Fantasy football is fun. It's exciting. And it will slowly drive you to the brink of madness—and then right over the edge.
Three weeks into the 2025 season, the top two fantasy quarterbacks are Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. That makes sense. That the next two quarterbacks are Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears and Daniel Jones of the Indianapolis Colts? Oh yeah, totally saw that coming—said no one ever.
There is similar lunacy at the other fantasy positions. The top running backs are mostly who we expected—until you get to Javonte Williams of the Dallas Cowboys. Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers has more PPR points than Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals—and Allen spent most of the summer without a team. Juwan Johnson of the New Orleans Saints and Hunter Henry of the New England Patriots are both among the top three scorers at tight end.
For realsies.
Now, will Tre Tucker of the Las Vegas Raiders stay among the top-five fantasy receivers all season long? Probably not. But games are being won in the early-going this year as much by no-names as the big ones. By dumb luck. By teams so hard-up for starters that Tucker was in the lineup at all.
This writer can't help you with that—if I could pull winners out of my, um, mind (Sure. Let's go with mind.) I'd be playing the lottery more and writing less. But what I can help with is the sort of less-than-obvious lineup decisions that can turn victory into defeat—or vice versa.
The Close Calls.
Every week here at Footballguys, Close Calls will make a case for a pair of closely-ranked fantasy options—and then make the call on which player will be more productive.
For the sake of this exercise, we'll only consider quarterbacks and tight ends outside the top 10, running backs outside the top 20, and wide receivers outside the top 30 in the Footballguys Weekly Rankings.
Week 4 Close Calls
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville (QB25) vs. Dak Prescott, Dallas (QB27)
The Case for Lawrence: The Jaguars are 2-1, but that's as much despite Lawrence as because of him. Lawrence is completing a career-low 55.8 percent of his passes. Last week, he threw for 222 yards and zero touchdowns. And three weeks in, he's 23rd in fantasy points among quarterbacks.
However, the reasons some fantasy managers were high on Lawrence entering 2025 remain, whether it's the weapons, head coach Liam Coen, or Lawrence's own talent. And with the Jaguars heading west to face the undefeated 49ers, Jacksonville has to get the passing game going to have a chance to win this game.
The Case for Prescott: Well, it didn't take long for what appeared to be a promising season for Prescott for things to go sideways. Three weeks into the season, Prescott is fourth in passing yards, but has just three touchdown passes. Now he'll be without top receiver CeeDee Lamb for multiple games due to a high ankle sprain.
But those 800 passing yards offer a measure of optimism that Prescott's numbers will get better. The presence of George Pickens takes at least a bit of the sting out of Lamb's absence. And with an angry Green Bay Packers team coming to Dallas Sunday night, odds are good the Cowboys will be playing from behind.
The Verdict: Prescott. This isn't a choice folks should want to make—both quarterbacks have bottom-10 fantasy matchups for their position this week. But just in terms of level of play. Prescott has looked significantly better this year than Lawrence. It doesn't hurt that he's also just a better quarterback.
Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas (RB22) vs. Jordan Mason, Minnesota (RB23)
The Case for Jeanty: It wasn't supposed to be this way. Jeanty was drafted to be a fantasy RB1. To anchor backfields as a rookie. Instead, three games into the sixth overall pick in April's draft has yet to see 20 carries in a game. He's averaging a miserable 3.1 yards per carry. And Jeanty is RB33 in PPR points.
But dangit, this is it! This is the week that Jeanty casts off the shackles of oppression and plays like we all thought he would! Sunday, the Raiders host a Chicago Bears team that has allowed 139.3 yards per game on the ground (seventh-most in the NFL) and the fifth-most PPR points to running backs this season.
The Case for Mason: With Aaron Jones Sr. on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, Mason was handed the keys to the Vikings' backfield a week ago. The 26-year-old responded with 16 carries for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns—numbers that landed Mason seventh among running backs in Week 4.
Now, Mason and the Vikings are headed across the Pond to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin, Ireland. The Steel Curtain is made out of paper mâché in 2025—the Steelers are also allowing 139.3 yards per game on the ground, although they haven't been as kind to running backs from a fantasy perspective as the Bears have.
The Verdict: Mason. This is where we are with Jeanty. Already. The Raiders' run-blocking has been so atrocious this season that Jeanty has gained 101 percent of his 144 rushing yards this season after contact. That is an actual stat. Meanwhile, Mason averaged over seven yards a carry against the Bengals, and the Steelers can be run on.
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