Fantasy football is officially here!

While many fantasy drafts have already taken place, the biggest draft weekend of the year is just around the corner. Regardless of your league’s rosters or rules, it’s time to pay more attention to the players whose roles are more clearly defined.

This is the time of year when NFL teams make serious decisions about their rosters. Players are placed on (and often remain on) the physically unable to perform (PUP) and non-football injury (NFI) lists. Players are released or traded at the deadline, which opens a clearer path to touches for others.

In addition to these moves, sometimes the public finally catches on to a player they previously didn’t like. Regardless of the reason, you can really get a lot of value out of your fantasy draft if you stay on top of the news. That’s why in this article I’m going to highlight a few players who are climbing in my rankings as we get closer to the start of the season.

This is by no means a complete and definitive list, but it is a good starting point if you are looking to get value from your concepts. Let’s get started!

Rashee Rice, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Rice was involved in a serious car accident earlier this year. The legal process is ongoing and once it is completed, the NFL will conduct its own investigation. He is not currently suspended, but that could change at any time.

Barring a suspension, Rice should still see plenty of games as a WR1 in a scoring-heavy Chiefs offense. Rice finished WR27 last season, but that only tells part of the story. From Weeks 12-17, Rice was WR4 in fantasy points thanks to a massive increase in targets. During that span, he had a 27.8% target share, which ranked sixth in targets, fourth in receiving yards and second in receptions. He was Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target in that offense, even over Travis Kelce.

If Rice hadn’t been dealing with the legal situation, he likely would have been drafted as a top-15 to top-20 wide receiver. However, as of this writing, his ADP only has him as the No. 33 WR coming off the board, at the end of Round 9. That’s incredibly low considering both his talent and production as a rookie. If you want Rice (my WR24), you’ll likely have to take him in Round 5 or 6, well before any of your fellow managers decide to pounce.

Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers

The Panthers drafted RB Jonathon Brooks to be the future of their backfield, but he will begin the season on the NFI list after suffering a torn ACL during his senior year at Texas. That means he will be out for at least the first four weeks of the season, with the possibility of missing more time after that.

Don’t assume that the rookie, who hasn’t practiced with Carolina since being drafted in April, will be back in top form once his four-week mandatory absence is over. Our impeccable injury analyst, Stephania Bell, has made it abundantly clear that “returning to play” is not the same as “returning to performance” — and in this case, we’re talking about a rookie who hasn’t even touched a practice field with his new team. Brooks will still have to scale up to a full-time workload while dealing with whatever the NFL throws at him. And he’ll be doing it in the middle of the season for arguably the worst team in football.

Last season, Hubbard took over as the starting RB in Week 6 and held on to it for the rest of the season. He wasn’t terribly efficient, but he did get a steady dose of volume. As a starter, Hubbard ranked fifth in the NFL in touches and 14th in scrimmage yards. Of course, it was tough for him to be super efficient in such a low-quality offense (led by a struggling rookie QB), but he was still a nice bye-week fill-in during his time as the starter, averaging 12.6 fantasy points per game during that span.

Hubbard gets a lot of playing time as the starting RB in this offense. He comes off the board as the RB45 (in the 16th round), a full six rounds behind Brooks. He’s essentially “free.” Pick him up as a late-round starter for your bye-week needs.

Jerome Ford, RB, Cleveland Browns

Similar to the Panthers’ situation I just mentioned, Ford comes off the board a full rotation behind Nick Chubb, who begins the season on the PUP list after suffering a serious knee injury last year. If you’ve listened to Fantasy Focus this year, you’ve heard Stephania Bell talk about her concerns about Chubb coming back and playing like “the Nick Chubb we’ve all come to know and love.”

Look, there’s no way to know how quickly he’ll get through rehab and back into shape. Unfortunately, given the nature of his injury, I’m skipping Chubb altogether and targeting Ford as another late-round RB to stash on my bench.

I’m not drafting him as a starter, especially since he’s coming off the board in the 13th round, but I am drafting him as a bye-week fill-in who should have a decent floor if called upon to fill my RB2 or flex spot. He’s not always exciting, but after averaging 12.4 FPPG as a starter, Ford has climbed my rankings to my RB33.

Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington Commanders

A little trivia question: Can you name all the failed starting quarterbacks McLaurin has had to endure during his time in Washington? Yeah, me neither. It’s been that bad for him!

He’ll have the No. 2 draft pick, Jayden Daniels, under center for 2024, and McLaurin is clearly the most talented pass catcher in Washington’s offense. Jahan Dotson is in Philadelphia now, and Luke McCaffrey, Olamide Zaccheaus or Dyami Brown project to be the WR2 there.

Only three teams have a lower projected win total (6.5, per ESPN BET) than the Commanders. This is a team that will play “from behind” more often than not, so it’s finally time to see what McLaurin can do with a true quarterback. I recently moved him up to my top 30 wide receivers (highest among ESPN rankers), and since he goes off the board as a WR4 at the end of Round 9, I’m buying the value of him this season.

Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants

I’ve spent the entire offseason going back and forth on how high to rank Nabers. After evaluating, re-evaluating and triple-checking the Giants’ roster, I can’t see any way Nabers isn’t one of the most engaging wideouts in fantasy football this season.

The other options for New York are Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt, to name a few. There isn’t much goal competition behind Nabers and his skills. It would be surprising if he averaged 10 goals per game, but 8.5 is certainly not out of the question.

He’s going to have a huge few weeks in his rookie season as the Giants’ top skill position player. I’ve moved him all the way up to WR15 (again, the highest among ESPN rankers) and I’ll be thrilled to grab the exciting young rookie as a low-end WR2/high-end flex for my fantasy squad.