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Fantasy Football Round-Up: Five lists to help you secure the upper hand NFL Week 7

Fantasy Football Round-Up: Five lists to help you secure the upper hand NFL Week 7

NFL DraftKings Network Fantasy Football Advice Rail

Updated:

By: Dan Johnson

Midseason is where the sly take the throne without a trumpet. The calendar yawns, the standings blur, and we move like shadows at noon—quiet hands stacking tiny edges. Waiver whispers. Film-room lantern light. A tweak to the call sheet, a trade that looks boring on the timeline but tilts the board. In fantasy, it’s FAAB spent like chess tempo; in real ball, it’s the Tuesday install that steals a third-and-three in December. In friendly rivalries, it’s the gracious nod and the kept receipt. We salt the margins, bank field position in spirit, and let patience do the heavy hitting. These middle weeks are our workshop and our chapel: we sand the plan, stitch the contingencies, teach the feet to find green in the dark. No pageantry. No broadcast. Only the cool hum of preparation and the metronome of habits paid forward. And then the lights come—holidays, seed lines, finals, office pool finales—and everyone sees the sparkle we staged in shadow. The dazzle isn’t luck; it’s accrued discipline aided by selfie-grade lighting. The ultimate power move is the quiet one: gain the upper hand when no one is looking, then let December do the announcing. As for making that material reality in NFL Week 7? I’ve got you. Once more, I’m here with the full gamut of my Five Lists of Five: Week 7 edition (2025) to get you set with sleepers, stash players, matchups to exploit, must-starts, and trade targets.

You know how it goes. We’re in the business of domination, here. We trade in wins, and wins only. We, like Billy Beane, loathe losing more than we wish for winning. And the best way to win in the midseason trenches? Securing the upper hand.

And so, below, I’ve got a mix of analysis that should help you maximize your Week 7 fantasy football lineups, but also shore up your bench with potential cosmic storms waiting to happen.

Find links to all below, and enjoy laying waste to the most beloved of your leaguemates.

Follow my handle @dansby_edits for all of my fantasy football content—as well as plenty of NFL and College Football betting goodies—all season long.

Dan Johnson’s Fantasy Football Five Lists of Five: Week 7 edition (2025)

I’ve gone ahead and added the names of the players included on each list, so as to make this document more useful going forward.

Having said that, if you want any of the analysis as to why I consider these players worthy of a particular list, head to the article itself.

And, for a garnish—

I wrote a thinkpiece on the best football novel of our generation, The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder. I’m on a one-man crusade to get this book in as many hands as possible. It’s been just around ten years since editorial work began on its manuscript in the autumn of 2015. It would go on to be shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.

I think it’s one of the best paperbacks to get as a holiday stocking stuffer for the football fan in your life this year. If you’re interested, read here.

Dan Johnson
Dan Johnson has been an editor, writer, and analyst for DraftKings and DraftKings Network since 2024. He’s previously held editorial posts at The Paris Review, Macmillan Publishers, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, ASSIGNMENT Magazine, and FantasySixPack. You can find his various editorial work & writing (sports-related and non-) at all of the above.
Disclaimer

I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is thegreatdansby9) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.