First and foremost, as a fellow Jalen Hurts fantasy manager, my heart goes out to all who lost their semi-final matchup today with an early exit from the quarterback. The good news, however, is that whether you’re heading to the championship or to the third-place matchup, the dynasty values keep on changing, week over week.
Let’s look at the latest dynasty risers and fallers from Week 16.
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Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers & Fallers
Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers
We’ve known for some time Jayden Daniels can ball, but he’s making his way into the elite quarterback territory. Daniels posted his best fantasy outing of the season on Sunday, throwing for 258 yards and five touchdowns while adding nine rushes for 81 yards en route to 34.42 fantasy points.
The rookie left Week 7’s game with a rib injury and was relatively quiet in Weeks 9-11, leading to questions about this year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He’s back on track to win the award after an impressive four-game stretch in which he’s averaged over 29 fantasy points per game. He’s the definition of a Konami code quarterback and is in contention for the top dynasty quarterback.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but Bryce Young has become a competent NFL quarterback, at least for now. Although he threw for just 158 yards on 17-of-26 passing in Week 16, Young posted his best fantasy output with 27.12 points, thanks in large part to his two touchdown tosses and five rushes for 68 yards and another score.
After turning the ball over five times across the last two weeks, Young played a clean game without any turnovers. Taking care of the ball has been important to Young’s success, but his newfound success running the ball has been a game-changer. He’s rushed for a touchdown in three of his last four games and a career-high 68 yards on Sunday.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been a steady riser this season, a trend that continued Sunday. He notched 12 targets for the second game in a row, turning them into eight grabs for 85 yards and a touchdown. His 24 fantasy points mark eight straight games of double-digit points and the 12th time he’s hit that mark in 15 games this season.
It would be ideal to see him break off a few more big plays, but he’s dominating targets in the Seahawks’ offense right now and is currently posting the 12th-best Pro Football Focus (PFF) receiving grade this season (85).
Although he’s yet to have a true breakout game, Xavier Worthy seems to be finding his footing in the Chiefs’ offense. In Week 16, Worthy caught seven passes for 65 yards and a touchdown, adding 10 rushing yards for 20.5 points, one week after a 19.6-point output. Those scores are his two best scores since Week. His 11 targets in each game represent his season high.
Did we forget how good Jonathan Taylor is? Maybe, maybe not, but 218 rushing yards and three scores with 39.8 fantasy points is a convincing reminder Taylor belongs in the conversation among the league’s best runners.
Taylor has been quietly solid this season but lacked a ceiling game, until this week. He had failed to find the end zone in six straight games before Sunday. If this offense can find its footing in the future, Taylor will be a force to be reckoned with.
Another consistent riser throughout the season, Chuba Hubbard has surpassed all expectations and continues to climb and climb. He was the RB2 this week, trailing only Jonathan Taylor, with 32.5 fantasy points.
Hubbard was asked to tote the rock 25 times, and he made every one count, finishing the day with 152 rushing yards and two touchdowns while catching four passes for 13 yards. Not only did Hubbard receive a contract extension earlier this season, but Jonathon Brooks was recently diagnosed with another torn ACL. The future is bright for Hubbard.
Every week I debate including Brian Thomas Jr. on this list. I often refrain because I was incredibly high on him entering the season. This week, however, Thomas makes the list after posting nine catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. Not a bad encore after catching 10 passes for 105 yards and two scores in Week 15.
Thomas has tallied 60.7 fantasy points between Weeks 15 and 16 combined with double-digit targets in each of the last four games. He’s an NFL No. ! WR, there’s no doubt about that. He may soon work his way into a fantasy WR1.
This season has been a bit of a bummer for Jaylen Warren supporters such as myself. A hamstring injury to start the season didn’t help, but he never seemed to be able to get going. On Saturday, Warren played over 60% of the snaps for the first time this season and rushed 12 times for 44 yards to go with five receptions for 48 yards.
Warren has been more efficient in recent weeks and is being rewarded with more usage. Najee Harris will be a free agent after the season, so there’s a lot at stake for Warren to prove he’s capable of carrying the load.
Kayshon Boutte has been operating as the Patriots’ No. 1 WR in recent weeks, a role we have been unable to confirm exists. Boutte proved in Week 16 that it does exist when he posted five grabs for 95 yards and a score.
It was the first time he scored since Week 6. His 20.5 fantasy points were a season high. While he’s unlikely to keep this role next season, it bodes well for his chances of retaining a prominent role in the offense.
Dynasty Fantasy Football Fallers
It’s been tough sledding for Breece Hall this season. Although he has battled injuries over the last few weeks, his lack of success has been frustrating for fantasy managers. He rushed 14 times for 52 yards on Sunday, adding five receptions for 38 yards. Hall averaged just 3.7 yards per carry this week after posting 3.3 last week on nine rushes for 30 yards.
Hall has cleared 100 yards just once this season, all the way back in Week 6. He hasn’t gone over 80 yards in any other game. The offense as a whole has held him back, but it’s disappointing for a player who was expected to contend for the RB1 overall this season.
Earlier this season, Kenneth Walker was climbing the ranks as the Seahawks were utilizing him in the passing game and he was running efficiently. The Seahawks are still giving him the bulk of all running back touches when he’s on the field, but the efficiency is gone, and he hasn’t been on the field enough.
After missing the last two games with a calf injury, Walker injured his ankle in this one and is expected to miss time. Week 17 will likely be his fifth missed game this season, but he hasn’t looked like his explosive self for many weeks.
It was a strong start to the season for Cooper Kupp on both sides of his high-ankle sprain early in the season. Kupp was positioned as the Rams’ co-No. 1 WR option at wide receiver and has looked healthy and explosive at times. In the last few weeks, however, Kupp has faded while Puka Nacua has put an exclamation point on his status as the team’s top option.
Kupp caught three passes for 24 yards this week after failing to catch a pass in Week 15 while registering just three targets in each game. He’s averaging just 38 yards per game across his last five games and it feels like his age and injury history are catching up with him.
Perhaps this is an overreaction, but Isiah Pacheco has been rather pedestrian since returning to the lineup in Week 13. On Saturday, Pacheco rushed nine times for 26 yards, posting just 3.5 fantasy points. He’s averaging 39 rushing yards per game during his last four matchups to go with just 5.8 fantasy points per game.
Most importantly, Kareem Hunt has received more carries in three of the four games they’ve played together while they share snaps. Hunt has been decent this season, but it doesn’t bode well for Pacheco to split snaps with a 29-year-old running back who was signed off the street mid-season.
Amari Cooper was supposed to be the missing piece for the Buffalo Bills. Instead, Cooper has simply been missing since relocating to Buffalo. He caught one of his two targets for 10 yards in Week 16 after getting blanked last week, without a single target going his way.
Oddly enough, these two games come on the heels of a 14-target game in which he posted six catches for 95 yards. Outside of that game, Cooper has been largely absent with four of his seven games resulting in 12 yards or fewer. Cooper will be a free agent after the season, but it’s tough to imagine how teams will value him after this stint in Buffalo.
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