It’s Week 3 of our series covering the biggest Risers and Fallers in Yahoo ADP. As injuries start to mount, we’ve got a host of depth chart diamonds (or duds) on the move heading into late August and the heart of fantasy football draft season. For the full context, you can check out the last piece here. Let’s get right into it!
Jonathon Brooks continues to climb his way up drafts (another 10.1 spots this week) as Chuba Hubbard deals with injury (see the Fallers below). Panthers head coach Dave Canales told reporters on Tuesday that Brooks and Hubbard will be in a committee to start the season, so Brooks has a chance to capture the lead back role.
A handful of backups or depth RBs have made a push this past week, including Jordan Mason (who I actually like over Aaron Jones Sr. as a draft selection), Braelon Allen (while Breece Hall deals with injury) and MarShawn Lloyd (with Josh Jacobs surrounded by question marks). One other riser I like as a sleeper right now: Texans tight end Dalton Schultz, who has cracked the top 150 on Yahoo and has an underrated chance to be a TE1 and a top target in Houston with Jayden Higgins out for the season.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt — or “Bill” as he’s known in the fantasy community — is one of the more curious risers of the month. He’s currently dealing with a reportedly minor lower-body injury and the most notable shift in Washington lately has been the addition of Stefon Diggs at wide receiver. Rachaad White is also dealing with a minor injury (hamstring strain), but it’s no more concerning than JCM’s, so this ADP rise likely has more to do with a shift in perception — it’s possible Justin Boone’s top sleepers article, which featured Croskey-Merritt, is the main culprit. Whatever the reason, Bill clearly has a lot of upside for a player going just outside the top-100 overall. I believe he’ll split work heavily with White, but if the Washington offense over-performs expectations — which I think is likely — he could still be a viable RB2 or weekly FLEX play.
De’Zhaun Stribling’s 2026 preseason rise might eventually be remembered as one of the greatest in fantasy history. Over the past three weeks, the rookie receiver has risen more than 40 spots and is now going in the 10th round. Seemingly, the rest of the roster in San Francisco is dealing with some persistent soft tissue injury, and Stribling posted another great outing in Week 2 of the preseason (four catches for 46 yards on five targets). Whether or not you believed in his selection at 33rd overall in April, it’s becoming clear why the 49ers took him. It’ll be interesting to see how high a ceiling he can actually attain with Mike Evans, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey (assuming health), but Stribling is in legitimately exiting sleeper territory as he approaches the middle rounds.
Oddly enough, Raiders rookie running back Mike Washington Jr. had already risen more than a round this past week before the Ashton Jeanty injury news broke early on Sunday. The reason? His explosive preseason: Washington has totaled 119 yards on 15 carries, with two catches for 18 yards as well. He’s ripped off runs of 53 and 33 yards, which is both enticing and concerning, as it means he averaged just 2.4 carries on his other 13 runs. He’s an imposing size-speed prospect, currently listed at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds after running a 4.33 40-yard dash at the Combine. For context, that’s tied with DK Metcalf for second-fastest in the recorded history of the Combine by a player over 6-foot and 220 pounds. Now that Jeanty is dealing with an ankle sprain — which has his status for Week 1 unclear — Washington is a must-have backup in the double-digit rounds. Don’t be surprised if he’s the sneakiest RB1 of the first few weeks, should Jeanty miss time.
Unfortunately, the reason for Cam Ward’s drop in ADP is fairly straightforward: he’s been terrible this preseason. He’s completed just 54.2% of his passes, has not thrown a TD on 24 attempts and has a 69.1 passer rating in total. Somehow, his tape has looked even worse than his stats. But I’m not all the way out just yet — this is preseason, and Ward is still building chemistry with his new receivers. Derek Carr had a 54.9% completion rate and a 58.8 passer rating in his second preseason, before breaking out to finish as the QB14, with 32 touchdown passes. August has certainly not bolstered hope in a massive fantasy year for the 2025 No. 1 overall pick, but he’s a dirt-cheap, late-round QB either way. Ultimately, he’s only really worth a stash in 2-QB leagues or a flag for eventual streaming consideration.
It’s interesting to see both Quentin Johnston and Oronde Gadsden drop this week, despite no addition to the Chargers’ receiving corps (and Keenan Allen’s signing in Indy to boot). It might be a reflection on the loss of freshly signed center Tyler Biadasz (knee), which puts an undeniable damper on excitement for Mike McDaniel’s new offense in Los Angeles. It also might be a reflection in rising sentiment on Ladd McConkey and the corresponding drop for the other targets. Or, simply, it could be average drafters souring on the very limited stretches of hype Johnston and Gadsden produced last season. That’s where I’ve resided all offseason, as I think both are hit-and-miss options in a crowded, likely run-first offense. I haven’t been taking them at their previous ADP and likely still won’t take them where they sit now.
The top tier of Fallers this week is stocked with middling draft targets battling nagging injuries. Alec Pierce remains on the PUP as he recovers from ankle surgery … and the Allen signing certainly doesn’t help his odds of a major target bump in 2026. Hubbard’s hamstring injury is only half the issue, as the rise of Brooks has clouded the outlook around Hubbard in what should be a split backfield. Jordyn Tyson was ruled out for two months last week with a hamstring injury, so he went from an intriguing mid-round value to a late-round stash at best. And Isiah Pacheco is sidelined with a sprained MCL, removing his opportunity to impress in the David Montgomery role in Detroit. All four of these players have fallen nearly a round in the past week — and all four are still not worth taking at their current price points as far as I’m concerned.
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