Conference Championship Weekend has to be one of the best weekends on the NFL calendar. The stakes are so high, with four teams so close to making it to the Super Bowl, but one massive hurdle away. The games are at home, often outdoors and in the elements. After two weeks of weeding out the pretenders, the two best teams in the conference remain standing for a trip to Santa Clara. 

Unfortunately, this year’s Championship games are already marred by some major injuries. Denver is entering the game with a quarterback who hasn’t taken a single snap all season. Bo Nix was shockingly diagnosed with a broken bone in his ankle after leading the Broncos to an overtime win over the Bills, so Jarrett Stidham will be under center. Stidham, of course, was a fourth-round pick by the Patriots coming out of LSU in the 2019 NFL Draft. He spent his time in New England backing up Tom Brady, Mac Jones, and Brian Hoyer. In the NFC game, the Seahawks will be without Zach Charbonnet, after he tore his ACL in Saturday’s matchup. 

Even with the injuries, hopefully there will be two great games on the slate this weekend, capping off a thrilling NFL playoffs. New England goes to Denver for the first game as 5.5-point favorites. The Patriots’ offense was the story of the regular season, but the defense has stepped up for Wild Card and Divisional wins. They’ll go head-to-head against the Broncos defense, one of the best in the entire NFL. The Rams and Seahawks will meet for the third time this season later Sunday evening. They split the regular season series, with the home team winning each time, but both games were extremely close. The final scores were both two-point games, and the Seahawks’ win later in the season required overtime. They’re 2.5-point favorites at home. 

While the top teams in the NFL are competing for a Super Bowl bid, some of the eliminated teams are fighting over new head coaches. After the Divisional Round, the Bills fired Sean McDermott, creating a 10th opening in the league. This is the fifth time in NFL history that there were 10 head coaching openings in one NFL off-season, and the first time since 2022. John Harbaugh was the highlight of the available coaches, and he’s signed on to take over the Giants’ job in New York. Meanwhile, the Falcons have hired Kevin Stefanski, the Dolphins scooped up former Packers DC Jeff Hafley, and the Titans are giving Robert Saleh another chance at the top job. We saw several incredibly successful first-year head coaches this season, including three playoff teams and Mike Vrabel leading the Patriots to the AFC Championship game. 

At the "amateur" level, the College Football Playoff National Championship game took place on Monday night, with Indiana earning the ultimate prize for the first time in program history. Dynasty players had their eyes on the starting quarterback in the cream and crimson, Fernando Mendoza. It wasn’t the best game of his career throwing the ball, but when his team needed him the most, he put the game out of reach with a 12-yard rushing touchdown on a fourth-down play. Mendoza is almost a lock to go with the number one overall pick, his odds at -7000 on FanDuel. The only question now is who will make that pick? The Raiders own the number one pick, and they need a franchise quarterback. Mendoza may be looking up real estate in Nevada this summer. 

Now that the Hoosiers have raised the trophy, the pre-NFL Draft process begins in earnest. The college all-star games kick off this week with the American Bowl, followed by next week’s East-West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl. The scouting process is critical for NFL success, but it is also important for dynasty fantasy football success! Follow along with Dynasty League Football as we get you ready for rookie draft season! Our “Early Look” series is going on now, with profiles on the future stars of fantasy football like Jeremiyah Love, Fernando Mendoza, and Makai Lemon! Take some time to analyze your roster with the My DLF League Sync Tool and the DLF Expert Rankings. You can use these tools to scour the waiver wire for the hidden gems that your leaguemates forgot about this season, or propose a trade for a sleeper that you think is going to go off in the coming season. Keep it locked in right here, because as the NFL action winds down, that’s when DLF helps you secure dynasty championships!

Now that the Bears have been eliminated, we can take an opportunity to step back and analyze their dynasty pieces heading into the NFL off-season. Caleb Williams was a big winner of the season, shining in Ben Johnson’s offense and finishing as the QB6 overall for fantasy. Despite his success, it’s hard to lock down the top receiver on this team going forward. Just like Jeff Smith wrote about the Jaguars’ offense and Parker Washington last week, you could make an argument for any of these receivers to be the number one on this team. Let’s dive in and analyze the ADP of Luther Burden after an underwhelming rookie season. 

Burden finished the season as the WR49 in PPR scoring, only scoring a few more points than fellow rookie Chimere Dike. Meanwhile, DJ Moore finished as the WR28, and Odunze slotted in as the WR36. All three of those finishes are, arguably, disappointing. The Bears had a successful season, and none of their three “stud” wide receivers finished as a WR2. Burden just passed over Moore as the second-most valuable WR for dynasty on the roster, despite finishing so far behind Moore in scoring this season. Burden is the WR32 off the board in December Dynasty ADP, going off the board at 61 overall. Meanwhile, in the DLF Expert Rankings, Burden is going much higher, WR24 and 49th overall. 

I expect Burden to be a very popular “buy low” pick this dynasty off-season. He’s an exciting wide receiver with high draft capital, who didn’t live up to expectations in his rookie season. The Bears will be a popular offense to target in dynasty fantasy football this off-season. But, for now, the ADP hasn’t caught up to Burden’s dynasty. The expert rankers are much higher on Burden than the public ADP is. With that, now may be a great time to actually buy on Burden, especially if you can pay the WR32 price tag. If I have Burden, or if I trade for him now, I’m holding onto him until the hype train really gets going this summer. DJ Moore is still under contract for years to come, and the Bears love their two tight ends. I struggle to see a future where Burden is the number two receiver on this team.

THE DYNASTY AFTERMATH:

SEASON REFLECTION

Welcome to DLF’s Dynasty Aftermath. This staple article is our longest-running signature piece, as we have a little fun after a tough week at the Dynasty League Football office. Let’s review the season and gather our thoughts, covering the MVP, LVP, and best and worst of 2025.

Fantasy MVP of the Year

As always, there are a number of candidates for this spot, including Matthew Stafford, Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, Puka Nacua and other stars who performed up to their lofty standards. You could also give the award to a breakout player like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Drake Maye, or even someone like Javonte Williams or George Pickens, who provided unbelievable value at the price. In the end, I’m going with Trey McBride and the reasoning is simple – point differential. When you’re nearly four points better on average than the second best player at your position (Brock Bowers) and eight points better per week than the last TE1 (Dalton Schultz), that’s a huge statistical advantage in every contest. His 126 catches (most ever for a tight end in a season), 1,239 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns were just unbelievable this season.

Fantasy LVP of the Year

You could go a lot of ways here as well with players like Jayden Daniels (who wasn’t nearly as great before being hurt), Kaleb Johnson, Alvin Kamara, Marvin Harrison Jr, Jaylen Waddle, Jerry Jeudy, Evan Engram or a whole host of others who weren’t hurt. In the end, I believe there’s one name that belongs here after what can only be regarded as a shocking year two and that’s none other than Brian Thomas Jr., who looked like an absolute star and top-5 dynasty asset after posting 87 catches for 1,282 yards and ten touchdowns as a rookie. This year, he caught just 48 passes for 707 yards and two scores, looking like a player not only passed by Travis Hunter but also Parker Washington. It’s a stunning turn of events as Thomas looks like a player who already needs a change of scenery as he just doesn’t seem to fit the offense, despite his immense talent.

The Unbeatable Lineup of the Year

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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.