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- THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON
THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON
ISSUE #26


Well, the NFL script writers gave us a thrilling opening to the 2025 NFL Season! In the four primetime games, we saw offensive showcases, dynastic upsets and a couple of crazy comebacks in rivalry games! The non prime-time games were underwhelming, especially when it comes to fantasy football scoring, but if you only pay attention to the marquee games, it was an outstanding week. Now that the week is up, we can let the dynasty overreaction begin! Did you spend a first round dynasty pick on RJ Harvey, Cam Skattebo, Matthew Golden or Cam Ward? Well then your team is screwed now right? What about Ja’Marr Chase, isn’t he supposed to be the top player in all of dynasty? You’ll see this everywhere, but let me be the 35th fantasy analyst to tell you not to panic. It’s only week one and there is a long way to go this season. The first couple of weeks in the NFL is all about getting your legs under you and figuring out what your team is on the field. Sometimes, that leads to wacky and wild fantasy numbers, but things will even out as the season goes on.
For dynasty fantasy football, the rookies are the top story coming out of week one. It’s our first chance to see these players play real professional football on the field, and there are new data points that we can use in our analysis, even if we’re not panicking about the poor performances or going over our skis with the good ones. Two performances that were really eye-opening came out of one of the teams with the most fantasy rookie options. The Browns are loaded with rookie skill position players, but Harold Fannin and Dylan Sampson were much more active than anyone could’ve predicted. Fannin led the team in targets (9) and Smapson led the team in carries (12). I loved taking Fannin as a last-round best ball pick this season, but didn’t have high hopes for him in dynasty, because of the presence of David Njoku. Meanwhile at RB, Quinshon Judkins will eventually be mixed into this rotation, but it was surprising to see Sampson play so far ahead of Jerome Ford this week. So far, through one week, they both look like steals in rookie drafts.
On the other end of the rookie spectrum, Cam Ward, RJ Harvey, Cam Skattebo, Matthew Golden, Luther Burden and Colston Loveland were all very underwhelming. One player that I think could be a great buy low in dynasty right now would be RJ Harvey, especially if the Harvey manager doesn’t watch all of the games. Harvey had an outstanding 50 yard run, showcasing the explosiveness he brings to the Broncos offense. As he gets ramped up, I expect him to cut into the Dobbins workload more and more.
There was a surprising week one trade this week, with the Jaguars moving Tank Bigsby on to the Philadelphia Eagles. This is outstanding news for Travis Etienne managers, and, to a lesser extent, LeQuint Allen and Bhayshul Tuten managers. Etienne was outstanding in week one and was far and away the best player on the field in that game. He seems to fit the Liam Coen offense like a glove and has RB1 upside the rest of the season. On the other side, it’s a buzzkill for Bigsby managers. In Philadelphia, he will be a rotational piece behind Saquon Barkley, for the few snaps that he comes off the field. In week one, Will Shipley looked really good, and I’d rather have him than Bigsby in this backfield.
Now, we turn the page to week two of the fantasy football season, with the Packers playing against the Commanders tonight. We’ll continue to help you dominate your dynasty leagues here at DLF, but we suggest you check out 4for4 for their expert weekly rankings and in-season advice. Be sure to keep checking in on the DLF Expert Rankings as the season goes on, as they’re constantly updated with the latest news and performances. We’ll also cover players to buy low and sell high throughout the season in our Dynasty Targets Acquired series! We have you covered all over the board for the dynasty season here at DLF!

The NFL game of the week had to be the Sunday Night matchup between the Bills and the Ravens. It was an outstanding game, with a Hollywood comeback and outstanding offensive plays from both teams. An intriguing dynasty fantasy football option that had a big game was wide receiver Keon Coleman. He finished the week as the WR2 after he caught eight passes for 112 yards and a freak touchdown catch that he wasn’t even the target on! Let’s dive into his dynasty fantasy value after a hot start to his sophomore season!

Keon Coleman’s Dynasty ADP History.
Coleman was the first pick of the 2024 second-round, but his rookie season was a disaster. He was a borderline top 50 player in dynasty ADP, but that dipped to outside of the top 100 at times this summer. In August, his ADP jumped up to 94th overall, the WR50 off the board. The DLF Expert Rankers are even lower on him, for now, he’s the WR53 there and 114th overall off the board.
Coming into the league, I was worried about Coleman’s profile. He wasn’t a great separator in college, but the landing spot and draft capital were too good to ignore. While he had a slow start to his career last year, week one was a huge step up. He had 33% of the team’s air yards and tied for seventh in the league in targets. The Bills won’t throw for over 400 yards every week, but Coleman appears to be their number one option in this offense. If you can still buy him for the price of last month’s ADP, I’d smash the accept button.

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Kev White analyzed the Dynasty Marketplace after week one. | Adam Tzikas dives into the IDP Waiver Wire for dynasty fantasy football leagues. | Ken Kelly breaks down the Tank Bigsby trade for dynasty leagues. |

DYNASTY BLUEPRINT: HALL, ETIENNE, & ROOKIE SURPRISES
Editor’s Note: Normally, you would find content here that was written as an article on the website, but today we’re doing something a little different…Ryan McDowell’s Dynasty Blueprint is being sent as newsletter-only content for DLF subscribers. This is sent every Tuesday, looking at the top five dynasty storylines we need to make sure we pay attention to. Here’s a sneak peek for everyone, subscriber or not…enjoy!
This is my personal weekly Dynasty Blueprint. This newsletter and all of the content on DLF is for you, the reader. The goal is to make you a better dynasty player and bring home some titles. Hopefully, this will help you reach that goal.
DYNASTY FIVE
Here are the five dynasty-related stories that have my attention coming off the season opener of NFL action.
BOUNCE BACKS
Seemingly, the entire dynasty community spent the past several months panicking about the outlook for former top-three dynasty running backs Breece Hall and Travis Etienne. A quick look at DLF’s ADP Over Time App shows just how bad things had gotten for the star tailbacks.

Both Hall and Etienne were the subject of trade rumors this off-season, and their respective backfields appeared to be headed for a full-blown committee. Instead, both backs thrived in the season-opener and have quickly found themselves back in the good graces of dynasty managers.
We knew the Jets wanted to lean heavily on their run game, but that still wasn’t enough to help Hall’s ADP, which fell outside of the top-25 for the first time since he entered the league. On Sunday, against the typically stingy Steelers defense, Hall was dominant, rushing for 107 yards and adding 38 receiving yards. Hall played nearly 60% of the snaps for the Jets, while second-year man Braelon Allen managed just nine yards on his six touches and 31% snap share. If Hall, still just 24 years old, continues to see that level of playing time on the run-first Jets, his ADP should quickly climb back into the second round of dynasty startups.
Meanwhile, Etienne’s dynasty value has been tumbling much further and much longer than Hall. After a very disappointing 2024 campaign, Etienne’s dynasty ADP was down to 98 overall, a new career-low by a wide margin. Entering this season, and following the Jaguars reportedly shopping Etienne leading up to cutdown day, the backfield was expected to be a three-man committee with Tank Bigsby and rookie Bhayshul Tuten. That’s not exactly how Week One went.
Against the hapless Panthers, Etienne went wild, rushing for 143 yards and adding in another baker’s dozen as a receiver. More importantly, Etienne played 61% of the snaps. Bigsby was next in line with 21% but the Jaguars were clearly ready to make a move, shipping Tank to the Eagles on Monday. That move leaves Etienne as the clear lead back, with rookies Tuten and LeQuint Allen also earning solid roles. Etienne’s ADP could be in line for a jump of up to four full rounds in our upcoming data update.
BROWN OUT
There are always some big surprises in Week One, and this year, the Browns gave us a few of those. Back in April, Cleveland loaded up on offensive rookies, drafting Quinshon Judkins, Dillon Gabriel, Harold Fannin, Dylan Sampso,n and Shedeur Sanders. They later added Isaiah Bond and Raheim Sanders just before the season began. Many of these rookies got off to strong and surprising starts to their respective careers against their in-state rival Bengals in Week One.
Tight end Fannin had drawn praise throughout the off-season and pre-season, and while dynasty managers seemed very interested, there was the David Njoku problem. It took less than one game to realize that wouldn’t be such a problem after all. While Njoku still saw plenty of work and opportunity, Fannin led the team with nine targets, catching seven balls for 63 yards. Fannin played 72% of the snaps compared to 84% for the veteran as the Browns used multiple tight ends throughout the game.
One of the biggest winners of the week was actually Judkins. The second-round back did not even sign his contract with Cleveland until just before the season began, as he dealt with an off-field issue. With that now settled, Judkins is reportedly set to make his NFL debut next week. Even more good news for Judkins, came in the form of the huge rookie usage for all Browns’ rookies, especially Dylan Sampson. The Day Three back from Tennessee led the team with his 29 rushing yards, but his eight receptions were also a team-high. Those numbers were good enough to make Sampson a top-12 fantasy running back in his debut game. Even with Judkins expected back at some point, Sampson has already earned a role in this Cleveland backfield.
ROOKIE RISERS
It’s not unusual for a rookie to get off to a slow start, and there were many of those in Week One this season. Those disappointments just make the fast starts even more impressive. Along with Fannin and Sampson, several other star rookies enjoyed a nice beginning to their NFL careers.
Perhaps the most impressive was Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Drafted as a late first-round rookie pick for much of the off-season, training camp hype and a setback to veteran Chris Godwin made Egbuka a steady riser in recent weeks. On Sunday against the Falcons, he made good on the hype. Egbuka led the Bucs with 67 receiving yards and found pay dirt twice. The rookie played more snaps and ran more routes than any of his fellow pass-catchers and has the looks of a steady producer with a high ceiling at the same time. In our soon-to-be-released September dynasty ADP, Egbuka’s ADP has reached a new career-high of 30 overall as the WR17, and that data was collected before his breakout debut. Don’t be surprised if your leaguemates are already valuing Egbuka as a dynasty WR1.
Another high-profile rookie that delivered in Week One was Colts tight end Tyler Warren. He began the game with three catches for 43 yards on the Colts’ opening drive before the Dolphins’ defense began to focus heavily on the Penn State product. Warren finished the game with seven grabs for 76 yards on a team-high nine targets. A fourth-rounder in our latest ADP data, Warren is already being valued as the dynasty TE3 behind just Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.
CURSED NINERS
It’s always something with the 49ers. Through the pre-season, the team dealt with injuries to Jauan Jennings and essentially all of their backup running backs, leading them to deal for former Commanders’ starter Brian Robinson. The Niners, already missing Brandon Aiyuk, even had a Christian McCaffrey scare over the weekend. On Sunday, despite getting an important win over the Seahawks, things somehow got worse for San Fran. After catching an early touchdown, superstar tight end George Kittle left the game with a hamstring injury that will reportedly cost him multiple weeks. Later in the game, Jennings left with a shoulder injury. All-everything tackle Trent Williams spent time in the blue medical tent, and on Monday, we learned that quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a toe injury and could miss Week Two.
Next week, we could see Mac Jones, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kendrick Bourne, and Jake Tonges play significant roles for San Francisco. As always, keep your dynasty teams prepared with as much quality depth as your league allows.
A SEATTLE COMMITTEE
Staying in the same Week One game, the Seahawks surprised us with their running back rotation. Using the DLF Player Splits App, we see how the Seattle backfield duo of Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet has fared over the past two seasons.

While Charbonnet has been very good in the eight games Walker has missed over the past two seasons, when Walker is healthy, Charbonnet has been almost a non-factor. In recent weeks, there were reports that the pair would form more of a committee attack this season, but no one imagined it would be Charbonnet who would serve as the 1A part of the pairing.
Charbonnet led the team in rushing with 47 yards and a score and played 58% of the snaps compared to just 40% for Walker. Perhaps Walker is still dealing with an injury, but this certainly feels like a changing of the guard and an important one for dynasty managers.
Walker is currently the RB16 in our latest ADP data, being drafted at 43 overall. Meanwhile, Charbonnet continues to be a massive value as the RB38, drafted at 113 overall. It’s already too late to buy him at those prices, but you can still find a value buying on the way up for Charbonnet.


Which rookie should dynasty managers be panicking about the most? |