The Honeymoon Is Over
Fantasy gamers’ courtship of the impending NFL season begins with training camp and lasts into the season. Gamers engage in a draft of players they hope can deliver a title. The first four weeks of the NFL season can be smooth sailing for the well-drafted team.
Even mediocre teams lock lineups onto highly drafted players throughout September. As Footballguy Adam Harstad has found, staying with preseason expectations for the first four weeks of the season can prove the correct course of action for slow-starting stars.
In Week 5, the harsh realities of the 18-week NFL season began to set in. Bye weeks tested fantasy teams' depth. Those stretched thin by injuries buckled without players like Bijan Robinson, T.J. Watt, Josh Jacobs, and Micah Parsons.
Bye weeks run through Week 14, the eve of the fantasy playoffs. All but the most resilient fantasy teams will have been retired by then. Even a fantasy league’s top contenders will have lost half of the players it opened the season with due to injuries, disappointments, and opportunities on the waiver wire in-season.
With four to five games complete, fantasy gamers must now accept that a player’s performance likely represents his future production. Indy’s Zaire Franklin, Atlanta’s Kaden Elliss, and Cincy’s Logan Wilson were drafted as premier fantasy linebackers in August. All have remained healthy and should remain on fantasy rosters; however, none are likely to finish the season as LB1s.
Devin Lloyd of the Jaguars, Nate Landman of the Rams, and Mack Wilson Sr. of the Cardinals all stand among the top 20 linebackers on the Footballguys leaderboard. All appear locked into productive full-time roles the rest of the way, including Lloyd, who played just 22 snaps in Jacksonville’s opener.
"[Devin Lloyd is] your Defensive Player of the Year one month into the season."@PSchrags talks about how Jaguars' DC Anthony Campanile has unlocked Devin Lloyd 🔓 pic.twitter.com/rCLJoPydxz
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 9, 2025
Polygamous Line-Up Management
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