Every fantasy football season has players whose value changes seemingly overnight. However, many times, something is happening, or has been happening, beneath the surface, or under the hood of you will. That’s the idea behind our Fantasy Football Risers and Fallers series. Throughout the season, we’ll monitor these underlying metrics and trends to identify fantasy football breakout candidates, waiver wire targets, trade targets, sleepers, and players who have seen their fantasy football stock go up or go down. Also, be sure to check out a few players I identified as possible fantasy football buy-low and sell-high candidates! If you want to stay ahead of your league, these are the fantasy football trends and fantasy football values you need to know as we head into Week 1 of the NFL season.

Biggest Fantasy Football Risers Before Week 1

De'Zhaun Stribling, San Francisco 49ers

Stribling went from a sizable head-scratcher selection on draft night to everyone’s favorite mid-round fantasy wide receiver in what felt like a blink of an eye. He’s going to be the team’s starting slot receiver, and in the preseason, he posted an excellent 3.31 yards per route run out of the slot, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). Overall, he posted 4.95 yards per route run in the preseason, not to mention a 9.5 average depth of target (aDOT), and the second-best receiving grade amongst WRs with at least 10 targets in the preseason.

Aside from an older supporting cast in San Francisco, Stribling has the most juice amongst these pass-catchers, but there’s one big thing I want to key in on for you all. Brock Purdy LOVES throwing to the slot. In 2024, he had an 11:1 TD/INT ratio throwing to the slot, and just last season, his passer rating was 117.5 when targeting his slot receiver.

With Mike Evans and George Kittle battling injuries in the preseason, Stribling got a chance to shine, and now, I expect him to be a big piece of the offense, as he adds an element I’m not sure anyone else on that team can.

Devaughn Vele, New Orleans Saints

Is it possible that Vele didn’t get the proper attention he should have for most of the offseason, training camp, and draft season? Yes, the Saints have stud wideout Chris Olave and used a first-round pick on Jordyn Tyson, but this is a pass-happy team with its WR1 and WR2 having significant injury concerns. Tyson is already out for a month-plus, so Vele is going to be the WR2 for a pass-happy Saints team that has the Lions, Raiders, and Falcons in three of its four games.

Over his final four games of the 2025 season, Vele averaged 4.8 receptions on 6.5 targets for 59.8 yards per game, clocking in as the WR28 in fantasy points per game (PPR) in Weeks 12-15. Those numbers extrapolated over a full 17-game season come out to 80.8 receptions on 110.5 targets for 1,015.8 yards!

The injury to Tyson pushed Vele up draft boards a bit, but there’s belief in Vele, and he’s not simply going to go away upon Tyson’s return.

Mike Washington Jr., Las Vegas Raiders

Let me preface this glowing report of Mike Washington Jr. with this little statement: Ashton Jeanty is a bellcow back for the Raiders in 2026. I’m as sure of that as anything, and I’ve drafted Jeanty as such. However, Klint Kubiak has been very positive about Washington Jr., and reports have come out that Kubiak even called Washington a perfect scheme fit during the draft process.

As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait, but Kubiak and the Raiders didn’t have to wait long to see the explosive Washington excel at the NFL level. Amongst running backs with at least 10 carries in the preseason, Washington had the third-highest yards after contact per attempt (5.96), second-highest running grade, and was tied for the league-high in yards per attempt (7.3). He moved from an upside handcuff to a legitimate handcuff, and if the reports are true, perhaps even low-end flex appeal if the Raiders choose to make him a larger piece of the rushing attack and offense.

 

 

 

Biggest Fantasy Football Fallers Before Week 1

Oronde Gadsden, Los Angeles Chargers

In his rookie season, Gadsden caught 49 of 69 targets for 664 yards and three touchdowns, which also featured a four-game stretch from Weeks 6-9 where he averaged six receptions and 94.3 yards per game! It looked like the sky was the limit for Gadsden heading into 2026, but then things seemingly dropped off. The Chargers brought in David Njoku and Charlie Kolar, and in the preseason, Gadsden played 33 snaps, compared to eight for Kolar, and zero point zero for Njoku. Furthermore, he hardly played with Justin Herbert, with just one of his eight snaps in the preseason finale coming with Herbert under center. 

His ADP plummeted as training camp and draft season went on, and at this point, he’s on the outside looking in amongst the Chargers’ tight ends, which obviously isn’t ideal for his fantasy value. It seems like it will take an injury to Njoku or Kolar for Gadsden to get enough valuable snaps to warrant fantasy attention.

Zachariah Branch, Atlanta Falcons

After being selected 79th overall in this year’s NFL draft, there was some hope that the elusive and shifty Zachariah Branch could ascend to the WR2 role on this team. However, it appears that the WR2 role behind Drake London will likely be occupied by Jahan Dotson to begin the 2026 campaign. Branch has excellent speed and burst, and Atlanta would be wise to find a way to utilize that as things get going.

In the preseason, he turned six targets into four receptions and 21 yards, resulting in an underwhelming 0.75 yards per route run and 5.7 average depth of target (aDOT).

Is it unfair to think that his usage early on in his rookie season is going to be in more of a gadget role? My belief is that the team opens it up with Branch more as the season goes on. However, going from the hopeful WR2 to the team’s WR4 isn’t exactly great for his fantasy value.

Tank Dell, Houston Texans

Dell suffered a brutal injury in the 2024 season, which ended that season early and cost him all of 2025. He has been slowly working back into the mix, but he’s beginning the year on injured reserve, and if you listened closely to folks in the local Houston market, you’ll know that “Tank Dell practicing” was rather loaded. Yes, he was out there with the team, but he wasn’t practicing much near the end of camp, and he didn’t do any work in the joint practices, and only a handful of snaps in team periods.

After such a serious injury and lengthy absence, there’s no world where people should have been thinking he would be out there in Week 1, let alone being the WR2 for the Texans! Even without opening the year on injured reserve, Tank Dell was never going to be the WR2 for the Texans, at least for the first half of the season.

Now, here’s where things get really interesting, and rather damaging to Dell’s fantasy value. The team traded for Kayshon Boutte, who primarily plays out wide. For whatever reason, as dumb as it is, the Texans don’t really move Nico Collins around as much as they should, and despite his stature, Dell is primarily a perimeter player. The Texans also have Xavier Hutchinson and Jaylin Noel in the mix, on top of the fact that they want to play more 12 personnel, which is going to take a receiver off the field.

Oh, there was also a contract adjustment that lowered his total cash by a couple of million, perhaps as a way to take some stress off him trying to return so soon (or even this year)?

I understand the upside, and it’s impressive what he’s been able to do coming back from a horrific injury, but in terms of his fantasy value, he’s not someone I’m using a roster spot on.

Fantasy Football Buy-Low Candidates

Makai Lemon, Philadelphia Eagles

While Lemon was missing time in camp and in the preseason, Dontayvion Wicks was showing out for the Eagles. Given the time that Lemon missed, there could be a ramp-up period for finding his footing in the NFL, and it wouldn’t be shocking if he’s only out there in 11 personnel to begin the season. I still believe in Lemon’s talent, and in his final year at USC, he put up 1,156 receiving yards and 13 total touchdowns (2 rushing). If Sean Mannion gets this Eagles offense moving through the air, with time, Lemon will be the unquestioned WR2 for this team behind DeVonta Smith, and if a fantasy manager wants to move off Lemon already, he could be a prime buy-low candidate if you need some help or upside at the receiver spot.

Chris Bell, Miami Dolphins

The Miami receiving room is, well, interesting to say the least. Chris Bell was injured when drafted, so he had a slower ramp-up for the season, whereas Caleb Douglas was out there, caught some training camp buzz, and then an impressive catch in a preseason game shot him up draft boards. However, Bell worked back quicker than expected, and he just might be the better fantasy asset between these two. Per PlayerProfiler, Douglas’ college dominator came in at the 28th percentile, whereas Bell was in the 81st percentile. With the Dolphins playing from behind more often than not, they’ll need to throw the ball, which Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik has no problem doing, and Bell’s YAC ability could be huge for this offense. This move is probably better suited for deeper leagues, but he’s probably relatively inexpensive to acquire, and the Raiders and 49ers the first two weeks of the season should present positive matchups for Bell.

 

 

 

Fantasy Football Sell-High Candidates

MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers

I understand that with Josh Jacobs on the Commissioner's Exempt List, Lloyd is at the very least the 1A for the Packers' rushing attack. However, even though I do have him rostered in a few leagues, is it wrong to be concerned about Lloyd, who has seven career regular-season touches since being drafted in 2024? The team also went out and acquired Kaleb Johnson from the Steelers, so who's to say that they don’t use all three backs (Lloyd, Johnson, & Chris Brooks) in an effort to preserve all of them until Jacobs returns? If someone in your league needs RB help and is willing to trade a solid player, and you have enough depth at the position, why wouldn’t you capitalize on moving Lloyd? Again, he has seven regular-season touches in two NFL seasons and is a card-carrying member of the injured list! If/when Jacobs returns, Lloyd won’t fetch a similar trade value, so what if right now, before even playing a regular-season game, his trade value is at its peak? 

Darren Waller, Carolina Panthers

The reports out of Carolina camp on Waller are positive, saying he looks good and fast. That’s great, but we know Waller’s stature has never been the issue. It’s durability. He only played in nine games last season after missing the 2024 season (retirement), but to his credit, he did have six touchdowns in nine games on just 24 receptions. He’s only played 15+ games in two of his nine NFL seasons, with the last being over a half-decade ago. Dave Canales and the Panthers targeted its tight ends at the sixth-lowest rate in the NFL last season, and while part of that is likely not having a legitimate playmaker at the position, Waller isn’t a volume guy anymore at this part of his career. Similar to the above with Lloyd, Waller’s trade value might be at its highest now.