Dynasty Risers & Fallers: Week 7 Update

Week 7 Dynasty Risers And Fallers

This has been one of the craziest starts to a football season in recent memory. There isn’t a single undefeated team left, and 18 teams are at or above .500 through the first month and a half. That craziness translates just as much to the fantasy football landscape. Plenty of top players have not been at their normal elite level, and we’ve already lost a lot of great players to injury. Along those same lines, there have been a myriad of players who have either helped or hurt their dynasty stock through the first six weeks of the season. Here are my biggest risers and fallers for dynasty football.

Quarterback

Riser: Brock Purdy
My Rank: QB14

Okay, this looks a lot worse coming off of the week that he just had. However, my following points still stand. First things first, are we ready to admit that the system in San Francisco is the best for QB success? Maybe not, Kansas City would make a compelling argument. However, the fact that the 49ers are led by a former Mr. Irrelevant and the Chiefs are led by the best QB in the world makes it an interesting debate.

Purdy’s 2023 pace, even after his terrible Week 6 performance, is just shy of 4,000 yards, 28 touchdowns, and three interceptions. That stat line would have been good for a QB13 finish last season. The fact that he is just 23 years old and on one of the smallest contracts of any QB in the entire league means that he is likely here to stay and be a productive member of your fantasy football team.

Faller: Derek Carr
My Rank: QB27

I’ll admit, I was quite high on Carr going into this year. I thought having a much stronger supporting cast and an elite defense would be what he needed to put together a really good season. Instead, it has turned him into a game manager. While that is exactly what the Saints needed, it doesn’t bode well for his fantasy outlook. Even after his 353 yard performance this week, he is still pacing for just 3,700 yards and 14 touchdowns. That would give him a QB22 finish given last season’s rankings. I think the pieces are in place if he ever were asked to carry the team offensively, but as long as the defense continues to stifle other teams, they won’t need him to be anything more than an above average game manager.

His fantasy value saving grace may be the four-year, 150 million dollar contract he signed this offseason. If he can play out that contract, he may be worth holding onto. However, his dead cap hit drops from 53 million to 17 million after the 2024 season, so that could be his swan song if he doesn’t produce more than he is right now.

Running Back

Riser: Kyren Williams
My Rank: RB31

Coming into the season, Cam Akers was the presumed top back in Los Angeles and was a draft darling for those who use the Zero-RB draft strategy. However, Akers was quickly overtaken by the second year back out of Notre Dame. In just the second game of the season, Williams got 14 carries and 10 targets, while Akers got just five carries and two targets. Williams has since been productive enough for the Rams to completely move on from Akers, trading him to Minnesota for a late round pick swap. Williams has gotten double digit carries in every game this season, while also averaging multiple targets a game.

He is pacing 1,600 yards from scrimmage and a ridiculous 20 touchdowns. A stat line like that would have garnered an RB4 finish last season! With the Rams likely to be in a rebuilding window in the next year or two, keeping Williams as their top back makes sense from a financial standpoint. His rookie contract is easy on the salary cap, so he could very well be the starting running back in Los Angeles for at least the next couple of years. For someone that was being drafted as the RB51 in dynasty startup drafts this offseason, you can’t ask for much more than 2-3 years of starting level production.

Faller: Dalvin Cook
My Rank: RB61

Well it was a good run for Dalvin, but he is officially cooked. While his ceiling this year was split touches with Breece Hall and fringe RB1 potential with a Hall injury, we are definitely getting just about as close to his floor as possible. He was supposed to be most valuable early on, when Hall was still getting up to full speed from his injury last year. Technically, he did have his best fantasy performance in the season opener, but it was still only good for 8.9 full PPR points.

Since then, his weekly points have been as follows: 2.2, 5.9, 2.8, 2.3, and 2.4. He is so far from unplayable that you might not even be able to trade him for a 2026 4th round rookie pick at this point. He is 28 years old and on a one-year deal with the Jets. If you don’t give up on him now, your best hope is he signs somewhere next offseason that is DESPERATE for running back help. I would say your best bet is to bite the bullet and see if you can get anything at all for him and move on.

More: Fantasy Football Trades You Need To Make Before Week 7

Wide Receiver

Riser: Nico Collins
My Rank: WR21

I’ll preface this by saying that I was higher than most on Collins going into last season. Outside of Brandin Cooks, the Texans pass catchers were very uninspiring. Collins’ athletic profile was good enough for him to be a breakout candidate, and had he not been bitten by the injury bug, he may have done just that. Turns out, I was a year early on his breakout season. Through the first third of this season, he is eighth in the NFL in receiving yards, while also hauling in a touchdown every other game.

At 24 years old and in his third season in the league, the former third-round pick is the WR11 in fantasy so far this year. He is attached to CJ Stroud, who is having one of the best statistical starts by a QB ever, for at least one more year. If they resign him, his trajectory will likely reflect Stroud’s. I am all in on the young pieces of this Houston offense, including their big body receiver and Stroud’s favorite target.

Faller: Treylon Burks
My Rank: WR55

If you weren’t out on Burks after his rocky rookie season in 2022, then the start to his 2023 should be all you need to see in order to get him off of your team. For starters, he is once again dealing with injuries and has only played in three games thus far. On top of that, he has a measly 99 receiving yards and not a single touchdown in the games he has played in. If those numbers didn’t sound bad enough, 70 of the 99 yards came on a single catch in Week 2. That means that he would have 29 receiving yards and zero touchdowns in 2023 if not for a single play.

His full PPR points per game is a whopping 5.6 so far this season. So through a season and a third, he has played in 14 of a possible 23 games and has amassed just 543 yards and a single touchdown, which equates to just 39 yards per game in his career. As long as Derrick Henry is on the team and healthy, he will be the main focal point of the offense and the Titans will be near the bottom of the league in pass attempts. If you can get an early second round pick in 2024 or maybe even a late first round pick in 2025 from someone still high on him, thank your lucky stars and move on from Burks. 

Tight End

Riser: Sam LaPorta
My Rank: TE1

Yes, you read that correctly. No, I don’t hate Travis Kelce. No, I don’t hate Mark Andrews. Yes, I love Sam LaPorta. Tight end is probably the toughest position to get right in fantasy football due to the lack of reliable options. It is even tougher for the dynasty landscape because tight ends tend to take a year or two to become viable fantasy options. That is not the case for LaPorta. Through his first six games as a pro, he trails only Travis Kelce in receiving yards and fantasy points.

Kelce has been the most consistent fantasy tight end probably ever, but an end has to be coming sometime relatively soon for him. At 34 years old, he has already dealt with a couple different injuries this season. LaPorta, on the other hand, is just 22 years old and has already made a major impact. He is connected to a high powered offense and should only get better with experience. Most people had him around the 8-10 range in their preseason tight end rankings, so this isn’t a massive jump compared to other positions. However, that sort of jump for a tight end is nearly unheard of, especially in a six game span.

A lot of the other top options at tight end come with a significant amount of age (Only half of the players in my top 10 tight ends are under 27 years old), so getting a 22 year old that is already producing like an elite tight end makes constructing the rest of your roster MUCH easier. Go buy LaPorta if it doesn’t cost you more than an arm and a leg.

Faller: George Kittle
My Rank: TE11

My major gripe with Kittle has always been his inability to stay healthy. Every year he seems to deal with lingering issues that cause him to be questionable for nearly half of his games. For a player at a position that is so scarce in the fantasy realm, that is something I never cared to deal with. That’s not necessarily the case so far this year, but his performance has taken a hit instead. Through six games, he has just two games that I would deem as a starter level performance. I will give him credit where it’s due, those two games were crazy high scoring (27.7 and 16 full PPR points). However, he has just 13.9 combined points in his other four games.

What has made him great during his career is his run after catch ability. With him hitting the 30 year old mark just over a week ago, that ability could be declining more than we would like to think. On top of that, he has three other elite pass catchers to compete with. For a team that is dead last in the league in pass attempts, it is hard to fathom a tight end being a consistent fantasy producer when he is sharing minimal targets with two top-25 receivers and the overall RB1.

FantasyPros has his dynasty trade value equivalent to a back end 2024 first round pick or an early to mid-first round pick in 2025. If you aren’t dead set on being a championship contender right now, I would absolutely take one of those and move on. If you’re lucky, that 2024 pick might even turn into your replacement tight end (Brock Bowers).

 

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