The NFL Scouting Combine is a matter of days away, marking the start of the NFL Calendar for the 2025 season. While much of the focus will be on the rookies who work out, and those who don’t, plenty of business will be done by the agents of veterans during this week with numerous ramifications will follow. Here are three players trending up and three players trending down for fantasy football at the end of February.

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Fantasy Football Players Trending Up

Justin Fields (QB – FA)

It feels a little surprising that Justin Fields is a hot name at this time of year but it’s likely a side effect of a sub-draft class at the quarterback position, combined with plenty of quarterback-needy teams. Regardless, Fields will be grateful for any opportunity after spending the last 12 games of the season on the bench while Russell Wilson took over starter duties in Pittsburgh.

Fields was up and down for fantasy in his time as the starter, scoring over 18 points in three games and averaging 13.1 in the other three. Fields had career-bests in completion rate (65.8%) and interception rate (0.6%) but managed a disappointing five touchdowns in six games — he was very much playing things safe. The team consistently being linked with Fields is the New York Jets and reuniting Fields with former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson would likely help the Jets secure Wilson’s long-term future. It’s unlikely Fields will turn into a high-value asset once again, but his future looks brighter now than it did a couple of months ago.

Justin Fields to Garrett Wilson again? pic.twitter.com/NBrFh5xCoQ

— J. Gray (@JGrayJets) February 19, 2025

Cole Kmet (TE – CHI)

The 2024 season got off to a slow start for Cole Kmet with the Bears’ offense splitting reps between him and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s love child Gerald Everett. Throughout Everett’s career, he’s frequently been Waldron’s guy, but in 2024, it was apparent Everett wasn’t a good fit for the Bears’ offense and wasn’t a better player than Kmet.

The Bears will have a new-look offense under Ben Johnson and the hope is he can bring some of the magic he sprinkled on the Detroit Lions to the Bears. Sam LaPorta was a big part of the offense in Detroit and while Kmet isn’t close to the player Laporta is, there remains some hope he can be a solid low-end TE1 or high-end TE2 if Caleb Williams finds his feet in Year 2.

Joe Burrow (QB – CIN)

There’s only so much room for Joe Burrow to trend upward after another excellent season from a quarterback who is undeniably a top-five player at his position. Burrow threw for career-highs in pass attempts (460), touchdowns (46) and passing yards (4,918), helped by two main factors — his pass-catching options and the Bengals’ woeful defense.

The positive news for Burrow is that both these factors look to remain in place with the Bengals seemingly intent on prioritizing offense over defense, franchise tagging Tee Higgins for the second year in a row and releasing Sheldon Rankins. The Bengals could look to hammer the draft with defensive additions, but they’re unlikely to turn into an excellent defense immediately, which should keep Burrow slinging the ball plenty and, in turn, sustain his excellent fantasy football qualities.

Fantasy Football Players Trending Down

Puka Nacua (WR – LAR)

Perhaps the Rams are just posturing and hoping Matthew Stafford realizes his situation in Los Angeles is as good as it will get or they really don’t mind if his agent finds an attractive offer elsewhere. If Stafford does move on it’ll likely be bad news for Puka Nacua. Stafford, throughout his career, has been a king-maker for wide receivers, hammering them with volume and helping them ascend to the elite tier. Who do the Rams replace him with if he leaves?

The rookies are likely to be too high up the draft board for the Rams to get to them, barring a trade, which seems unlikely with them viewed as lesser prospects than previous classes. The free agent class includes Justin Fields, Russell Wilson and Daniel Jones, who all would bring question marks, as well as Sam Darnold, who would be fine, and the much-linked Aaron Rodgers, who could be a disaster. Rumors have swirled the Rams are happy to go with Jimmy Garoppolo, but that wouldn’t be an inspiring move with him stinking up Las Vegas the last time he was a starter and failing to send volume toward his best assets. Nacua should be fine, but pretending he’s not going to be impacted by the decision at quarterback is a bad move.

Russell Wilson (FA – PIT)

When Russell Wilson took over the starting duties in Pittsburgh he seemed to be rejuvenated after the Denver debacle, throwing for 271 yards per game in Weeks 7-13, and averaging 1.7 passing touchdowns and 8.7 yards per attempt. Things came crashing down, though, when the schedule turned nastier.

Over the remaining weeks of the season, Wilson averaged 177 passing yards and 1.25 passing touchdowns per game and 6.0 yards per attempt, which ranked 29th among starters in that period. When the Steelers needed wins most, Wilson couldn’t elevate those around him and couldn’t produce any magic. While it once seemed a formality that the Steelers would bring Wilson back, now the rumor mill more often connects the Steelers with Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford, which would leave Wilson scrambling for a starting job and having to convince teams his persona isn’t prohibitive to their success.

Matthew Stafford landing spots: teams with cap room and a young stud pass catcher who would benefit.

Giants – Malik Nabers (dear god)
Raiders – Brock Bowers (whoa)
Steelers – George Pickens (ice up son)

Steelers seems to be the most popular fit since they made playoffs.

— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) February 22, 2025

Christian Kirk (WR – JAX)

Over the last three years, Christian Kirk has often been Trevor Lawrence‘s favorite target. In a mediocre receiving room, he managed to sustain fantasy relevancy as the best choice, notching 1,108 yards in 2022 before 787 in 12 games in 2023. Kirk missed the final five games of that season and then the final nine of the 2024 season in a disappointing year where he failed to break 90 yards in any games.

Kirk has no guaranteed money remaining on his salary and will likely be an easy cut for a new regime when they stare down at his $24 million cap number for 2025 and consider how they’d like to build this offense around Brian Thomas Jr. Kirk might find that in a disappointing free agency group of wide receivers, he has some suitors, but his days of being a PPR scam are likely over.