I declare this “The Summer of Croskey-Merritt!” Every year, we see a rookie with minimal draft capital start making waves in the dynasty and fantasy football community, this season it’s Washington’s seventh-round running back. The hype was already rising thanks to great camp reports, but then over the weekend, we heard that the Commanders are listening to trade offers for Brian Robinson Jr. Robinson was the presumed 1A in this backfield committee, so if he is moved, then that job is seemingly up for grabs. While Bill Croskey-Merritt is the most exciting name in the backfield, he’s still playing behind Austin Ekeler and Chris Rodriguez. There’s also no guarantee that Robinson will not be on the team. The hype is fun, but I’d be trying to sell based off of the hype in the fantasy football community. 

With the pre-season wrapping up this week, and the regular season right around the corner, position battles are being won and lost around the league. At the quarterback position, we learned that Joe Flacco will start the season for the Browns, while Daniel Jones gets the nod for the Colts. Both moves shouldn’t come as major shocks, but it is surprising to see the Colts seemingly give up on Anthony Richardson. Richardson’s career isn’t over, so this creates a buying opportunity in dynasty leagues, especially in one-quarterback leagues. I prefer to play it safe in superflex, but I’m willing to swing for the fences at the position in the one quarterback format. In the short-term, both QB battles should be good news for the playmakers on both Cleveland and Indianapolis. There may be more exciting names at QB on both rosters, but Flacco and Jones are veterans, and the most reliable options on each team. It’ll be interesting to see what Cleveland does with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel when roster cuts are due in just a few days. 

That’s right, the NFL’s final roster cutdown date is fast approaching on Tuesday! Every team will need to cut their rosters down to 53 players by that afternoon, changing the landscape of dynasty and season-long fantasy football. Unexpected names will hit the free agent market, and may quickly get scooped up by other teams. Depth charts will be shaken up, so be sure to follow along with DLF at the website and on social media so you don’t miss a single critical move!

It’s also a crucial week for players who are nursing injuries. With roster cutdowns, teams have a chance to save a roster position by putting an injured player on the reserve/PUP list, forcing the player to miss the first four games of the season. Chris Godwin, Matthew Stafford, Malik Nabers, Joe Mixon and many others are dealing with varying degrees of injuries in training camp, so we’ll know this week if they’ll be on the active roster for the first game of the season. 

The fantasy football off-season is approaching its end and regular season fantasy football is right around the corner. While we’re more focused on week-to-week results in the regular season, you can’t forget about long-term dynasty success with every move you make. The DLF Expert Rankings are constantly being updated to reflect the latest news, rumors and game performances. You can even sync your leagues using DLF League Sync, and then all of your players, and the players available on the waiver wire, will be highlighted for easy comparison. The league sync service connects directly with Sleeper, RT Sports, FFPC, My Fantasy League and more to quickly update the players on your team along with the other teams in your league. There is no off-season in dynasty fantasy football, and that’s especially true during the regular season!

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Now that we know who the quarterback will be in Indianapolis, we can turn our attention to their pass-catchers. Daniel Jones winning the job has to be good news for their pass catchers. Richardson was a highlight reel waiting to happen, but his accuracy issues and the mistakes he made held this offense back. Jones isn’t a huge upgrade, but he’s much less volatile. Josh Downs was the best receiver on this team last year, and he has a chance to take a huge step forward in his third NFL season with Jones under center. 

Downs had his best game of his season last year in week eight in Houston. He caught four balls for 109 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. He’d go on to have nine or more targets in six of seven weeks from weeks four to ten, causing a massive jump in his ADP last year. It has normalized now, but it’s still the highest it’s ever been during an NFL off-season. He’s the WR45 in August ADP, going off the board as the 81st overall player in one-quarterback leagues. He’s valued higher by the DLF rankers, where he is the WR40 and the 76th player off the board. 

Downs fits the type of game that Daniel Jones plays. Jones does his best with quick routes at a low ADoT. That’s where Downs excels and did his most damage last year. He could be especially valuable in PPR leagues, as he is coming off a season with a massive target rate. Tyler Warren could cut into his target share, but of the wide receivers on this offense, Downs is the one you want on your dynasty team.

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2025 PERFECT STARTUP DRAFT SERIES RECAP

Just in time for the heart of the fantasy football draft season, DLF has another recap ready for you. To date, we have published our Post-Draft Rookie Profile Series recaps, the Team Risers/Fallers/Longshots series, the Perfect Draft Series recap, the Risers/Fallers/Longshot Prediction series, and most recently, our Navigating Your Dynasty Rookie Draft Series.

Next, we will supply you with a recap of the Perfect Startup Draft series compiled by the expert team here at DLF. Click on the link below to match your format. We have you covered from 1 QB Win Now draft strategy to a Superflex Robust RB draft strategy and many other strategies in between. In all, 16 different draft types were analyzed.

Our staff did their best to bring you their 2025 versions of the “Perfect Draft.” Anyone who has followed us for any length of time knows you shouldn’t enter a draft without a strategy, but you also need to know when to flex or change strategies based on how your league reacts.

Without further delay, here are your links to the Perfect Dynasty Startup Draft Strategies:

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