A Running Back Trade Shapes the Lions, Texans and Fantasy Football
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity, David Montgomery trade shakes up Lions and Texans, plus combine risers/fallers, rumors and takeaways.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity:
I was fully prepared to dig into some NFL Scouting Combine risers and fallers in today’s intro—Freedman has you covered here, as do Kendall and Dwain below—but then the Lions decided to shake things up with a David Montgomery trade (!).
Here’s everything you need to know (and the fantasy fallout) …
Monty escapes Gibbs. This is undeniably a nice move for Monty’s fantasy value—although Ian shares some reservations about the Houston offensive line. Still, he goes from a clear No. 2 behind the most electric back in football to the 1A on a team that likes to run the ball.
His Underdog ADP heading into yesterday was 106.3, but he went at pick 76—after Jaylen Warren and before Chuba Hubbard—in a live draft I was in when the news broke.
Gibbs the new 1.01? On the flip side, I won’t fault anyone for pushing him ahead of Bijan Robinson with more goal-line carries on tap. Just be careful, though, as the Lions will definitely sign (or draft) another RB to complement Gibbs. It’s just yet to be seen how significant an investment they’ll make.
Woody Marks to the shadow realm. Whatever sliver of hope there was for Marks to enter the year as the clear lead back on the Texans is now gone. He’ll still have a role on pass downs, but it’s pretty clear that Houston didn’t like what it saw from him as a bell cow down the stretch last year.
For more fallout from the trade, check out Ian’s article, as well as instant reactions from both Matthew (here) and Kendall (here).
If you have Puka Nacua in dynasty, what’s not to love? He’s already established as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, having just dominated to the tune of a league-high 129 catches, 1,715 receiving yards and 10 TDs. He’s the focal point of NFL MVP Matthew Stafford’s high-powered attack, and he’s barely turning 25. His star is still rising. We’re looking at potentially at least a five-year run of consistent greatness.
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NFL Scouting Combine Risers/Fallers: Washington Flying Up Draft Boards
We expected Jeremiyah Love to be a star at the NFL Scouting Combine, and he very much solidified his status as a top-10 pick—maybe even top 5. But did Mike Washington make a name for himself and throw his hat in the ring for one of the top RBs off the board after Love?
Matthew Freedman broke down the risers and fallers from the combine after so many draft prospects blazed their trails at Lucas Oil Field.
We do love watching draft prospects fly through their 40 times in Indianapolis. Some of those moments are beyond breathtaking. But after the smoke has cleared from those sizzling sprints, what really begins to pick up speed is the NFL rumor mill. Trades, cuts, teams interested in which free agents and prospects, they all come at us after NFL executives huddle after hours around Indy. Kendall Valenzuela churned through the latest news and rumors, and pulled out what has the most fantasy relevance. ⤵️
We’ve all heard about WRs Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson and Makai Lemon in the early days, weeks and months of NFL Draft szn. One of the names that is gaining steam is Omar Cooper Jr., which is interesting because he was one of the main targets of Fernando Mendoza in Indiana’s run to the national championship. He’s coming out of the Day 2 group of wideouts and further moved himself into the first-round discussion in the upcoming NFL Draft. Dwain McFarland noted him as one of the standouts at the combine:
Cooper has been gaining steam in mock drafts over the past month and ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash. He was never a dominant player in college, but many film-based evaluators believe he is the better prospect than his more productive teammate, Elijah Sarratt. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com has Cooper's grade at 6.36 (62nd percentile), above Sarratt at 6.22 (55th percentile).
Dwain examined how the top prospects at WR, RB and TE fared at the combine, and also pointed out some late-round targets at each position who could be moving up draft boards.
