Scheduling a fantasy draft is tough. Somebody always has a family vacation, work commitment, or other issue. So although you want to draft your league only after every team has played its third exhibition game, because starters don't play in the fourth, it isn't always possible. And now we see the risk in drafting before that game, with Julian Edelman going down yesterday.
An MRI confirmed what the Patriots feared at the time: Edelman tore his ACL and is out for the season. New England has a great quarterback and passing game, so his loss probably won't be much more than a speedbump for the offense. The big question is where do the targets go? Little more uncertainty there.
Brandin Cooks and Edelman figured to be the top wideouts, with Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell rotating in, and Danny Amendola getting some snaps. One possibility is they plug Amendola right into Edelman's spot, as they've done in past years, but I'm dismissing that possibility. Amendola's a 31-year-old who routinely shows up in news reports of the Patriots asking him to take a paycut. He'll take some of those snaps, but probably won't jump right past the other wideouts.
What seems more likely is Hogan and Mitchell getting more chances, and maybe more reliance by Brady on Cooks. Amendola is closest to Edelman in skill set, but New England has adapted to player losses before by just changing their offense slightly.
If you're drafting this weekend, the main takeaway is that the other, healthy receivers move up. Hogan is the guy I'd cast my lot with (and Cooks looks a little better, but he's already going so high in drafts that not sure he can really move up much more), but I can't argue strongly against somebody in a PPR league rolling the dice with Amendola. Mitchell is a possibility, though the team doesn't seem eager to give him a heavy-duty role.
Only four of the week's games have been played. Nine more tonight and three tomorrow. If you're drafting tonight, scan the newswire before making each pick.
--Andy Richardson