The fantasy football playoffs have arrived. You’re either in or you’re out. No matter which side you’re on, dynasty fantasy football never sleeps and values are always changing. Let’s take a look at the risers and fallers from Week 14.
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Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers & Fallers
Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers
Insert 49ers starting running back here. Isaac Guerendo drew his first career start on Sunday with Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason on injured reserve (IR). Before exiting early in the fourth quarter with a foot injury, the rookie carried the ball 15 times for 78 yards and visited the end zone twice. He added two receptions for another 50 yards and posted 26.8 fantasy points.
Guerendo is on the older side for a rookie (24) but offers an intriguing blend of size and speed. San Francisco is littered with running back talent when healthy and McCaffrey is under contract for another three years, but Guerendo has proven he belongs. Backup running backs are always a prize with Kyle Shanahan at the helm.
Mostly absent since the first few weeks of the season, Zach Charbonnet made his presence felt with Kenneth Walker on the shelf on Sunday. Charbonnet posted 134 rushing yards on 22 carries and 59 receiving yards on seven grabs, all career highs. He took two of his carries into the end zone on his way to 38.3 fantasy points, the most of any running back in Week 14.
Over the last nine games, Charbonnet has averaged 3.8 carries, 13.4 rushing yards and 14.2 receiving yards per game. Walker’s ankle and calf injuries aren’t considered serious. He may return next week, but his recent struggles and Charbonnet’s performance on Sunday may lead to more usage for the latter.
Tank Bigsby has become the poster boy for the dynasty risers list, and for good reason. However, things took another turn in the Jaguars’ backfield in Week 14. He notched 18 carries against the Titans, marking his highest total in a game with Travis Etienne healthy and active. All of Bigsby’s career games with double-digit carries before this one came with Etienne injured or a healthy Etienne also seeing double-digit carries.
In this game, however, the Clemson product carried the ball just four times. Etienne was targeted four times on 18 routes while Bigsby saw two targets on nine routes. There is no debating who the lead back is any longer. Bigsby’s 55 rushing yards on Sunday weren’t eye-popping but he found the end zone and made one thing clear — he is the guy.
As happy as most Saints fans were when Dennis Allen was relieved of his duties, perhaps nobody was happier than Kendre Miller. Allen seemingly offered a new, unfavorable quote on Miller every other day throughout training camp and preseason. The running back missed the first six weeks while questions lingered as to how healthy/injured he truly was. Miller made brief appearances in Weeks 7 and 8 before suffering a hamstring strain.
Miller returned this week to a new head coach and was given 10 carries, turning them into 32 yards and a touchdown. He was the clear second back behind Alvin Kamara and ahead of Jamaal Williams, while his 10 carries are the most he’s seen in a game this season. In just his second season, Miller has shown flashes in the NFL and is on an upward trajectory.
Sometimes you just can’t keep a guy off the risers list. Jordan Addison made the list a few weeks ago after exploding for 162 yards and a score against Chicago when he posted 30.2 fantasy points. His fantasy output detonated again this week, shattering the Falcons’ defense en route to 133 yards, three touchdowns and 39.3 fantasy points.
The second-year receiver was a slow starter this season and faced many difficulties off the field, but he’s been electric the past few weeks and has put the NFL on notice, staking a claim to being one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL alongside Justin Jefferson.
Christian Watson, along with all Packers wide receivers, has had his share of ups and downs this season, but he has been very good the last few weeks with Romeo Doubs sidelined. On Thursday, he caught four passes for 114 yards, marking his second 100-yard game in the last four weeks.
Watson threw up a complete dud in Week 12 against San Francisco. Outside of that contest, Watson has posted yardage totals of 150, 67 and 114 in three of his last four games. With Doubs missing time, Jayden Reed on the back of a milk carton and Dontayvion Wicks failing to step up, Watson has looked like the Packers’ top receiver of late.
Nobody has gained more value being on the sidelines over the last few weeks than Michael Penix Jr. The Falcons have lost four straight games, including a head-scratcher in New Orleans, a walloping in Denver, an offensive meltdown at home against the Chargers and an ugly loss against Kirk Cousins‘ old team in Minnesota.
Cousins has thrown for over 300 yards in two of those four games, but he’s also thrown eight interceptions and zero touchdowns in that period. The noise for Penix is about to get louder and louder.
Maybe I’m early on this one, but it’s better to be early than late. Kimani Vidal’s eight carries for 34 yards weren’t masterful by any means, but both were season highs for the rookie. He looked far more explosive than Gus Edwards.
Hassan Haskins fell out of the rotation, leaving Vidal as the primary backup and the main third-down back, leading to more snaps for Vidal than Edwards. For now, Edwards will continue to operate around the goal line and on many of the early downs, but he hasn’t been effective, especially between the 20s. It feels like Vidal’s time is coming.
Dynasty Fantasy Football Fallers
On one hand, Tyjae Spears has returned to his old pass-catching role, but on the other, he has only yielded six catches over the past four games, including one on Sunday. He’s produced just 16 receiving yards on those six grabs over the last four games.
Spears’ six carries for 21 yards were one of his strongest performances on the ground, but that follows a game of three rushing yards and another with zero. Tabbed as a popular breakout pick, Spears has completely ceded the backfield to Tony Pollard with little hope of that shifting any time soon.
Like Bigsby, Travis Etienne has been here before, but how can we not include him after a four-carry performance on Sunday? He’s averaging just 25 rushing yards across his last seven games and received less than a quarter of the carries between him and Bigsby on Sunday.
Etienne was able to snag four passes for 50 receiving yards, so perhaps he can do some damage as a receiver, but he was widely considered an RB1 this season and is now unplayable.
Ricky Pearsall’s first three games of NFL action were promising. He posted yardage totals of 21, 38 and 73, while finding the end zone in the third game. Since then, he’s posted five receiving yards, all of which came on Sunday on one reception. He hasn’t seen more than two targets in a game since his 73-yard performance in Week 10.
With all the injuries to 49ers skill players, the expectation was we’d see more of Pearsall, not less. It’s very early in his career, but there’s some cause for concern here.
Jayden Reed’s role has not changed throughout the season, yet it feels like he was everywhere through the first half of the season and nowhere in the last few weeks. That’s the nature of a slot receiver who doesn’t play on the outside.
Still, Reed found a new low on Sunday, registering just one target and getting blanked everywhere else. It’s the first time in his career he’s been held without a catch and the first time he’s seen one target or fewer.
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