Fantasy football player trends – Page 3

A five-pack of fantasy football risers

These players are on the upswing in fantasy football drafts.

With training camps in full swing and teams starting to take the field for their preseason openers, it can only mean that we’re drawing ever closer to Week 1, and the start of another NFL season. Along with that, of course, comes the beginning of another year of fantasy football. While some leagues have already held their drafts, many more will do so between now and Sept. 7 when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions in the Kickoff Game.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five players to keep an eye on as they climb up draft boards.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 18

The latest risers and fallers heading into the final week of the NFL’s regular season.

I’ve long maintained that the NFL is the best reality show on television and, with one week to play in the regular season, they’ve proved it once again.

The Philadelphia Eagles have had the best record in the league all year, but could fall to the No. 5 seed with a loss. Tom Brady made the playoffs for the 20th time with a win Sunday. With wins next week, Aaron Rodgers and Bill Belichick make it back to the party after being left for dead. Even the Pittsburgh Steelers are still alive as they look to avoid their first losing season in 20 years after a 2-6 start.

No professional sport is able to build drama like the NFL as it remains the most captivating reality show on TV.

Here is the Week 18 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 17

The latest players on the upswing and downswing entering Week 17.

One certainty in the NFL is turnover. Typically, only about half of the division winners repeat, teams that had losing records the previous year become winners, and undervalued fantasy players from those teams become unexpected lineup staples.

Last year, 12 NFL teams won 10 or more games – six in each conference. Of those, only three (Buffalo, Kansas City and Cincinnati) will repeat that feat. The other three (Tennessee, New England and Las Vegas) currently have losing records.

In the NFC, only two teams that had double-digit wins last season (San Francisco and Dallas) are going to repeat. The Green Bay Packers (13-4 in 2021) are 7-8 and on playoff life support. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13-4 in ’21) are 7-8 and only in the playoff hunt because the NFC South is so bad. The Los Angeles Rams (12-5) and Arizona Cardinals (11-6) have a combined record of 9-21 this year.

When you start your preparation for the 2023 fantasy draft, keep in mind which teams look to be on the upswing but not quite there yet – teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions. Given the up-and-down nature of the NFL, they could be in for big things next year and will likely garner more credibility than they had coming into this season – which was almost none.

Here is the Week 17 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 16

The latest key risers and fallers in fantasy football entering Week 16.

We’ve reached the point in the fantasy football season where the biggest decisions need to be made to get closer to a league championship. An epic season can fold like a card table with one decision.

I’ve never been a “ride or die” type fantasy player – you basically play the same lineup every week because you made the biggest investment in them. I’m more on letting matchups pick my lineup with the exception of unbenchable studs. Beyond that, I’m willing to sit a player I invested heavily in on draft day to play a hunch if the matchup is too juicy to pass.

When you roll the dice in the playoffs and hit, you remember it for a couple years. When you bench a guy you’ve been starting all season on a gut feeling and the guy goes off for three touchdowns? That stain lasts forever.

The ride-or-die people have fewer regrets.

Here is the Week 16 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 15

The most important risers and fallers heading into Week 15.

When it’s sweltering in July and August, natural complainers yip about the heat. I’m thinking about December and January. In July, you don’t even have a fantasy roster. In December and January, you’re horrified to learn your fast-track offense is playing in Buffalo in January and the weather outside is frightful.

What separates good fantasy owners from really good ones is they take into account holiday season weather in July. When I’m on the clock and I have two players I could go either way on, I will go with the player in the more climate-controlled conditions when it comes to fantasy playoff time.

It stuns me that this isn’t a metric fantasy football management. It’s one-and-done in the playoffs. Don’t wake up Sunday morning and see snowplows on a field and straight flags and be caught unaware. That’s how fantasy seasons die.

I say this because there is currently a “superstorm” making its way across the country. A lot of people will be impacted. By the time it gets to the East Coast, it’s going to be all rain. On Sunday. It could be a lot of rain and, more importantly, a lot of wind – the bane of NFL offenses.

Just sayin’.

Here is the Week 15 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 14

The latest risers and fallers heading into Week 14.

Clearly the NFL doesn’t take fantasy football into account when it comes it with its schedule. Here we are in Week 14 and, for most fantasy leagues, this is the final push of the regular season. For those looking to lock down a division title or those desperate to make the playoffs, this is it.

So what does the NFL do? It puts six teams on bye – Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Washington. That is a massive number of players to be on the shelf by design. With as much as the NFL does right, one area it fails is handling bye weeks.

Eight bye weeks with teams from the same division sharing the bye. The following week, they play each other. Instead, some teams play two or three teams coming off their bye with two weeks to prepare … and desperate fantasy owners get stuck with a last week of the regular season where they will be without multiple players they count on.

Here is the Week 14 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 13

The latest risers and fallers in the fantasy football landscape.

An issue that impacts fantasy rankings every year is the perception coming into a season as to the teams that are going to be playing for something late in the season when fantasy titles are up for grabs. What makes the NFL great is that, while there are some dynasty teams like Kansas City that are good every year, there are also teams that rise to take their place among the elite.

With six weeks left to play, only three defending division champions find themselves currently in first place (Kansas City, Tennessee and Tampa Bay at 5-6). Both Philadelphia (10-1) and Minnesota (9-2) have surpassed their 2021 win totals. San Francisco and Miami finished third in their divisions last season. Baltimore finished last in the AFC North in 2021.

The NFL is the best reality show on television for a reason – you never fully know what to expect when the season begins, because there are twists and turns that most of us don’t see coming. Players you drafted expecting them to dwell on the bench have become your bell cows because the NFL is cyclical.

Here is the Week 13 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 12

A look at trending fantasy football risers and fallers.

While there officially isn’t “tanking” in the NFL like other pro sports, there is the habit of resting veterans or putting them on snap counts because the current season has reached the point where making the playoffs will be virtually impossible. The teams that finish at the bottom tend to be the same teams year after year. We know who they are.

What makes this season so bizarre is the teams that are included on the walking dead list. The Green Bay Packers are 4-7 and on life support, and the list of 3-7 teams includes the defending champion Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos. These aren’t teams known for tanking – much less losing so often.

Will they take the time-honored, semi-ethical approach of giving young players more opportunities to see what they have moving forward while letting the vets ease into the end of the season? It will be interesting because these franchises haven’t been bottom feeders often.

Here is the Week 12 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 11

It will be interesting to see the knee-jerk reaction that happens when a fantasy draft darling has resurrected himself from the dead. Coming into Sunday’s game, Green Packers wide receiver Christian Watson had caught just 10 passes for 88 yards and no touchdowns. He had missed three games due to injury and had shown nothing … until Sunday’s game against Dallas.

Three of his four receptions Sunday went for touchdowns – two bombs and a red-zone TD. He looked the part of a rookie with big upside, which has those who still have him on their rosters wondering if this is the start of something big or just a midseason mirage.

These are the decisions that aggravate fantasy owners – and sometimes kill their seasons. Watson was likely on the bench of every fantasy roster he was still on in Week 10. How many weeks will fantasy owners chase their tails hoping to see another huge game that may never come? There are reasons for optimism, but with the fantasy regular season in the home stretch, if you have more consistent options do you bench them for Watson in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle … a bottle that may blow up in your face?

Here is the Week 11 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 10

The most important fantasy football risers and fallers heading into Week 10.

Last weekend fantasy owners had to face the ordeal that they had been warned about weeks in advance (by us) that Week 9 was going to test roster depth. With six teams on bye – for no explicable reason the NFL admits to – many fantasy rosters were forced to go with weak lineups, because they had a couple key players with the Browns, Broncos, Cowboys, Giants, 49ers and Steelers. That’s a rough group to have on bye. The good news is that it’s over. The bad news is that it’s coming again at the worst possible time.

In Week 14 – the final week of the regular season in most fantasy leagues when everything is on the line for the playoffs – the NFL is going to have six more of its 32 teams on a bye. The good news is that those teams are the Packers, Bears, Saints, Falcons, Colts and Commanders. There aren’t a ton of critical fantasy players from those teams, but there are enough. If you’re locked into players from any of those teams, you don’t want to put your seeding (or your season) on the line by not being prepared. It’s coming. You’ve been warned.

Here is the Week 10 Fantasy Football Market Report.