Fantasy Football Updates: Ezekiel Elliott, Melvin Gordon holdouts continue, season outlooks change

Billy Heyen

Fantasy Football Updates: Ezekiel Elliott, Melvin Gordon holdouts continue, season outlooks change image

If your hair hasn't all turned gray because of the Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon holdouts, good for you. Fantasy football owners just want these situations to be resolved -- are these RBs in or out? Of course, as we saw with Le'Veon Bell last year, there will be updates almost daily until they finally decide to rejoin their teams (or not rejoin their teams). It's prime fantasy football draft season, and both of these players would be in the top 10 of rankings if they were healthy and in camp. But until they show up, cheat sheets will be a mess and knowing their handcuffs will be extra important.

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DOMINATE YOUR DRAFT: Ultimate 2019 Fantasy Cheat Sheet

Ezekiel Elliott fantasy outlook

Speaking Aug. 28, on 105.3 The FAN in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the following about Elliott: "We've got a marathon here. We want Zeke when we get to the playoffs. We want Zeke when we're in the dog days of the season." Repeatedly, from comments about Super Bowl-winning teams needing more than RBs to "Zeke who?", Jones hasn't seemed overly concerned about his star running back being on the field come Week 1. Because it's the Jones family pulling the strings in Dallas, that should be concerning for fantasy owners.

Elliott doesn't really have leverage. With two years remaining on his contract, he needs to show up and play (eventually). Fantasy owners still seem pretty confident Elliott will be on the field to start the season, as his overall ADP is still fourth, behind Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. Next Monday, Labor Day, is the key day to watch. In the past, Le'Veon Bell and Aaron Donald have ended holdouts and reported to their respective teams on that holiday. If we hit next Tuesday and Elliott isn't in Dallas, that doesn't bode well for his season outlook.

As we'll discuss further with Gordon below, Elliott needs to play at some point to continue pushing his contract clock along to free agency, so don't expect that you'll be without Zeke for the whole season in any scenario. With each passing hour, though, he becomes a bit more risky -- especially in the first round.

If you draft Elliott, be sure to grab rookie Tony Pollard, who's current ADP is in the 10th round. He'll start for as long as Elliott is out. Pollard has looked very effective in the preseason and earned a lot of praise from Cowboys' personnel, and he'll get to run behind the offensive line we ranked best in football. If you play it right in your drafts, you could have Pollard as a starter until Elliott returns, then plug Zeke right back in. It would be a bizarre fantasy platoon that would probably equal a combined top-10 RB over the course of the season.

2019 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back |  Wide Receiver | Tight End | D/ST | Kicker | Top 200

Melvin Gordon fantasy outlook

ESPN's Eric Williams wrote Wednesday that he "expects" Gordon to end his holdout in time for Week 1. Replying to people on Twitter, though, Williams admitted that was "just a hunch" because he expects Gordon to want his approximately $330K game check.

Everyone's acting as if Gordon's situation is very different from Elliott's, but contractually, it's not. Gordon only has one year left on his deal compared to two for Elliott, but they're both under contract for 2019 and need to play at least six games to move their contract clock along. Speculation has suggested that Elliott is more happy in Dallas than Gordon is with the Chargers, so that could cause Elliott to show up sooner, but otherwise, it's about the same boat they find themselves in.

2019 PPR RANKINGS:
Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | Top 200

Fantasy owners have adjusted much more heavily to the potential Gordon absence, with him falling out of the first round to No. 37 in ADP. That's still way too high if he only plays six games, but it's less risky than losing your first-round pick in Elliott for half the season. The mystery in L.A. comes down to the handcuff, too, because both Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson have a case to be the man in Gordon's absence.

Ekeler is definitely the favorite, but he's going No. 66 overall compared to Jackson at No. 150. If you draft Gordon, make sure to snag at least one of those guys, depending on which spot you'd rather grab a second Chargers' back. Despite what was written on ESPN Wednesday, it's feeling more and more like Gordon isn't going to be around to start the season.

Billy Heyen