Tue Oct 21st 2025

Week Seven Dynasty Takes

Dynasty News

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• What I'll remember most about this week's games was the game-winning performances by several players and how they were spread out throughout the week, causing dynasty teams' winning percentages to go up and down like a roller coaster if you were playing or playing against these explosive players. It all began Thursday night when Joe Flacco targeted the heck out of Ja'Maar Chase, setting a team record with 23 targets in a game, and the Steelers could not stop him. Chase's dynasty managers had their hope restored this season since Joe Flacco led him to a 30-point night with 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown. His managers felt like they had it won after a start like that, but other teams fought back Sunday afternoon because Jonathan Taylor and Bo Nix went nuts and scored 33 and 43 points, leading dynasty teams back again, teams that were hurt by Chase's performance Thursday night. Taylor has been unstoppable this season. He scored three touchdowns on Sunday. It was his third three-touchdown game of the year.  What has made him so productive this year is that he's involved in the passing game, and he never leaves the field. He has his highest scoring game of the season with 33 points. Bo Nix, on the other hand, has had a very up-and-down season, and he started this game looking terrible. Nearly all of his 43 points came in the 4th quarter when the Broncos were the first team in NFL history to come back to win a game when they were shut out for three quarters and down by 19 points or more. Nix led the team on five consecutive scoring drives with two touchdown passes, two touchdown runs of his own, and a game-winning field goal. I guarantee his dynasty managers thought their day was done until he did what he did over 45 minutes. I should know, since I started him in three of my dynasty leagues. I came back to win two of them, and I was on pace to easily win the third until the next guy blew up on Sunday night. In that game, the other manager, who also has Ja'Maar Chase, pulled back ahead of me on Sunday night on the back of Christian McCaffrey, who scored 36 points on a ridiculous amount of touches. He had 24 carries and seven catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He's healthy this year and back to being the top-tier dynasty running back even at his age. After the Sunday roller coaster, we still have two more Monday night games that could create several 30-point-plus performances. Dynasty managers like me need one or more such performances to win games this week and make it one of the most fun fantasy weeks of the season!

Week One Right and Wrong

• Right on Daniel Jones
  • Before I was right on Jones, I was right on Anthony Richardson. I never thought he could become a productive NFL starter because he was too poor a passer and had so little college experience. When Daniel Jones signed with the Colts, I predicted him to become the starter for this season and to be the Sam Darnold of this year, only he will stay with the team that gave him his second chance. What I did not expect was his talent to open up the offense to the incredible coaching of Shane Steichen, who has the Colts leading the NFL in points per game. I expected Jones to improve the offense, but Steichen has super-powered it. Together they have made Jones a reliable starter on dynasty rosters even in one-quarterback leagues. I'm starting him every week in one of my leagues and stream him with Bo Nix in another while Lamar Jackson has been injured. What a comeback season for Jones and the Colts!
• Wrong on Oronde Gadsden
  • My goodness did Gadsden break out on Sunday! He had the third-highest single-game receiving yards by a rookie tight end in NFL history on Sunday with 164 yards and a touchdown. When he started getting hype during training camp, he was available on the waiver wire in many of my leagues and draftable in leagues that drafted late, but I did not believe in the hype and was unwilling to drop a player from my roster to get him. I doubled down on Will Dissly to get healthy and earn the starting role this season and added him off waivers instead. Well, that ship has passed and I missed the boat. Dynasty managers who were quicker and wiser than I could have a superstar on their hands, or little to no cost.

Week One Injury Report

• Bryce Young
  • As of this article, Bryce Young will miss at least a week and maybe more with an ankle injury. Andy Dalton is a capable backup who can keep the offense moving, so I do not think Young's absence will hurt the performance of the Panthers' players too severely for the games that he is called upon to start.
• Jayden Daniels
  • As of this article, the severity of Daniel's hamstring injury is unknown, but by his reaction coming out of the medical tent, I do not think it is serious.  Marcus Mariota played well when coming in for Daniels earlier in the season, in that he had productive fantasy days personally, averaging 20 points per game. Still, he brought the offensive production in the passing game down compared to Daniels. As if the Commanders' passing game was not struggling enough already with so many receivers injured. Their offense will have to get creative to move the ball, which could help Deebo Samuel, but hurt everyone else.
• Darren Waller
  • As of this article, Waller is day-to-day with a pectoral injury, but I expect him to miss several weeks. It was a fun and productive ride for Waller this season, but I believe it has come to an end, as has the entire Dolphins offense anyway.
• Kendre Miller
  • While writing this article, it was reported that Miller has torn his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. That's terrible news for a guy who fought back so hard to earn the RB-2 role with the Saints, and I thought would become their leading back next year, so much so that I traded for him last week. What a bummer for Miller and his dynasty managers. At least for Alvin Kamara's dynasty managers, he will stop getting his workload cut into for the rest of the season.

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Stock Up

De'Andre Swift

• Swift has to move up the dynasty ranks after his second productive week in a row and after the Bears find it easier to win on his legs rather than Caleb Williams's arm. The Bears ran the ball 36 times on Sunday, not including Williams' four rushes, en route to their second impressive win in a row.  It's lazy to continue to compare Ben Johnson's players to those he had in Detroit, but it's starting to look like Swift is the Jahmyr Gibbs-like player and Kyle Monangai the David Montgomery-like player in this growing offense.  Both had great games, but more on Monangai later.

Chris Olave

• Chris Olave saw the end zone twice on Sunday, which was the first time he has done so in his four-year career. He and Spencer Rattler have a strong connection and his new coach, Kellen Moore, has given him a stronger role in the offense. Olave always had the talent but was limited by injuries, poor coaching, and mediocre quarterback play. This season, he is on pace to double the most touchdowns in a season and to receive almost 50% more targets than he ever has before. He's on the rise again for the first time since his rookie season. If he stays healthy and can get that concern off his record, he will continue to rise in dynasty rankings. 

Jordan Addison

• Addison is "Steady Eddie." He's as reliable as they come, even though he plays opposite Justin Jefferson. He's reliable no matter which quarterback he's had throwing to him over his short career. Since returning from suspension, he's averaged nearly nine targets per game and 94 yards receiving per game. I drafted him often since I was higher on him in his class than most dynasty managers. Every week I seem to have a start/sit decision with him in my WR-3 spot. In some leagues, I have started him, while in other leagues, I have not. It's time to put him in every lineup and enjoy the reliable floor and breakout weeks when he scores touchdowns. He's an excellent route runner and presents himself open too often each game. 

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Stock Down

Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce

• I had to admit it because I have so many shares of Worthy, but Sunday was rough with Rashee Rice back in the lineup. The Chiefs were trying to make a statement by giving Rice the ball so often, but I saw more than that. I saw how often Tyquan Thornton, Hollywood Brown, and Juju Smith-Schuster were involved in the passing game and grew more concerned about Worthy and Kelce. Worthy led all receivers in snaps, but that was with just 59%. Rice had 41% and Thornton, Brown, and Smith-Schuster 33% or more of the snaps too. Some of that was exaggerated by the fact that the Chiefs put in their second team early in the fourth quarter, but that was not the sole reason for these snap percentages.  Even Kelce just played 62% compared to Noah Gray's 59%. The Chiefs can do whatever they want with whoever they want, and the pie is split too many ways.

Adonai Mitchell

• It's hard to drop a guy in the ranks who hardly played on Sunday, just five snaps, but that's just the point with Mitchell. Josh Downs was injured this week, and he still did not get reps with the first team. Alec Pierce and Anthony Gould played ahead of Mitchell. I don't know if it's all because of the enormous mistake he made fumbling the ball in the endzone a few weeks ago, or if Pierce and Gould have locked him out of opportunities. Pierce is playing really well this year with the downfield role that they want and need in their offense, and he's just better at it. Dynasty managers holding out hope for Mitchell need to let it go. He's almost droppable at this rate.

Tua Tagovailoa, Geno Smith, and Justin Fields

• Tua, Geno, and Justin all got benched this Sunday as the should have. Each started this season with starting roles that buoyed their dynasty value and gave their dynasty managers hope of a redemptive season with Tua off injuries and Geno and Justin on new teams. Sadly, I think they have all spoiled their chances, and their backups deserve a right to play, and the teams have nothing more to fight for besides an earlier draft pick to replace them. So, letting their backups play could soon be in the best interest of the team, if only their coaches were not all on the hot seat as well. These three quarterbacks are on their last hurrah.

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Young Guns

Quinshon Judkins

• If there was ever a predictable game to break out, it was this one against the hapless Dolphins' defense on Sunday. I was sure that Judkins would break out this week, and he did with three touchdowns in the wet and windy home game in Cleveland. It's easy to compare him to Nick Chubb, given that he plays for the Browns, but I find a lot of similarity in their play. He's tough and hard-nosed between the tackles, always falling forward and gaining hidden yards, which makes him an excellent goal-line back. But he also has breakaway speed and can hit his fastest gear quickly after cutting through a hole or hitting the corner outside. The race for the top rookie running back in this class is heating up, and Judkins is making his argument to be the best, even while he plays on a team with a terrible offense.

Xavier Legette

• If you've followed me long, you know I've been a big fan of Legette even though all the collegiate profile data points against him. I just loved watching him play in that fifth year of college and thought his first-round draft capital would earn him every chance to become the Panthers' WR-1. After a very disappointing and unproductive first season, the Panthers drafted Tetairoa McMillan in the first round, and I knew for sure that he would be their future WR-1. Still, drafting T-Mac gave me renewed hope for Legette to develop this season and become a reliable WR-2. Don't get me wrong, he's far from proving that, but this week he made big plays that were important in the game, including a touchdown and a game-sealing catch, and he did this after Jalen Coker, who played better than him as a rookie, was back from injury and on the field with him. To be clear, one game does not a WR-2 make, but Leggette had his highest scoring fantasy game of his young career, and I want to celebrate it.

Kyle Monangai

• Monangai quickly surpassed Roschon Johnson this season to become the Bears' RB-2 behind Swift, but now in week seven, he has earned an even greater role as a 1-2 punch in the backfield. Monangai had the most carries (13) and yards (81) of the season, and he scored his first touchdown on a red-zone run from the one-yard line.  I loved his hard-nose running style in college and hoped he could earn a role with the Bears after they drafted him in the seventh round this year. He has earned that role, and it is here to stay, and given Swift's age, Monangai has a real chance to become the Bear's starting running back of the future. Dynasty managers who drafted him late last year have found a budding playmaker like the Bears did.

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Old-Man Strength

Davante Adams

• All Adams does is score touchdowns, the one thing Puka Nacua has a hard time doing. That's why the Rams signed him, and it's how they are using him, even at his age. Whether it's a skinny post, an outside fade, or a back shoulder throw, Adams has perfected those skills, and Matt Stafford knows where to put the ball. He had a modest three-touchdown day in London. He was already the second most targeted player in the red zone behind George Pickens this year, but he had come up unlucky on a higher percentage of targets than could hold up statistically. Well, the tables turned after a three-red-zone touchdown day. Stafford to Adams looks exactly like Rodgers to Adams looked for so many years in the red zone. It's fantastic to see. 

Rhamondre Stevenson

• After a couple of rough weeks in the yards per carry department, Stevenson righted the course this week and ran all over the terrible Titans defense. He had a modest 88 yards rushing and a touchdown, but I was most impressed with his volume of play this week, playing 75% of the snaps. He's an old man, but he has firmly held off the rookie, TreVeyon Henderson. He had the most carries he's had this season (18) while Henderson had his least (2), and that was in a blowout win. Sometimes the older men can hold off the young bucks, and Stevenson has done that this year. He deserves some props for his play this week.

AJ Brown and Dovante Smith

• Just when you think the Eagles' passing offense is dead, their top two old men ball out to combine for 304 yards receiving and three touchdowns. Smith had the most receiving yards of his career with 183, including a 79-yard bomb for a touchdown. Brown only caught four passes, but he averaged 30 yards per catch and scored two touchdowns. A follower reached out to me this week to ask what I thought of Brown. I said I don't trust the offense, but I am still holding on because a breakout week is coming, and he's too good to trade. I still have concerns about his consistency. At this rate, Smith is far more consistent, but when Brown has big games, they can win weeks. If you're deep enough to take some lame weeks from him in start-three-receiver rosters, you have to start him every week because things like this can happen. Let's hope the Eagles learn something from this week and begin airing the ball out more for the rest of the season, and turn Smith and Brown into what we know they can be if the playcallers will allow them.

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Waiver Watch

More Backup Quarterbacks

• In superflex leagues, all of the backup quarterbacks and potential new starters should be picked up for first this week. I would prioritize them this way - Andy Dalton, Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor, Quinn Ewers if I needed quarterback points for this season. If my quarterback room is solid and I do not need points this year, I would take a shot on Ewers first to see what becomes of the quarterback room in Miami.

Devin Neal

• Neal becomes the top pick-up for one-quarterback leagues this week as he will likely take over part of the Kendre Miller role. I loved Neal as a college prospect and thought he would instantly earn the RB-2 role in New Orleans, but Miller proved me wrong. He may have backed into the role, but now is his chance to earn it. I'm so mad at myself for dropping him in one league last week when I just decided Miller was the Saints' guy. Now I'll have to pay up to buy him back.

Daniel Bellinger

• He's only worth adding in tight-end premium leagues, but I would consider him in those leagues of mine. He played 68% of the snaps compared to Theo Johnson's 88%, but they were often on the field together, and he scored a touchdown this week. Last week, he had four catches, too. The Giants are running a lot of 12 personnel with Malik Nabers gone, so Bellinger will be an active part of the passing game, and his targets could go up even more if Johnson ever gets hurt.

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Dynasty Trades

Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson, Kimani Vidal, <=======> Chase Brown, Marvin Harrison, Dallas Goedert, and Tahj Brooks

• I offered this trade, which was accepted in a ten-team league where only four teams make the playoffs. There is one team with the top roster, but I am in the mix of the 3 to 4 other teams that could contend for a championship. My biggest weakness is at the RB-2 spot.  I am loaded with depth everywhere else. I decided it was time, after the Packers' bye week, to give up a lot to buy Jacobs, his backup, and Vidal, since I also have Omarion Hampton on my roster. I admit that I overpaid, but I sent a strong offer to get the deal done quickly without haggling.  I've grown tired of Marvin Harrison's inconsistency, and he's been on my bench most weeks. I have Colston Loveland and AJ Barner to back up Trey McBride at tight end, and I was ready to give up on the Bengals' running backs if I could secure a reliable, touchdown-scoring running back like Jacobs. It was a lot to offer, but now I am ready for a playoff run and solid at every single position.

TreVeyon Henderson, Kaleb Johnson, Tee Higgins <=======> Chris Rodriguez, Javonte Williams,  Ladd McConkey

• In this 14-team league, four teams have by far the best rosters and are bolstering up for a playoff run. The contenting team added Williams after his incredible bounce-back season and McConkey who has been solid this year. Rodriguez is just a throw-in in the deal. He gave the rebuilding team a solid receiver in Higgins and two young running backs who have been the most disappointing this year. I like what each team did for their purposes. The rebuilding team really needs Johnson and Henderson to earn starting roles to ever be happy about this deal, but if even one of them does, it could seem worth it. As for the contender, we'll see if McConkey and Williams can pull him over the top in this highly competitive top-tier of teams.

Drake Maye and a 2026 2nd round pick <=======> Jordan Mason, Keenan Allen, and a 2026 3rd round pick

• Two brothers worked together to make this trade between a rebuilding team and a contending team. The contending team is at the top of the league with Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback in a one-quarterback league, so he was willing and able to give up Maye for depth pieces and running back and receiver to stay hot, particularly through upcoming bye weeks. The rebuilding team got a rising star in Maye and a second-round pick for next year. I like this trade for both teams. I don't think any player in the trade is worth a first-round draft pick in a one-quarterback league, though Maye is almost that valuable and may be by the end of the season at this rate. He's undoubtedly the best dynasty player in the trade, but worth giving up if you have Mahomes and a shot at a title this year.

Chase Brown <=======> Two 3rd round picks in 2026

• As much as I have soured on Brown this season and question his future role as the RB-1 in Cincinnati, I still like the Brown side of this trade. I consider third-round picks a crapshoot. At least he got two of them because if you're drafting players in the third round, it's great to have a lot of chances.  Now he will have three with his own third-round pick included. As I said, I have soured on brown, but I would pay two third-round picks for sure to wait and see what can become of his competition next year.

Rashee Rice <=======> 2026 1st round pick

• It's sad to say, but in my most inexperienced dynasty managers league, a manager gave up Rice for one first-round pick. I immediately texted the manager who bought Rice and said, "What a steal!" Rice is worth more than a first, especially if the team that acquired Rice is among the top teams in the league, which they are. Meaning, this will very likely be a late first-round pick for Rice. I would have preferred to see Rice trade for two first-round picks or at least a first and a second, or a first and a solid player who is injured or out for this season. I wish I had been the one to make that offer. Now I will have a harder time defending my championship in this league!

Malik Nabers, 2026 1st round pick, 2027 1st and 2nd round pick <=======> CeeDee Lamb and Rashee Rice

• This was the biggest blockbuster trade of the week. A very competitive team went all in on this year and next by buying Rice and Lamb, giving up Nabers, two first-round picks, and one second-round pick. I don't think he gave up too much. That's how much top-tier receivers should cost. I love what the rebuilding team did, too. They may have to wait until next year before they get Nabers back, but they got the youngest top-tier wide receiver in the trade, and they added three future picks. Dang! I hoped to compete in this league down the stretch, but I don't think I can after a top team added Rice and Lamb, sounds like a recipe for a championship (see what I did there :).

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