Rankings Risers & Fallers: Fantasy Football breakout Jonathon Brooks racing up rank lists and draft boards

We received a non-stop flow of practice reports and news filling our social media feeds once training camps opened about a week ago. Every highlight glamorized, every injury magnified, every signing hyped. Football was back!

It's the time of year when over-reacting might be detrimental to your Fantasy season. The wrong player gets too much attention and before you know it, his average draft position is too high and his value is ruined.

You might argue no player experienced more instant hype than Malik Nabers, the Giants' stud receiver who tore his right ACL and meniscus last September. Offseason quotes from head coach John Harbaugh insinuated his timetable to return was very much in flux, plus a second offseason clean-up surgery was reported.

But Nabers was out there practicing on the first day of Giants training camp and looking more or less like his normal, quick-cutting, explosive self. When he spoke to the media days later, he claimed the date for his clean-up surgery was erroneously reported and that he had been running routes for weeks before camp.

That forced us to pivot away from the offseason evaluation we put in for Nabers. He's no longer a candidate to slog through the first half of the year as he rounds back into form; he now has a shot to be every bit of the playmaker he was as a rookie. A reminder: that meant 11.3 targets per game, 18.2 PPR points per game and 11 non-PPR points per game -- and that was even with nearly 20% of his targets deemed uncatchable! Nabers might not see quite that high of target volume with the Giants expected to be run-heavy, but Matt Nagy dialed up a receiver to see at least 8.2 targets per game in three of four seasons as the Bears playcaller many moons ago.

Nabers is unquestionably one of Fantasy's biggest risers through the first week of training camp, going from a Round 4 outlook to the border of Round 2. And considering his ceiling, taking him in Round 2 isn't as crazy. We'd probably recommend him as a Round 1 pick had he never hurt his knee.

Here are the other risers and fallers through the early days of training camp

Risers: Jonathon Brooks, Jalen Coker Fallers: Chuba Hubbard, Tetairoa McMillan

Brooks started Panthers camp without issue and has demonstrated his talent to cut and catch while coming in a little stronger than when we last saw him. He figures to share the rushing workload with Chuba Hubbard in Carolina, but the Panthers showed us last season they were willing to put someone other than Hubbard in a feature role after Hubbard came back from an injury. From Week 7 through the end of the regular season, Hubbard led the Panthers RBs in both snaps and touches in only one game. Over that same span, Hubbard had five or fewer touches than the primary back in just four other games, meaning the Panthers were more than OK giving someone else the lead back duties. A similar situation is very likely if Brooks is anywhere near as effective as his talent profile suggests.

The positive news on Brooks put him ahead of Hubbard in my rankings, but neither one should be taken in the first 85 picks.

Carolina's receivers have looked sharp throughout camp, but that's the twist -- there's two of them. McMillan never quite became a target hog last season, averaging a good 7.2 targets per game but turning it into just 12.4 PPR points on average. Coker suffered a quadriceps strain before the start of last year and needed a lot of time to come back and play at a high level. That happened in the final eight weeks of the season (including playoffs) when Coker had 5.5 targets to McMillan's 6.5 but averaged more touches per game and scored identical PPR averages (13.1) over that span. Coker came to camp in great shape with improved footwork, putting him in position to be nearly as much of a threat for the Panthers as McMillan. With two offensive tackles missing time for Carolina, there's worry that Bryce Young may need to get the ball out faster and not wait for his receivers to get open deeper downfield. That helps Coker's case since his average route depth and average depth of target from those final eight from 2025 were closer to the line of scrimmage than McMillan's.

So why should Fantasy managers reach for McMillan with a top 40 pick when Coker could end up being the better value closer to Round 10?

Risers: Tyler Warren, Josh Downs Faller: Alec Pierce

We're a week into camp and Indy's freshly paid wideout is still on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Coach Shane Steichen said he's "moving in the right direction," but until that direction is toward the huddle with Indy's other starters, Fantasy managers are going to worry about how long it'll take him to get into game shape and cement himself as Indy's big-target threat.

So in the meantime, the top pass-catchers who are practicing are getting attention. If Pierce is slow to play, then Warren and Downs should be in a spot to get much more work. Downs especially has been a riser due to the expected opportunities he's set to have with Michael Pittman now in Pittsburgh. It was just 2024 when Downs averaged 13.1 PPR points and 7.6 targets per game.

Warren will be the first Colts pass-catcher taken in that Round 4/5 turn range. Downs may soon pass up Pierce in half- and full-PPR leagues if the latter's absence stretches into late August. But even if Pierce comes back to practice soon, Downs will be a trendy Round 7 or 8 pick in full-PPR.

Waddle wasn't added by this offense for nothing. Quarterback Bo Nix essentially admitted this week that the Broncos will line Waddle up all over the formation and deploy him all over the field in an effort to maximize his impact based on his speed and quickness. Waddle always had excellent talent; he just struggled to find the opportunities to show it off in Miami because of injuries and personnel issues (playing behind Tyreek Hill and with a conservative quarterback hurt his target volume). Denver spread targets around to its receivers last season becaus...

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