As we head into Week 18 of the 2024 NFL season, the vast majority of you are done with your Fantasy Football leagues for the year. For those of you who aren’t, we’ll have Week 18 content all week long. But I am switching gears to 2025 and beyond. Today’s rankings risers and fallers will be Dynasty-focused, and on Wednesday, I will unveil my 2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football rankings, position by position. For now, here are some of the big movers in my Dynasty rankings after Week 17.
Xavier Worthy is taking the Rashee Rice path
For the second year in a row, a rookie wide receiver for the Chiefs is catching fire at the end of the year. In 2023, Rashee Rice averaged 17 Fantasy points per game in the second half of the season, which is very close to what he averaged this year before he got hurt. Worthy is averaging 13.9 FPPG since Week 10 but has been even hotter as of late. He has seen 31 targets in his last three games, scoring at least 19.6 PPR Fantasy points in all three games.
Rice continued his hot streak into the playoffs, catching 26 of 33 targets for 262 yards in four playoff games. If Worthy does the same, he may be knocking on the door of the top 12 Dynasty wide receivers. For now, he’s moved up to WR18 in the 2024 lookahead. His previous best rank was WR24.
The fact that the Chiefs could have both Rice and Worthy at full strength in 2025 should provide some hope for a Patrick Mahomes bounce back.
Aaron Rodgers is teetering on the brink
Some framed Week 17 as a chance for Rodgers to show the Jets that he should be their 2025 starter. That, he did not do. Rodgers threw for 112 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions before giving way to Tyrod Taylor, who promptly led two touchdown drives against the Bills backups. Rodgers is now a 41-year-old who just finished as QB19, averaging 17.2 FPPG, and he has no guaranteed job in 2025. He’s fallen to QB39 in my Dynasty quarterback rankings, two spots behind Kirk Cousins, three spots behind Matthew Stafford, and 11 spots behind Russell Wilson. I think I would rather have Jameis Winston, Daniel Jones, and Gardner Minshew on my Dynasty roster.
The injured players bounce back
This is kind of a weird function of having Dynasty rankings that update so regularly, but at some point, you have to stop penalizing the guys who are hurt this year but expected to be fine next year. I choose this time.
Amongst other names, you’ll see a rebound for Dak Prescott, David Montgomery, Rashee Rice, Chris Godwin, and Brandon Aiyuk. But I believe the most interesting injury rebound is Christian McCaffrey.
How do you rank a guy in Dynasty who has the upside to outscore every other player by five points but is also coming off multiple injuries and will turn 29 before he plays football again? McCaffrey came in at RB15 in my 2025 lookahead, though I expect that will change before September. For one thing, by all reports, we have a good rookie running back class coming in. At least one of them will rank ahead of McCaffrey Ashton Jeanty, but I would expect more will. And there are some guys ranked behind him who could move ahead if their situation stabilizes.
As a rule, this is not the time of year I want to have running backs like McCaffrey on my roster. But if you could get him for a couple of Round 2 picks, the upside is worth it.
Sam Darnold is a top-20 QB
This entire season had played out like a dream for Darnold, but there has always been a question lurking in the background: What kind of deal is he getting next year, and where? After Darnold threw for 377 yards and three scores to beat the Packers in Week 17, I’m leaning more toward Darnold staying in Minnesota or getting multiple years guaranteed as a starter.
Darnold is still just 27 years old, and he currently ranks as QB8 in FPPG at 23.1. He now ranks ahead of Trevor Lawrence, Michael Penix, and J.J. McCarthy for me, which would have been a shocking thing to write six months ago. While there is some risk at this ranking, there is also considerable upside. If the Vikings choose to give Darnold a three or four-year deal, he could crack the top 15, especially if they trade McCarthy.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is WR4…in his own draft class
This really has less to do with Harrison than it does the excellence of the 2024 rookie wide receiver class. Harrison, my WR1 in this class coming out, and everyone’s WR1 in the class for the 2024 season, has fallen to WR4 in the class and WR11 in my Dynasty rankings. Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., and Ladd McConkey are all ahead of him for the first time, though I feel more confident in the first two than I do McConkey.
The edge for McConkey comes from his rookie production, his attachment to Justin Herbert, and the fact that he doesn’t have Trey McBride taking a third of the targets every week. If that sounds like a razor-thin edge, it absolutely is. There is a tier of four wide receivers, including Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jordan Addison, and these two rookies, that I wouldn’t argue with any order.
The future is now at the wide receiver position. None of my top 14 at the position will be over 26 years old when the 2025 season kicks off.
Packers pass catchers are dropping
Jayden Reed came in at WR32, his lowest ranking since June. Christian Watson is WR55, his lowest ranking since 2022. Dontayvion Wicks is WR75, his lowest ranking since Week 4. Only Romeo Doubs came out better this week, and he’s still just WR57.
While I do think there is significant risk the Packers improve this receiving corps in the offseason, this drop has just as much to do with that these receivers have actually produced. No Packers wide receiver has seen even 75 targets this season. None of them have reached 900 yards in their career. None of them took a step forward in terms of actual production this year, either.
Matt LaFleur is a successful head coach and a good offensive mind who also hates the idea of a number one wide receiver. That may work when it comes to winning football games, but not Fantasy Football games. Week 17 was another reminder that even with Christian Watson out, none of these receivers are reliable starting options.
