The first couple of weeks of the NFL season shouldn't count. Teams are still figuring things out, and sometimes that means a good player just struggles a bit to get up to speed. You don't (usually) need to panic-trade (or drop) your third-round pick in fantasy football just because he had a couple of bad games.
These five players are proof of that. After rough starts to the season, they've turned things around and look like strong fantasy assets at the moment. It's possible they won't all stay at a high level, but for now, they've warded off the dreaded "fantasy bust" label.
QB Drake Maye, New England Patriots
After coming up just short of winning MVP last season, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye entered 2026 with high expectations, but also with a number of doubters who thought an easy 2025 schedule played a massive role in his success. So when Maye posted back-to-back games in Week 2 and Week 3 with single-digit fantasy points, those doubters felt pretty good about things. Maye looked barely playable as a fantasy quarterback.
But the past two weeks have flipped that thinking around, as Maye has posted fantasy scoring totals of 27.2 and 39.5, moving him all the way up to QB7 on the season. He had one passing touchdown through the first three weeks of the season; he has seven of them over the past two games, including four in Sunday's 45-17 win over the Raiders.
Should we consider that the Bills and Raiders both have question marks in the secondary? Sure, but when you factor in how Maye played in 2025, it seems like the answer here is just that he got off to a rough start against Seattle and then took a bit to correct course. His NFL-high seven interceptions are worrying and turnovers could certainly remain an issue, but his yardage and touchdown totals going forward should mostly offset that.
WR Malik Nabers, New York Giants
It's been a weird season for New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers. In Week 1, he had a solid game, catching six of his nine targets for 69 yards. It looked like the connection between him and quarterback Jaxson Dart was going to pay dividends, but Dart's injury in Week 2 plunged Nabers into a temporary purgatory. One catch for one yard against the Rams, followed by five catches for just 26 yards against the Titans, had it looking like Nabers would end up as a disappointment.
But he and Jameis Winston appear to have figured a few things out. Against the Cardinals, he caught six passes for 112 yards and a score, and then this week against the Commanders, Nabers was targeted 20 times. That level of opportunities is something we anticipated coming into the season based on the personnel in New York, but we just hadn't seen it yet.
Will there be disappointing weeks with Winston under center? Sure, but we're also talking about an offense with no other viable wide receivers. Nabers and tight end Isaiah Likely combined for 33 targets this week. Darnell Mooney was third on the team with seven targets, which he converted into two receptions for 14 yards. Malachi Fields was the only other wideout with any targets, and beyond those three, only one other wide receiver even played a snap on offense: Dalen Cambre with two snaps. Nabers is going to have one of the league's highest target shares going forward and should be viewed as a low-end WR1 with upside.
WR Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions
Jameson Williams' game has always been about big-play upside. The Detroit Lions wide receiver's rookie season, for example, saw him finish with 41 yards per receptions, but only because he caught one 41-yard pass on nine targets.
In 2026, Williams got off to a start that wasn't necessarily reflective of what we expect from him. His three worst games in terms of yards per reception came in the first three weeks of the season, but in Week 4 against Carolina, Williams finally had a big game, catching six passes for 102 yards. He followed that up with a two-touchdown performance against the Cardinals, his first time to find the end zone in 2026. (It should be noted that he had just two receptions on Sunday, with both going for six.)
Williams has always been a bit of a boom-or-bust play, and that's not something that's changed. He's just had two boom weeks in a row. While he's gone from an early fantasy bust to a huge fantasy asset over the past two weeks, it would be a mistake to make some definitive statement like "Williams is going to be a league winner going forward." What seems true is that these past two weeks give us evidence that every week won't simply be a bust week for him and that the big performances will still be part of his game, even if he's a roller coaster to roster in fantasy.
WR Drake London, Atlanta Falcons
We're going to talk about a couple of Atlanta Falcons players now. Their circumstances are basically the same, but the level of confidence in their continued production varies greatly.
We start with wide receiver Drake London, who most people viewed as quarterback-proof coming into the season based on how well he's played in the past. Fantasy managers were left very disappointed by his performance with Cooper Rush at quarterback, as he caught just two passes for 29 yards in Week 1 and improved a bit in Week 2, but not really enough to justify his ADP, catching four passes for 51 yards.
Thankfully for fantasy managers who invested an early pick on London, the move to Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback in Week 3 woke London up. He's still yet to find the end zone this season, but he's averaging 136 receiving yards per game in the contests that Penix has started. He's a clear WR1 with Penix under center.
But, uhh...the Falcons might have an issue, as Penix suffered a rib injury on Sunday against the Ravens. If he misses time, the team will turn to Tua Tagovailoa, something that likely lowers London's floor and ceiling, but probably not by too much. Tagovailoa has his flaws, but he's still a major improvement over Rush, so we shouldn't expect him to suddenly become a fantasy bust again.
TE Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
The other Falcon to talk about here is tight end Kyle Pitts, who ended the 2025 season on a heater that made people think he'd finally put it all together, then started 2026 off so poorly that fantasy managers were probably on the verge of dropping him in re-draft. (I only have him in dynasty leagues, so I wasn't going to drop him. I was just going to hold on and cry my best to not cry.)
In the two Cooper Rush games, Pitts had one catch for 15 yards. Not in each game — total. Once Michael Penix Jr. took over, he promptly had...one catch for five yard. Pitts has finally rounded a corner over the last two games, catching three passes for 47 yards against the Saints and five for 42 yards and a touchdown this week against the Ravens.
So, these last two games suggest that Pitts has moved out of the "bust" tier, but Week 5 was also the first time this season that he's had more than three targets, so it's not as easy as just saying "he's fine now." Even with Penix under center — which isn't a guarantee in Week 6 as he deals with his rib injury — Pitts isn't a lock to produce, but fantasy managers should feel at least a little bit better for the moment. We'll have to see if that feeling lasts.
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