Malik Nabers Nears His Return, Deshaun Watson Named Browns Week 1 Starter: Fantasy Fallout

Two roster developments landed this week that matter for your draft board, one on the health front and one on a quarterback depth chart. Here's what the reporting actually says and how each changes your decisions.

Malik Nabers is closing in on shedding the red jersey

Malik Nabers

Malik Nabers, recovering from a torn ACL suffered during the 2025 season, is approaching the end of his rehab and nearing live contact in practice, according to reports. He has been practicing in a red non-contact jersey, and the next milestone is losing it and getting "bumped around" before he sees game action. The Giants have pointed to the Week 1 opener against Dallas as the realistic target for having him back.

Two honest caveats the reporting stresses: he is not expected to play in the team's remaining preseason games, and the club is still treating the ramp as day-to-day rather than a lock. So this is an encouraging signal, not a green light.

For fantasy, that distinction is the whole story. Nabers is a genuine every-week WR1 when healthy, and the single biggest question hanging over his draft price has been whether the knee would be ready for Week 1. A player nearing the end of a red-jersey stint, with the opener as the stated target, is exactly the update that supports drafting him near his current cost rather than fading him. The one discipline to keep: watch his practice participation as the opener approaches before you lock him into a Week 1 starting lineup, because a back-loaded ramp leaves little room to prove it in a game first.

Deshaun Watson is the Browns Week 1 starter, for now

Deshaun Watson

The Browns have named Deshaun Watson their Week 1 starter, per a report from Ian Rapoport. Both of his first two starts are road games, and the move has been framed as a short audition: if the results aren't there, rookie Shedeur Sanders could take over as soon as Week 3.

Shedeur Sanders

That "for now" is the fantasy-relevant part. Watson himself is not a quarterback to stream, and naming him the starter caps the short-term ceiling of Cleveland's pass catchers rather than unlocking it. His preseason look did nothing to change that read: he went 5 of 12 with an interception in relief against Buffalo, which we covered in the Bills-Browns recap. The actual move here is on Shedeur Sanders. If this really is a two-week leash, Sanders is a worthwhile stash in superflex and dynasty formats, because the job could be his by the time the schedule gets interesting.

Weighing the two situations at the draft table

These two stories pull in opposite directions, and that contrast is useful. Nabers is a case where the process should stay steady even as the news gets better. A young receiver shedding a red non-contact jersey and pointing toward a Week 1 return is the kind of arrow that firms up a top-of-draft price rather than creating a discount, so the mistake would be talking yourself out of him over an injury that is trending the right way. If anything, a manager sitting a few picks behind his range should be happy to let the health question scare someone else off, then take the receiver at a cost that no longer reflects any real risk.

The Cleveland picture is the one that rewards patience. Naming Deshaun Watson the starter is a ceiling-capping move for the pass catchers, not a ceiling-raising one, so there is no reason to spend up on a Browns receiver hoping for a target explosion that the quarterback play is unlikely to support. The value hiding in that room is time based: if the short audition ends the way the framing suggests it might, Shedeur Sanders becomes the reason to have already stashed a cheap piece of the Cleveland offense before the rest of the league notices.

What to do with this

Different moves, different actions. Nabers is a draft-him-with-confidence-but-monitor situation: the health arrow is pointing up, and the opener is the target. The Browns news is mostly a hold-and-watch: don't chase Watson, but keep Shedeur Sanders on your radar as a cheap dart if the audition goes sideways. Check where Nabers sits in the best ball rankings, see how a healthy return reshapes the Giants' passing game in the mock draft simulator, and monitor the official injury report for Nabers' practice status as Week 1 approaches.