Louisiana Fantasy Football Players And Local NFL Talent

The NFL season is about to kick off, and that means we are deep in the Fantasy Football Draft world. While many leagues have already held their draft, a lot of high-level leagues always wait until the week before the season kicks off to hold their drafts.

In Louisiana, there are are a few different types of people who are playing fantasy football every year. Those who want to win their championship, players that want to get all of the Louisiana-born NFLers, and people who want to roster as many New Orleans Saints/Dallas Cowboys/LSU Tigers or other various local teams. Whether they win or not, they want a team full of players from teams they cheer for.

Do You Put Local Players On Your Fantasy Football Team?

If you're not that person who loads up with local, you have probably been in the league with that person...they take Joe Burrow with the #1 overall pick to just disrupt the whole league. They will offer you a trade every week to get Dak Prescott on their team. Just a few years ago, they would do anything to make sure Drew Brees was their QB1...including taking him #1 overall.

In order to maybe help guide some of these "I Want Local Players" style teams, we can point you towards some ideas for your draft.

Local Players To Put On Your Fantasy Football Team In 2026

First, we're going to look at all of the local players you could draft, then we will make some recommendations below.

LSU

Ja'Marr Chase - Cincinnati Bengals, WR (Louisiana native)
Joe Burrow - Cincinnati Bengals, QB
Justin Jefferson - Minnesota Vikings, WR (Louisiana native)

Tulane

Cairo Santos - Chicago Bears, Kicker

Saints

Travis Etienne - New Orleans Saints, RB
Christ Olave - New Orleans Saints, WR
Juwan Johnson - New Orleans Saints, TE
Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints, QB

Cowboys

Dak Prescott - Dallas Cowboys, QB (Louisiana native)
CeeDee Lamb - Dallas Cowboys, WR
George Pickens - Dallas Cowboys, WR
Javonte Williams - Dallas Cowboys, RB
Jake Ferguson - Dallas Cowboys, TE

Be Careful Who You Draft For Your Fantasy Team

So right away, we want to mention that while UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, and Louisiana Tech are all regularly represented across the NFL, there aren't any players from the schools (or any other Louisiana-based school) that we would recommend for your fantasy football team this year. Something could change throughout the year, but right now, there's no one to draft.

There are some really talented players we've listed above, but some of them should be taken with specific conditions in play. Names like Jake Ferguson, Tyler Shough, and Cairo Santos could all have spots on your roster, but they're not going to be drafted in the first few rounds of your draft. Shough is a backup fantasy QB, Ferguson would probably be a starter at TE on your team...but he's not worth high draft capital, and Santos is a kicker...take last.

Names like Burrow, Jefferson, Chase, Prescott, Lamb, and Javonte Williams are all safe picks for earlier rounds.

Travis Etienne could be a nice sleeper pick, but Chris Olave should be taken with caution...since he's had some injury concerns.

It doesn't look like you can assemble and entire winning team from local talent this year, but you can at least find some spots for a few this year. Then again, if you're just interested in cheering for your people, you can also put a squad together from these names...just don't expect to see a championship.