It’s Week 2 of our series covering the biggest Risers and Fallers in Yahoo ADP, and we’ve got a host of depth chart diamonds (or duds) on the move heading into late-August and the heart of fantasy draft season. For the full context, you can check out the first piece here. Let’s get right into it!
Very briefly, there’s a trio of ADP risers at wide receiver that I really like and want to highlight. Malik Nabers continues to trend towards playing in Week 1 and, even after rising to 32nd overall, is still being undervalued. We saw Michael Wilson flash briefly in Week 1 of the preseason, a reminder of his absurd second half of last season, and jump up nearly eight spots in ADP as a result. He’s still a value past Pick 100. Finally, Josh Downs, one of my favorite “sleepers” in 2026 drafts, is up to 105th overall as the fantasy community starts to understand his role in the Indy offense (and Alec Pierce remains banged up).
Last week (and, spoiler alert, this week again), we hit on Chuba Hubbard’s slide in drafts as he remains week-to-week with a hamstring issue. Unsurprisingly, Jonathon Brooks is seeing an inverse rise as fantasy drafters begin to realize he may be the lead back in Carolina. Remember, the team drafted Brooks early in the second round two years ago — capital that suggests RB1 expectations — and he just has not seen the field thanks to horrible injury misfortune. Heading into 2026, Brooks is pushing past Hubbard as the lead back in Carolina and has the talent to be a fantasy star with a starting role. Plus, you still don’t need to draft him early — he’s going around the 8-9 turn, which could make him a viable RB4 or RB5 depending on your build. That’s low risk for a potentially sky-high reward.
Very similarly to Brooks, Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd earned Day 2 draft capital in 2024 (88th overall) but has missed the vast majority of his first two NFL seasons since. He literally has six career carries (all in Week 2, 2024). So why is his ADP on the rise? Because he saw all the work with the first-team offense with Josh Jacobs absent for the preseason opener against Pittsburgh, racking up five touches on the first eight plays from scrimmage. Jacobs has missed practice time with a groin injury and is still somewhat mired in question marks surrounding his alleged domestic abuse incident in May. Should the injury bug become a bigger problem for Jacobs — or should the NFL dole out a suspension — Lloyd appears to be firmly established as the next-man-up. Jacobs has shouldered 607 touches the past two seasons in Green Bay, and Lloyd would be extremely fantasy relevant with that kind of volume even if he wasn’t particularly efficient. Among the many late-round backups at running back, Lloyd looks particularly promising, making him an attractive stash at the end of drafts.
Stefon Diggs made the column last week after jumping more than a round in ADP days after his signing with Washington. Another week later and he’s up another round. For those who weren’t here last week, or need a refresher, Diggs finished as the WR17 in New England last year, with 85 catches for 1,013 yards. And perhaps more importantly, when projecting his outlook with the Commanders, he averaged 2.4 yards per route run, trailing only Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Zay Flowers and Amon-Ra St. Brown among all players with 300+ routes. I said last week that I believe Diggs could be a better fantasy pick than Terry McLaurin, and at the very least the ADP gap between them is shrinking. I have Diggs ranked as my WR38 and think he should probably end up in the late single-digit rounds. He’s encroaching on that territory now, so keep checking back for updates, but I’m still happily taking Diggs in the early 10th.
Last week saw a very small 3-4 spot boost in ADP for 49ers rookie wideout De’Zhaun Stribling, but he still made the column amid the loss of Ricky Pearsall (knee) and the practice absences of both Mike Evans (quad) and Christian Kirk (calf).
Red alert. Stribling absolutely rocketed up ADP after the preseason opener, in which he caught seven of eight targets for 63 yards, including a couple highlight-reel snags. He is already starting to lend credence to the draft reach San Fran’s front office made in April … and might be making a case for a draft reach in fantasy as well. This is a consistently efficient offense with a quarterback in Brock Purdy who throws plenty of touchdowns. Stribling will likely continue to rise (from the 11th round) and I’m now taking him over fellow rookie Jordyn Tyson (injured), Xavier Worthy and Matthew Golden (among others).
Chuba Hubbard made the first column in this series, but that was shortly before he was announced to be week-to-week with a hamstring injury. Now, as noted above, Hubbard is starting to fall down fantasy draft boards under the pretense that he could lose the starting job to Brooks. (Candidly, I had already believed Brooks would win the starting job, or at least hold the bigger half of a committee.) And if there’s one thing that scares me off drafting a player more than anything else, it’s soft tissue issues in August. No thank you. Even after he’s dropped to 84th overall, I’m not touching Hubbard in drafts. He’d need to slide another couple rounds, into or beyond the range of Rachaad White and Jordan Mason, to even draw a glance from me.
Courtland Sutton is not dealing with an injury and caught all three of his targets for 60 yards (including a 40-yarder) in the preseason opener, so there’s only one viable explanation for his nearly-eight-spot drop in ADP. The fantasy community is starting to properly value Jaylen Waddle and his role as the WR1 in Denver. Waddle is up to 42nd overall this week — and I like him a full round earlier than that — while Sutton drops into the range of the WR4s like Quentin Johnston and Jordan Addison (fellow touchdown-dependent No. 2s).
“But, Okada, Sutton had 120+ targets each of the last two years in Denver!” Yes, but that was a result of zero relevant competition for those targets. Prior to 2024, Sutton had logged 109 targets or fewer in five of his six seasons. Just from a profile perspective, he’s more of a big-bodied downfield and red-zone guy, not a high-volume No. 1. That’s Waddle’s job. Particularly in any form of PPR scoring, I think Sutton belongs closer to the WR4s than the WR2s, and his ADP is starting to reflect that more and more.
Bears running back Kyle Monangai suffered a hyperextended knee in practice and is expected to miss multiple weeks. Theoretically, here in mid-August, that should still put him on track to return in or around Week 1 … but it also puts the injury cloud over his head and his draft price. On the one hand, it makes him a riskier pick in the ninth round, and drafters might be justified in turning to guys like Brooks (see above), J.K. Dobbins and Blake Corum. On the other hand, this might create an opportunity to get Monangai at a discount. We’re primarily drafting him as a backup to D’Andre Swift, with the potential for a sort of Detroit-David-Montgomery upside in Ben Johnson’s vision for a record-breaking Bears offense. Unless you’re going Zero RB, Monangai doesn’t need to make your starting lineup in Week 1 or 2, so this injury isn’t taking him off my draft board. If anything, I might be more inclined to consider him if/as he drops towards the double-digit rounds. Keep an eye on his recovery process, particularly if you don’t draft for a couple weeks. And do consider glancing at RB3 Roschon Johnson in very deep leagues.
The Eagles’ pick at 20th overall, and hopefully heir to A.J. Brown, is not trending in the right direction. Makai Lemon has remained sidelined at practice for two weeks due to a lingering hamstring injury. And as I mentioned with Hubbard earlier, I hate soft tissue issues in August. As I said last week, the chances that Lemon misses time, starts slow and/or re-aggravates the injury throughout the year are all increasingly high. Moreover, missing this much of training camp and the preseason is particularly concerning for a rookie wide receiver. They usually take longer to acclimate and produce for fantasy and this is only going to extend that timeline.
Frankly, Lemon is all the way down to WR65 in my rankings, which makes him essentially undraftable at his current ADP of WR46 (even after his multi-week slide). It’s not impossible that he rights the ship and ends up a huge value (especially with DeVonta Smith also banged up), but as of right now, I’d rather take the shot on one of the several rookie wideouts with fewer red flags, like Stribling (see above), Ja’Kobi Lane or KC Concepcion.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
