The NFL starts in three months which will pass sooner than you can imagine. Heck, best ball drafts and dynasty rookie drafts are already going on. If you are enough of a degenerate to already be drafting, or just want to take a look ahead at what is to come, I’ve got my updated rankings for you today. These are based on half-PPR scoring which is the new industry standard. If you have any questions, direct them to me on Twitter @BobbyFantasyPro. Before we jump over to the rankings, let me tell you about four players I am considerably higher on than most others.

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A.J. Green (WR – CIN): #18 overall
I can’t understand for the life of me why everyone suddenly stopped believing Green to be a second-tier fantasy receiver. Every time he has played 16 games, Green has finished among the top 10 fantasy receivers. Sure, there have been two injuries in the last three seasons, but he was still dominant up until those. If you pro-rate his 2018 numbers out to a full season, we were looking at a pace of 90 receptions, 1,374 yards and 12 scores. Friends, that would have placed him sixth among wide receivers in fantasy scoring, just between Julio Jones and Michael Thomas. I won’t stop drafting him as anything other than a WR1 until he stops performing like one.

Latavius Murray (RB – NO): #44 overall
Remember in 2017 when Alvin Kamara finished #3 and Mark Ingram finished #6 among all half-PPR fantasy running backs? Well, Ingram’s average draft position was 46th overall last year even despite a 4-game suspension. He and Kamara proceeded to score 33.0 fantasy points per game combined last year after 32.7 in 2017. The point in saying all this is that Murray is replacing Ingram in one of the most useful roles in fantasy football. He may be a better version, yet is being drafted 45 spots after Ingram was last year, even despite Ingram having a four-game suspension. That doesn’t seem smart.

Jamison Crowder (WR – NYJ): #90 overall
There is nothing sexy about drafting Crowder. He doesn’t have the upside of even a WR2, nor is the Jets’ offense intriguing at all. If you want a reliable flex player late in drafts, however, you’ll want to snag Crowder, who is a perfect fit with Sam Darnold. Quincy Enunwa, then Chris Herndon excelled as middle of the field pass catchers last year which is Crowder’s forte. In fact, Crowder’s arrival will push Enunwa outside and into fantasy irrelevance. Just like we saw in 2016 and 2017 with Washington (before Crowder’s injury) you can expect a solid 5 catches per game with around 800 yards and a handful of touchdowns from Crowder.

Justice Hill (RB – BAL): #113 overall
As I mentioned with Murray above, New Orleans multiplies a running back’s value, so why wouldn’t the reverse effect take place when a running back leaves? No one is arguing that Mark Ingram is awful, but I’ll contend that he isn’t good enough outside of that Saints’ system to lock down the starting running back job in Baltimore. If anyone is going to sneak in and win the job, it would be Justice Hill, who my co-host, Mike Tagliere, likens to Reggie Bush. I see a bigger and more athletic version of Phillip Lindsay with excellent instincts and top-level speed. Pair that with a run-heavy offense and we might just have this year’s surprise breakout running back.

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