The Preseason is finally upon us and it’s officially redraft season. Now that we have a few weeks of training camp in the books as well as Week 1 of the preseason, let’s take a look at Redraft Risers & Fallers (2024 Preseason Edition). Here we will see some of the players that have seen the biggest change in their value over the past few weeks, many of these will be related to injury so let’s get right into it.
Risers
Xavier Worthy, Chiefs
Embed from Getty ImagesXavier Worthy has suddenly seen his situation shoot him up the draft boards at a record pace. Originally he was part of an overcrowded receiving corps for the Kansas City Chiefs but he appears to be the front-runner to lead the team at this point.
Newly acquired Marquise Brown is dealing with a shoulder injury that saw him hospitalized earlier in the week and Rashee Rice is in a legal battle and could face a lengthy suspension. That leaves Worthy as the safest option of the Chiefs pass-catchers despite being a rookie who has never played in an NFL game.
All three Chief’s receivers are going in the same range of drafts with Worthy often going as the cheapest. I will take that value on the speedy rookie in hopes of him becoming the preferred target for Patrick Mahomes. Another thing to consider is that after a decade of being the most reliable tight end in fantasy football, Travis Kelce started to show signs of decline last season and could easily find himself out-targeted by Worthy in a perfect storm.
Worthy is the perfect low-risk/high-reward prospect and could easily be a league winner this season, I’m all in.
Diontae Johnson, Panthers
Embed from Getty ImagesThis one is subjective. Diontae Johnson isn’t rising my rankings, rather he is rising the expert consensus rankings. Johnson was always in the Rounds 7-9 range for me, but when we began the offseason, he was going off the board as late as the 11th or 12th round.
Anything outside the 10th round for Diontae Johnson should be considered insane. There is a general level of fear around him based on how mightily the Panther’s offense struggled last year behind rookie Bryce Young, but even if Young doesn’t make a great stride as a sophomore, Johnson is still going to be a target monster with little competition for targets.
The Panthers’ offense consists of again Adam Thielen and two young and unproven receivers Jonathan Mingo and Xavier Legette. Add in an unimpressive backfield and no fantasy-relevant tight ends and this sets up to be a monster season for Johnson.
Fallers
JJ McCarthy, Vikings
Embed from Getty ImagesJJ McCarthy looked impressive during the opening week of the preseason, but today it was revealed that after dealing with discomfort in his leg all week, McCarthy has an MRI which revealed a torn meniscus that will require surgery.
At this point, it’s unknown exactly how much time McCarthy will miss but even if it’s a quick recovery he is likely to be out months not weeks. Rookies missing their rookie year training camp and preseason are always behind the gun and will face an uphill battle to make up that time. I consider McCarthy’s rookie season a total loss and he is no longer on my draft board for the 2024 redraft season. It now appears that Sam Darnold will be the starting quarterback for the Vikings this season.
McCarthy was always a risk in redraft as it’s entirely possible he could have started the season on the bench behind Sam Darnold, but this development effectively ends his fantasy relevance for the year.
Tyrone Tracy, Giants
Embed from Getty ImagesThis one causes me great pain and sadness and is in no way a reflection of his talent level. After appearing to quickly shoot up the Giant’s running back depth chart to challenge for the starting job, Tyrone Tracy was carted off the field today at practice and was seen with an air cast on his ankle.
The word is that he has suffered a serious ankle injury and has been taken to hospital. This is a death knell for a rookie. Any chance he had of working his way into a useful fantasy role in his rookie season has essentially gone right out the window with this development. Even if this ankle injury isn’t a season injury for Tracy, missing training camp as a rookie is always a serious issue.
Tracy is still a valuable asset to stash in dynasty leagues, but as far as redraft leagues are concerned, this could be the end of the road for 2024 Tyrone Tracy.
To see how far these players have risen and fallen in our rankings, head over to the Fantasy Football Universe Rankings Home Page.
