8 Fantasy Football ADP Risers & Fallers After Preseason Week 2

Aug 23, 2017

As the fantasy sports industry continues to grow, new metrics and ways to evaluate players are cropping up on what seems to be a daily basis. One of the most popular measurable ways to track player rankings and how each player is being perceived is by their Average Draft Position, or ADP.

With redraft and seasonal leagues getting underway, analyzing MFL10 ADP from week-to-week during the preseason is helpful to gather an overall impression of where players are being drafted. Drafters of MFL10 best-ball leagues tend to be sharper than your average fantasy football participant, so you may find players will slip a bit further in some leagues than others.

In other words, ADP data is very useful but not everything, so don’t ride or die with it.

In this piece, I’ll take a look at some of the biggest risers and fallers from the second week of the preseason, comparing their ADP from August 15th to August 22th, and how you should approach them moving forward. A player’s ADP can change for a plethora of reasons, and diving into the cause of that movement can certainly help come draft time.

Note: All players ADPs are taken from http://fantasyadhd.com/mfl10_live/. The number in parenthesis represents their overall +/- ADP jump.

Related: You can see which players moved the best-ball ADP needle from August 1st to the 15th here.

Rex Burkhead, New England Patriots (+33 overall ADP)

With Mike Gillislee still on the shelf due to a hamstring issue, Burkhead took the feature back role and literally ran with it. The former Bengals RB rushed for 20 yards and caught 3-of-3 targets for another 50 yards and scored a touchdown in the Patriots' second preseason game.

If you’ve been playing fantasy football for any length of time, you learn quickly to never trust a Bill Belichick backfield. Gillislee was getting all the love for the majority of the offseason, with James White’s upside relegated to PPR leagues. Now it’s Burkhead being touted as the New England RB to own, with his ADP steadily climbing from the late-14th round to the 12th round in just a week. Take this info for what it’s worth, and draft accordingly.

Read Joe Holka's Rushing Expectation series for more information on how to attack the New England backfield in fantasy drafts.

Zay Jones, Buffalo Bills (+21 overall ADP)

With Sammy Watkins traded to the Rams, and Anquan Boldin announcing his retirement from the NFL this week, it’s no wonder Jones got a 15% bump in ADP. The rookie WR rose 21 spots this past week bringing his ADP from the late-12th to the early-11th round.

Jordan Matthews, who was part of the three-way trade with Watkins, is still recovering from a chest injury and will most likely play in the slot, leaving Jones primed for the WR1 role on the outside. Jones began the Bills’ preseason Week 2 game as the starter, catching 3 passes for 42 yards. His value should continue to rise, so snag him now while his ADP is still in the double-digit rounds.

Continue reading for six more risers and fallers, plus tables with 100 sortable risers and fallers...