Injuries continue to pile up across training camp and preseason action, with Year 2 breakout candidate Jayden Higgins (torn ACL) being the latest (as of this writing) brutal news. It has nearly been impossible to keep rankings updated fast enough to reflect all of the changes, but I've done my best. Following the Higgins injury and an insightful discussion with Dan Schneier about the "2026 JSN" candidacy of Nico Collins, I've moved Houston's stud WR1 up to 19th overall in my latest Half-PPR rankings update.
I now have Collins ranked as WR7. The biggest riser is undoubtedly Jaylin Noel. I just discussed him with Dan as we highlighted "every Fantasy Football sleeper you need to know" on Beyond the Box Score.
Noel moved up to 102 overall, ahead of KC Concepcion in my rankings. You will not have to draft him that high. I'm extremely high on his potential and see him as a player with a Fantasy-friendly skill set who can win in and out of the slot and benefit from the defensive attention that Collins attracts.
If Noel gets one-on-one opportunities, he has the talent to win repeatedly. I also do believe he can succeed as one of the two receivers who stays on the field in bigger personnel packages. I'd be surprised if he got the dreaded Jayden Reed treatment.
I could be wrong, though, those reps might go to Xavier Hutchinson or even Tank Dell. You can find my Dell ranking here. Here are the other biggest WR risers following Preseason Week 1 action.
And here are WR Rankings (Half-PPR) from last week. I'll provide an update on my Top-200 overall at the end of this week! If you read the RB Strategy portion of the most-recent newsletter, you know that the top of the draft board is very RB-heavy this year.
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