Late-Risers: Where Should Owners Target Them?

Aug 23, 2013

As we head into the final stretch of the draft season, it's a good time to discuss those players who have seen their values rise over the past few weeks. Fantasy owners who have been mock drafting for most of August will need to reassess these players if they hope to get them on draft day.

I'll go position-by-position and discuss a few players that fantasy owners need to reconsider. In parenthesis, I'll list each player's rise in ADP (from Fantasy Football Calculator) from August 1st to August 23rd. Keep in mind that this ADP comes from a single source, whereas 4for4's site ADP averages multiple sources. Always make sure to pay special attention the ADP data from the site hosting your league.

Auction

Eagles QB Michael Vick (11.02 to 9.06) has been named the starter in Philadelphia, and his draft stock has jumped almost two rounds in the process. It wasn't long ago that the Philly beat writers speculated that Nick Foles would win the job, but once training camp began, Vick took over and never looked back. He has looked comfortable and sharp in the preseason and appears to be a nice fit in Chip Kelly's offense, though it will be interesting to see how efficient the Eagles are when defenses start playing for real. Vick is a high-end QB2 with upside, but he carries considerable injury risk, so he's best paired with another QB (like Tony Romo, Eli Manning or Matt Schaub, via The QBBC Matrix) as part of a committee. As his ADP indicates, owners will have to be prepared to pull the trigger in the 9th or 10th round if they want Vick this year. In leagues with bigger starting lineups (i.e. 7+ combined RBs, WRs and TEs), owners may be able to wait until the 10th/11th since the other owners in the league will probably be too busy filling out their starting lineups and drafting RB/WR backups to pick Vick as their QB2.