Rest-Of-Season Fantasy Football Rankings: Week 7

People often discredit specific fantasy football formats because they aren't anything like actual football. Superflex leagues are silly. NFL teams don't start two quarterbacks, so why should your fantasy football team be allowed to? PPR? I'm pretty sure players don't get points in a game when they catch a pass. You've heard it before, and that's why there's a standard. One quarterback. Two running backs. Three wide receivers. One tight end. The way football was meant to be played. But if that's what you believe, don't let Arthur Smith hear you.

Going into Week 6, Calvin Austin III was battling a shoulder injury that was expected to put him out for some time. As usual with injuries, there would have to be a beneficiary.

Roman Wilson was a fun prospect who caught some big touchdowns for Michigan during their 2023 championship run. Injuries hampered his rookie season, but he could step up. Scotty Miller developed into a steady weapon during Tom Brady's run in Tampa Bay. Could he do the same for Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh?

Remember, Austin was out. Surely, a wide receiver would have to step into his role.

On the first play from scrimmage, the Steelers broke the huddle from 13 personnel. Three tight ends bunched to the right, they showed the Browns' defense an obvious run play. Before the snap, Darnell Washington motioned inside. Washington isn't a household name, but he's a 6'7”, 265-pound behemoth tight end. As the ball was snapped, Washington split the C gap, immediately got behind the defense, and caught a quick vertical route. He rumbled down the field for 36 yards before being chased down and tackled.

On that opening drive, only one receiver besides DK Metcalf logged a snap. After lining up for a run, Wilson returned to the sideline following a modest gain by Jaylen Warren.

When the game was all said and done, Metcalf led the team with 28 routes. Tight ends Jonnu Smith, Darnell Washington, Pat Freiermuth, and Connor Heyward combined for 56 routes. Warren and Kenneth Gainwell combined for 26 routes. All of the other receivers combined for eight routes, all by Wilson. He caught his lone target for 12 yards. This game plan was clearly designed to function without a WR2, positioning the tight ends as the secondary pass catchers behind Metcalf.

While Arthur Smith would never impose meaningless personnel traditions into his game plan, neither did Kevin Stefanski on the opposite side of the field.

Over the last two weeks, the tight ends have dominated the Browns' passing game. David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jr. have accounted for 20 receptions, 189 yards, and two touchdowns. All of the wide receivers have combined for 16 receptions, 153 yards, and zero touchdowns.

More peculiar still is that this trend wasn't limited to this game.

Last year, no team deployed two-tight end sets at more than a 35% clip. Through Week 6, the Browns, Ravens, Falcons, Steelers, Bears, Packers, and Patriots are all over 35%. It's no coincidence that several of these teams feature athletic, versatile tight ends. So what is causing this shift?

My theory is that it's just the natural ebb and flow of the NFL, but with a little ripple.

In the 2000s, during the initial boom of online fantasy football, 21 personnel ran the league. A fullback was a featured part of almost every offense. Think of Mike Alstott, Lorenzo Neal, Mike Tolbert, and late-career Jerome Bettis. So naturally, fantasy leagues started with a quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, and a flex (I'll save the kicker and defense discourse for another day).

In the 2010s, major shakeups to the rulebook allowed for a more pass-happy league. Think Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and all of the wide receivers they turned into superstars. Naturally, many fantasy leagues added a third receiver spot or an extra flex. PPR leagues started to take over standard scoring. The pass-happy offenses we watched on TV impacted how we played fantasy football.

And now, in the 2020s, defenses are adapting their strategies to counteract these unstoppable passing attacks. The emergence of Patrick Mahomes II, Josh Allen, and other elite quarterbacks prompted defenses to adjust with two-high cover shell schemes. Many teams now play out of frequent nickel and dime packages. In response, these quarterbacks often take the air out of the ball, dinking and dunking their way downfield, exploiting what the coverage allows underneath.

But maybe there's another way to combat these defensive changes. What if the next step is to build off that approach by chipping their way down the field but getting the ball into the hands of their biggest and most athletic playmakers? Enter the modern-day tight end.

Offenses can show different looks, using the versatility of their tight ends to seek mismatches. If a defense plays in dime, tight ends can maul their defensive backs in the run-blocking game. If a defense comes in heavy, these tight ends have the speed to beat linebackers deep. And if a coach draws up a play to get a tight end running downfield with the ball in his hand and a full head of steam, good luck to the poor defender who has to make that tackle. Many of today's tight ends tip the scales 10-15 pounds heavier than Derrick Henry.

So what's the answer for fantasy football? Remove a running back or wide receiver slot and add a tight end slot? Well, no, because this isn't the only way to win.

Look at the Rams. They run 11 personnel on 78.2% of their snaps, almost always keeping three wide receivers on the field. The 49ers play fullback Kyle Juszczyk on over a third of their snaps. No team in the league besides the Chargers is willing to line up without a tight end on more than 1% of their snaps. The Chargers are doing it on 17.6% of theirs, the rare expectation in today's NFL. Look at Monday night's game, where Deebo Samuel Sr. and DJ Moore, both listed as wide receivers, regularly took carries out of the backfield. There is no right or wrong way to build a team in today's league. Unfamiliar philosophies reward creative and unique approaches. 

We might be living in the golden age of football imagination. Players are being deployed in game- breaking ways. New formations are consistently emerging. Both offensive and defensive coordinators use pre-snap eye candy with the intention of deception. But more than anything, teams aren't following each other's lead. Teams are finding success in various ways, with different personnel groupings, formations, and strategies.

So, the next time someone pushes back on a fantasy football rule change or league invite because it's not like real football, ask them what “real football” even is. Because if we wanted fantasy football to mimic what we see on a field today, we'd just have a quarterback slot and five flexes, giving the managers the freedom to play whoever they want wherever they want.

As always, this article will serve to rank players based on their rest-of-season value. Next to most names will be a “+” or “-” indicating how much that player has risen or fallen relative to last week's rankings. For a different opinion on rest-of-season values, be sure to check out Bob Henry's Rest-of-Season Projections.

Week 6 of the NFL season had some massive changes in the running backs landscape, so we'll start there.

Running Back

Considering the state of the running back position in fantasy, it makes rest-of-season rankings incredibly frustrating. Injuries have been prevalent this year. Coaches tinker with workload usage sliders every week. What appears to be a clear breakout can quickly prove to be a mirage. Some coaches care about inefficiency. Others will feed running backs regardless of the analytics. Because of the short shelf life of so many running backs, I'm willing to aggressively move guys in and out of the RB2/RB3 tiers, finding windows of production, even if short term.

• RB1 - Christian McCaffrey
• RB2 - Jonathan Taylor
• RB3 - Jahmyr Gibbs
• RB4 - Bijan Robinson
• RB5 - James Cook III
• RB6 - De'Von Achane (+2) - It's been an interesting start to Achane's career. As a rookie, his value came almost exclusively from big plays, gashing defenses as the Robin to Raheem Mostert's Batman. In Year 2, a broken offense led to 78 receptions, most among all running backs. And now in Year 3, we're seeing an even more exaggerated form of last year's role. He's pacing for 215 carries and 82 targets, both improvements from last year. He's been arguably less effective (career-low success rate), but he's regained the big-play upside that was seemingly gone from his game last year. As a rookie, Achane gained 10-plus yards on 20% of his carries. In his sophomore campaign, that number plummeted to 10.3%. This year, it's rebounded to 13.2%. Achane has been admittedly frustrating to watch this year. However, he's second in the league in weighted opportunities and always has the chance to pop a big play. That makes him a high-end RB1.
• RB7 - Josh Jacobs
• RB8 - Saquon Barkley (-2) - Last year's pairing of Barkley and the Eagles offense was a thing of beauty. Long a victim of lousy teams and bad offensive lines, Barkley shouldered the load behind the league's best front on his way to a Super Bowl win. But like a child whose chokehold around a stuffed animal leads to frayed and matted fur, the Eagles might have loved Barkley too hard last year. Even with a Week 18 rest, he had 494 opportunities through the playoffs. Barkley has been a good running back this year, but he's not the game-breaker we saw last season. His 1.5 yards after contact per attempt are the fewest of his career. He hasn't broken tackles at a lower rate since his first year back from an ACL tear in 2021. Last year, Barkley busted loose for a 20-plus yard gain about once in every 22 carries. This year, through 95 rushing attempts, he hasn't done it once. The volume and offensive environment still make Barkley a plug-and-play RB1. Don't expect him to recapture last year's lightning in a bottle, though.
• RB9 - Ashton Jeanty
• RB10 - Kyren Williams
• RB11 - Quinshon Judkins
• RB12 - Javonte Williams
• RB13 - Cam Skattebo (+10) - Watching Skattebo's Arizona State film was a highlight of mine last spring. He's a relic of a foregone era of football, seeking contact and ways to punish defenders. But when he measured in smaller than expected, skipped Combine strength drills, ran a 4.65 40-yard dash, and fell to Day 3 of the Draft, I was forced to bump him down my rankings. Injuries in training camp poured cold water on my already-dampened expectations. But from his first taste of NFL action through his Week 6 blowup, the same Skattebo that became a fan favorite at Tempe is showing up for the Giants. He's been trucking defenders and establishing a physical brand of football. Tyrone Tracy Jr. was back from injury, well-rested, and in a perfect spot for him to take advantage of an Eagles' defense on a short week. Still, Skattebo dominated touches. He scored three touchdowns, one in each of the second, third, and fourth quarters. As the game wore on, his short dives between the tackles evolved into chunk plays. Skattebo has done more than win the starting job. He has reenergized an offense that was desperate for a spark after losing Malik Nabers. There's no reason not to view the rookie as a plug-and-play option going forward.
• RB14 - Derrick Henry
• RB15 - Travis Etienne Jr.
• RB16 - Breece Hall (+1)
• RB17 - Rico Dowdle (+31) - As of Monday, Dave Canales is playing it coy about Dowdle's role when Chuba Hubbard returns. It doesn't take a data analyst or film grinder to spot the differences between the two, though. Despite just two starts, Dowdle is third in the NFL in rushing. He's accumulated 230-plus scrimmage yards in back-to-back weeks. The only other running backs to do that since 1970: Walter Payton, Marshall Faulk, Deuce McAllister, and Le'Veon Bell. I was probably a bit too slow to react to Cam Skattebo's breakout. I don't want to make the same mistake with Dowdle.
• RB18 - Bucky Irving (-5) - Reports out of Tampa Bay are that Irving won't be ready for Week 7 as he continues to work his way back from foot and shoulder injuries. With a Week 9 bye, the Buccaneers might opt to rest Irving for the next two weeks and bring him back in Week 10.
• RB19 - D'Andre Swift (+1)
• RB20 - Alvin Kamara (-1)
• RB21 - Ken Walker III (-5) - Despite the better efficiency numbers, Seattle's backfield remains split between Walker and Zach Charbonnet. Walker's second-best fantasy week of the season came in Week 3, sans Charbonnet. While it's easy to point at the raw output and say, “Look! Walker should be the starter!”, the box score doesn't tell the full story. Walker scored two touchdowns, but he also averaged just 2.4 yards per carry. He couldn't average more than one yard before contact per attempt. He lost yardage on two of his 16 attempts. Eleven of his other attempts were held within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Walker and Charbonnet bring different elements to the run game. Charbonnet, a bigger and more physical back, wears down defenses, which helps Walker utilize his athleticism to rip off chunk plays. And in this symbiotic relationship, Walker allows Charbonnet to see lighter boxes. The two help each other play their best ball. But for fantasy purposes, they both become volatile flex plays, dependent on breakaway runs and touchdowns.
• RB22 - Jacory Croskey-Merritt (+15) - Despite an early fumble, Dan Quinn maintained his faith in Croskey-Merritt throughout Week 6's game. He thoroughly dominated touches, garnering a 75% opportunity share. There was a lot of preseason discussion about who would emerge from this Washington backfield without Brian Robinson Jr. After back-to-back impressive starts, it's becoming apparent. Croskey-Merritt is a well-rounded runner who benefits from the defense's efforts to contain Jayden Daniels. He's a steady RB2 assuming this workload maintains.
• RB23 - Omarion Hampton (-5) - With reports that Hampton is likely to miss more than the required four weeks IR dictates, he's a faller. Once he's back, he'll be a plug-and-play elite RB1. Until then, expect Kimani Vidal to shoulder the load.
• RB24 - David Montgomery (-2)
• RB25 - Zach Charbonnet (+3)
• RB26 - Chase Brown (-5)
• RB27 - J.K. Dobbins (-3)
• RB28 - Jordan Mason (-3)
• RB29 - TreVeyon Henderson
• RB30 - Jaylen Warren (-3)
• RB31 - Rachaad White
• RB32 - Tony Pollard (-6) - To start the year, Pollard was getting one of the league's best opportunity shares. He hardly returned RB3 production. Now, with Tyjae Spears in the fold, the valuable opportunities are slipping. And frankly, through the last couple of weeks, Spears has looked better.
• RB33 - Rhamondre Stevenson (-1)
• RB34 - Isiah Pacheco
• RB35 - RJ Harvey (-2)
• RB36 - Tyler Allgeier
• RB37 - Tyjae Spears (+6) - Spears was a phenomenal prospect coming into the league and slid due to injury concerns. Those injuries have unfortunately bled into his NFL career. When healthy, though, he looks like the same exciting kid from Tulane. Tony Pollard only missed one game last year. But in that outing, Spears stepped in and posted a respectable 103 scrimmage yards. This year, Pollard's ability to generate yards after contact is at a career low. His broken tackle rate is his worst of the last three years. Meanwhile, Tyjae Spears is running with more juice. He broke three tackles on just five attempts in Week 6. He logged a breakaway run of 12 yards. He averaged 5.6 yards per touch to Pollard's 3.3. Brian Callahan had some allegiance to Pollard after the Titans signed him in Callahan's first offseason as a coach. Following his firing, a fresh set of eyes could quickly bump Spears ahead of Pollard on the depth chart. 
• RB38 - Bhayshul Tuten (-3)
• RB39 - Woody Marks (-1)
• RB40 - Nick Chubb
• RB41 - Chuba Hubbard (-11) - Hubbard was a boon last year for a Panthers offense that desperately needed an identity. Their newly acquired offensive line was starting to find cohesion, and Hubbard ran formidably behind it. However, we can't ignore what Rico Dowdle has done over the last two weeks. Sure, they came against bad defenses. But Dowdle has 182 more scrimmage yards in his two starts than Hubbard has in his four to start the year. Bryce Young has won two straight games for just the second time in his career. We hope to receive more information this week, but I'm ranking these players as if Dowdle has already secured the lead job, making Hubbard an obvious faller.
• RB42 - Kenneth Gainwell (-1)
• RB43 - Blake Corum (-4)
• RB44 - Kendre Miller (-2)
• RB45 - Kimani Vidal (+23) - He won't play the Dolphins every week, but Vidal had an apparent stranglehold over the Chargers' run game in Week 6. He handled 18 carries to Hassan Haskins' six and pulled four targets to Haskins' one. Truthfully, it's hard to get a read on how Vidal's skills will translate from this game. The Dolphins were manhandled in the trenches, even with the Chargers missing their premier offensive tackles. Vidal was often running untouched through holes that an 18-wheeler could back into. He's a short, stout back who was pretty inefficient with his rookie-season touches in between multiple injuries. There's pass-catching upside and speed that makes him exciting. A tougher matchup next week against the Colts will help determine how real his Week 6 production was.
• RB46 - Aaron Jones Sr. (+7) - Set for a potential return in Week 8, Jones might only have to miss one more week before he's back. Despite solid play from Jordan White in his absence, the team worked Zavier Scott, a former wide receiver, in on passing downs. That means that Jones' role will likely be there upon return to play. Jones should be back soon and will likely have enough volume to play as an RB3 or flex.
• RB47 - Tyrone Tracy Jr.
• RB48 - Kareem Hunt (-3)
• RB49 - Jeremy McNichols (+1)
• RB50 - Brian Robinson Jr. (-4)
• RB51 - Brashard Smith (+6) - The Chiefs lost their offensive mojo a couple of seasons ago, but they're firing again this year. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt have been a bleak spot in an otherwise explosive and effective offense. Smith, a rookie, is a converted wide receiver. His strength is as a receiving back, and he has speed that ranks in the 97th percentile. Despite a limited role, he's flashed in his few opportunities. He's worth a stash in deep leagues as a potential late-season lotto ticket.
• RB52 - Michael Carter (-8) - Knight was announced as the starter. Michael Carter started. Knight punched in the lone touchdown. Carter had more touches. This backfield has all of the makings of a headache. And by the time we get a read on it, Trey Benson could return. Knight warrants consideration as a flex play, but the weekly floor is scary.
• RB53 - Ray Davis (-1)
• RB54 - Bam Knight (New) - See: "RB52: Michael Carter." Knight's usage in Week 6 gets him added into the rankings, and he falls into extremely risky flex consideration. Expect him to split carries with Carter until Trey Benson returns.
• RB55 - Jaydon Blue (+20) - With Miles Sanders out for the year, Blue will be next up behind Javonte Williams. Blue was a healthy scratch to start the year, and coaches have made some not-so-encouraging comments about his consistency. He has just seven carries for seven yards so far this year. But if Williams were to miss any time, the rookie would have some exciting weekly upside.
• RB56 - Kyle Monangai (-5)
• RB57 - Justice Hill (+2)
• RB58 - Emanuel Wilson (-4)
• RB59 - Chris Rodriguez Jr. (-10) - The Jacory Croskey-Merritt breakout carried over into Week 6. I was tepid about dropping Rodriguez too much, in case Dan Quinn decided to pull a Woody Marks on us. But Rodriguez is droppable in most formats after zero touches in Week 6. In deep leagues where he's worth a stash, his upside is almost assuredly contingent on Croskey-Merritt's health.
• RB60 - Isaiah Davis (-4)
• RB61 - Jerome Ford (+1)
• RB62 - DJ Giddens (-4)
• RB63 - Hassan Haskins (+6)
• RB64 - Samaje Perine (New)
• RB65 - Tahj Brooks (-5)
• RB66 - Ollie Gordon II (-5)
• RB67 - Devin Singletary (-2)
• RB68 - Emari Demercado (-13) - Demercado limped to the locker room with an ankle injury and didn't return. He was getting phased out before the injury, and might not even return before Trey Benson. He's off the fantasy radar for now.
• RB69 - Trey Benson (-5)
• RB70 - Kaleb Johnson (-4)
• RB71 - Sean Tucker
• RB72 - Will Shipley (-9)
• RB73 - Trevor Etienne (-1)
• RB74 - LeQuint Allen Jr.
• RB75 - A.J. Dillon (+6)
• RB76 - Dylan Sampson (+2)
• RB77 - Zavier Scott (-7)
• RB78 - Chris Brooks (-5)
• RB79 - Keaton Mitchell
• RB80 - Raheem Mostert (-3)
• RB81 - Braelon Allen (-5)
• RB82 - Dylan Laube (-2)
• RB83 - Joe Mixon (+5)
• RB84 - Tank Bigsby (-2)
• RB85 - Isaac Guerendo (-2)
• RB86 - Zamir White (-2)
• RB87 - Nyheim Hines (New)
• RB88 - Ty Johnson (New)
• RB89 - Tyler Badie (-3)
• RB90 - MarShawn Lloyd (-5)
• RB91 - Jaylen Wright (-4)
• RB92 - Chase Edmonds (-3)
• RB93 - Roschon Johnson (-3)
• RB94 - Jarquez Hunter (-3)

Quarterbacks