Buy-Low Players in Dynasty Fantasy Football: Marshawn Lloyd and More
With the NFL season almost here, it's time to make moves in your dynasty fantasy football league. Jonathan Fuller shares four players to trade for now before their dynasty price catches up to their potential.
Preseason games have officially begun. We are less than a month from the start of the regular NFL season, and with it, fantasy football. We finally have real news to react to, and player values are changing on a daily basis. As dynasty fantasy football managers, it is our job to sift through the noise to find players who are actually on the rise.
In dynasty leagues, there is often a tendency to wait and see the evidence on the field before fully adjusting a player's value. That makes this time of the year a great opportunity to buy into players who are truly trending in the right direction before your dynasty league adjusts to the news.
The goal of this article is to identify the players who are having a strong offseason but have not delivered on their potential during an NFL regular season yet. These are players who have a clear path to having the best season of their career in 2026 and seeing their dynasty value spike accordingly, but you can still trade for them without that upside being fully priced in.
Buy-Low Players in Dynasty Fantasy Football 2026
MarShawn Lloyd | RB | Packers
It would be difficult to have a worse start to an NFL career than what has happened to MarShawn Lloyd. Through two NFL seasons, he has appeared in just one game and has six total rush attempts. He has been unable to stay healthy, suffering from a wide variety of injuries and ailments that have cost him two full seasons.
By all accounts, Lloyd is having a great training camp this year and is finally healthy. That may be due to the time he spent at an injury rehab institute this offseason to address structural issues related to a 2020 ACL tear.
The Packers don't have much depth in the RB room behind Josh Jacobs and Lloyd, so if Lloyd is able to stay healthy for at least a good portion of this season, it should be a massive boost to his dynasty value. Jacobs is the clear lead back, but Lloyd will still have a role as a dynamic change-of-pace option. Considering that we haven't really seen him on an NFL field, any highlight plays he can create are going to quickly catch the attention of fantasy managers.
The high probability of his value rising this season, combined with the massive ceiling if he steps into a real role in 2026, makes Lloyd one of my favorite buy-lows before the season starts. If he is still rostered by the team that drafted him in your league, there is a good chance they will be happy to get anything of value for him, which should make a trade possible.
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Jayden Higgins | WR | Texans
Last year was a solid, but unspectacular, rookie year for Jayden Higgins. He logged 525 receiving yards, six TDs, and 1.45 YPRR in a lackluster Texans offense. Not good enough to be considered a breakout season, but not bad enough to put him on bust watch.
All reports out of Houston point to Higgins taking a major leap in 2026 as the clear WR2 playing opposite of Nico Collins. Some of that praise has come from Collins himself, which is nice to see considering the similarity of their body types and play styles.
There is still some concern about the Houston offense and how much they will actually need to lean on their passing game considering their elite defense and upgraded running game. Those are valid questions, and there are scenarios where his upside is capped by a low-volume passing game, but there will still be enough volume for his output to take a step forward if he has leveled up as a player.
The inevitable rookie WR hype tends to cause dynasty managers to forget about second-year wideouts who didn't break out as rookies. If that is the case with the Higgins manager in your league, he is a great trade target who still has tremendous upside that is not reflected in his dynasty value right now.
Josh Downs | WR | Colts
Few players have the opportunity to see their role expand as much as Josh Downs does this season. Michael Pittman is no longer on the roster, Alec Pierce still has not practiced this offseason following his ankle surgery, and the Colts have not done anything to add additional pass-catching weapons.
As of right now, the passing game is essentially just Downs and Tyler Warren. Even if Pierce is able to return soon and is healthy, it still isn't a particularly deep group of pass catchers. Indy should have a concentrated offense, which will lead to plenty of opportunities for the top of their depth chart.
Another positive sign for Downs is that the coaching staff is making it clear they plan to keep him on the field when they are using 12 personnel, something that has not been true throughout his career so far. Those extra snaps raise both the floor and ceiling for his fantasy output.
I have been a believer in Downs' talent since he came out of North Carolina, and he has been pretty efficient on a per-route basis so far. His fantasy value has been limited by the offensive environment and lack of total routes. If his playing time increases, I am confident that Downs is good enough to take advantage and can post a career year in 2026.
Dalton Kincaid | TE | Bills
The Buffalo Bills are something of a fantasy enigma for how good of an offense they are. Other than Josh Allen and James Cook, the Bills have struggled to create consistent fantasy producers since Stefon Diggs left.
Similar to what I discussed with Downs, Dalton Kincaid has been productive when on the field, but his fantasy value has been limited by his total route volume. That is mostly attributed to him managing a knee injury over the past two seasons. The offseason reporting suggests that he is as healthy as he has been since his rookie season, and should play a prominent role in the passing game alongside DJ Moore and Khalil Shakir.
2025 was a breakout season for Kincaid in his efficiency metrics. His 14.6 yards per reception ranked second, and his 2.79 YPRR ranked first among TEs. The problem is that he only ran the 44th most routes at the position due to him appearing in just 12 games. Although he does face a bit more target competition in 2026, there is a clear path to Kincaid posting his best season if he can stay on the field.
Kincaid is heading into his age-27 season and is tied to Josh Allen for at least the next two seasons, likely longer if he plays well and gets an extension, which would instantly put him among the top dynasty TEs if he can put it all together this year.
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