Overall 250 ROS Rankings: Week 4

Welcome to our weekly set of rankings of our top-250 overall players for the rest of the season. I should note that I’m not personally a big fan of massive, position-combining lists and I think positional lists are more useful, however, take this and use it in whatever way you wish. Thanks to this widget from FantasyPros, you can break it down by position as well.

Notes:

• As the news about Andrew Luck gets more and more positive, he’s slowly climbing up in the rankings. He’ll be an obvious QB1 once he’s back in action, and if he happens to be a free agent right now, he’s worth a stash.

• Naturally, with the news of Derek Carr’s injury, he’s dropped fairly significantly. I’ve heard 2-6 weeks, who knows how long it’ll actually be, but hopefully it won’t be long.
• LeSean McCoy’s volume has been solid, but the fact that he hasn’t scored a touchdown yet is concerning. He’s still an RB1, and hopefully he’ll start scoring to bump back up to the top-5 RB he was drafted as.
• Jay Ajayi is another former-RB1 who’s taken a major hit in the rankings. I’ve got him as a low-end RB2 now, as he’s just been really bad. He was drafted as a volume guy more than anything and he got that volume in Week 2, but we haven’t seen it since. He went up against what should’ve been two cake matchups in the Jets and the Saints and was not very good. I’m hopeful he can turn it around, but I’m not optimistic.
• Speaking of former Boise State running backs, Doug Martin is back and he looks pretty solid. I was somewhat worried that Jacquizz Rodgers might eat into his workload a bit, but it seems like Rodgers will just stick around as the backup. If I’m a Martin owner, I’d want to have Rodgers on my team, but otherwise, role with Martin as a solid RB2 the rest of the way.
• Isaiah Crowell looks bad. Like, really bad. No touchdowns yet this year and the most yards he’s had in a single game was 44 in Week 3. Has he faced some difficult front sevens? Sure, but that 44-yard game was against the Colts, and they’re terrible. If Crowell was truly the RB2 he was drafted as, he should’ve had a much better game, and he didn’t. For now, he’s an RB3.
• Ameer Abdullah has seen his workload starting to grow, and he’s been effective when given the chance. Because of the volume, he should be an RB2 the rest of the way with the potential for more if the touches increase.
• Injuries have caused the likes of Eddie Lacy and Latavius Murray to rise. Lacy will likely be the guy for the Seahawks, with a smattering of Thomas Rawls in there (though who knows with the Seahawks, anything is possible). With the Vikings, I would expect Murray to be the main guy with Jerrick McKinnon in a receiving back role. McKinnon’s been given the job before and didn’t do much with it, so I would bet the Vikings will roll with Murray. The team also signed Stevan Ridley, but I wouldn’t expect him to matter anytime soon.
• Thank goodness Deshaun Watson looks so good because it means DeAndre Hopkins is looking good too. He’s in place now as a solid WR1 especially since he’s had at least 70 receiving yards or a touchdown in every single game this year. Watson’s quality play has made Will Fuller a name that matters as well. Fuller’s talented and back from injury and should be an interesting flex play.
• I like Amari Cooper a lot, but the guy looks bad. He’s dropping passes like it’s written into his contract, and now that Derek Carr is hurt, he’s going to take even more of a hit (which is also why Michael Crabtree and Jared Cook have dropped a bit). Unfortunately, I don’t really see a scenario in which Cooper returns draft day value, but he’s still a talented receiver, so who knows? For now though, he’s a low-end WR2.
• Devante Parker is catching 13.7 yards per reception and has been solid even though the rest of the Dolphins offense hasn’t been. We’ll see if he keeps it up, but he’s been a bright spot in a pretty mediocre offense, and it seems that Jay Cutler likes him, as he’s been targeted a fair amount.
• I want Terrelle Pryor to be better so badly, but he’s just been so rough lately. He just hasn’t really made a connection with Kirk Cousins yet and hasn’t been targeted nearly as much as I had hoped he would be. Still, last week’s game was encouraging, so I’m not dropping him, as he could easily turn it around.
• Stefon Diggs is locked in as a solid WR2 with WR1 upside (especially in PPR). The guy has looked excellent regardless of whether Sam Bradford or Case Keenum is throwing him the ball. He even went up against Darius Slay last week and managed five catches for 98 yards. The guy is a special player and will keep rising on the rankings if he keeps up this play.
• Between the Ravens’ terrible offensive line (losing Marshal Yanda was a killer), Joe Flacco’s miscues, and injury, Jeremy Maclin has taken a big hit. I had hoped he’d be a focal point of the Ravens passing offense, and to the extent that the Ravens have much of a passing offense, he is, but the team is running more and Flacco looks rough, dropping Maclin to a WR3.
• Two tight ends have seen their stock rise significantly, and that’s Charles Clay and Evan Engram. Both have looked excellent, and Clay seems to have become the focal point of the Bills’ passing offense, especially with Jordan Matthews injured. They’re both solid TE1s right now.