A common poster you’ll find on the walls of most offices states, “It is better to be proactive than reactive.” By spotting small issues and fixing them before they grow, you can get ahead of the curve and adapt more effectively. Yet, we can’t always predict every little thing that will happen. And the same holds true for fantasy football as it does for corporate businesses.
Managers can watch all the preseason films, peg sleepers and post-hype candidates to fill out their roster and do all the necessary research, but unforeseen things happen.
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Fantasy Football Risers & Fallers
Take the case of Josh Jacobs.
Just a few weeks ago, Jacobs was being drafted as a low-end RB1 and a major bounce-back candidate, after a disappointing, injury-filled 2025 season held him below 1,000 rushing yards.
The hope was that the 30 total touchdowns he scored over the last two seasons weren’t a mirage, and that increased touches in one of the league’s most potent offenses would give him a chance to rebound.
Then news broke that Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was “preparing for a potential suspension” following an offseason altercation in which Jacobs was formally charged with two misdemeanors.
Uncertainty about what Commissioner Roger Goodell would actually do caused a panic over Jacobs’ average draft position (ADP). Would Jacobs be suspended this year? Could the league place him on the commissioner’s exempt list? Rumors began to spread like wildfire.
From a top-down perspective, it is doubtful Jacobs will be suspended this season, since the NFL typically lets legal proceedings play out before making its own disciplinary decision. With Jacobs’ arraignment not occurring until November, a pretrial would likely take place in January or February, pushing any decision to next season.
Unless the alleged video drops, of course.
With uncertainty swirling around his situation, Jacobs’ stock began to rapidly decline.
RB14…
RB16…
At last glance, Jacobs is the RB18 in FantasyPros’ expert consensus rankings (ECR).
Jacobs’ situation is just one of many that have developed lately across the ADP landscape. Other players have seen bumps or drops in value due to injuries, trade additions, preseason performances, and rearranged depth charts. Here are a few of the more notable movements lately.
Fantasy Football Risers
Jared Goff (QB – DET)
All I can do is roll my eyes when I see that the market is finally remembering how good Jared Goff has been since joining Detroit in 2021. Despite finishing as a top-10 quarterback in each of the last four seasons, Goff was continually ranked between QB16 and QB22, which blew my mind.
Surrounded by one of the deepest offensive cores in the league, Goff has potent weapons to utilize at all levels of the field. Additionally, many analysts believe the Lions’ defense will regress in 2026, forcing Goff to a more pass-first mentality than in prior years.
Putting things into perspective, he’s averaged 577 pass attempts, 4,551 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes over the last four seasons. Hardly numbers to thumb one’s nose at. Perhaps the biggest cherry on top of that timespan is the fact that Goff has started every single game. Keep buying the dip.
Mike Washington Jr. (RB – LV)
Mike Washington Jr. began the season clumped amongst the “upside handcuffs” that had little value, barring the incumbent starter going down with a lengthy injury. Well, so much for that. Ashton Jeanty sustained an ankle injury in practice last week, and thanks in part to an uncertain return window, Washington’s ADP shifted tremendously.
Initially, it was rumored that Jeanty could be sidelined for the entire season with an ACL tear, but thankfully that wasn’t the case, and it appears the Raiders lucked into the best-case scenario with a low-ankle sprain instead. The “hope” is that Jeanty returns for Week 1, but considering that this team is likely to be a basement dweller within their own division, it makes little sense to push him harder than necessary at the risk of reinjury.
To his own credit, Washington has been exceptional during the preseason. Head coach Klint Kubiak recently stated that both running backs “will prepare to play a lot of football,” and this will clearly be more of a 50/50 split than originally anticipated.
Keenan Allen (WR – IND)
Plenty of analysts were hanging their hat on a breakout season from Josh Downs, following the departure of Michael Pittman Jr. to Pittsburgh in the offseason. Alec Pierce would continue to operate as the intermediate-to-downfield threat, with Downs soaking up targets underneath, along with tight end Tyler Warren.
Clearly, the Colts didn’t get that memo. Instead, they opted to sign the biggest free-agent receiver remaining in Keenan Allen, a slot-only target hog with a lengthy track record of success. Though Downs is much younger, this is a case of “anything you can do, I can do better; I can do anything better than you.”
Even in his advanced age, Allen should still command a high volume of targets as a future Hall of Famer. Daniel Jones‘ healthy return makes this an offense worth monitoring.
George Kittle (TE – SF)
This is a short and sweet synopsis — George Kittle will be back on the field well before anticipated, after somehow rehabbing to be available for Week 1, despite tearing his Achilles during San Francisco’s Wild Card game on January 11th.
Some are still skeptical that the 49ers will hold him out for Week 1 since the team travels to Australia to square off against the Los Angeles Rams. Even if he returns for Week 2 in a “worst-case” scenario, that is still well ahead of all expectations.
Kittle has been a top-five option at the tight end position in six of the last eight seasons, with the two exceptions occurring due to injuries. Some will shy away from San Francisco players due to the team’s issues with the electrical substations wreaking havoc with injuries. I’m kidding, of course. Kind of. Maybe. Hopefully. Still, I’ll gobble up the discount for as long as it lasts.
Fantasy Football Fallers
Jaxson Dart (QB – NYG)
Jaxson Dart has recently seen his ADP drop to pick 110. After being a major sleeper candidate earlier this season, home leagues have begun to rank him more as an upside QB2 rather than a solidified QB1.
Several factors explain this shift. First, during Dart’s limited time in the preseason, he was absolutely blasted in the ribs after running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. missed a blocking assignment. Dart lay on the ground motionless for a moment, with the wind knocked out of him. Moments later, he was escorted to the medical tent for a concussion check, even though that wasn’t the source of his actual discomfort.
Dart came out later and stated that he was unhappy with how he was being treated with kid gloves, always being taken to the tent at a moment’s notice. His frustration was understandable, but with a “safety first” mantra, it is better to be safe than sorry. Still, managers seemed to be reminded of Dart’s bumps and bruises from last season.
Public reminders of the team’s desired run-first philosophy further contributed to his tumble, as did head coach John Harbaugh’s decision to hold Dart out for the remainder of the preseason.
TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE)
All offseason, TreVeyon Henderson was drafted several spots ahead of Rhamondre Stevenson, but the gap has narrowed significantly. As of today, they are ranked side by side in our expert consensus rankings (ECR). During the offseason, fantasy managers honed in on Henderson’s potential upside within this offense, his receiving upside out of the backfield and his explosiveness in open space.
Yet, once New England began adding multiple impact receivers (A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs) and saw his splits with the first team during training camp, things shifted. Efficiency metrics favor Stevenson as the steadier player of the two, especially when it came to forcing missed tackles and running through contact.
The silver lining for Henderson is that in 10 games with double-digit carries last season, eight came after Week 9, and the coaching staff clearly began to trust him more as an impact player. However, his inability to make defenders miss is worrying, especially with the Patriots’ desire to lean on the pass in 2026. Careful treading here.
Jordyn Tyson (WR – NO)
Selected eighth overall in April during the 2026 NFL Draft, New Orleans thought they had walked away with the top receiver in college in Jordyn Tyson, and they weren’t about letting people know it.
A big-bodied physical freak, Tyson has a rare combination of size and speed, and put up elite numbers at Arizona State when he was on the field. Did you see how I included that “when he was on the field” part?
Tyson’s major knock was his lengthy injury history, especially hamstring pulls and soft-tissue problems. Sadly, these already reared their ugly head, and Tyson is now expected to miss multiple months while rehabbing his latest pull. Whenever he is on the field opposite Chris Olave (who has his own injury history), Tyson has tremendous upside, offering elite separation ability and versatility across the field.
Can you really count on his healthy return, though? Who knows. Managers have been inclined of late to avoid drafting Tyson entirely, allowing him to become someone else’s problem instead. His fantasy football ADP has tumbled all the way down into the 12th round, around pick 135. Hopefully he can come back healthy, but risk-averse managers are looking elsewhere.
Kenyon Sadiq (TE – NYJ)
From a purely athletic standpoint, few players stack up to Kenyon Sadiq. Not only within this draft class, but the entire NFL. Offering a combination of size and speed that we haven’t seen since prime Vernon Davis, New York felt compelled to select Sadiq with the 16th overall selection in April.
Anyone watching his college film or combine tape, where he set records in the vertical jump, can see why Sadiq is an enticing selection. Yet, for all of his incredibly athletic traits, he remains tethered to Geno Smith in 2026 as his starting quarterback — a slap in the face with a wet towel to his potential.
In redraft leagues, Sadiq has lost most of his appeal, falling to TE25 and being selected around pick 163 in the late 17th round of drafts.
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