We’ve made it through the preseason. Next stop: Real football. FantasyPros analysts Mike Maher, Derek Brown, Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice conclude a series of preseason roundtables by discussing draft risers to target.
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Fantasy Football Roundtable
You can find the first four articles in our roundtable series here:
Fantasy Football Risers
Which player have you gained the most confidence in based on training camp and the preseason? Who are you much more comfortable drafting now than you were a month ago?
Ricky Pearsall (WR – SF)
Mike Maher: I’m not the biggest Ricky Pearsall fan, but I do like his situation in San Francisco. With Brandon Aiyuk set to miss the beginning of the season and Jauan Jennings banged up, Pearsall could step in and be the No. 1 WR for this offense early in the year, at least in terms of target volume. And we know that as long as Brock Purdy stays healthy, this will be one of the better offenses in the NFL, with the ability to feed multiple playmakers.
Pearsall might be in the right place at the right time, and fantasy managers who pay attention to FantasyPros’ expert consensus rankings (ECR) should be able to get him in the right spot in their draft.
Pearsall’s overall ECR (76) is eight spots higher than his average draft position (ADP) right now.
Courtland Sutton (WR – DEN)
Derek Brown: No, this isn’t me being a prisoner of the moment with Courtland Sutton and his 50% target share in Week 3 of the preseason. This is also related to Evan Engram‘s 64% route per dropback rate in that same preseason game, per Pro Football Focus (PFF).
If Engram isn’t going to play a full-time role and challenge Sutton for the team lead in targets, then Sutton will be the clear No. 1 receiving option in a Denver offense that I think takes another leap in 2025.
Marvin Mims Jr. (WR – DEN)
Andrew Erickson: A major question was whether Marvin Mims Jr. would play a full-time role in the Broncos’ offense entering his third year. That’s been the case throughout the preseason, making Mims a sleeper target in the double-digit rounds.
That said, Denver head coach Sean Payton hasn’t always carried over preseason usage to the regular season (via The Coachspeak Index), so be ready to pivot off Mims if Week 1 is accompanied by a lackluster role for the Broncos’ third-year speedster. But at ADP, I am willing to wait and see, because I like Mims’ upside in this offense. The Devaughn Vele trade can’t be ignored, as it opens up snaps for Mims and suggests the Broncos are happy with the developmental/growth of their young wide receiver corps.
Tyler Warren (TE – IND)
Pat Fitzmaurice: It’s tempting to take a different Broncos receiver (Troy Franklin?) just to mess with DBro and Erickson. But, no, it’s Tyler Warren.
Warren has reportedly enjoyed a terrific first NFL training camp. He played nearly every snap with the Colts’ starters in his first two preseason games, and it looks like he won’t be coming off the field much. The Colts named Daniel Jones their starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson — a decision that probably bodes well for all Colts pass-catchers. And the hamstring injury receiver Josh Downs is dealing with could free up additional early-season targets for Warren.
Going into training camp, I had Warren ranked outside of the TE1 range. Now, I have him at TE9 and would be comfortable having him as my starting tight end.
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