Week 15 brought us many surprises, close games, and dramatic finishes. If your fantasy team(s) survived the madness, congrats to you. If not, then it’s time to become familiar with the latest dynasty risers and fallers.
Let’s check the landscape.
Risers
Tyler Allgeier split backfield duties with Cordarrelle Patterson again, but with Caleb Huntley exiting early in the contest, they each received a little extra work. Neither was relevant in the passing game, while Allgeier out-carried Patterson, 17 to 13. The rookie rumbled his way to 139 rushing yards and a touchdown, collecting 22.6 fantasy points for his best game as a pro. Allgeier is averaging 6.5 yards per carry across the last four weeks and five on the season. Patterson still played one more snap than Allgeier, but it might be time to see what the rookie can do with a heavier workload.
Dotson had the best game of his career on Sunday, catching four passes for 105 yards and a score for 20.5 fantasy points. He spent a few weeks slowly ramping up after returning from injury in Week 10 before catching five passes for 54 yards and a touchdown before the team’s Week 14 bye. He’s now found the endzone in back-to-back games and has scored six touchdowns in 10 games this season. He’s averaging 14.7 yards per catch and has been an exceptional deep threat when healthy. The Dotson buzz went quiet when he got injured but expect that to pick up again.
Aside from the head-scratching finish to the game, Rhamondre Stevenson had an impressive performance with the ball in his hands. He rushed for 172 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. I wrote about Stevenson as a riser back in Week 5 after Damien Harris suffered a hamstring injury. Since that point, Stevenson is the RB6 on the season. He’s taken advantage of additional carries while absorbing the pass-catching role and looks the part of an RB1.
DeVonta Smith caught five passes for 126 yards on Sunday, tallying 17.6 fantasy points. He’s scored at least 17 points in each of the last three games and is averaging 15.5 across his last six matchups. He’s the WR16 in overall points, which comes with AJ Brown posting massive numbers from the other side. Smith is finding himself in the NFL and is becoming an underrated dynasty asset.
The Chig train keeps chugging as he’s now the TE10 from Weeks 9-15 after catching four for 54 on Sunday. He even added a six-yard rush as the team is looking to incorporate the rookie in any way possible. I don’t expect this to change any time soon, as this role has a lot of value in the Titans’ offense.
Fallers
As Dotson rises, Curtis Samuel falls. His snap share has decreased in recent weeks, and he’s surpassed 10 points just once in the past five weeks. His rushing attempts have increased as his role in the passing game has lightened, but targets are more valuable than carries, and he hasn’t done much with the rush attempts. He’s still explosive but more of a complimentary player rather than a fixture within the offense.
Michael Carter (RB – NYJ)
Michael Carter is averaging 2.5 yards per carry in his last four games. He saw just four carries on Sunday after totaling five, six, and eight in the three games prior. His highest fantasy output in any of those games was 5.6. Meanwhile, Zonovan Knight has taken over the backfield following the injury to Breece Hall and the discard of James Robinson. Hall’s injury opened a door for Carter, but he has yet to step through the opening.
After a few early-season explosions, the Gabe Davis truthers have lost most of their verbal ammunition. Since the Bills’ Week 7 bye, Davis is averaging 46 yards per game. He’s already reached a career-high in receiving yards with 752, but he hasn’t broken out the way many thought he would. If he were able to maintain a higher floor and level of consistency, he would be a solid WR2, but the roller coaster ride presents too much risk for him to be a weekly player in your lineup.
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Chad Workman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from him, check out his Twitter at @tweetsbychad.
