Tue Oct 14th 2025

Week Six Dynasty Takes

Dynasty News

Week Six Storyline

• What I'll remember most about this week is the incredible play of three dynasty quarterbacks who were all left for dead just a few years ago. I am speaking of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Daniel Jones. It's wild that each of these quarterbacks, who showed promise in their rookie seasons but ultimately flamed out, has resurrected their careers and dynasty value years later on new teams. Together they have led their teams to a 14-4 record this season, too! Mayfield threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns with his top three receivers off the field. Sam Darnold threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns, and has moved Jaxson Smith-Njigba into the top tier of dynasty receivers. Their chemistry together is fantastic. Jones threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns, and he had another touchdown on the ground. It's wild to say, but they are among the best quarterbacks in the league this year, and their dynasty value is the highest it has been since they were drafted so many years ago. Props to dynasty managers who either stuck with them or added them off the waiver wire before they landed on new teams and earned starting roles again. It hardly ever happens, but we're witnessing three examples this season, and it's a blast to watch.

Week Six Right and Wrong

• Right on Cam Skattebo
  • I was higher on Cam Skattebo than most dynasty analysts and managers, as evidenced by the fact that I drafted him three times, including paying up for him in a rookie auction. I knew he would take over the backfield by midseason, but I was wrong. He took it over even sooner. He showed the world who he was in Thursday night's primetime game, exploding onto the scene with three touchdowns. His pass blocking is no longer an issue, so he's become an every-down back. He'll get all of the Giants' goal-line runs and be a major part of the passing game, especially this season since they lost Malik Nabers for the year. He's one of the most fun players to watch because of his physicality and intensity. Dynasty managers who believed in him will love cheering for him and will win weeks with him on their roster, as they likely did this week. What a beast!
• Wrong on Raiders Receivers
  • I was wrong on the Raiders' receivers in three ways this season. First, I bet on Jack Bech becoming an instant starter for the Raiders, who had one of the weakest depth charts in the league. I selected him three times in rookie drafts and traded up in two leagues to get him. Sadly, he's barely played this season because Tre Tucker is not only better than him. He's also become the WR-1 for the Raiders ahead of Jakobi Meyers, whom I bet on in several leagues and traded for last week. He was the steady-Eddy high-floor receiver for years, but he's been a huge disappointment and is the WR-2 behind Tucker. Finally, Dont'e Thornton was my most-added player off waivers this offseason, and I even traded for him in one league, but he, too, has amounted to nothing. To make matters worse, they are all playing poorly while Brock Bowers is injured. If there was ever a time for more volume and production, it was at the start of this season, but none of the Raiders receivers I bought into have lived up to my hopes. So far, I wiffed on these guys.

Week Six Injury Report

• Puka Nacua
  • Nacua is my most rostered player, so his ankle injury will hurt me in my dynasty leagues and in the Scott Fish Bowl, where I have been dominating my league and currently sit at 16th in the overall ranking after last week. As of this article, it appears to be a minor injury, but the Rams have a bye week in two weeks, so he's likely to miss the next two weeks at least. Jordan Whittington is the player who best fills his role when Nacua is out, so he'll benefit the most for a short time - hopefully a very short time!
• Marvin Harrison
  • Harrison got concussed on Sunday and had to leave the game. Most of the time, concussions are a one to two-week injury. Dynasty managers hope so, even though he has been as unreliable as last year this season. I benched him in the only league where I have him this week, so I won't miss him much. He has years to improve, but he's been a huge disappointment to fantasy managers thus far in his career.
• Emeka Egbuka
  • This one hurts! After one of the hottest starts to a rookie season, Egbuka left the game with a hamstring injury and could miss more time in the weeks to come. He'll be a massive loss to dynasty managers if so. Baker will still spread the ball around, making Tez Johnson an interesting player to add off waivers in some leagues — more on him in the waiver segment. In the two leagues where I drafted Egbuka, my wide receiver room has been decimated. In both leagues, I have now lost Egbuka, CeeDee Lamb, and Puka Nacua injured. It's gonna be a tough stretch for me in those leagues. I was in first place in both leagues headed into this week, but I expect a significant fall over the next three to four weeks. Sometimes fantasy football sucks.
• Calvin Ridley
  • After his first good game with Cam Ward last week, Ridley could not improve upon it because he left the game with a hamstring injury. Van Jefferson got the most work in his absence, and Chimere Dike will also get more playing time if the injury lingers. Neither will make a fantasy impact because the Titans are terrible on offense, and Ward looks lost in his rookie season. As of this writing, the Titans just fired their head coach, so we'll see if anyone else can make the Titans' offense respectable. In my survivor pool this season, I always pick the team that is playing the Titans, whether home or away. They are that bad.

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Stock Up

Drake Maye

• Maye has officially broken out this season, and his stock is rising fast. He had a perfect passer rating at halftime and ended the day with a 140.1 passer rating. He threw three touchdown passes (the most of the year) and had his highest fantasy finish of the year with 30 points. He's in complete command of the offense, leading the team to scoring drives. The Patriots average 25 points per game, and they don't have any top-tier weapons in the passing game. Maye just throws the ball to whoever is open. He is completing a ridiculous 73% of his passes this season, and each week, a different player leads the team in receptions and fantasy points. He's an excellent quarterback and an every-week starter even in one-quarterback leagues. 

Rico Dowdle

• What Dowdle has done the last two weeks is historic. He's scored 31 and 32 fantasy points in back-to-back weeks with more than 230 total yards in each game. He's poised to be this year's Bucky Irving, taking over the backfield and not relinquishing the starting role ever again. There's no way the Panthers can go back to Hubbard as their leading back again. Their roles are permanently reversed after these two bonanza games. Dynasty managers who thought they had a depth piece or handcuff now have a game-changer and a season-changer in Dowdle. I wish I were one of them. Instead, I lost two games this week playing against him, including one undefeated team that scored the second-most points in the league, because Skattebo, who was then outperformed by Dowdle. What a bad beat, and what a great new starting running back! 

Dak Prescott

• Prescott is on fire this season. I fully expected him to have an incredible bounce-back year this season, but he's even blown me away. He's completing 72% of his passes, and he's thrown for three or more touchdowns in three consecutive weeks. He's seeing the field, processing plays incredibly well, and making all the right decisions. He's only thrown three interceptions this year and none in the last three weeks. Sadly for me, as a Cowboys fan, his outstanding play cannot overcome the Cowboys' terrible defense. Still, he makes games entertaining and pleasing from a fantasy perspective. He's 32 years old but is playing the best football of his career, which has increased his dynasty stock as a result.

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Stock Down

Jordan Love

• I believed the narrative from last year about Love, which suggested that his injury caused the coaches to take a more conservative approach than they wanted last season. That would explain Love's mediocre year from a fantasy standpoint. When the Packers drafted Matthew Golden in the first round, I saw it as more likely that they would expand the passing game and make Love more productive for dynasty managers. Well, I'm no longer buying into those narratives. Love is stuck in mediocracy. He's not bad. He's not good. He's just mid, and I am afraid that's his fate with the Packers, who are good enough to win games with a mid quarterback and are happy to do so. He's scored more than 24 fantasy points just once this season and averages just 17 points per game. Again, that's not terrible, but it's not what his dynasty managers want and need from him. 

Chase Brown

• For too long this season, I blamed Brown's lack of production on the loss of Joe Burrow. While I am still sure he would have produced more with Burrow on the field, there's more to it than that. He's averaging 2.7 yards per carry. The average NFL running back could do better than that, no matter who their quarterback is. For instance, Tony Pollard, playing behind Cam Ward on a winless team, is averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Brown is not as talented as I thought he was or could be. I'm moving him down my dynasty rankings significantly this week.

Kenneth Walker

• Truth be told, I have no shares of Walker and plenty of shares of Zach Charbonnet, so I'd love to see Charbonnet take over this backfield. I would not call this week a takeover, but Walker played just 35% of the snaps this week, and once again, Charbonnet got all of the work in the red zone. For the first time this season, Charbonnet's total snap count has surpassed Walker's, and that's with Charbonnet missing one game! Walker's dynasty stock had already been falling since the Seattle backfield was almost a perfect 50/50 committee. Still, his inability to break big plays this season, the loss of snaps and touches to Charbonnet, and the effectiveness of Seattle's passing game caused me to value Walker even less than I did earlier in this season. Walker and Charbonnet are two of the most untrustworthy running backs to project every week, and their dynasty values are moving closer together than they ever have been before.

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Young Guns

Jaxson Dart

• Like Cam Skattebo, Jaxson Dart made his presence known to the world in Thursday's primetime game. He had a modest game from a passing standpoint, with 195 yards passing and one touchdown, but from a fantasy standpoint, he was even better because of his 58 yards rushing and a touchdown. He's in great company, joining Lamar Jackson as the only rookie quarterback to run for more than 50 yards in each of his first three career starts. Like any rookie, he has a lot of room for growth, especially when throwing the ball deep, but his feet will keep him a startable fantasy quarterback as the rest of his game develops. What a fantastic start to a career for the young gun!

Kimani Vidal 

• Well, last week's waiver wire question about who is better to pick up, Vidal or Haskins, has been answered. Vidal blew Haskins away by averaging 6.9 yards per carry in his first game of the season. He has 124 yards rushing and caught a short pass for a touchdown. There's no way the Chargers will go back to Haskins. Vidal was a favorite sleeper candidate for many dynasty managers in the 2024 rookie class. However, almost every manager gave up on him and dropped him from their lineups, as they should, since he was demoted to the practice squad and the Chargers drafted Omarion Hampton. News broke after the game that the Chargers expect Hampton to miss more than the four weeks he's on IR. His extended absence means that the dynasty managers who won bids on Vidal last week has a new starter for their lineups. Unfortunately for me, I prioritized Haskins and won him in several leagues last week. I wish I could do that over again.

Oronde Gadsden

• Since week four, Gadsden has led the Chargers in tight end snaps, and this week he was finally significantly involved in the passing game. He has seven catches for 68 yards. All dynasty managers who were wise enough to draft him in the last round of their rookie drafts or pick him up off waivers when training camp reports buzzed about him love what they saw on Sunday.  Gadsden was the Chargers' second-most-targeted player while Quentin Johnston was out this week, giving dynasty managers the breakout week they've been waiting for. What a find for those who found him!

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Old-Man Strength

Kendrick Bourne

• This is ridiculous! Bourne had 142 yards receiving for the second week in a row. He's come off the trash heap to become the 49ers' top wide receiver the last two weeks while so many of their other pass catchers are dealing with injuries. He's looked fantastic, too! He looks like he's been the team's WR-1 for years, but it's only been two weeks. If Pearsall misses another week with an injury, dynasty managers seriously need to get Bourne, the eight-year vet, in their starting lineups.

Josh Jacobs

• Jacobs is a touchdown machine. For the second game in a row, he's had more than 150 total yards and two touchdowns. He's scored at least one touchdown in every game except this year.  As I wrote above, the Packers are pleased to have a conservative offense that runs the ball, eats clock, and sits on their leads. Jacob allows them to do that. He's just a phenomenal, consistent player who gets the job done almost every week of the season. At 27 years old, he's on pace to have the most touchdowns and fantasy points of his six-year career. He's an excellent running back.

Ja'Maar Chase

• Chase is simply quarterback-proof. Two weeks ago, it dawned on the Bengals' coaching staff that the only change they needed to win was to target Chase relentlessly. When they did, he would make plays. He turned 10 targets two weeks ago with Jake Browning into 26 fantasy points. This week, Joe Flacco turned 12 targets into 20 fantasy points. His dynasty managers can rest assured that their season is not over because Flacco will continue to pepper Chase with targets. The Bengals made the trade with Flacco because they still want to compete in their weak division. Beating the Packers at Lambeau Field was a stretch for Flacco's first game, but for the rest of the season, they can and will compete, relying on their very best player, Ja'Maar Chase.

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Waiver Watch

Tez Johnson 

• Johnson is available in most of my leagues, and he's the player most worth adding this week. He'll become a starter for Tampa Bay with all of their starters out due to injuries, and he'll have a chance to earn a future permanent role with the team if he plays well. He's super tiny by NFL standards, but he had a super productive college career. I've stashed him on a taxi squad in one of my leagues already, but he'll be the player I try to add in the rest of my leagues this week.

Bam Knight

• Late Sunday morning, news broke that Knight would start the game ahead of Michael Carter this week and get more touches. They ended up with nearly a 50/50 split, but Knight did start the game, got the goal-line touches, and scored a touchdown.  I imagine the Cardinals will continue to rotate their backs until Trey Benson returns from IR, but with the "bye-nado" coming this week, Knight will be a startable player in some dynasty lineups this week. 

Lil' Jordan Humphrey

• Humphrey was second on the team in wide receiver snaps for the Giants during his first and only game of the season with the team. He had four catches and was targeted in the end zone once. I would have listed him as the top player to pick up this week, but the Giants moved him back to the practice squad for some reason. Still, he could get called back up later in the week. If so, he's worth adding this week to see if he can earn a role in Malik Naber's absence. He is the only big wide receiver the Giants have.

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Dynasty Trades

Trevor Lawrence <=======> 2027 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th round picks

• In a superflex league where I am rebuilding, I gave up Lawrence for all five of another manager's 2027 rookie picks. What makes this league unique is that the rookie draft is an auction, so the draft picks are all worth a certain amount of money. Thus, there is more reason to accumulate multiple picks because the 2nd through 5th round picks will add up to an amount equivalent to that allotted to a late second round pick. I now have at least two picks in every round of the 2026 and 2027 drafts, including three first-round picks in 2026. I saw Lawrence as one of my young core team members and wanted to keep him to pair with Jaxson Dart as my quarterback pair for the future. However, when I was offered five picks in 2027 for Lawrence, I felt I had to take it. The team that acquired Lawrence is a top-two team in the league, with Baker Mayfield as their starting quarterback. They wanted to secure a second quarterback to make a run this year. Now I have more reason to root against him.

Michael Pittman <=======> 2026 1st round pick

• In my original Dynasty Freek league, I am 5-0 and the highest scoring team in the league. My starting lineup is awesome, but I lack depth. I wanted to add a player like Pittman, who can add depth to my wide receivers as the bye weeks pile up. We start three receivers in this league, and AJ Brown has filled my WR-3 role alongside Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St Brown. His inconsistency has frustrated me, so I was eager to add a player like Pittman, whom I can stream with Brown and start during bye weeks. Pittman has thoroughly impressed this season, and his future looks bright again with Daniel Jones at quarterback.  The team that added the pick is in year two of a rebuild, so he was helped by adding another first-round pick.

Chris Olave <=======> Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller

• In this league, I am strong and deep at wide receiver but less so at running back. A team sent me this offer after we exchanged a few offers back and forth. He wanted wide receiver depth and knew I needed the same at running back. He first offered me Kamara and Tajae Spears for Olave, and I declined. I asked for Travis Etienne for Olave, and he declined. When he sent back Kamara and Miller, I was pleased to accept. I've been very impressed with Miller this year, and I see him as the player I was most pleased to add in this trade because I think he will be the future lead running back for the Saints. My real hope is that Kamara gets traded to a competitive team, and I end up with two starting running backs to help my team this season. Both of our teams are competitors in this league, but we have different needs to stay competitive. I just lost Omarion Hampton for a few weeks, so I was even more in need of running backs. As much as I love Olave, he would rarely see my starting lineup in this league because I have Puka Nacua, Drake London, George Pickens, Marvin Harrison, and Jordan Addison. While Olave is my favorite player in this even trade, I was willing to give him away to stay competitive this season, hoping that Miller becomes the Saints' future starter.

Jake Ferguson, Roman Wilson, Antonio Gibson and a 2026 2nd round pick <=======> Kenneth Gainwell, Evan Engram, Isaac TeSlaa, and a 2026 3rd round pick

• This is the most lopsided trade I have evaluated this year, and believe it or not, it was offered to the manager who won the trade. The best player in this trade is Jke Ferguson, by far, and the best draft pick is the second-round pick. One manager got the best player and the best pick. Gainwell can be helpful this year in a pinch or with a Warren injury, but his dynasty stock is not going up, TeSlaa will never have a prominent role with Detroit, and Engram is a fading asset who has not popped this year at all. The same can be said for Antonio Gibson and Roman Wilson. This trade is all about Ferguson, who is the top tight end in the league this year. Surely his production will decrease when CeeDee Lamb comes back this season. Still, his dynasty value is solidified in the top second-tier of tight ends after his incredible start to this season. I don't understand this trade at all from the standpoint of the manager who offered it and lost it.

Matthew Stafford <=======> J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz

• A team that's in the bottom half of the league but competing for a final playoff spot traded away both Vikings quarterbacks for the older but far more productive Stafford. It's a superflex league, but with only ten teams, quarterbacks are less critical. So, a team competing this season was willing to trade a younger, unproven quarterback for an older one who is on fire this season. The rebuilding team is a Vikings fan, so he may as well have a share of his team's future with McCarthy. This is a fair trade, giving a rebuilding team future hope and the battling team hope this season.

Baker Mayfield and Jordan Whittington <=======> 2026 1st roud pick

• In a league that is moving to superflex in 2027, a team decided to go into full rebuild mode. He made the following four trades to get rid of older players and collect draft picks. The first trade was with another rebuilding team that had three first-round draft picks but thought it was worth giving up one for Baker Mayfield. We're more than a year away from moving to superlex, but Mayfield, though older, will still be a starter at that point, so he thought it was worth giving up one of his three first-round draft picks. The other manager would rather have the pick. It's a fair trade that's harder to evaluate when the transition to superflex is still more than a year away, but I understand and appreciate what each manager did in this trade.

A.J. Brown and a 2026 3rd round pick <=======> 2026 1st and 2nd round pick

• AJ Brown is one of the players dynasty managers have to draw a line on now. One manager still believes in him, and the other does not. Unfortunately for all the other managers in this league, the rebuilding team traded Brown to the four-time consecutive champion, which strengthens their team if Brown and the Eagles' offense can bounce back this season. It's a very fair price to pay for Brown at his peak. Given he's not at his peak and his future is uncertain, I like the pick side of this trade. At the same time, I can see a consecutive champion taking a risk on Brown while trying to win yet another championship.  I know everyone else in the league is rooting against him and upset that a rebuilding team would trade with the champ... or maybe I am just speaking for myself!

Alvin Kamara <=======> Justice Hill and a 2026 2nd round pick

• The rebuilding team also gave Kamara to the returning champion for another second-round pick. He got Hill back in return, but for practical purposes, this was a pick for a player trade. Kamara has taken a step back and is losing touches to Miller, as I mentioned above. For a competitive team, Kamara could help this season, especially if he gets traded to a competitive NFL team. The rebuilder got more picks, and the champion got one more depth piece.

Hollywood Brown <=======> 2026 3rd round pick and 2027 3rd round pick

• The most modest of the rebuilding team's trades was this final one, where he gave Hollywood two third-round picks.  Third-round picks are a crap shoot, but it's always nice to have them. Two are better than one, so a rebuilder could easily give up a Hollywood for a chance at future players. I doubt Hollywood will help the competitive team now that Xavier Worthy is healthy, so I like the picks side of this trade. Now the rebuilding team has two 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in 2026 and three 1st round picks in 2027. That's a great start!. In this league, I did a two-year rebuild, and now I am a top-four team this year. That's how Dynasty Freeks trade, draft, and rebuild!  Way to go!

 

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