With preseason games giving us more information weekly and training camp a non-stop fever pitch of highlight reels and beat reporter whispers, the expert consensus rankings (ECR) are seeing a lot of movement in how players are ranked. These are the biggest fantasy football draft risers & fallers with two weeks left to go.
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Fantasy Football Risers & Fallers
Fantasy Football Risers
The Vikings’ WR3 position is up for grabs with K.J. Osborn no longer in Minnesota. How fantasy-worthy this position ends up being is up for debate with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison solidified as the WR1 and WR2, but Addison’s legal issues could raise their head at some point. While TJ Hockenson is still recovering from his ACL injury there’s potential for an extra set of hands to catch balls. Jalen Nailor has apparently beaten out Brandon Powell for this role. If Sam Darnold is competent he might be worth a pick in deep leagues and will continue to shoot up fantasy football rankings.
Jalen Nailor this preseason:
???? 82.9 PFF grade
???? 4 receptions
???? 4 first downs
???? 94 yards
???? 4 explosive plays
???? 109.7 rating when targeted pic.twitter.com/y2qsA9wUFW— PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) August 21, 2024
Jordan Whittington (WR – LAR) +54
The Rams created years of conversation when they hit gold on Puka Nacua, prompting endless debates about who the next Puka Nacua would be. After Jordan Whittington lit up the preseason many started to wonder if the Rams could repeat their Nacua success with Whittington in 2024. Whittington caught six of his nine targets for 74 yards in his preseason debut. Rams beat reporter Jourdan Rodrigue reported the team sees Whittington as the backup to both Nacua and Cooper Kupp. Whittington still has to surpass Demarcus Robinson to play in 3-WR sets, but that’s not the highest of bars. Whittington will be a popular late-round pick in drafts purely on potential.
It seemed fairly obvious the Bears weren’t content with Cole Kmet as their only pass-catching tight end, as they brought Gerald Everett in fairly swiftly when free agency opened. Everett has played four of his five years in the NFL with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. That trust was on show immediately in preseason games with Everett and Kmet playing a similarly even amount of snaps. Neither player will likely be reliable enough to use in redraft leagues, but in best ball, they have more upside.
The Steelers’ quarterback battle continues to flounder with neither Russell Wilson nor Justin Fields seemingly able to grab full control of the job. This is the first week of training camp that both Wilson and Fields have been healthy and on the practice field, so we might find information more forthcoming this week. Fields has looked exactly as expected in preseason games — erratic, dynamic, inaccurate but also exciting. The Steelers haven’t made an official decision yet, but if it is Fields at QB1, he’ll be worth rostering for however many games until he loses the job. Act now before his fantasy ADP catches up.
This is one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/PDlTajJjtu
— Ian Kenyon (@ikenyonFB) August 18, 2024
The threat of suspension for Rashee Rice in 2024 seems to have dissipated somewhat with the Chiefs telling reporters they haven’t heard anything from the NFL regarding this in some time. Rice averaged 17.0 PPR points per game from Week 11 onwards in 2023 as he became Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target. With Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown keeping defenses occupied further downfield, Rice can take a big step in Year 2 cleaning up with volume across the intermediary.
The Chargers aren’t a picture of health right now at nearly all positions, but one surprisingly healthy player is J.K. Dobbins, who seems in good shape following his torn Achilles in Week 1 of the 2023 season. The running back room is as ambiguous as any with Dobbins competing with Gus Edwards (who is recovering from an unspecified offseason surgery) and Kimani Vidal, who, until recently, seemed completely out of favor. Justin Herbert has loved to check down in recent seasons. If that continues, it’s more likely Dobbins than Edwards catching the majority of targets. Betting long-term on Dobbins’ health isn’t a great idea, but banking on some early-season production seems fine.
The Chargers actually run blocking?????
And the tight ends can block????? pic.twitter.com/re5Gg4yR6B
— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) August 18, 2024
Puka Nacua is recovering from a bursa sac but should return to Rams training camp soon enough. That hasn’t stopped Cooper Kupp from climbing up the fantasy football rankings, however. Kupp still looked good in 2023 with his 25.6% target share, which was very close to Nacua’s 28.8%, and his route participation outdoing Nacua’s 92.8% to 91.2%. Until we see Nacua healthy again Kupp will continue to climb.
If Jayden Daniels wasn’t quite so slim the enthusiasm for a rookie QB who threw for 3,811 yards and 40 touchdowns in his final season at LSU, while also rushing for 1,250 yards and 10 touchdowns, well, it would be substantially more, to put it mildly. Daniels has been as advertised in the preseason and is now named the official starter for Washington. The only surprise is he hasn’t risen further.
Fantasy Football Fallers
No coach in the NFL seems to be unhappier with the players on his roster than Dennis Allen, who, in particular, singles out Kendre Miller for tough love at every opportunity a microphone is in front of his face. Miller struggled with injuries during his rookie season and that trend has continued into the second year. Miller was a third-round pick, but if he can’t get healthy, he may run out of opportunities to make a difference.
It’s very possible that Kendre Miller doesn’t even make the team, and the Saints spent a top 75 pick on him a year ago. https://t.co/5ClneiQQKg
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) August 22, 2024
A week ago, Chargers beat reporter Daniel Popper left rookie running back Kimani Vidal off his projected 53-man roster. Since then, Vidal got healthy, played in the Chargers’ second preseason game and recorded 11 rush attempts for 49 yards. He looked dynamic while doing so. Popper has since walked back his projection saying everything he hadn’t seen from Vidal, he was now seeing. With that change of mood, don’t be surprised if Vidal starts to rise again.
The Chiefs seemed like the perfect landing spot for Hollywood Brown, who continues his trend of playing with some of the very best quarterbacks in the NFL while chasing a Super Bowl ring. Early camp reports were positive but then Brown broke his sternoclavicular joint on his first catch of the preseason. Brown’s early season availability is now in doubt, allowing Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice’s stocks to rise.
DeAndre Hopkins (WR – TEN) -13
Another injured wide receiver is DeAndre Hopkins, who recently turned 32 years old. Hopkins had an impressive 2023 season with the Titans and should have been primed to be the WR1 in this offense thanks to his relationship with Will Levis. Unfortunately, a lower leg injury has kept him out of camp for two weeks now. It remains to be seen if Hopkins will be fully healthy for the opening game of the season.
The word out of Seahawks training camp has been that Jaxon Smith-Njigba looks very impressive and is ready to take the leap in 2024, after a somewhat subdued rookie campaign. Tyler Lockett has been perenially undervalued in fantasy football circuits but with him turning 32 in September, this might finally be the year his value is properly accounted for.
My god JSN pic.twitter.com/aYPZJZBX4I
— ᴅᴏxx ⚡️ (@new_era72) August 15, 2024
It seems less and less likely Brandon Aiyuk will end up with the Steelers the longer things drag on. Some might see that as good news for George Pickens. But it’s worth remembering that no wide receiver in an Arthur Smith offense has ever seen more than 72 catches in a season. It’s also somewhat noteworthy that the Steelers sought to make an upgrade at wide receiver, giving us an indication of what they think Pickens’s ceiling is.
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