Last week, the Yahoo Fantasy Football gang went over their biggest risers of the NFL offseason going into the 2026 season. This Friday, Matt Harmon, Joel Smyth, Justin Boone and Scott Pianowski are looking at their biggest fallers so far this offseason — players who have seen their stock take a significant hit.
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Malik Nabers, WR, Giants
I’ll take the layup line here and say that, based on everything we’ve learned about Nabers’ recovery from a torn ACL and meniscus that required a second cleanup surgery earlier this year, he has to be tumbling down the receiver rankings.
In an offseason full of nothing but negative headlines about his timeline, Nabers’ new head coach, John Harbaugh, noted it was “not a simple knee [injury]” in a late-May update on what he called the “slog” and “the grind” of his rehab. The long story short here is that, as we sit here in early June, I’d be pleasantly surprised if we see Nabers on the field in the Giants’ Week 1 game versus the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football on Sept. 13.
Frankly — and I hope I’m wrong to be this alarmed — I’m just not sure we can expect Nabers to be at the peak of his powers until 2027, or the end of this regular season at the earliest. I get that his ceiling is quite high and he could be healthy for the critical fantasy stretch run. However, the receiver position is just so deep and an active, but not fully himself, version of Nabers won’t be the same WR1 he was in 2024. Especially now that the Giants have changed offensive philosophies and added more competition.
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My guess is that someone else will always be more daring to bet on the dream outcome for what happens after waiting on Nabers to get back on the field than I will this year. I hope I’m wrong and they are right. — Matt Harmon
RJ Harvey, RB, Broncos
The fantasy offseason technically began in Week 18 of the 2025 season. From Week 11 to Week 17, RJ Harvey was on top of the world without J.K. Dobbins, averaging 15.3 FPPG as a fantasy RB1. However, from Week 18 to the end of the Broncos’ playoff run, Harvey fell to 6.9 FPPG, hitting sub-50 rushing yards in each of his final five games. Since that point, Denver chose to re-sign Dobbins and draft the fourth RB prospect off the board in Washington’s Jonah Coleman.
In Harvey’s stretch as a No. 1 RB, he averaged over 16 touches per game and yet only averaged 12.5 fantasy points. The rib injury Harvey played through after Week 15 could have affected him more than perceived, but his efficiency prior to that was less than ideal. With Denver likely becoming a full-blown committee in 2026, Harvey will have an uphill battle to make a significant difference in fantasy lineups. — Joel Smyth
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Bucky Irving, RB, Buccaneers
We entered the offseason with hope that Irving might get a clearer path to significant volume if Rachaad White and Sean Tucker departed in free agency. While White signed with the Commanders, he was replaced by Kenneth Gainwell and the Bucs eventually brought back Tucker. That makes this backfield just as crowded as it was last year, with Gainwell potentially being an even bigger threat to Irving’s touches after proving to be a dynamic weapon for the Steelers in 2025.
On top of that, we found out Irving is still recovering from his shoulder and foot injuries suffered last season and it’s not guaranteed he’ll be ready for the start of training camp. This is red flag after red flag for a former Day 3 back who hasn’t been able to replicate the success he enjoyed during his rookie campaign. The dream of Irving becoming anything resembling a workhorse ball-carrier is off the table with Gainwell around. With the injury cloud also still hovering over him, Irving has fallen into the fantasy RB3 range in my rankings. — Justin Boone
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Rashee Rice, WR, Chiefs
Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it can’t be correct. Rice had a cleanup surgery on his right knee in the middle of May, which was expected to keep him inactive for two months. He’s spending one of those months in jail, after a positive THC test put him in violation of his parole. Despite these recent developments, the Yahoo market has continued to draft Rice proactively — his ADP for the last week sits at 35.0 (WR14).
That draft price slots Rice as a third- or fourth-round pick, too early for my taste. I like my early-round picks to be stress-free and tied to players with high floors. Rice is undeniably great when healthy, but he’s missed 22 games the past two years and isn’t 100% at the moment. His quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is coming back from a major knee injury, too. And Rice violating his parole also complicates the situation; although I doubt this specific incident would lead to an NFL suspension, he probably has zero wiggle room left if something else comes up.
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Rice’s history with off-field mistakes needs to be baked into his risk analysis and ultimately into his draft price. I’ve pushed Rice outside the top 20 on my receiver board, which means I’m unlikely to select him. — Scott Pianowski