch that and explain why he's going to be a key piece. But to give you the short version, there's no wide receiver too, like we mentioned behind Scary Terry. Uh that could be Chikaz David Blau, the offensive coordinator, is going to be running a lot more play action, which favors the tight ends in multiple tight end sets. And then Zack Z was on pace to getting about 90 targets or six touchdowns. Now you got a Chikaz Makonquo who's healthier, younger, faster. Not to mention that Aono himself said that he's going to be a key piece in this offense. So he confirmed it when he signed at free agency. Now the last commanders play that I want to mention that is trending up in the right direction that is running back Rashad White. It's still expected to be a running back by committee approach with Bill Jakori Cross Merritt with Rashad White with Kron Allen the rookie. But Dan Quinn recently says that he wants his running backs to get better at pass catching. So he favors those pass protection backs and right now Rashad White is better at that skill than Jaka Kroski merits. And let's mention some players that are dealing with some injuries but it doesn't seem like it's going to be an issue and they're trending in the right direction. First Lines tight end Sam Leaporta. He had back surgery back in November, but the word is that he's going to be ready by training camp, which is at the end of July. He'll be ready by the start of the season. Quinn Judkins, Brown's running back. He's already back at practice. And not only is he back at practice after suffering a season ending injury at the end of 2025, he looks great at practice. So, he'll be ready by week 1 without limitation. Daniel Jones should be ready by week one without limitation as well after his torn Achilles. Tucker Craft said himself major injury in 2025 doesn't matter. He said he'll be ready week one without any pitch count or any limitations. And then Texans wide receiver Tank Dell. He was limited in OTAA, so he was working off to the side, but he's back at practice, which is a good sign. So, let's just monitor his status, but he could be ready by week one. Unfortunately, with some positive news comes some negative news. So, we have to talk about the players that are trending in the wrong direction. burst with the clever Browns quarterbacks. That's both Shador Sanders and Deshawn Watson. Both of them have been lacking consistency in OTAAS and mini camp. Both of them haven't stood out above the other. Now, Shador Sanders recently has been bridging the gap between him and Deshawn Watson, but Watson is still the favorite to start in week one. The next player that is trending in the wrong direction, Bucky Irving. Kenneth Gainwell was signed this year. He'll be working in as that 1B according to Todd Bulls. Zack Robinson himself said that this running back room, it'll be a hot hand approach. And while Bucky Irving is listed as a starter and there's going to be plenty of games where he might get 20 to 25 carries, but then there's going to be other games where they're just going to take a hot hand approach. So Irving, his outlook for 2026, it's a little inconsistent. And two more players I want to mention that are trending in the wrong direction, mainly because of injuries. One, Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce. Now he had surgery on his ankle back in March. That's a four to six month recovery. That would put his return date somewhere between July and September. At the worst case scenario, he could be missing the first couple of weeks of the season. And also, he could be taking a game or two to be ramping up before he gets his regular amount of snaps on offense. So, his return date is unknown at this point. And another player that is trending in the wrong direction with his return date unknown coming off an injury is Giants wide receiver Malik Neighbors. According to head coach John Harbaugh, Neighbors is currently in the middle of his rehab. He stated that back in mid to late May, I want to say that makes his status for week one very cloudy and more than likely he probably sits in week one and his return date is unknown. We don't know when he's going to be returning. The Giants receivers are going to be stepping up. They signed Juji Smith Schustster. They signed Oda Beckham Jr. Braxton Berios. They also have Isaiah likely at tight end, Darius Sllayton, Darnell Mooney. But there's not one particular guy that they're favoring right now. So, we just have to wait to training camp and preseason and see how they utilize those receivers. But those are the players that are trending up and trending down this off seasonason. We still have training camp and preseason coming up and I'll keep you guys updated if there's anything that changes. So, hit that subscribe button. Also, follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Twitter at time to football so you can stay up to date with these 1 minute videos jam-packed with information based off of reliable sources, what we're hearing around from people that are in attendance, and you can stay up to date with players that are looking good and players that are looking not so good. As always, appreciate you guys watching this