Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?!? That’s right, we’ve finally made it to the most exciting, and the most stressful, time of the year, the fantasy football playoffs. Over the next three weeks (for most leagues), the best teams in your leagues are going head-to-head in must-win matchups, all in pursuit of the ultimate prize. Hopefully, your dynasty teams are, for the most part, still alive and ready to make a run. Even better, hopefully your team is off this week with a bye into the semi-finals next week! 

Unfortunately, the most important position in football (and superflex dynasty leagues) has been marred by injuries over the past week. Headlining the injuries is Daniel Jones, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles. Jones’s renaissance season in Indianapolis comes to an end, a devastating blow to the Colts and his fantasy managers. Jayden Daniels finally returned to action on Sunday, only to be knocked out again with the same elbow injury, but luckily it doesn’t appear he suffered any long-term damage. Geno Smith and Tyrod Taylor were also sidelined for the ends of their games this past week. Quarterback can be a tough nut to crack in dynasty leagues, especially in superflex leagues, so any injury at the position has a significant impact. 

Week 15 and the fantasy football playoffs kick off tonight with the Buccaneers playing host to the Falcons in a critical game for their playoff hopes. Tampa enters the week tied with the Panthers for the division lead and a 70% chance of making the playoffs. But, a loss drops that number all the way down to only 51%, leaving the door open for Carolina to take the division lead this week. Luckily for the Bucs, they’re as healthy as they’ve been all season, and the Falcons are puttering to the finish line. 

The marquee game of the Sunday slate has the Buffalo Bills travelling to New England. Drake Maye and co. have a chance to clinch the division with a win, dethroning the Bills on their home turf. The Patriots’ 10-game winning streak was only one-game long when they last faced the Bills, a 23-20 Sunday Night victory in Orchard Park. Chargers @ Chiefs and Ravens @ Bengals also have playoff significance in the 1PM ET window. The evening slate’s big game pits the NFC’s 2-seed Green Bay against the AFC’s 1-seed Denver at Mile High. The Colts travel to Seattle for what would’ve been a huge game, prior to the Daniel Jones injury. The prime-time slate is underwhelming, with MIN @ DAL on Sunday Night and MIA @ PIT on Monday Night. 

There is no off-season in dynasty fantasy football, even if you have been eliminated from the playoffs. If you find yourself eliminated, now is a great time to take a step back, analyze your roster, and plan a path to victory in the future. Trim the waste off your bench, and load up on young lottery tickets that could see their value increase between now and the rookie draft. Dive into the trade market, if your league still allows it, and build your draft capital, especially if you can take advantage of desperate teams competing in the fantasy playoffs.

Check out the DLF Expert Rankings to see where your players stand according to our experts. You can also plug your league into the My DLF League Sync Tool, where you can see your rosters, all of your leaguemates’ rosters, available players on the waiver wire, and grades for all of your positions. If you have some holes in your starting lineup, open up the rankings, and you’ll easily be able to find the best available players for you to pick up. League sync also works for the Trade Analyzer Tool, if your league hasn’t passed its trade deadline yet. The playoffs are here, and whether you’re in the action or on the sideline, DLF is here to help you be the best dynasty manager in your league!

Are we starting to see the end of the road for Lamar Jackson’s fantasy superiority? The Ravens are reeling, and Jackson has not looked the same since returning from injury in week 9. After three straight single-digit games, Jackson finally had a good fantasy week, but it still wasn’t a signature Lamar Jackson performance. He only completed 54.3% of his passes, and he failed to run for 50 yards again. Jackson ran for 70 yards in week one, and his high since then is 48 yards in week 4. In fact, over 10 games, he’s averaging only 30.7 yards per game. He hasn’t averaged fewer than 50 yards per game since his rookie season (in which he played 16 games, but only started 7). We’ve seen running quarterbacks fall off a cliff in production quickly in the past. Cam Newton, Mike Vick, Randall Cunningham, and Tim Tebow all come to mind. Is this just a cold stretch for Jackson, or is this truly the beginning of the end?

Jackson has seen his ADP dip a little bit this season, but he is still valued as a premier fantasy asset. His ADP is 39 overall in one-quarterback leagues, the QB2 off the board. Josh Allen is going three spots ahead of him, while Jalen Hurts is the next QB off the board at 52 overall. Clearly, Jackson is still valued in the same tier as Josh Allen, and carries plenty of fantasy football value. The DLF Expert Rankings are a bit higher on Jackson, ranking him at 32 overall, QB2 off the board. In the rankings, Allen is 29th overall, and Jayden Daniels is the QB3 at 39 overall. 

This off-season, dynasty managers will face a critical choice. Is it time to sell Jackson while the value is still high, or is he still an MVP candidate for years to come? Personally, I’m willing to hold, or even buy him from a manager who is panicking and willing to sell at a discount. Jackson’s receivers have really let him down this season. They’ve dropped 6.5% of his passes this season, 7th most amongst quarterbacks with at least 150 attempts. The lack of explosiveness in the rushing game is concerning, but that could be a factor of his nagging injuries he’s been fighting this season. He has a great matchup against Cincinnati this week, so hopefully that gets him back on track. But, once the season is in the books, it will become decision time for Jackson’s fantasy managers.

What are you waiting for? Go deposit for the first time and Bleacher Nation Fantasy will match it up to 50%!

The game is a simple one. Pick MORE or LESS on a player’s stat line and add a few other picks to turn that entry into much, much more.

Don’t miss out on any more of the action!

TACTICAL TRANSACTIONS (or WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO IMPROVE YOUR DYNASTY TEAM RIGHT NOW)

“We’re leavin’ together,
But still it’s farewell,
And maybe we’ll come back,
To Earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame,
We’re leaving ground (leaving ground),
Will things ever be the same again?”

-Europe (The Final Countdown)

Spoiler alert: yes, yes they will. It’s my sincere hope that the 2025 season has been good to you all, but even if that’s not the case, we’ll be saddling up for this once again come 2026. With this, of course, being dynasty fantasy football, that means there are still moves to make for teams of all shapes and sizes.

With that said, playoffs are now starting in the majority of leagues this coming week, and they may be associated with trade and/or waiver moratoriums. As such, given the lessened potential actionability moving forward, this will be the last iteration of Tactical Transactions for the current NFL season.

Commensurately, since the postseason has now descended upon us, this week’s column will group players into two buckets – the first is players who can help contenders in the playoffs but for whom you shouldn’t have to break the bank. Obviously we’d all like to add Jahmyr Gibbs to our squads, but he’s going to cost an arm and a leg and is most likely rostered by contenders anyhow. As such, focus should be on players who can provide a large fraction of their production for a disproportionately lesser price.

The second bucket consists of players who should hopefully increase their dynasty value in the off-season. When I’ve discussed priority waiver adds and drops over the course of the season, the goal has always been to maximize potential at the end of your bench. These may not be players who are going to provide much fantasy value to conclude the current season, but rather those who should see increased dynasty value moving into 2026, when the “sexiness” of your roster matters most.

With that preamble in hand, and for the final time this season, here are the tactical transactions you should consider before week 15:

Value Buys for Contenders

Jake Ferguson, TE DAL

Week 14 Line: 5-58-0 (7 targets)

Ferguson will never be confused with an exciting player, but that’s okay. Importantly, he’s offered metronome-like consistency at a position largely devoid of it. Even among his Dallas Cowboys teammates, he’s been the bastion of dependability. CeeDee Lamb has missed time, and in week 13, George Pickens began to show some of the character traits that led Pittsburgh to ship him out of town. Meanwhile, Ferguson has steadied the team’s pass catchers on his way to a current standing as the PPR TE2.

With only three games over 20 PPR points, it’s true that Ferguson’s ceiling and floor are largely indistinguishable. On the other hand, he’s put up double-digit numbers in nine of 13 weeks. If you don’t have a higher upside option like Trey McBride or Brock Bowers, you want someone who isn’t going to lose the week for you. As the TE11 per the current ADP, Ferguson has the ability to do that for you at a relatively cheaper cost.