Week 8 Early Fantasy Football Rankings: Jalen Hurts and the Eagles Passing Game are Flying High

Hide your kids, hide your wife: Week 8 is here. It's time to win another fantasy matchup, people!

What follows are my abbreviated early PPR ranks along with some key questions and answers ahead of this week's slate of action. Check out our Fantasy Life Rankings for full ranks from our squad of alleged expert rankers—when you download Comet you receive a year of FantasyLife+ for FREE.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Week 8 Early Fantasy Football Rankings

Quarterback

Rank	QB	Matchup
1	Josh Allen	BUF@CAR
2	Lamar Jackson	CHI@BAL
3	Patrick Mahomes	WAS@KC
4	Jalen Hurts	NYG@PHI
5	Drake Maye	CLE@NE
6	Dak Prescott	DAL@DEN
7	Baker Mayfield	TB@NO
8	Caleb Williams	CHI@BAL
9	Daniel Jones	TEN@IND
10	Bo Nix	DAL@DEN
11	Jaxson Dart	NYG@PHI
12	Justin Herbert	MIN@LAC

Was Week 7 the best passing display of Jalen Hurts' career?

It's up there! Jalen Hurts' 326 yards against the Vikings marked the first time all year that a team finished with more than 200 against Brian Flores' previously top-ranked defense in EPA allowed per dropback. It was Hurts' most passing yards in a game since 2022 and featured three rather lovely downfield TD passes

Overall, Hurts earned a perfect 158.3 passer rating. That's the first of his career, first of 2025 as a whole, and just the eighth instance since 2020. This is a HOT passing chart, people.

Hurts is now averaging career-best marks in completion rate (69.7%), adjusted yards per attempt (8.6) and passer rating (108.9) through seven weeks of action. This has been more necessary than ever with Saquon Barkley and the team's run game largely riding the struggle bus all season long. Accordingly, we've really seen this offense embrace the passing game more than ever as the season has gone on.

Eagles dropback rate over expected:

Weeks 1-3: -7% (31st)
Weeks 4-7: +5% (1st)

Throw in the ever-present possibility for Hurts to add multiple tush push TDs to his boxscore, and the reigning Super Bowl MVP remains a locked-in top-four fantasy QB ahead of Sunday's NFC East showdown with the Giants.

What QBs have been significantly better in fantasy than real life?

I truly do believe that fantasy points generally do a pretty good job of translating to real-life success; if we called them "impact points" instead maybe the non-fantasy ball knowers of the world would show our great American pastime a little more respect.

Of course, there are exceptions–primarily in the form of high-volume rushing QBs. To help quantify this, I calculated every QB's average ranks in QBR, EPA per dropback and passer rating vs. their standing in fantasy points per game (min. 3 starts).

The top-three QBs who have performed far better in fantasy than real life …

Bo Nix (QB22 rank in real-life metrics, QB9 in fantasy points per game): Give Nix credit for shining brightest in the biggest moments this season; he made some truly awesome throws down the stretch of the Broncos' comeback win over the Eagles and Giants.

That said: There isn't really a passing efficiency metric that paints the second-year signal-caller as anything other than a below-average QB. Sure, the Broncos don't exactly boast a litany of high-end receiving options outside of Courtland Sutton; just realize the man is averaging a brutal 6.1 yards per attempt–29th among 34 qualified QBs and behind guys like Spencer Rattler and Jake Browning.

Luckily in fantasy land, rushing upside is a helluva drug, and Nix is one of just six QBs with 35-plus fantasy points from his work on the ground this season. Don't be surprised if he repeats last Sunday's epic boom against the Cowboys' sad excuse for a professional defense in Week 8.

Patrick Mahomes (QB9 rank in real-life metrics, QB1 in fantasy points per game): OK, CHILL. Don't be mad at me here, blame "passer rating" for saying Mahomes has been the league's 13th-best QB this season. And hey, to be fair, no single advanced stat is perfect when attempting to quantify a game that consists of constant 11-on-11 car crashes featuring a ball that isn't even round.

Anyway: The bigger point here is that Mahomes wouldn't be popping in this study if we were only looking at performance over the past month of action. The man has been on fire ever since Xavier Worthy and later Rashee Rice returned to the lineup.

Throw in a position-best 49 fantasy points from rushing production—already more than what Mahomes totaled in 2023 and 2024 alike—and it's hard to argue with his standing as a weekly top-three fantasy option at the position. The league's MVP frontrunner has another tasty matchup on deck against the Commanders on Monday Night Football.

Justin Fields (QB28 rank in real-life metrics, QB20 in fantasy points per game): And the latter metric would be higher if not for Fields playing two part-time games due to a concussion and mid-game benching. The position's leader in rushing yards has continued to demonstrate the ability to make big plays with his legs, but Fields continues to leave quite a bit to be desired when it comes to, you know, throwing the football. That said: I'd caution with expecting Tyrod Taylor to turn this passing "attack" into a well-oiled machine; the Jets are unironically featuring Allen Lazard and Josh Reynolds as their top two WRs in the year 2025 while Garrett Wilson (knee) is sidelined.

On the other side of things, Sam Darnold, Jared Goff and Jordan Love have all put up top-10 numbers in QBR, EPA per dropback and passer rating alike, yet haven't managed to crack the position's top 12 in fantasy points per game in large part due to their respective meh rushing floors. As Socrates once famously said: Sucks to suck.

Other notes

QB6 Dak Prescott: Second in the NFL in both passing yards (1,881) and passing TDs (16), Prescott has re-kindled his 2023 MVP-level form while leading the NFL's third-ranked scoring offense. Perhaps most impressive has been his ability to avoid negative plays behind a banged-up offensive line: Prescott joins Daniel Jones as the league's only two QBs with a sub-10% pressure-to-sack rate this season. 54% of Dak's pressure dropbacks have also turned into completions—the highest mark in the NFL. A trip to Mile High won't be easy, but I wouldn't bet against Prescott and company continuing to put up big-time numbers through the air, even if things are a bit less efficient than usual against Pat Surtain and the league's third-ranked defense in EPA allowed per dropback.

QB11 Jaxson Dart: Yes, Dart's 4-TD performance against the Broncos included two 40-plus passing-yard TDs aided by a busted coverage and tipped pass. Also yes, the fact he got anything going through the air inside a passing game with … one? … good avenue to go to with the football was impressive. Fantasy managers also don't even need Dart to be great as a passer in order for him to rack up big-time fantasy numbers: The rookie is averaging a position-high 9 fantasy points per start from purely rushing production this season. Facing the Eagles in Philly with a healthy Jalen Carter will be a tougher test than what Dart dealt with in Week 6; just realize the NFL Draft's 25th overall pick looks the part of a great fantasy QB already, and his future as an equally awesome real-life option at the position sure seems bright through four professional starts.

Jaxson Dart fantasy points and finish:

Week 4: 19.8 (QB10)
Week 5: 15.6 (QB19)
Week 6: 23.6 (QB3)
Week 7: 28.4 (QB2, pre-MNF)

QB12 Justin Herbert: The Chargers' banged-up offensive line and mediocre run game haven't done Herbert any favors all season long, but it's wound up being an arguable positive in fantasy land considering Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman have posted a +5% dropback rate over expected—the third-highest mark in the league behind only the Chiefs and Cardinals. Don't expect 55 pass attempts every game like we saw last Sunday, but half that might still be enough for Herbert to put up some numbers against the Dolphins' banged-up/bad secondary.

QB22 Tua Tagovailoa: Losing Tyreek Hill sucks, and not every INT has exactly been solely Tua's fault. That said: Sheesh, man. The former fifth overall pick has always had his warts when it comes to rushing and playmaking ability, but high-end passing efficiency has been a constant in Miami ever since Tagovailoa teamed up with Mike McDaniel back in 2022. Unfortunately, we're now looking at career-worst efficiency inside the league's 25th-ranked scoring offense. The Dolphins have 212 million reasons to try to make things work here, but I certainly don't like the bounceback potential this week against the Falcons' league-best defense in passing yards allowed per game.

QB25 Cam Ward: The Titans' rookie QB has somehow managed to simply drop the football mid-throwing motion in back-to-back weeks. I'm not even mad, I'm impressed. But yeah: Ward is currently on pace to take 73 sacks on the season—this would be "good" for the second-highest mark in NFL history behind only 2002 David Carr (76). The offensive line isn't helping, but Ward's league-worst 29.7% pressure-to-sack rate has also been a problem. The 2025 NFL Draft's No. 1 overall pick has flashed some serious arm talent at times this season; just realize it's tough to find any stat that paints the rookie as anything other than a bad professional QB at the moment inside this dumpster fire of an offense.

Running Back

Rank	RB	Matchup	Rank	RB	Matchup
1	Bijan Robinson	MIA@ATL	13	D'Andre Swift	CHI@BAL
2	Christian McCaffrey	SF@HOU	14	Jordan Mason	MIN@LAC
3	Jonathan Taylor	TEN@IND	15	J.K. Dobbins	DAL@DEN
4	Josh Jacobs	GB@PIT	16	Breece Hall	NYJ@CIN
5	De'Von Achane	MIA@ATL	17	Jaylen Warren	GB@PIT
6	James Cook III	BUF@CAR	18	Chase Brown	NYJ@CIN
7	Derrick Henry	CHI@BAL	19	Alvin Kamara	TB@NO
8	Saquon Barkley	NYG@PHI	20	Rhamondre Stevenson	CLE@NE
9	Javonte Williams	DAL@DEN	21	Isiah Pacheco	WAS@KC
10	Cam Skattebo	NYG@PHI	22	Jacorey Croskey-Merritt	WAS@KC
11	Quinshon Judkins	CLE@NE	23	Kimani Vidal	MIN@LAC
12	Rachaad White	TB@NO	24	Rico Dowdle	BUF@CAR

Who have been the season's best RBs at breaking tackles and picking up yards after contact?

It's always tough to quantify RB performance independent of their offensive line and overall environment, but missed tackles forced and yards after contact per carry at least give us a pretty decent idea of the league's best individual performers at the position.

Some takeaways:

Bijan Robinson is the NFL's RB1 in both yards after contact and missed tackles forced per carry this season. He's pretty good!
Get healthy soon, Omarion Hampton (ankle, IR).
Jaylen Warren is consistently making the most out of his opportunities while operating behind the league's fifth-worst offensive line in RB rush yards before contact per carry.
Javonte Williams, De'Von Achane, Rico Dowdle, David Montgomery, Quinshon Judkins, Bill Croskey-Merritt and Jonathan Taylor stand out as particularly awesome rushers of the football this season.
Speaking of Rico: At some point you'd like to think the Panthers realize that perhaps things shouldn't be 50/50 between their top two backs when one is so clearly outperforming the other. Alas, Carolina is winning football games, so I wouldn't overly count on Week 7's splits to change in a hurry.

Who were this season's best late-round RB picks?

The below chart denotes the difference in consensus preseason ADP from Yahoo, ESPN, and Sleeper vs. current RB ranks in PPR points per game. Note that I drew the line for inclusion at the top-36 preseason ADP RBs, so Rico Dowdle isn't listed.

Screenshot 2025-10-20 at 2.00.54 PM.webp

Shoutout to Javonte Williams for emerging as THE best late-round RB of the season through seven weeks, while rookies Quinshon Judkins and Cam Skattebo have also offered a particularly awesome bang for their buck.

On the other side of things, yikes, Kaleb Johnson and TreVeyon Henderson. The reality that neither can even earn a consistent handful of touches per week has been the most surprising part of their respective brutal starts. A similar sentiment is true for RJ Harvey, while guys like Chase Brown, Isiah Pacheco, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and Alvin Kamara have largely had the volume we expected, but unfortunately just haven't managed to get much going with it (yet!).

**Who was this close to having a much bigger Week 7?**

The following players were tackled at the 1-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive last week (pre-MNF):

Rams RB Kyren Williams
Bears RB D'Andre Swift
Commanders RB Jeremy McNichols
Vikings RB Zavier Scott
Broncos WR Courtland Sutton
Rams TE Colby Parkinson
Seahawks TE Elijah Arroyo

Unfortunately, Kyren Williams has become a regular on this list. The Rams' RB1 has been stopped at the 1 and NOT scored a TD on the same drive a league-high four times this season. This is thanks in large part to Matthew Stafford feeding Davante Adams the rock near the goal line: Adams' 11 targets inside the 10-yard line are a full four more than second place, and only Patrick Mahomes (28) has more total pass attempts than Stafford (23) within 10 yards of the goal line.

Other notes

RB3 Jonathan Taylor: Has scored three TDs on three occasions over the past month of action. The NFL's leader in rushing yards (697) and rushing TDs (10) is on pace to rack up 2,142 total yards and 27 TDs (!), firmly cementing himself as this year's Saquon Barkley—AKA the insanely talented second-round RB poised for 300-plus touches with good health that many in the fantasy community overthought for … reasons.

RB8 Saquon Barkley: Of course, sometimes alleged sure things in fantasy still find a way of going awfully wrong. Barkley is averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry, while once again racking up south of 20 receiving yards per game. It'd be cool to see the longtime stud RB rip off a big play one of these days; just realize the Eagles' banged-up offensive line hasn't done him any favors. Here's to hoping Sunday's revenge game against the Giants' 30th-ranked defense in yards per carry allowed serves as the get-right spot that fantasy's reigning RB1 so desperately needs.

Eagles RB rush yards before contact per carry:

2021: 1.9 (1st)
2022: 1.8 (4th)
2023: 1.9 (1st)
2024: 2.3 (1st)
2025: 1.1 (21st)

RB14 Jordan Mason: This ranking is contingent on Aaron Jones (hamstring, IR) remaining sidelined, but the ex-Packer RB is eligible to return for Thursday night's matchup against the Chargers. Even then, Mason would continue to profile for 15-ish carries per week—as he did in Week 1 with a healthy Jones—as well as the bulk of the offense's goal-line opportunities. There could also be a bigger rushing pie available once J.J. McCarthy (ankle) is back under center considering the (Ned) stark differences in the Vikings' play-calling depending on the QB this season.

Vikings dropback rate over expected:

Weeks 1-2 (McCarthy): -9% (31st)
Weeks 3-7 (Wentz): +4% (4th)

RB18 Chase Brown: Kudos to the third-year back for finally racking up a gain of 15-plus yards on his 94th touch of the season. The new leader in this admittedly arbitrary and rather meaningless leaderboard: Dylan Sampson (40). The leader in most touches without a gain of 20-plus yards is … Isiah Pacheco (77). But yeah, good for Brown and his outlook is mightily improved moving forward with Joe Flacco resembling an actually competent professional QB. There's still a little too much Samaje Perine involvement to expect RB1 returns here, but Brown's faithful fantasy managers should at least feel a little better about firing him up moving forward.

RB19 Alvin Kamara: The absence of Kendre Miller (knee, IR) should get Kamara back to seeing a legit every-down workhorse role, the problem is that Kamara's career-worst numbers in yards per carry (3.6) and yards per reception (4.9) reflect the reality that efficiency has been a bigger problem than volume this season. It's tough to expect that to immediately change–especially with Saints C Erik Mccoy (torn biceps) also expected to miss the rest of the season. Throw in a matchup with Vita Vea and company in Week 8, and it remains difficult to be too excited about the future fantasy football Hall of Famer.

RB20 Rhamondre Stevenson: The Patriots' clear-cut RB1 managed to average a solid 4.9 yards per carry last week after turning 20 rush attempts into a brutal 32 yards during Weeks 5-6. More importantly, Stevenson has taken this backfield completely over in the absence of Antonio Gibson (knee, IR). At this point I'm doubtful that TreVeyon Henderson would even get a full-time role if Mondre missed time. Anyway, Week 8's matchup with Myles Garrett and the Browns' league-best defense in RB rush yards before contact per carry doesn't profile as a smash spot, but the Patriots' status as the league's ninth-ranked scoring offense should continue to afford Stevenson plenty of fantasy-friendly goal-line opportunities.

RB30 Brashard Smith: On the one hand, the Chiefs' rookie RB has flashed some explosive ability and deserves credit for setting season-high marks in receptions (5) and receiving yards (42) in Week 7. On the other hand, I'd caution against putting too much stock into his overall usage numbers considering Kareem Hunt appeared to suffer a lower-body injury on the first drive, briefly returned on the second drive, and then didn't play the rest of the game. Note that 11 of Smith's 14 carries came in the fourth quarter with Mahomes out of the game. There's certainly upside here if Hunt's injury winds up being serious and the Chiefs trust Smith to carry a bigger load; just realize I'm cautious in expecting the latter scenario to come to a Jerick McKinnon-esque fruition with Smith very much being used as a pure gadget this season, as evidenced by his *zero* pass-blocking snaps and extreme usage in the slot or out wise (31 snaps) compared to as a true RB (48).

Wide Receiver

Rank	WR	Matchup	Rank	WR	Matchup
1	Ja'Marr Chase	NYJ@CIN	13	Jaylen Waddle	MIA@ATL
2	Rashee Rice	WAS@KC	14	DK Metcalf	GB@PIT
3	CeeDee Lamb	DAL@DEN	15	Michael Pittman Jr.	TEN@IND
4	Nico Collins	SF@HOU	16	Tetairoa McMillan	BUF@CAR
5	Justin Jefferson	MIN@LAC	17	Chris Olave	TB@NO
6	Drake London	MIA@ATL	18	Tee Higgins	NYJ@CIN
7	Rome Odunze	CHI@BAL	19	DeVonta Smith	NYG@PHI
8	Courtland Sutton	DAL@DEN	20	Quentin Johnston	MIN@LAC
9	Emeka Egbuka	TB@NO	21	Wan'Dale Robinson	NYG@PHI
10	George Pickens	DAL@DEN	22	Deebo Samuel	WAS@KC
11	A.J. Brown	NYG@PHI	23	Ladd McConkey	MIN@LAC
12	Zay Flowers	CHI@BAL	24	Keenan Allen	MIN@LAC

What are some strong upcoming schedules for fantasy managers to take advantage of?

The below chart denotes every WR room's upcoming opponent's rank in PPR points per game allowed to the position in Weeks 8-12. Higher numbers (blue) represent easier matchups, while lower numbers (red) show tougher ones.

The best and most fantasy-friendly upcoming schedules:

1. Eagles (NYG, Bye, GB, DET, DAL): I'm way too honorable to point out that this column highlighted A.J. Brown as a prime buy-low candidate two weeks ago. Just something I'm not interested in doing. Anyway, AJB has ripped off 6-80-0 and 4-121-2 performances inside of the aforementioned suddenly pass-happy Eagles offense, but don't let that distract from the fact that DeVonta Smith is cooking recently and averaging career-best marks in yards per game (72) and yards per target (11). There might not be a pair of corners in the league capable of shutting this duo down when Jalen Hurts is playing well.

2. Cardinals (BYE, DAL, SEA, SF, JAX): I don't mind the idea of buying low on Marvin Harrison Jr.. Sure, the second-year talent might not have the sort of WR1-caliber ceiling many were hoping for when he was picked fourth overall last year, but give Marv credit for mightily increasing his yards per target mark relative to last season (9.9 vs. 7.6) as well as for hauling in 7 of his 10 contested targets—good for a 70% contested catch rate (third among qualified WRs). I'm a fan of the Marv side of the following Yahoo trades that were executed on October 20:

Marv for Darren Waller
Marv for Romeo Doubs
Marv for Michael Carter
Marv for Jordan Love

3. Bears (BAL, CIN, NYG, MIN, PIT): There's a similar buy-low case here for Rome Odunze, except we actually have seen a WR1-caliber ceiling this very season. I get it, consecutive 2-32-0 and 2-31-0 duds sucked, but Odunze was literally fantasy's PPR WR3 during the first four weeks of the season! Odunze was acquired straight up for guys like Khalil Shakir, Aaron Jones, Rhamondre Stevenson, Travis Etienne, D'Andre Swift and Jared Goff on Monday—I like the second-year talent in all of those deals if you can afford it.

Meanwhile, the worst schedules feature the Bills, Patriots, Ravens, Saints and Panthers. Of course, volume is always capable of helping a WR overcome a bad on-paper matchup (cc. Stefon Diggs, Zay Flowers, Chris Olave and Tetarioa McMillan), but at a minimum it'd make sense to slightly lower expectations for these involved passing attacks in the near term.

Who left some serious meat on the bone in Week 7?

"Unrealized air yards" measure the total amount of air yards on incomplete targets. This helps identify players who had all sorts of fantasy-friendly downfield opportunities, but they simply couldn't come up with completions for one reason or another.

Anyway, 10 players had more than 75 unrealized air yards in Week 7 (pre-MNF):

Colts WR Alec Pierce (158)
Jaguars WR Parker Washington (154)
Broncos WR Troy Franklin (154)
Jets WR Josh Reynolds (141)
Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka (137)
Saints WR Rashid Shaheed (110)
Vikings WR Justin Jefferson (101)
Chargers WR Ladd McConkey (98)
Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (97)
Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (88)
Texans WR Nico Collins (83)
Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle (78)
Jets WR Arian Smith (77)

Other notes

WR2 Rashee Rice: Returned to action and immediately balled out with 7 receptions for 42 yards and a pair of short TDs. Hell, he could have potentially had a third score on another short designed reception, but the promising play was ruled dead due to a false start. The fact Rice did all this on a limited route participation rate is even more ridiculous. Sure, there are PPR-scam qualities here (the Next-Gen route chart is hilarious), but it's all good when you're in an offense like the Chiefs with a QB like Patrick Mahomes. Up next is a Commanders defense that surrendered 264 yards and a trio of passing TDs to Dak Prescott in essentially three quarters.

WR10 George Pickens: Speaking of Dak and company, the return of CeeDee Lamb naturally lowers Pickens' fantasy ceiling a bit, but that doesn't mean the ex-Steeler should be leaving starting lineups anytime soon. After all, Pickens has still returned 3-30-0, 5-68-1 and 4-82-0 receiving lines in three full games with Lamb—and the former and latter games also included big-time chunk gains via defensive pass interference penalties (Pickens leads the league in this category). Ultimately, only Davante Adams (14) has more end zone targets than Pickens (13) and Tyquan Thornton (16 vs. 15) is the only man with more targets thrown 20-plus yards downfield. If you're going to trust a WR with slightly reduced volume, it should be one still getting extremely fantasy-friendly opportunities inside an offense led by an objectively awesome QB.

WR18 Chris Olave: Found the end zone twice last week and has caught a pass for 50-plus yards in consecutive games after having *zero* receptions of at least 20 yards during the first five weeks of the season. Now the WR17 in PPR points per game, Olave has overcome early-season PPR-scam allegations and now simply looks the part … of a really f*cking good real-life and fantasy WR! Up next is a smashable matchup against the Buccaneers' pass-funnel defense.

WR22 Wan'Dale Robinson: Is working as the Giants' clear-cut No. 1 WR with both Malik Nabers (knee, IR) and Darius Slayton (hamstring) out of the picture. Credit to Robinson for winning downfield more this year than ever before. He's worthy of low-end WR2 treatment and should be in lineups of most shapes and sizes.

WR29 Jordan Addison: I imagine my friends Pat Mayo and Jake Cieiy will call me out for this being too low when we talk rankings on Tuesday morning. And you know what, they might be right: Addison has posted 4-114-0, 5-41-1 and 9-128-0 receiving lines in three games since returning from suspension, good for an average of 17.4 PPR points per game (WR7!). That said, I can't help but acknowledge Addison has benefited from incredibly brutal blown coverage gaffes in each and every week this season, and the potential return of J.J. McCarthy could greatly hinder this offense's overall pass-game volume. This week's matchup with the Chargers isn't one to overly fear; just realize it'd be pretty surprising if Addison continues to outproduce that Justin Jefferson guy for much longer.

WR36 Alec Pierce: Posted a 5-98-0 receiving line last week despite leaving meat on the bone in the form of unrealized air yards. Things in the Colts' spread-out passing game will always be a bit volatile on a week-to-week basis, but Pierce did find success against this very same Titans secondary back in Week 3 (4-67-0 on 5 targets) and could benefit from the potential absence of No. 1 CB L'Jarius Sneed (quad). More than anything, Pierce is a boom-or-bust field-stretching option inside (at this point) a certifiably #good real-life passing game—that's a solid FLEX profile for bye-week-needy rosters.

WR43 Jerry Jeudy: Sits atop two (not good) leaderboards at the moment. Overall, Jeudy has an NFL-high 52 targets without a receiving TD; Stefon Diggs (44) and Jakobi Meyers (43) are the only other players over 35. Additionally, Jeudy (still) is the only player with a passer rating when targeted BELOW 39.6, AKA what a QB receives from simply spiking the football into the ground. Otherwise, the Browns' No. 1 WR is having a great year.

WR45 Xavier Legette: Turned 11 targets into a very solid 9-92-1 receiving line last week. Forgive me for not assuming this will become the new norm considering Legette turned his previous 20 targets into … 8 receptions for 50 yards and 1 score. Now, the switch from Bryce Young (ankle) to Andy Dalton could perhaps be a slight short-term upgrade for these pass catchers, but even then Tetairoa McMillan is the only Carolina Panther I'm starting with any level of confidence for the time being.

Tight End

Rank	TE	Matchup
1	Tyler Warren	TEN@IND
2	George Kittle	SF@HOU
3	Jake Ferguson	DAL@DEN
4	Tucker Kraft	GB@PIT
5	Harold Fannin Jr.	CLE@NE
6	Travis Kelce	WAS@KC
7	Darren Waller	MIA@ATL
8	Kyle Pitts Sr.	MIA@ATL
9	Dalton Kincaid	BUF@CAR
10	Oronde Gadsden	MIN@LAC
11	Dallas Goedert	NYG@PHI
12	Evan Engram	DAL@DEN

Is this Oronde Gadsden fella for real?

It sure looks like it! I mean, just look at this play: A great route to draw a defensive holding penalty, strong hands to pluck the ball out in a fairly contested situation, and enough size and athleticism to break multiple tackles while running away from several finely tuned athletic machines.

Not only has the rookie flashed in a major way this season, but his weekly route participation has reached starter/TE1-worthy levels at this point.

Gadsden was highlighted on THE Fantasy Life Show last week as the prime TE option to pick up if you had a long-term need at the position, but even that proclamation undersold what the man already is: A full-time baller in a good-to-great passing game that is happy to throw the football at a high volume. Go get him on waivers if you haven't already. There's enough WR competition at play to make it tough to immediately assume weekly upside TE1 heights in fantasy land; just realize the rookie still profiles as the sort of baller capable of making more with less—and there's MASSIVE boom potential down the road on occasions when Herbert is without one of his top three WRs.

Best of the rest

TE3 Jake Ferguson: The Cowboys' TE1 scored 7 touchdowns in 47 regular season games during the 2022-24 seasons. Ferguson has … 6 scores in seven games in 2025. Not too shabby—and the production has been good enough for TE1 status this season. The only reason why he's not that high this week is the return of George Kittle (who didn't play last week, right? RIGHT???) and the reality that weekly high-end target volume could be just a bit harder to come buy with CeeDee back in the picture. Even then, continue to fire up A$AP FERG with confidence largely regardless of the matchup.

TE5 Harold Fannin: Leads all QBs, WRs and TEs in total missed tackles forced this season with 17. That number is especially wild when considering Fannin's 34 touches are tied for only 29th among that cohort. Last week's dud wasn't ideal, but it was also heavily caused by rare leading game script and brutal stuff from Mother Nature. I'm drinking the Kool Aid here ahead of a matchup with the pass-funnel Patriots … IF David Njoku (knee) remains sidelined.

TE8 Kyle Pitts: Lock your door, put some tape over the webcam, and shut the blinds. OK? We good? Cool. Kyle Pitts is the TE12 in PPR points per game in the year 2025, and it doesn't feel fluky! The wildly big and athletic TE has looked wildly big and athletic largely all season long, and we could finally get a true boom game this week against a Dolphins secondary that is a mix of injured and bad.

TE9 Dalton Kincaid: Hopefully healthy and ready to go following the Bills' Week 7 bye. While high-end target volume remains a bit of a pipe dream in the Bills' "everybody eats" offensive attack, kudos to the third-year talent for posting similar per-route efficiency numbers as some of the position's very best players.

TE26 Cole Kmet and TE27 Colston Loveland: Neither player can be trusted when both are healthy, BUT Kmet (back) left Week 7's win over the Saints early. Perhaps this could open up a full-time role for the 2025 NFL Draft's 10th overall pick. There are some quality pass-game matchups on the horizon against the Ravens, Bengals and Giants; I love the idea of picking up Loveland (26% rostered on ESPN, 22% on Yahoo) where possible should a true every-down role finally emerge.