Welcome to the weekly Fantasy Notebook, the must-stop spot for keeping your finger on the pulse of Fantasy Nation. NFL news and developments drive fantasy values. The Notebook is here to keep you in the loop on all of it throughout the season.
Attrition Hits
We're heading into Week 5, and just when it starts to look like our results are aligning with our expectations . . . Things change. Often for the worse.
Injuries have been copious all season, with Tyreek Hill and Malik Nabers being the latest big names to have their seasons ended early. And they're just the tip of the injury iceberg.
Throw in the start of bye weeks -- the Falcons, Bears, Packers, and Steelers sit out this week -- and we need to be more focused and dialed in than ever.
The Fantasy Notebook is here to help you get there. Let's get started with some positivity . . .
Everything We Wanted
Amid the chaos, fantasy managers were gifted one of the wildest games in recent memory.
As the Associated Press noted, what started as the hyped return of one of the game's elite edge pass rushers, exactly a month after the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Packers, ended up as the second dramatic duel of quarterbacks in two home games for Dallas.
Fantasy managers love offense. And this game was as offensive as it gets.
Dak Prescott and Jordan Love had three touchdown passes apiece in regulation, which included seven consecutive lead-changing TDs before Brandon McManus' tying 53-yard field goal as time expired.
The 40-40 tie was the second-highest-scoring tie in NFL history, trailing only a 43-43 stalemate between the Oakland Raiders and the Boston Patriots in Week 6 of 1964.
It was the fifth tie with both teams scoring in overtime, dating back to 2013, after the rules changed to where a field goal on the first possession of overtime no longer ended the game. All five such ties have been matching field goals.
"Doesn't feel good, feels kind of weird," Love said. "Feels weird to go through a full game and end in a tie."
Weird, But Fantasy-Friendly
Romeo Doubs caught all three of Love's TD passes and finished with 58 yards on six catches. Josh Jacobs rushed for two touchdowns and finished with 157 total yards. Love threw for 337 yards.
Statistically, Prescott has had better games, but he was playing without his best playmaker, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who has a high ankle sprain. He was without two offensive linemen, right guard Tyler Booker (ankle) and center Cooper Beebe (foot).
And he was facing a top Green Bay defense.
Prescott threw for 319 yards with three touchdowns and ran for a score, and George Pickens had eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Jake Ferguson had seven catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. Javonte Williams ran one in for a score from a yard out as well.
Did I mention it was a very fantasy-friendly game?
No fewer than eight players delivered starting numbers. Six of those, however, finished inside the top five at their respective positions:
- Prescott -- QB1 with 31 points
- Love -- QB2 with 28.3 points
- Jacobs -- RB2 with 31.7 points
- Pickens -- WR2 with 33.4 points
- Doubs -- WR3 with 29.8 points
- Ferguson -- TE5 with 17 points
Williams, with 19 points, was RB14 while Packers rookie Matthew Golden was WR30 with 11.3 points.
Among the fantasy-relevant players in this one, only Tucker Kraft fell short of expectations. The Packers star tight end, who ranks fifth at the position after four games, was TE14 in this one.
All in all, it was a remarkable game with even more remarkable outcomes for fantasy investors . . .
About the Quarterbacks
The Packers will use their bye week to address the defensive lapses that led to this outcome. One issue was their inability to pressure Prescott until late in the game.
But to be fair, even when they did pressure him, it didn't seem to affect Prescott.
He was pressured on only five of 24 dropbacks through three quarters, and while they ended up pressuring him on 14 of 41 dropbacks (34 percent), including four by Parsons, Prescott was not rattled. He completed 10 of 13 passes for 121 yards and six first downs when pressured.
Along the way, he completed more than 70 percent of his passes for the second straight game.
So this might have been more about Prescott than it was the Packers.
As Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski suggested, Prescott took his game to another level.
"The best version of Dak Prescott showed up on Sunday Night Football against the Packers," Sobleski wrote.
Looking ahead, volume is always a key factor in massive fantasy seasons. Footballguy Tipp Major has been talking about Prescott's potential volume since August:
Dak Prescott currently on pace for 714 pass attempts! https://t.co/ThouWCOgl8
— Tipp Major (@tippmajor) October 1, 2025
Of course, matchups matter, too.
Love became the fourth-straight quarterback to finish with more than 24 points against the Cowboys, who are now giving up an average of 27.9 points per game to the position.
By the way, Jets quarterback Justin Fields, who has scored more than 27 points twice (in three games this year), gets the next shot at the Dallas defense . . .
Puka's Historic Pace
Puka Nacua was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Indianapolis. The Rams wideout caught 13 passes for 170 yards with a fourth-quarter touchdown that tied the game.
Nacua's 170 yards were a career high and the most receiving yards by any player in one game this season.
Not surprisingly, those numbers were sufficient to make him WR1 on the week. In fact, his 36 points were the most scored by any player at any position in Week 4.
Nacua has had as good a first four games of the season as any wide receiver, ever.
With his performance on Sunday, Nacua became only the second player in NFL history to have 40 receptions for 500 yards in his team's first four games, according to ESPN Research. The 42 catches leave him tied with Cooper Kupp in 2022 and Michael Thomas in 2018 for most receptions by a player in his team's first four games of a season.
Nacua has 42 catches for 503 yards this season, which is the best in the NFL in both categories and on a blistering pace that would obliterate the NFL records.
In fact, if Nacua kept this pace over 17 games, he'd end the season with 179 catches for 2,138 yards. The NFL records are 149 catches and 1,964 yards.
As Profootballtalk.com's Michael David Smith suggests, it's unlikely that Nacua will keep his current pace, but Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford feels lucky to have Nacua on his team.
"He's as tough as they come, did a hell of a job again today," Stafford said. "We called his number quite a few times. The fourth down was huge, the touchdown catch. He's a heck of a football player. We're lucky to have him on our team. I think his play style rubs off on everybody on our team, not just offense. I think our defense looks at him and is like, 'We'll ride with that guy all day.' And I know that's how we feel on offense."
Stafford, meanwhile, scored 27.40 fantasy points, his most in a game since Week 11 of last season.
The two should be in for a tougher matchup against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football, though Nacua is locked in as a weekly fantasy WR1 and Stafford is a worthwhile option in superflex leagues . . .
Taking A Stance
Ashton Jeanty went back to his roots Sunday, and Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll was all for it.
Despite Las Vegas falling to the Chicago Bears 25-24 at home, the rookie running back brought back his trademark stance and had his best game of the season, recording 155 total yards and three touchdowns.
"I loved it," Carroll said Monday.
As ESPN.com's Ryan McFadden noted, since high school, Jeanty stood straight up with his hands at his side in the backfield before the snap, a stance that some have compared to Michael Myers, the infamous killer from the "Halloween" horror movies.
Ashton Jeanty per-game averages:
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 29, 2025
Without Michael Myers stance:
17.3 touches
49 total YPG
0.3 TDs
With:
23 touches
155 total YPG
3 TD pic.twitter.com/ka2u71fHZy
Jeanty's stance didn't stop him from being a Heisman Trophy runner-up last year at Boise State when he rushed for 2,601 yards, the second most in a season in FBS history, trailing only Barry Sanders, who ran for 2,628 yards for Oklahoma State in 1988.
However, during the offseason, the Raiders' coaching staff suggested that Jeanty should switch to a traditional running back stance.
"It's a bent knee game," offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said in May. "In any athletic sport you're playing, you've got to bend your knees. And if you've got to run a flat route on Fred Warner, you'd better be in a position to run, because that dude can fly. So, all we're trying to do is put guys in positions to make plays."
During the first three games, Jeanty struggled to get going. He averaged 3.1 yards per carry on 47 attempts. Jeanty was hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 57 percent of his carries during that stretch.
He flipped the switch on Sunday.
Jeanty was a playmaking machine. He rushed 21 times for 138 yards and a touchdown -- including a 64-yard run that required patience, burst, and a broken tackle 35 yards downfield to reach the end zone. His other two touchdowns came on passes from Geno Smith.
The workload was a factor.
As Late-Round Fantasy's JJ Zachariason noted, Jeanty's running back rush share was 84 percent against the Bears, a number he hit in two of his first three games. But his target share was 10 percent, a season high, and he ran a route on 78 percent of Vegas' dropbacks. His previous high was 55 percent (Week 1).
Jeanty was the RB1 for Week 4.
His 35.5 fantasy points against the Bears were the second-most scored by any player -- at any position -- this week.
He also became the first Raiders rookie with three touchdowns in a game since Bo Jackson (1987). Jeanty is also the fifth player age 21 or younger to have a three-touchdown game in the past decade, joining De'Von Achane, Ja'Marr Chase, Saquon Barkley, and Ezekiel Elliott.
It's a bummer for Raiders fans that Jeanty's big day didn't include a win, but fantasy investors got the breakout they've been waiting for. With a Week 5 matchup against the Colts, Jeanty is a tail-end RB1 in my rankings . . .
Welcome to the Party, Pal
Of course, Omarion Hampton, the 22nd pick in April's NFL Draft, would like us all to know he broke out well ahead of Jeanty, who went sixth overall to the Raiders.
After enjoying the best game of his career in Week 3, Hampton followed that up with an even better one against the Giants in Week 4.
He finished with a career-high 128 rushing yards, a touchdown, and 37 receiving yards. That yardage total was the most by a Chargers rookie since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001.
Hampton's best highlight was a 54-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter; it was the longest rushing touchdown by a rookie in franchise history.
Again, no mean feat considering Tomlinson set the bar there.
Plus, Hampton is being utilized on screens and as an underneath outlet for quarterback Justin Herbert in the pass game. Hampton caught all five of his targets for 37 yards here, giving him a total of 11 receptions for 96 yards over his past two games.
Hampton's 27.5 points in Sunday's loss mean he's now posted back-to-back games with 24 or more fantasy points.
With the total volume, dual-threat usage, and big-play ability, Hampton will be right there with Jeanty as an RB1 in my Week 5 rankings with a matchup versus Washington . . .
Room For One More?
While we're on the Chargers . . . In Sunday's upset loss, Quentin Johnston posted his second game of 20-plus points this season (23.9), catching eight of a team-high 13 targets for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Johnston has now recorded at least one touchdown grab in three of four games played this season, and he has seen a total of 23 targets in his last two.
As ESPN.com's Matt Bowen suggests, with the vertical element he brings to the Chargers offense, in addition to the numbers he can produce after the catch on over routes and crossers, Johnston has carved out a defined role in this route tree.
I'm a believer. You'll find Johnston in the top-10 of my receiver rankings this week . . .
This and That: Around the League Edition
Time to get in front of some situations of interest heading into Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season on your radar . . .