Fantasy Football: Justin Boone's rankings risers and fallers after preseason and NFL-cutdown day

With the NFL preseason and cutdown day behind us, it's time to reassess the fantasy football landscape as Week 1 approaches. Here's a quick rundown of the biggest risers and fallers in terms of fantasy football value over the last month.

Josh Jacobs being placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List immediately vaults Lloyd into the lead back role in Green Bay. We don't have all the information about Jacobs' situation to feel confident about how this will play out, but several reporters have highlighted the video evidence from the case, which could leak at any time. That makes Jacobs impossible to draft as anything more than a late-round flier, while vaulting Lloyd up into the fringe low-end fantasy RB2 territory.

The 25-year-old has been a bright spot in Packers practices this summer, flashing the explosiveness and playmaking ability that made him a third-round pick in 2024. Though Lloyd's injury history is concerning, it's worth noting that he spent months at the Meyer Institute of Sport in California this offseason, working to improve his durability. His teammate Christian Watson did something similar last season and it resulted in one of the best stretches of his career.

Brooks has also had his potential breakout delayed by injuries, but the 23-year-old is healthy and pushing for a significant role in the Panthers' backfield this season. Veteran Chuba Hubbard already lost his starting job once due to injury and spent the last few weeks sidelined with a hamstring issue. While Hubbard recently returned to practice and is expected to be available for Week 1, his spot atop the depth chart is shaky at best. Brooks might not begin the season as an impact fantasy starter, but he'll offer RB3/flex value with the potential for much more if/when he overtakes Hubbard. That kind of upside is worth targeting at his current ADP at the Round 7-8 turn.

Everyone around the Patriots organization has made one thing clear this summer: this is Stevenson's backfield. TreVeyon Henderson is an explosive playmaker, but he simply hasn't proven to the coaching staff that he can be trusted as a pass protector and consistent between-the-tackles runner. For a team planning a return to the Super Bowl, the Pats can't afford mistakes that could put Drake Maye in danger, so Stevenson remains the lead back.

From a fantasy perspective, we still haven't seen their ADPs reflect this reality. Henderson is still going off the board ahead of Stevenson, despite my rankings showing the opposite for a while. You can still draft either Patriots back given the quality of the offense and the expected boost that should come with the arrival of A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs. However, if you're looking for the more stable fantasy option, it's Stevenson who was a top-five fantasy RB on a per game basis over the final six weeks last season.

This is the time of year where you need to adjust your priors with new information gleaned over the course of training camp and the preseason. One underrated area where that can help you for fantasy is identifying upside backup RBs who are one-injury away from meaningful production. Rookies like Mike Washington Jr. (Raiders), Emmett Johnson (Chiefs) and Kaelon Black (49ers) have won the No. 2 jobs in their backfields and flashed exciting potential during preseason action.

Other rookies like Jonah Coleman (Broncos) and Demond Claiborne (Vikings) might be third on their depth charts but are sneaky bets to assume sizable workloads if their starter gets hurt. Even deeper, we have Seth McGowan, who appears to be the next man up if Jonathan Taylor misses time. We also have veterans like Malik Davis (Cowboys) or Najee Harris (Giants) who came out of nowhere to position themselves as the main beneficiary if an injury occurs. Remember these names in the later rounds of your drafts.

While most of the first-round rookie receivers encountered challenges over the last month, many of the Day 2 wideouts saw their stock rise. De'Zhaun Stribling (49ers) is leading the way after posting massive preseason stats and making an impact whenever he was on the field. In an offense filled with older skill position players, Stribling is poised to start right away and should be considered in drafts as early as Round 7.

Chris Bell (Dolphins) returned from his ACL tear sooner than expected and looked good in the process while teammate Caleb Douglas also shined in August. It's possible Miami's receiver room won't be quite as bad as it appeared on paper earlier this offseason.

Ja'Kobi Lane (Ravens) is making noise in a Baltimore offense that is desperate for pass-catching playmakers outside of Zay Flowers. Malachi Fields (Giants) appears to be the No. 2 wideout across from Malik Nabers, while Zachariah Branch (Falcons) continues to flash on a depth chart lacking talent behind Drake London. Stribling is the player to target for fantasy, but the rest of these rookies deserve consideration in the late rounds.

Tucker Kraft, George Kittle and even Dalton Kincaid fit the mold of talented tight ends who are being selected much later than they deserve due to their injury situations. Kraft (ACL) was the top scoring fantasy TE over the first eight weeks last year and is on track to return for Week 1. Kittle (Achilles) isn't guaranteed for the 49ers' Week 1 in Australia, but he should be back in the opening couple weeks. When active, Kittle has elite upside, after finishing as a top-three fantasy TE in per game scoring seven of the last eight years.

Meanwhile, Kincaid has had one of the healthiest offseasons of his career and is aiming to replicate the early-season production from 2025, when he was a top-five fantasy TE through the first five weeks. If you don't get an elite tight end in your draft, this is the trio to target.

August brought several injuries to star players, including a pair of key young lead backs. Jeanty suffered an ankle sprain that was bad enough his teammates took a knee and prayed on the practice field, which led fantasy managers into panic mode. Fortunately, the injury wasn't as serious as initially implied and he's already back at practice working off to the side with trainers.

The fact the Raiders only kept three running backs after cutdown day should be another sign they don't believe Jeanty's injury is significant. The bigger concern for him might be the emergence of Mike Washington Jr. in the preseason. The rookie is an explosive big-play threat who has head coach Klint Kubiak speaking more openly about getting both backs work. Jeanty remains a second-round target for me, but there are concerns.

Love is dealing with a high ankle sprain and is reportedly considered 50-50 to suit up in the season opener. The Cardinals having a starting-caliber backup in Tyler Allgeier also makes you think they'll err on the side of caution and ease their star rookie back into the lineup over the first month. High ankle sprains can also limit the effectiveness of a runner when they do return to the lineup, so don't be surprised if Love gets off to a slow start before eventually hitting his stride as the season goes along.

The arrival of Stefon Diggs threw a wrench into the projections for Terry McLaurin and Chig Okonkwo, but that alone didn't destroy their fantasy value for 2026. However, Diggs' presence combined with the injury to star left tackle Laremy Tunsil has me worried. The reports out of Washington make it sound like the offensive line is a serious problem that could send the entire offense to the sewer this year. Given Jayden Daniels' durability concerns — which limited him to just seven games last year — playing behind a porous set of blockers doesn't seem like a path to success.

This doesn't mean there won't be big days for McLaurin and Okonkwo, we just shouldn't expect high-end season-long outcomes for them. Though McLaurin is just one year removed from being the WR14 in fantasy points per game, he settles in now as more of a boom-or-bust WR3. Okonkwo is a fantasy TE2, whom you likely want to pair with another late-round TE if you're waiting at the position.

The early warning signs surrounding Evans on the 49ers are not optimistic. The 33-year-old wideout has been in and out of practices this summer due to a variety of lower-body soft tissue injuries — the kind that have plagued him for a while. Evans has missed 12 games over the last two campaigns and dealt with hamstring issues every year since 2019. The veteran is also coming off arguably his worst statistical season with career lows in several categories, including yards per target, yards after the catch per reception and catch rate.

The opportunity for significant fantasy production still remains in San Francisco's offense — especially with Evans' touchdown potential — it's just hard not to avoid questions about his age and durability. Meanwhile, the target competition could be tougher than originally thought, with Stribling emerging, Kittle expected back in the opening weeks and Deebo Samuel Sr. (re)joining the mix, on top of Christian McCaffrey commanding his usual volume.

Any week Evans is healthy, he'll be startable in fantasy, but the red flags make him a risky fantasy WR3. And it's just a ride I don't want to get on.

Unlike the Day 2 receivers, the wideouts drafted in the first round have dealt with a variety of speed bumps so far. Carnell Tate didn't catch a pass in the preseason and the Titans offense has the look of a unit you just don't want to be invested in for fantasy. We'll give Cam Ward and company some time to get comfortable in the Brian Daboll offense, but Tennessee's line might not give him enough time to move the chains. Tate is now a risky WR3 pick for fantasy.

Jordyn Tyson earned a ton of praise before suffering another hamstring injury that will keep him out until October at the earliest. I'm still drafting Tyson at his falling ADP (ninth round or later) and stashing him in my IR spot.

Makai Lemon missed OTAs and some of training camp with hamstring issues, which will almost certainly slow down his involvement early in the season. That makes Lemon more of an upside stash.

Omar Cooper Jr. didn't stand out and is somewhat trapped behind Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell. He'll also have to eventually contend with tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who's expected back soon. I'm not expecting much from Cooper this year.

The only first round receiver who might have helped himself in the preseason was KC Concepcion, but he's dealing with a very rocky QB situation in Cleveland, making him more of a stash pick as well.

The hope around the Titans offense is dwindling, with very few positives emerging from this group over the summer. If the questions about Pollard's environment aren't enough to second-guess drafting him, perhaps you'll want to look at Tennessee's preseason backfield usage. Tyjae Spears played more snaps with the starters than Pollard and the coaching staff continues to talk this up as a committee. You also have to wonder if, later in the season, when the Titans are out of the playoff picture, will they want to get a look at rookie Nicholas Singleton?

Pollard and Spears aren't under contract in 2027, so letting Singleton get some run down the stretch would make sense. This all boils down to Pollard being a low-ceiling fantasy RB3 in an offense that's hard to get excited about.

Justin Boone's top-300 fantasy football rankings