Fantasy Football Projection Updates From Training Camp News: Malik Nabers & De'Zhaun Stribling Climb

And just like that, all 32 teams have reported to NFL training camps, and news updates are spreading like wildfire.

This is a pivotal time in the fantasy football calendar, as parsing what news updates are actionable versus which are noise is vital to preparing your fantasy football rankings for draft day.

With an influx of injury updates and other player tidbits, Dwain McFarland recently updated his fantasy football projections to account for what we’ve been hearing this week.

Let’s run through the biggest changes to note.

Training Camp Updates To The Fantasy Football Projections

Malik Nabers Moves WAY Up

We’ve talked ad nauseum about Nabers this offseason, and the vast majority of the dialog has resulted in a massive ADP drop—going from an early-Round 2 pick earlier in the summer to a Round 3/4 turn pick.

Well, folks, that has already changed. Training camp footage from Wednesday showed Nabers running routes and cutting during drills and, frankly, as someone who is not a film buff, he looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Even physical therapists in the space—specifically Jeff Mueller, who I think is the best injury analyst in fantasy football—are blown away:

I genuinely don’t need to see any more clips of Malik Nabers to move him up to WR7/8 for 2026.
-Sharp cutting & push off of Right leg
-Very comfortable decelerating, sticking right foot into the ground, re-accelerating
-Smooth & fast in quick bursts + COD

Wild. https://t.co/2c4ekX8Uz0 pic.twitter.com/7oPLt5MXGM
— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) July 30, 2026

Nabers has now shot up from WR23 to WR7 (!!!) in Dwain’s half-PPR rankings, and I’ve already started to see the steam on Underdog, with him regularly getting drafted around the 2/3 turn.

If you bought the dip on Nabers, it’s looking like a massive congratulations are in order. Buy, buy, buy.

Ricky Pearsall Is Still Hurt—De'Zhaun Stribling Time?

Whenever we find out what Ricky Pearsall did to anger the Injury Gods this much, we need to plaster it in every locker room like Ted Lasso’s “believe” sign so no player ever does it again.

Pearsall played in 11 games his rookie season after being shot during the offseason, topping 80% of the routes only three times. In his 2025 sophomore season, Pearsall came out of the gate hot (16-281-0) through Week 3, then suffered a PCL injury in Week 4 that sidelined him until Week 11.

Nearly 11 months later, the same PCL injury is still causing issues. In the first few days of training camp, it’s been reported that Pearsall is still experiencing swelling in his right knee after the team had hoped that it would naturally heal over the offseason. With surgery getting likelier and likelier, Dwain brought down his routes and targets, while docking him a full eight games. This downgrades Pearsall to WR74 in Dwain’s rankings, making him the 184th player overall. With the potential for season-ending surgery on tap, he’s a near-impossible click, especially at his current cost.

This does, however, bode well for the No. 33 pick in the 2025 draft, De’Zhaun Stribling, who got more routes and targets in our projections with this news. Stribling now sits as Dwain’s WR57 (+8) and should see his ADP continue to climb, as he’s already moving into the 140s on Underdog in drafts I’ve done this morning. He now seems to be the 49ers’ answer for their WR2 role, though fantasy football is a fickle beast. As Dwain mentioned during our chat about projections:

Zach Charbonnet Massively Ahead Of Schedule?

After an ACL tear in January, the belief was that we wouldn’t see Zach Charbonnet on the field again until at least late in the 2026 season. Dwain accounted for that in his rankings and projections with a 10-game doc on the Seattle running back.

Well, news out of Seahawks training camp is that Charbonnet will be a “potential close call” for Week 1. Excuse me??

While it’s important not to get carried away and expect a Week 1 return, or potentially anything close to it, it's now clear that this is a timeline worth monitoring with the momentum on the side of an earlier-than-expected return.

Dwain has adjusted his projected missed games from 10 to 6, bumping him up from RB48 to RB44 in half-PPR formats. This, subsequently, knocks Jadarian Price’s rush attempts and routes projection (now RB24, -1) as well as George Holani and Emanuel Wilson.

The Seahawks backfield is shaping up to be a massive headache, but I’m targeting Charbonnet as a late-round stash in best ball formats, hoping that, especially with this news, he returns to full form as a late-season hammer when it matters most.

Other Fantasy Football Projections Updates From Training Camps

Chris Brazzell | WR | CAR: The Day 2 rookie out of Tennessee was primed to compete for the WR3 role behind Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker, but suffered an LCL tear and has opted for season-ending surgery. Dwain bumped Xavier Legette up in his rankings (WR99), but also gave some additional routes to both John Metchie and Jimmy Horn Jr. Training camp has us all acting like sickos, but let’s be real, you aren’t drafting the Panthers’ WR3 in your home leagues, especially in a potential platoon.
Cyrus Allen | WR | KC: The newest wideout in Kansas City has impressed so far in the first week of camp. He’s been running with the first-team offense and, even more notably, HC Andy Reid mentioned that there’s trust in Allen from Patrick Mahomes. Dwain has bumped him up to WR5 on the KC depth chart, increasing his routes and target share. This resulted in a 27-spot jump in the WR rankings (WR97), and a slight downgrade to both Tyquan Thornton (WR80) and Jalen Royals (WR96). This is a volatile WR room, so I’m on board with Allen as a late-round dart in best ball drafts.
Jordan James | RB | SF: Up until this point of the offseason, it’s seemed like James has been in the driver’s seat for the RB2 role behind Christian McCaffrey, a valuable role given CMC’s age and workload concerns. That could change now, with James suffering cracked ribs. Dwain has moved down his rushing attempts and routes and, subsequently, brought up Kaelon Black’s. With a clearer runway to the most valuable handcuff position in football, Black is a great late-round target in current best ball drafts.