Preseason Movers and Shakers

One of the cool things about collecting all of these rankings is the ability to see the movement within them. For example, everyone was awfully high on Tavon Austin just a few weeks ago, but now he's sitting 83rd overall and 32nd among WR's. That's down almost a dozen spots. As Week 1 approaches we should start to see things tighten up a bit more. Unless there's significant injuries or position battles, we should start to see less movement within the rankings. Here's what we've seen recently.

Movers and Shakers

Watching the FFN fantasy football rankings, these are some of the guys on the move.

Michael Vick, QB, Eagles
The QB battle in Philly is starting to settle and Vick has pulled ahead of Nick Foles. The odds on Vick playing all 16 games aren't necessarily great, but his weighted, consensus ranking on FFN shows him to be a solid QB2 with QB1 upside.

Giovani Bernard, RB, Bengals
There's quite a bit of buzz surrounding Giovani Bernard and for good reason. Besides being the top back taken in the draft, he's been impressing the coaching staff in Cincy. His stock is on the rise as word out of camp is that Bernard could see a 50-50 split in carries with the Law Firm.

Torrey Smith, WR, Ravens
With Anquan Boldin in San Francisco and Dennis Pitta out for the season, there will be more targets to go around. There's no reason to think that Smith, as the team's #1 WR, wouldn't see a healthy increase in targets. His 77-yard TD from Joe Flacco last week was beautiful to watch and indicative of the type of season he's capable of.

EJ Manuel, QB, Bills
It's still early in the preseason, but by all accounts, EJ Manuel is looking like the starter in Buffalo. Kevin Kolb will likely have something to say about this, but Manuel has been in better form than Kolb including tossing 3 touchdowns during the first preseason scrimmage.
UPDATE: Manuel will have minor knee surgery and miss the rest of the preseason.

Golden Tate, WR, Seahawks
If anyone stands to benefit from Percy Harvin's surgery, it's Golden Tate. You may not realize it, but Tate finished last season as a low WR2/high WR3 with six games of double digit points (ppr). He's a lock to build upon those numbers this year. Even if Harvin makes it back before the end of the season, Tate's value as a solid WR3 with upside is undeniable.

Eddie Lacy, RB, Packers
Lacy has been talked about quite a bit as the heir-apparent in Green Bay and we've watched him climb up the ADP ranks over the past few weeks. It should be noted that while he will likely get the starting job eventually, Harris is now off the PUP list and Coach McCarthy has said that Harris is the starter. We'll watch this as the season approaches.

Jonathan Stewart, RB, Panthers
The Panthers just paid a small fortune to Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams to keep the two on the same team. While Williams has been taking first-team reps during camp, Stewart has been MIA with an ankle issue. The team can't even tell us when he's likely to come off the PUP list. It should come as no surprise to see Stewart falling in our rankings even though Panthers HC Ron Rivera said Stewart should be ready for Week 1.

Malcom Floyd, WR, Chargers
Pretty soon the Chargers will be pulling people off the street to play wide receiver. Injuries are doing a number on the San Deigo receiving corp. Danario Alexander, Eddie Royal, and Malcom Floyd have all been battered. Floyd's injury looked to be serious but reports suggest that he'll be back in the lineup for Week 1...unless Vincent Brown passes him up.

Ed Dickson, TE, Ravens
Yeah - he has a great name to build a fantasy team name around...as long as you don't try to build an actual fantasy team around him. It's no lock that Dickson will even play Week 1, and with the recent signing of veteran Dallas Clark, it's no lock that Dickson will see much action even if he does.

Geno Smith, QB, Jets
Sometimes I think the hardest job in the world has got to be QB for the NY Jets. Things haven't gotten much better for Smith who appears to be losing the starting gig to Mark Sanchez...legitimately. Sanchez was given the starting nod for the Jets/Jaguars game. Smith needs to pick it up or he'll be watching from both the fantasy and reality bench.

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