Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Football Team Preview for 2026

The Jonathan Gannon-Kyler Murray partnership ended with a whimper in 2025, as the Cardinals lost all but one of their final 15 games on their way to posting the league's fourth-worst overall point differential.

Enter: New HC Mike LaFleur, who spent the last three years learning from Sean McVay after his stint as Jets offensive coordinator went, well, not great. While there's at least still some question regarding who LaFleur will lean on as his starting quarterback, expect the offense to flow heavily through No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love.

The Cardinals' lowly 4.5 win total entering 2026 reflects the reality that nobody believes in this perennial bottom-dweller—2015 was the last time they won a playoff game after all—but hey, America loves an underdog!

Fantasy Football Team Preview For The 2026 Arizona Cardinals

What follows is a fantasy-focused team preview of the Arizona Cardinals ahead of the 2026 season. Make sure to check out Fantasy Life's rankings hub for updated player ranks all year long.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Is there any long-term answer at QB on this roster?

QB1: Jacoby Brissett (QB28 in Fantasy Life ranks)
QB2: Gardner Minshew
QB3: Carson Beck

Probably not! Yes, Brissett was randomly an awesome fantasy asset last season—QB8 in fantasy points per game after taking over in Week 6! Also yes, this was thanks in large part to constant comeback-mode game script: Brissett threw 48 additional passes than any other QB during the final 13 weeks of last season. And that was with a bye week thrown in!

The Cardinals' plan at QB for 2026

What are realistic Year 1 expectations for Jeremiyah Love?

RB1: Jeremiyah Love (RB13 in Fantasy Life ranks)
RB2: Tyler Allgeier (RB42)
RB3: James Conner (RB62)
RB4: Trey Benson (RB89)

Well, expectations should be high for anyone good enough to be selected with the No. 3 overall pick, and in Love's case, there is a LOT to like about the Golden Domer's fantasy-friendly combination of big-play and pass-catching ability. You can read my full pre-draft scouting report on Love right here, but to quickly summarize his three biggest strengths …

How big will Love's workload be?

Who is the actual No. 1 WR in Arizona?

WR1: Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR35 in Fantasy Life ranks)
WR2: Michael Wilson (WR37)
WR3: Kendrick Bourne
WR4: Devin Duvernay

Fantasy Life rankers have Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson ranked directly next to each other, which is the alleged fantasy expert way of saying: We don't know shit about f*ck.

The target outlook for MHJ and Wilson will be ...

Can Trey McBride repeat as fantasy's overall TE1?

TE1: Trey McBride (TE1)
TE2: Elijah Higgins

McBride has spent the last two seasons looking a LOT like one of the NFL's very best receiving options at the position.

Should it still be Trey McBride over Brock Bowers?

Predictions for the 2026 Arizona Cardinals

Win total prediction: It seems reasonable to predict the Cardinals to surpass their 4.5 win total considering their last-place schedule and potential for their 2-8 record in one-score games to regress in a positive manner ahead of next season. Then again, it's tough to find more than a few (any?) matchups where they'll have the advantage at QB, and this defense received hardly any meaningful reinforcements in free agency and the draft alike. I'll take UNDER 4.5 wins for a squad that has given us little reason for optimism for the better part of the last half-decade.

Bold fantasy call: I usually try to be optimistic here, but let's choose violence today: Jeremiyah Love, surprisingly, splits early-down and short-yardage carries with Tyler Allgeier and/or James Conner, leaving him with a less-than-inspiring overall touch count on one of the league's worst offenses. The result is an RB21 finish in PPR points per game—leaving plenty of "just trust the talent, bro" fantasy drafters quite pissed.

Last season predictions: UNDER 8.5 wins (hell yeah, brother), and James Conner returns a top-15 fantasy finish (damn you, Injury Gods).