The Washington Football Team released veteran running back Adrian Peterson on Friday, signaling the organization’s faith in 2020 third-round pick Antonio Gibson and 2019 draft selection Bryce Love, who did not play last season.
Fantasy football owners who have already drafted are now scrambling to see if Gibson is available in their league – and you have a decent chance of picking him up. As of noon on Friday, Gibson was only rostered in 56.1 percent of ESPN fantasy leagues, and that number is going to go up quickly.
Prior to Peterson’s release, we had Gibson ranked as RB44, projected as a 10th round pick in 12-team leagues, per our consensus player rankings. Adrian Peterson was ranked as RB49 (a 12th-rounder), and Love was RB56 (a 16th-rounder). With Peterson gone, Gibson appears to be in line to take over the starting role, and Love’s value has increased as well.
Gibson played primarily as a wide receiver at Memphis in college, so he has the pass catching skills that could make him a very attractive option in PPR leagues. As a senior, Gibson had 38 receptions for 735 yards and eight touchdowns, and also rushed for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Washington coach Ron Rivera has said Gibson has a skill set similar to Carolina Panthers superstar Christian McCaffrey, the consensus top fantasy player in 2020.
So, where do you draft Gibson if you haven’t put together your team yet? Fantasy Pros’ ADP lists Gibson as pick 171, but our consensus rankings projected Gibson around pick 120. With Peterson out of the picture, fantasy owners are going to be targeting Gibson even earlier. I would feel OK spending a 9th round pick on Gibson, but wouldn’t take him any earlier. This is still an unproven rookie RB on a bad team, after all.
As for Love, you can probably pick him up on waivers if you want. He’s rostered in just 6.5 percent of leagues currently, so it isn’t worth spending a draft pick on him.
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