Hello, fantasy football enthusiasts (and fellow sickos) and welcome back for the third edition of this dynasty stock watch column. Throughout the NFL season, we’ll be tracking some of the preeminent weekly risers in dynasty fantasy football formats here on DraftKings Network.
Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season brought one of the ugliest early slates in recent memory as well as some heartbreaking injuries to established names and ugly showings from young talents. However, the next-man-up mentality brings opportunities for a handful of halfbacks, plus out favorite budding wideout continued his breakout and an alleged roster-clogger posted an unbelievable stat line. Here are some abbreviated notes from the results with our top dynasty risers and fallers after Week 3.
Top dynasty risers after Week 3
Backup halfbacks
The NFL is a brutal sport and no position knows that more than running backs do. Players assume the risk of injury when they step on the field, and that’s part of what they get paid for, but it’s still absolutely gutting to see anyone go down. Week 3 unfortunately brought two likely season-ending injuries to established runners James Conner (ankle) and Najee Harris (Achilles). You have to feel for those guys, the former of whom may see his career jeopardized since he’s up there in age and the latter of whom may see the last of his athleticism sapped. I don’t want to frame anyone as a winner of said injuries, but the circumstances do mean Trey Benson (RB23) and Omarion Hampton (RB8) both see projected bumps to their workload, especially the former who’s worked as a backup after being selected in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. We’re talking true bell-cow potential with both of these guys now, so the coming weeks should provide plenty of info of what they’re both capable of. It’s a good sell opportunity if you don’t believe in the talent, but there’s league-winning upside here for sure. To a lesser degree, Cam Skattebo (RB20) has also seen a massive leap in ranking from RB38 just a couple of weeks ago prior to Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s injury. A 24.1-point performance against the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football included 10 rushes for 60 yards and a score along with and six catches for 61 more yards, so he may actually pay off rookie draft ADP sooner than anticipated.
Rome Odunze & Caleb Williams
The Ben Johnson hype seems to be starting to pay off in the Windy City as the Bears won their first game under the new head coach. A 31-14 drubbing of the Cowboys produced arguably the best game of Caleb Williams’ young career with 298 passing yards and four touchdowns without an interception, bringing the quarterback’s season average to 23.4 FPPG. As the dynasty QB12, he arguably seems a little bit underpriced still since he’s on the upswing with plenty of weapons and around 32 rushing yards per game adding to his floor. His connection with wide receiver Rome Odunze also sparks confidence with each passing week as the fellow first-round pick tallied three catches for 62 yards and a touchdown on seven targets. People may point to defensive back Trevon Diggs falling on that score, but it came as a result of a counter from Odunze and he’s obviously a good press-coverage beater to begin with. At 20.9 FPPG this season, the second-year wideout is a weekly must-start option with WR1 upside thanks to elite target share and slots in as the dynasty WR9 right now in rankings. These two should only get better with time as they adjust to this offense.
Tre Tucker (WR75)
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Tre Tucker posted an eight-catch, 145-yard, three-touchdown outing in Week 3 against the Commanders. Sure, the Raiders lost the game 41-24, but who cares? It was an absolute explosion of a day for the 2023 third-rounder and does earn him a spot on this list. Now, I’m not saying this is a guy you go out and trade a haul for, nor will he become a superstar. If I’m wrong about that, feel free to screenshot this and laugh for all of eternity. However, Tucker commanded eight and nine targets over the last two weeks and now averages 16.2 yards per reception this season. As a deep threat for Geno Smith, there’s a little bit of boom-week upside as a desperation FLEX, and if the rapport continues to grow, perhaps Tucker could be the Las Vegas wideout to roster all along rather than the others who earned some offseason hype. Since he entered the year around the dynasty WR99 and now sits at WR75, keep an eye on this guy.
Top dynasty fallers after Week 3
Brian Thomas Jr. (WR12)
Just a couple of short weeks ago, Brian Thomas Jr. was a darling of the dynasty community as the WR5 in KeepTradeCut’s cumulative rankings. Three games later, the young star now finds himself ranked as the WR12 in dynasty formats. I wrote extensively about him over the last couple of weeks with the latest article describing why redraft players should buy low on the receiver, and I stand by that analysis in dynasty especially. Things have looked very ugly and this slump seems to have multiple root causes such as a low catchable target rate from Trevor Lawrence, a wrist injury, and perhaps a case of the yips. However, I firmly believe people are overreacting to this stretch and that the talent who averaged 16.7 FPPG last season while posting one of the most impressive rookie campaigns in NFL history is still in there somewhere — BTJ still ranks 16th in targets, 13th in routes run, ninth in yards per reception, 23rd in YAC and 21st in ADOT. Simply put, buy windows don’t open often for players of Thomas Jr.’s caliber. Smart dynasty managers must take advantage of that while they can.
Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR16)
I admittedly didn’t enter this week’s column intending to write up a couple of buy-low opportunities in the fallers section, but much like Brian Thomas Jr., fellow 2024 draft classmate Marvin Harrison Jr. has those who roster him in a state of relative panic. Maserati Marv entered the campaign as the dynasty WR12 but now sees a ranking at WR16 after a downgrade to Mitsubishi Marv this past week. He saw six targets and caught just three for 44 yards to score 7.4 PPR points, but there was room for so much more since Harrison Jr. dropped a wide-open deep ball which he absolutely should’ve hauled in to house for six points and a chunk of additional yardage. That play earned plenty of critique and he’s delivered single-digit outings twice after starting 2025 strong with 18.1 points. If managers in your league are growing impatient, now could be a good opportunity to strike while the iron is hot and capitalize at a depressed price point. It’s a long season and Harrison Jr. could still catch fire at any time, so those who believe in the talent should snatch him up if possible.
UPDATE: This column was published on Thursday morning, so I’ll throw out there that MHJ posted an up-and-down performance on Thursday Night Football this week but managed a respectable stat line thanks to his second-half performance. He’s inconsistent as can be, so some managers may look to sell high right now. The advice above remains the same!
C.J. Stroud
Everyone else will probably use the NASA-related cliche when talking about the Texans this week, but you know what? I’ll refrain from the obvious lead-in here. The situation in Houston continues to deteriorate as the team ranks 32nd with 12.7 points per game. That’s not fantasy points, folks — those are real score-more-than-your-opponent-to-win points. I hesitate to say the Texans’ 0-3 record is C.J. Stroud’s fault since he’s working with an abysmally bad offensive line, which means he’s running for his life and doesn’t have a run game to even set up the pass since the trenches cannot block (and Joe Mixon remains out for at least another week). Still, the third-year pro has better weapons than he did last year and hasn’t been able to muster the same kind of hero-ball outings he did as a breakout rookie. I’d love to say things will improve here, and maybe they do marginally, but Stroud averages just 11.4 FPPG with 599 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in three weeks. With a QB13 ranking rather than his preseason QB9 spot, the drop likely continues unless this team can turn things around from this disastrous start to the campaign.
