Broncos Fantasy Football Advice for Week 1 of the 2026 Season
The Denver Broncos will open the 2026 season with an intriguing fantasy football matchup.
Denver will travel to Arrowhead Stadium to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football, giving fantasy managers their first opportunity to see how the Broncos’ offense comes together with several new pieces. The matchup also presents some difficult decisions for anyone rostering a Denver player.
With the regular season finally here, it’s time to take an early look at which Broncos players are worth trusting, which ones are better left on the bench and which could become valuable fantasy options as the season progresses.
Start: Jaylen Waddle
There are certainly reasons to be hesitant about starting Jaylen Waddle in Week 1.
For one, his target share in Denver is still to be determined. Waddle is joining an offense that already features Courtland Sutton, and the Broncos have several other players who figure to see targets. He also has never been a particularly prolific red-zone scorer, recording more than six receiving touchdowns in a season just once during his five seasons with the Miami Dolphins.
That means Waddle probably needs either decent volume or an explosive play to produce the type of fantasy outing managers are hoping for.
Fortunately, explosive plays happen to be one of Waddle’s specialties.
A brief glimpse of that came in the preseason, when Waddle caught a 35-yard pass from Bo Nix against the Green Bay Packers. It was obviously a small sample size, but it offered an early glimpse of the type of play Denver was hoping to get from its newest offensive weapon.
More importantly, Waddle has already demonstrated that he can produce even when the circumstances around him aren’t ideal. He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first two NFL seasons, finishing with 1,015 yards as a rookie in 2021 before posting a career-high 1,356 yards in 2022. He then eclipsed 1,000 yards again in 2023 and finished with 910 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Now, Waddle gets a fresh start with what could be the best quarterback situation of his career.
Nix and Waddle have only played a handful of preseason snaps together, so it would be foolish to project a massive Week 1 stat line based on that limited sample. But there is enough here to believe Waddle can immediately become one of the most dangerous pieces of the Broncos’ passing attack. Kansas City’s secondary has also undergone significant changes heading into the season, creating an opportunity for Waddle to make an immediate impact.
Waddle isn’t necessarily a safe fantasy start in the traditional sense. But if he was drafted as a WR2, there is little reason to get cute and leave him on the bench in Week 1. His combination of volume potential and big-play ability gives him enough upside to make him Denver’s most trustworthy wide receiver against the Chiefs.
Sit: Broncos Running Backs
Denver’s running back room might eventually produce a legitimate fantasy starter. Figuring out which player that will be, however, could take some time.
The Broncos enter Week 1 with J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman all capable of contributing to the offense. Dobbins enters the season as the veteran of the group, while Harvey and Coleman both impressed at various points during the preseason.
The problem for fantasy managers is that the three backs have overlapping roles and relatively limited paths to a consistently large workload.
Dobbins has never offered much pass-catching upside, which puts more pressure on his rushing volume to make him a reliable fantasy option. That was particularly evident last season, when he caught just 11 passes for 37 yards. Without consistent production through the air, Dobbins needs a substantial rushing workload to provide a reliable fantasy floor.
Harvey showed plenty of potential as a rookie last season, but his workload was inconsistent when he shared the backfield with Dobbins. In the 10 games they played together, Harvey received more than five carries just three times. That lack of rushing volume made it difficult for him to consistently produce as a fantasy starter, and Coleman’s arrival could make his path to touches even more difficult.
Coleman is projected to have a significant role on third downs and in short-yardage situations, potentially taking valuable touches away from both Dobbins and Harvey. At the same time, Coleman is unlikely to receive enough overall volume to make him a reliable starting option himself.
That creates a frustrating situation for fantasy managers. Denver could have a productive running game while none of its individual backs produces enough volume to justify starting him.
This isn’t a declaration that Dobbins, Harvey or Coleman will be poor fantasy options for the season. There is enough talent in this group that one of these backs could eventually emerge as a dependable weekly starter.
But fantasy managers don’t have to figure that out in Week 1. Until the Broncos establish a clearer pecking order, the safest approach is to leave Dobbins, Harvey and Coleman on the bench and see how the touches are distributed.
Watch: Evan Engram
Evan Engram is a difficult player to evaluate entering the 2026 season.
On one hand, he is coming off a disappointing 2025 campaign, tallying just 50 receptions for 461 yards and one touchdown last season. That alone makes it difficult to recommend him as a Week 1 starter, particularly against a Kansas City defense run by Steve Spagnuolo – one of the NFL’s most respected defensive play-callers.
There is, however, one factor that could make Engram a much more interesting fantasy option as the season progresses: his relationship with offensive coordinator Davis Webb.
Engram and Webb have rapport from their time together with the New York Giants, and Engram has repeatedly spoken positively about Webb’s offensive system. In August, Engram said Webb had “built something for everybody,” an encouraging sign for a player who could benefit from an offense designed to create opportunities for multiple pass-catchers.
That doesn’t mean fantasy managers should immediately insert Engram into their starting lineups. His disappointing 2025 season is too recent to ignore, and there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding his role in Denver’s offense.
But it does make Engram an intriguing stash.
If Webb’s offense lives up to Engram’s description, there could be opportunities for the veteran tight end to become a much more consistent part of the passing game. The presence of Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton could also create favorable matchups underneath and over the middle, giving Engram a path to useful fantasy production without needing to become the focal point of the offense.
Engram may not be a player to start in Week 1, but fantasy managers should keep him on their radar. If the Broncos’ passing game develops as expected and Webb finds ways to consistently get Engram involved, he could become a savvy waiver-wire pickup – or even a player worth starting – later in the season.
