When it comes to Average Draft Position in fantasy football, a players draft stock can change in a heartbeat. A good or poor preseason performance, beat writer and coach speak and actual injuries that occur can all attribute to player movement on draft boards. A player can be drafted in a totally different round than they were even two-to-three weeks ago. As you enter your drafts, check out some of the noticeable risers and fallers when it comes to ADP for fantasy football.  Remember, a drop in ADP isn’t always a bad thing and could make the player’s value even more appealing if you yourself are planning on targeting that player. 

Risers

Phillip Lindsay (Last Week ADP 144.08-Today ADP 135.13): Over the last couple of weeks, there has been talk of David Johnson’s role being lighter than originally anticipated and Lindsay has been able to move the ball when given the carries. He’s posted two seasons of at least 1000 yards rushing along with 35 receptions. While he didn’t produce nearly as much last season, he still rushed for 4.3 yards per carry. Even though the Texans will be playing from behind a lot, their QB situation is up in the air, they have injured receivers and as mentioned before, Lindsay can catch passes as well. He’s risen from being an end of 12th round pick to an early 12th round pick in 12-team leagues. That’s a major jump in a week and it’s a tremendous value being that he could be the starter and in line for the most amount of carries on the team this season.

Marvin Jones (Last Week ADP 120.2 -Today ADP 114.09): He may be 30, but after a fully healthy season last year, and 9 touchdown receptions in 3 of his last 4 seasons, Jones is certainly in play once again and in the last week we’ve seen him rise from being a 10th round pick to a 9th round pick.  He’s proven he can handle a lot of volume even as a seasoned veteran as he was targeted 115 times last season. He’ll have a bit more competition in Jacksonville vying for targets against D.J. Chark and Laviska Shenault, but with Darrell Bevell in Jacksonville as the new Offensive Coordinator, that could end up working in Jones’ favor because he’s played with Bevell before in Detroit. Also, with the news of Travis Etienne being out, that’s one less option that needs to be fed on the offensive side of the ball.

Logan Thomas (Last Week ADP 97.45-Today ADP 93.22): After securing the third most receptions of any Tight End last season on 109 targets (also 3rd most among Tight Ends), Thomas has seen ADP rise from being a ninth round pick to eighth round selection in the last week. Washington re-signed him in the off-season and if things were good with Alex Smith under center, they should be even better with the pass-heavy Ryan Fitzpatrick under center this season. Washington did add Curtis Samuel to their receiving corps, but there are still plenty of targets to go around and with J.D. McKissic expected to see a drop in targets this season, Thomas value and targets are safe, even if Antonio Gibson catches a few more passes as well. Thomas was targeted third most among Tight Ends in the red zone scoring six touchdowns and catching over 88 percent of the passes thrown his way.

Fallers

Myles Gaskin  (Last Week ADP 62.8-Today ADP 70.04): There is a whole bunch of confusion regarding the Dolphins run-game after Coach Brian Flores came out and said he will utilize Gaskin, Malcolm Brown and Salvon Ahmed in the offense. Depending on what the situation calls for in the game, Flores will focus on using a by committee approach and that has scared fantasy players off of Gaskin. Brown has about 20 pounds on Gaskin and that could take carries away from Gaskin and while he can be active in the passing game, Ahmed can be as well. Gaskin seems like he’s stuck in a major timeshare and let’s not forget that he missed six games last year. We’ve seen Gaskin drop a lot when it comes to ADP over the last month, as he was going solidly in the fifth round in 12-team leagues back in July and as the weeks continue and the Dolphins continue to express that they will utilize all three running backs, expect Gaskin to drop even further. 

Melvin Gordon (Last Week ADP 86.39-Today ADP 89.74): After drafting Javonte Williams in the second round, Gordon’s role is now in question. Will he get enough volume to have somewhat of a safe floor with Williams expected to be heavily involved? We’ve been able to rely on Gordon for receptions and did have 10 touchdowns last season, but Courtland Sutton will be back in the mix and other receivers such as Jerry Jeudy are more experienced now. It will be a tougher competition for Gordon to get targeted consistently in the Broncos passing game. Gordon has also been dealing with an injured Groin and the Broncos are downplaying it a bit, but we haven’t seen Gordon participate in pre-season yet. Gordon, conditioning-wise, will likely be behind some of his other teammates and it may take him a few weeks to shake the rust. This offense has more weapons available and especially the drafting of Williams makes Gordon a risky draft pick.

Michael Carter (Last Week ADP 73.70-Today ADP 78.39): Just like with Gaskin, Carter is in a similar situation where he doesn’t have a safe floor when it comes to carries and production to start the year. In pre-season we’ve seen Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson and La’Mical Perine all active and the Jets will likely rely on multiple running backs until they can figure out what works and who should be prioritized. Throughout draft season, some industry players drafted Carter in the fifth round and lately we’ve seen him drafted in seventh round. View Carter as a long-term investment as those that draft him could be sacrificing a roster spot for the first few weeks of the season while the Jets shuffle him in and out of the offense. Carter dropping more could be beneficial to those who want to take that risk and are willing to be patient with him. He doesn’t have a lot of speed! The Jets will be playing from behind a good amount of the year and they may have to rely more on their passing attack to get back in the game. He can catch passes but Coleman will likely fill that role for the Jets as the main pass-catching running back, but we should expect him to pick up more carries throughout the season.