fantasy football, jayden higgins, tua tagovailoa, ashton jeanty
fantasy football, jayden higgins, tua tagovailoa, ashton jeanty
Every August, training camp and preseason action reshapes fantasy draft boards, and this year's crop of fallers includes a marquee quarterback, a rookie running back, a rookie receiver, and a proven veteran all seeing their stock slide. Here's a look at the four biggest fantasy losers of the summer and why their ADP has taken a hit.
Tua Tagovailoa's Rocky Start in Atlanta
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) drops back to pass against the Denver Broncos in the first quater at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Tua Tagovailoa arrived in Atlanta as the presumed Week 1 starter after Michael Penix Jr.'s knee injury, but a back “flare-up” cost him valuable training camp reps and forced the team to sign veteran Cooper Rush as insurance. While reports suggest he'll still open the season under center, learning a new offense while dealing with a physical setback is far from the clean runway fantasy managers hoped for, and his ADP reflects the uncertainty, hovering around QB28 with modest weekly projections near 11-13 points.
The QB competition angle in Atlanta remains a “neutral” but unresolved storyline that keeps both Tua and the receivers around him, like Kyle Pitts Sr. and Drake London, from being locked-in fantasy assets.
Running Backs Hit Hard by Injury
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Ashton Jeanty's second year got off to a scary start after an ankle injury on Sunday, and while reports indicate it could have been worse, he's still facing a potential six-week absence if it's diagnosed as a high-ankle sprain. That timeline would cost him multiple regular-season games on top of lost camp reps, pushing cautious analysts to avoid drafting him in the top four rounds until more clarity emerges on the severity. It's a brutal blow for a player many expected to be a workhorse back in Las Vegas, and it opens the door for a committee approach behind him early in the season.
Second-Year Receiver's Season Ends Before It Starts
Jayden Higgins suffered the cruelest blow of the summer, tearing his ACL and being ruled out for the entire 2026 season, instantly erasing any fantasy value he carried into draft rooms. His injury also ripples outward, thinning an already crowded receiver room and forcing managers who had targeted him in the middle rounds to pivot entirely.
Beyond these four, camp has produced other notable fallers worth monitoring, including Sam LaPorta battling a hip injury that could threaten his role to open the season and impact his target share in a run-first offense. The common thread across this year's biggest losers is clear: injuries and crowded depth charts have done more damage to fantasy stock this summer than poor performance, a reminder that draft-day value is as much about opportunity as talent.