Week 1 of the NFL preseason is in the books, and essentially, this marks the opening of the 'stock market' of player values in fantasy football. All offseason long, the pundits analyze, and overanalyze, the probabilities of fantasy success for players in the NFL. Let's face it, if you're hard core into fantasy football, you've probably been drafting since May. And up until this point, it has likely been a monotonous exercise of applying different draft strategies to a given draft based on your draft position, while player values have essentially been static. But now things change. Though the NFL preseason is essentially meaningless football, it is very important in terms of changing the values of the players. Break out performances and injuries can drastically affect a player's ranking, and we have seen that after the conclusion of Week 1. So let's take a look at the top stories that have come out of Week 1 and we're going to give you the lowdown on where these players are being drafted now. (We won't try to shake you down and coerce you into a paid subscription for this information like many other sites do, that's not our style.) We've personally kicked off a couple slow drafts on Saturday, August 12th, and also have feedback from some other drafts going on. These are all cash leagues mind you, not mock drafts where people are experimenting. (For purposed of simplicity, these are all essentially PPR leagues where quarterbacks also only get 4 points per passing TD). We'll be using the ADP data gathered during the Pros vs Joes drafts that were conducted the last week of July as a benchmark for comparison purposes.

Ryan Mathews - For some reason this preseason the propaganda machine was cranking at full capacity on Mathews and most of the fantasy community had him locked into the fourth overall selection in drafts. Apparently, people have short memories. Mathews carried the 'injury prone' tag prior to this year. This year, hardly a peep. From our perspective, at a price of 1.4, we weren't interested in him. In the dozen leagues that we drafted in before least week (real leagues, not mocks), we selected him in ZERO leagues. Too high a price to pay at 4 for this guy. In drafts where we did have the 4 spot, we either took Calvin Johnson or Jimmy Graham. To all the folks out there that are now in a panic (and we hear many of them in the various podcasts broadcast recently) because they have the 4 spot and have to actually put some thought into what to do now, we say 'Grow a Pair'. Start researching and start mock drafting. You have work to do.

Now what you've been waiting for...his ADP before the preseason games was 1.4. Where he is actually going now in 12 team leagues: 2.2, 3.2, 3.10, 2.12, 2.6, 3.5 . If your league is a head to head league, he's a definite risk. Can you afford to spend a high pick on him in the 2nd or 3rd and possibly wait until week 3 for his return? And even then, what's your confidence level in his durability and production at that point. On the other hand, if you can somehow weather that early part of the season without him and then have him available to you during the playoffs, he will make a nice option, but keep in mind that schedule for the Chargers week 14-16 is @PIT, CAR, @NYJ. That's no cakewalk, but you'd have to feel pretty good about him as a flex minimally.

Trent Richardson - Richardson's value had been rising significantly in the weeks leading up to the preseason's first game. His ADP in the Pros vs Joes was at 1.11 . Now with the knee scope and his unavailability in the preseason, people are backing off Trent. Perhaps his draft stock was rising too much to begin with. In the 12 leagues we drafted in before the preseason, we owned him in 2 leagues, but those were leagues earlier in the summer before his ascent up the ranks began. His current draft position is being seen at: 4.6, 2.6, 3.4, 2.9, 3.10, 3.9 . At those levels, we are buyers again. In fact, just this Saturday morning, we snagged Trent at 2.10 and 3.5. We expect he'll be pretty much at full strength (and rested) for Week 1. We'll take this rare workhorse back when he's available in the late 2nd or early 3rd.

Julio Jones - We REALLY wish Julio had kept quiet in the first preseason game. We were enjoying taking him the majority of this preseason whenever we had the chance. We own him on 5 of those 12 teams we drafted. But after his 6/109/1 performance, the masses are onto him, and the preseason discount that many of us were enjoying is now gone. His ADP in the Pros vs Joes draft was at 3.5. Yes, we drafted him there too, when he was gifted to us at 3.11 in the field of experts and draft sharks. Those were the days (sigh). He may not see the 3rd round again this year. If he does in your league, consider yourself lucky. Most recently, after that big game, he's gone at: 2.4, 1.11, 2.2, 2.4, 2.3, and 1.9 (!!). Wow. Huge leap there. Perhaps too rich for our blood at those prices, as we are value drafters, but every draft is different.

Our advice this year based on the action we're seeing so far? Keep an open mind going into your drafts, and stay flexible. Stay balanced in your team construction, and don't overload on one specific position in the early rounds. There are great values to be had if you are in a position to take advantage of them when they come to you. If you find yourself HAVING to take a player at a particular position in your draft, then things have likely spiraled out of control. Good luck!