Happy New Year, and a massive congratulations to all of our readers and subscribers who won fantasy football championships this season (even if they were in season-long, like my lone 2025 championship). Even with DLF on your side, winning a championship is no easy task! There’s of course, plenty of skill involved, but you also need to be extremely lucky, especially over the final three weeks of the season. As a fantasy football championship typically comes with a cash prize, I’d like to take a moment to ask you to consider donating some of that purse to a charitable cause, especially one supported by a player who helped you win a fantasy championship! Michael Gehlken, a former Dallas Cowboys beat reporter, put together a list of some of the top fantasy football players this season, which you can check out on his X account.

If you did take home the top prize in your league, it was probably because you got a huge performance from your running back position. Derrick Henry and Bijan Robinson went nuclear this week, scoring 45.6 and 39.9 PPR points, respectively in their matchups. Chase Brown and Christian McCaffrey also deserve some roses for some outstanding playoff runs, going over 15.5 PPR points in all three playoff games. Meanwhile, if you were carried into the championship game by the outstanding seasons of Jahmyr Gibbs or James Cook, you’re likely donning the silver medal, after disappointing week 17 performances for both of those fantasy studs. 

As we turn the calendar to 2026, the NFL turns the schedule to week 18, the final week of the regular season. I know there are certainly leagues out there that play out through the final week of the regular season, and I honestly don’t hate the idea. The NFL plays 18 regular season weeks, so why shouldn’t the fantasy season? It’s true that some teams are likely to rest their starters, but I feel like it’s usually fewer teams than you expect, especially with the extra playoff game in place now. But, I’d only do this if the championship week were a two-week affair, combining weeks 17 and 18. Putting all of the championship eggs in the week 18 basket seems very risky. 

Speaking of teams resting their starters, the only team that has definitively announced a rest is the Chargers. John Harbaugh has announced that Justin Herbert will not start on Sunday, giving him an extra week to get his hand healthy for the playoffs. Other starters that need “the most healing” will also sit out. Los Angeles plays the Broncos this week, and could finish anywhere from the five seed to the seven seed. Meanwhile, if the Broncos win, they lock up the one seed in the AFC. On the NFC side, the Eagles seem like a candidate to rest some of their starters, after it paid off well for them last season in their Super Bowl run. Sean McVay has announced that he will not be resting starters this week, as the team needs to play “better football” after the loss in Atlanta. 

The NFL schedule this week features two games that are basically win-and-get-in affairs. First, the Bucs will host the Panthers on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers control their destiny in this one, but if the Bucs win, they’ll need the Saints to beat the Falcons on Sunday to win their tiebreaker. Then, on Sunday night, the winner of the Steelers and Ravens game will be the AFC North champion and earn the four seed in the AFC playoffs. Seahawks @ 49ers on Saturday night is the other marquee game this week, with the winner earning the NFC West crown and the number one seed in the playoffs. 

One other thing to keep an eye on in week 18, if you’re playing in fantasy, DFS or betting on the games, are contract incentives. Teams and players may have extra motivation this week to hit certain statistical benchmarks for contractual bonuses. For example, Saquon Barkley needs 87 more scrimmage yards to earn an extra quarter-million dollars this week. If Stefon Diggs gets at least eight catches and at least 130 yards, he’ll add a cool $1.5 million to his bank account this week. Spotrac has a great tracker for these incentives, where you can look up what any player needs in week 18 to hit their bonus numbers!

While you may not have any dynasty matchups on your schedule this week, that doesn’t mean that it’s the off-season! That’s because there is no off-season in dynasty fantasy football. Now that a 2025 championship has been crowned, the work has already begun towards building the 2026 winning team. Whether your team is looking to repeat as champions, turn around a tough playoff defeat, take your team from rags to riches, or you’re already stocking up draft picks for 2027, DLF is the place to be to find success in 2026! 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. Already itching to select a star rookie with your 2026 first round pick? Check out some of the evergreen articles over at DLF, like these ones focusing on Rookie Draft strategy. Keep it locked in right here, because as the NFL action winds down, that’s when the DLF content machine hits high gear!

“I’d rather be a year too early, rather than a year too late.” That’s a common trope in the sports world that has made its way into the lexicon of the dynasty fantasy football world as well. The idea is sound, you want to sell high, before the price of the player becomes too low to even sell. Typically, you hear this referencing running backs as they enter their late twenties and early thirties. To the people who tried to be a “year too early” on Christian McCaffrey, WHOOPS! After McCaffrey only played in four games last season, he played in all 16 (so far) this season and finished as the number one overall scorer in fantasy PPR scoring. He racked up 17 total touchdowns, 96 catches, and a whopping 2,069 all-purpose yards, with a whole game left to go. It’s his third RB1 finish in his nine-year career, and the fifth time he’s finished as a top two back. He’ll finally turn 30 years-old this off-season, so his value is much lower than it’s ever been coming off an RB1 season. Despite that, is now the time to finally be “a year too early” with Christian McCaffrey, or do dynasty managers need to ride this one out and keep winning championships?

McCaffrey’s dynasty ADP dipped all the way down to 68th overall in December of last year, before rebounding a bit in the off-season. While it’s much higher now at 32.75 overall, it’s still much lower than the top 12 dynasty pick he’s been basically his entire career. In December ADP, he’s the number 11 running back off the board, going behind Omarion Hampton and Bucky Irving, but just ahead of Breece Hall and Chase Brown. Derrick Henry is the next RB in the ADP who is older than CMC, and he’s all the way down at 76 overall, RB24. The expert rankers are higher overall on McCaffrey, placing him at 49th overall off the board, but in the RB rankings he’s down to RB16. Based on those rankings, now seems like a good time to sell this year’s number one overall scoring player. 

I still see McCaffrey as an RB1 for dynasty and a player that you can win championships with for the next 2-3 years to come, but I am very concerned about the massive workload he’s shouldered this season. In 16 games, he’s ran the ball 303 times (3rd in the league) and he has 122 targets in the passing game (most amongst RBs). He’s played 895 snaps this season, much more than any running back in the league. We saw Saquon Barkley drop off this season, finishing as the RB14 after a dominant 2024 season. It’s risky to sell him away, but if I can do it for an RB1 price tag, then I seriously consider doing so.

SIX PENDING FREE AGENTS WHO COULD PRODUCE IN 2026

Free agency is often difficult for dynasty managers to figure out. A lot of the time, we get excited for superstars to potentially find a new situation, only to be disappointed when they return to the same team they’ve been with the whole time (think Tee Higgins last summer) or they go to the last place we’d want them to for financial reasons (like Tony Pollard heading to the Titans to be ruined by a Will Levis offense).

However, there are always a few free agents who find a new home that perfectly suits them. Whether it’s Davante Adams to the Rams, Derrick Henry landing in Baltimore, or Daniel Jones shocking us all in Indianapolis until his injury, every year, there are multiple players whose value explodes once their new team is revealed.

As the fantasy football season ends, here are six players who could be on the move this summer and see a rise in dynasty value because of it.

Breece Hall, RB NYJ

1QB Positional Ranking: RB12

1QB ADP: 34

Don’t get mixed up because he’s spent four years on the Jets – Breece Hall is one of the most talented running backs in the NFL. In week 17, Hall just hit his first-ever 1,000-yard rushing season, but that’s been partly due to the terrible nature of the Jets offense for his entire tenure in New York. Hitting 1,000 yards with this dumpster fire of an offense is an incredible achievement, even if Hall is only currently the RB17. However, a significant amount of that is due to the lack of rushing touchdowns, which comes from how dreadful the offense has been. If he could combine his explosivity and ability as a receiver (which saw him finish as the RB4 in 2023 despite rushing for under 1,000 yards) with being on a better offense that saw him get into the red zone more often, there’s no reason Hall couldn’t vault himself into a consensus top-six dynasty RB.

Of course, Hall could end up back in New York, but with how close the Jets were to trading him before the deadline, it would be a surprise to see them spend cash on a running back, especially given the current trajectory of their team. It’s more likely that Hall walks and ends up as the crown jewel of this free agency class at the position.

Potential team fits: KC, ARI, CHI, HOU

Alec Pierce, WR IND

1QB Positional Ranking: WR45

1QB ADP: 93

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