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The preseason has come and gone as teams make final roster determinations ahead of the regular season. If you still need to complete your fantasy football drafts for this season, you have until Thursday, September 8 at 8:20 p.m. ET to do so. As you prepare for your fantasy drafts, here are updating rankings, risers and fallers to help you get ready for your standard fantasy football drafts.
Despite my preference for half-PPR scoring, standard scoring does not include extra points for receptions. This will see pass-catching running backs and wide receivers ranked lower than other scoring formats. Due to this, the first round will likely be dominated by running backs. For 12-team leagues, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a split of eight running backs to four wide receivers. Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor is the consensus overall No. 1 choice from his dominant season a year ago. Derrick Henry was on a record-setting pace before he got hurt. Did someone say injury concern? Christian McCaffrey has entered the chat. Each of these running backs could go No. 1 overall, it just depends on if you believe in being injury prone or not.
If you have been keeping an eye on rankings, you will likely see Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce skyrocketing up in ADP. When roster cut-down day happened on Tuesday, August 30, Pierce’s backup, Marlon Mack, was cut by the team. The next day he was signed back to the practice squad, but that eliminates a body from the backfield. Royce Freeman remains in town but hasn’t ever taken over a backfield to this point in his career, contributing to Pierce’s meteoric rise. Other risers include Romeo Doubs of the Green Bay Packers, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders and Austin Hooper of the Tennessee Titans.
The preseason told us a lot about how teams would use their players. From snapshots of usage to the balance of plays run, we still gained valuable information in the preseason despite not seeing many fantasy-relevant players. Tight ends took the biggest hit as both Mike Gesicki, and OJ Howard experienced falls. Gesicki isn’t a great blocker and looks like the fourth passing option for the Miami Dolphins. Howard was cut by the Buffalo Bills and brought in for a workout with the Cincinnati Bengals. While he was there, they signed a separate tight end putting his opportunity with the team in question. From a surprise cut to maybe not making a separate roster, things aren’t looking good for Howard.