Everything You Need to Know If Drafting This Weekend

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Fantasy football season is upon us, and with it comes a whirlwind of injuries, holdouts, trades, depth chart battles, and preseason performances. The constant stream of news from training camps can be overwhelming, leaving even the most dedicated fantasy managers feeling unsure about their draft strategies.

In this article, we'll simplify everything for you. We'll go round-by-round through every player drafted in the Top 120 picks in our updated Consensus Average Draft Position (ADP). You'll get the latest updates and insights you need to make informed decisions when you're on the clock this weekend.

But that's not all—we'll also highlight the news you should know on 25 later-round players whose fantasy stock is either rising or falling based on recent developments. 

Round 1

The two veterans at the top of the draft, Christian McCaffrey and Tyreek Hill, are both dealing with very minor injuries. Draft them with confidence.

The two star young wide receivers going in the Top 4, CeeDee Lamb and Ja'Marr Chase, are both holding out. This is the first-round news that is most worth following. In general, both should be out on the field in Week 1, and this is not an issue worth fretting over. The risk of a holdout dragging into the season is not 0%, though. Draft both as you usually would. However, the holdout risk can be a tie-breaker if you are conflicted between two players (say Lamb and Hill or Chase and Amon-Ra St. Brown).

The recent Footballguys Preseason Insights article featured this note: "RB Tyler Allgeier is having a great training camp and is a regular part of the starting offense." This has been a theme throughout camp. Atlanta loves Allgeier, and he is going to be involved. This may cap Bijan Robinson's upside. It is a piece of news worth considering in your draft prep.

On the other end of the spectrum, the drumbeat on Garrett Wilson has been almost 100% positive. He deserves to be a Top 10 selection and there is arguably a bit of a tier drop after Wilson at 10 to Puka Nacua at 11. Nacua is at no risk of missing Week 1, but it is always a bit of a concern for a player with an injury history to miss most of camp.

Round 2

News on second-round players is relatively quiet. Jahmyr Gibbs is expected to return soon from a hamstring injury that has kept him out of practice for the last few weeks. 

De'Von Achane has impressed in recent weeks. He is a boom-or-bust player worth deeper consideration. Our Jason Woods wrote an excellent deep dive, De'Von Achane: The Outlier of Outliers.

Round 3

The on-again, off-again Brandon Aiyuk trade scenarios drag on with no end. Something has to break soon. When it does, it will impact our fantasy drafts. Aiyuk's a great third-round target if he stays in San Francisco. If he ends up in Pittsburgh? Yikes. That passing offense has looked rough in preseason action. There is even some late buzz that Washington may be back in the Aiyuk sweepstakes after the Commanders shipped Jahan Dotson to Philadelphia for a mid-round draft pick. 

Round 4

We should not overreact to training camp highlights, but ignoring what we have seen from Malik Nabers is impossible. It is not just a single highlight here or there. He moves differently than all but a handful of other wide receivers on the planet, earning comparisons to Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson recently from Sauce Gardner.