While the Washington Football Team is working to make their actual roster on the field work after the surprise release of veteran RB Adrian Peterson, there are a number of fantasy football managers around the world who may be wondering something similar.
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With the NFL season just a week from being kicked off, many teams have already been drafted, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if you rostered Peterson with hopes of him being the starting RB in Washington. So now that he’s gone, what do you do? Here are some tips.
Pick up Antonio Gibson Immediately
If you can do so, you need to be rushing to your waiver wire and looking to pick up rookie Antonio Gibson immediately if he is available, which may not be the case. Gibson has already been one of the young players picking up ‘sleeper buzz’ this season, so there’s a good chance that he is already rostered by someone who just won the lottery on Friday morning, but you at least need to check.
Even as the RB2 in Washington, many expected Gibson to have a nice rookie season where he could help win you a couple of games. Now that he is stepping into the starting role, though, his value just went through the roof. When you consider that the release of AP was primarily to give these young players more of a chance, namely Gibson, it’s exciting to think of the possibilities that he will have in Scott Turner’s offense. We could be dealing with a young superstar on our hands, and you’ll want to do everything you can to get a piece of it.
Hold on to Adrian Peterson
Just because AP is no longer a member of the Washington Football Team doesn’t mean his value has plummeted. In fact, depending on where he ends up landing, it could potentially help him down the road if he goes to a contending team that has an easier path to scoring points than Washington typically does.
I would hang onto AP for the time being and watch to see what happens. We saw two years ago in Washington that he doesn’t need much ramp-up time to get going, and he can definitely go to a new system and start to provide an impact right away.
Be open to fliers in Washington
This move seemingly caused all of the other backs in Washington to take a step forward in the value chart. While players like Bryce Love, J.D. McKissic, or Peyton Barber were unlikely to be rostered a couple of days ago, you can now look at potentially adding and stashing them for future use. If it were me, I would try to pick up McKissic first, and maybe Love if he is unavailable. We haven’t yet seen enough from Barber to make me think that he is going to have a legitimate impact on the offense in Washington, but it’s something to keep your eye on.
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