RADIO
John Johnson's fantasy football risers, fallers, sleepers, and busts heading into Week 7 of the 2025 season. He identifies players with rising and falling fantasy values.
Each week of NFL action feels like a roller coaster as a fantasy football manager. Players breaking out, seemingly breaking out but really just having fluky games, falling off a cliff to irrelevancy, or just having down weeks can be hard to keep up with.
Digging into the context of each situation can be helpful, but not every fantasy manager has time to do a deep dive into the data and the other finer details of how a player's performance should be evaluated. That's where analysts come in, of course!
I'll try to dive deep into the inner workings of each player's talents, the team they're on, and their outlook moving forward in this edition of risers and fallers, normally covered by RotoBaller contributor Adam Koffler. Let's dive in!
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Week 7 Fantasy Football Risers
Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
The Giants drafted rookie running back Cam Skattebo in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Six weeks into the season, it looks like he's firmly stolen the RB1 job from Tyrone Tracy Jr., the team's starting tailback last season.
Skattebo rushed 19 times for 98 yards and three scores and caught two passes for 12 yards in his team's embarrassing curb-stomp of the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football. It looked very much like the coming-out party of a potential new powerhouse in the NFC East.
At the goal line? Call Skattebo.
PHIvsNYG on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/gL2A2gpO7Q— NFL (@NFL) October 10, 2025
Skattebo's tank-like, battering ram-esque build and style of play have already made him an excellent goal-line back just a few games into his career. It seems unlikely that Tracy will take much short-yardage work moving forward, especially near the end zone.
And Skattebo's been quite the elusive and powerful runner, which has made the team happier to keep him on the field. He's a very willing blocker, too. The potential for a workhorse role is very clear. That carries with it immense fantasy upside, of course.
Cam Skattebo Stats
19 rushes | 98 yards | 3 TDs
2 catches | 12 yards+0.38 EPA/rush
53% success rate
+23 RYOE pic.twitter.com/wtJ1MAv3g9— Doug Analytics (@Doug_Analytics) October 10, 2025
He's a locked-in must-start moving forward with easy top-12 potential as long as quarterback Jaxson Dart remains healthy. The Giants offense is rolling even without their WR1, Malik Nabers (knee).
Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
While McConkey has disappointed so far this season, his game in Week 6 at least made fantasy managers a little more comfortable with the fact that they drafted him. He set his season-high in targets, catches, and receiving yards, catching seven of nine passes thrown his way for 100 yards and a touchdown.
His 41-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter set his team up for the game-winning field goal, and the sophomore ended up with 23.0 PPR fantasy points on the day. There are a few glaring problems that I just can't get over, though.
According to @NextGenStats , Ladd McConkey was only expected to gain 12 yards on this catch.
He turned it into 41 yards, including 39.3 yards after the catch, a 27.3 YAC over expected.
Big-time block from Hassan Haskins. https://t.co/mDOr17MLrw
— Eric Smith (@Eric_L_Smith) October 13, 2025
So far this season, the WR1 for the Chargers has been Quentin Johnston (hamstring) when he's healthy. Things changed up a bit schematically in Week 5 that made him less effective -- the Chargers have been dealing with injuries to a ton of their offensive linemen.
Specifically, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been under ridiculous pressure since both his top-2 left tackles and top-2 right tackles are out with injuries. The team is rolling out third-string tackles on both sides of the ball, and it's been brutal for the veteran QB.
Make no mistake - yesterday we played almost an entire game with the worst offensive line in all of football. https://t.co/qIME38E0ed pic.twitter.com/Vj1Fo8GwNm
— ChargersWorld (@ChargersWorld) September 29, 2025
Johnston's routes tend to be longer in development. McConkey got a boost both from Johnston being out and Herbert being forced to throw more short routes. When both Johnston and Keenan Allen, the team's other starting WR, are healthy, McConkey's usage simply isn't up to par with his current value.
Of course, the second-year pro has plenty of upside when Allen or Johnston are out. But when they're playing, he has too much potential for bust games for my liking.
Just sold Ladd McConkey in a redraft league.
-Oronde Gadsden looks legit
-Quentin Johnston is the WR1
-A healthier OL = more Johnston targets imo (he runs longer developing routes)
-Keenan Allen isn't going anywhere
-McConkey played a season low in snaps even with QJ out— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) October 15, 2025
It's really not good news that he played a season-low in offensive snaps in the game in which Johnston was out. It feels like Johnston and/or Allen missing games would be needed for him to return value at his draft position in fantasy.
Other Fantasy Football Risers:
- Kayshon Boutte
- Dallas Goedert (he's a TE, but he's basically the WR1 in Philadelphia somehow)
- Drake London (because Darnell Mooney (hamstring) was inactive)
- Brian Thomas Jr.
Week 7 Fantasy Football Fallers
Deebo Samuel Sr., WR, Washington Commanders
Despite playing in yet another game without WR Terry McLaurin (quad), Samuel was very ineffective in Week 6 against the Chicago Bears. He entered the game with a heel injury, and if you've had Samuel on your fantasy rosters in the past, you're familiar with his "decoy" games.
Decoy games mean games in which he's "healthy" and active, but simply not used much because he's dealing with injury issues. He didn't look 100 percent on the field, which led to him being outscored by WR Luke McCaffrey and tight end Zach Ertz and scoring the same points as rookie Jaylin Lane.
"That's the exclamation point" ‼️#WASvsLAC FOX pic.twitter.com/5Df4NVRI58
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 5, 2025
A healthy Samuel is one of the best receivers in fantasy football. But his physical style of play could be what's led him to constantly deal with injury issues throughout his career, and they clearly limit his upside even when he's able to make it onto the field.
There's not much to panic about here, though. McLaurin's return probably won't have a big effect on his fantasy output because he plays a very different role than Scary Terry. McLaurin is the team's deep threat and fastest receiver, while Samuel makes a killing after the catch with his elusiveness and play strength.
Heck of a second effort from Deebo Samuel to convert this 1st down.#RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/NMQgUCa90v
— Chad Ryan (@ChadwikoTWW) October 14, 2025
You're better off holding Samuel. If you have better options to start, you can be cautious and bench him in weeks that he's dealing with injury issues, but that might be tough to always nail properly.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt, RB, Washington Commanders
After a massive 26.0 PPR point effort in Week 5 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Croskey-Merritt fell back down to earth in Week 6. He scored just 5.8 PPR fantasy points in his team's loss to the Chicago Bears, carrying the ball 17 times for 61 yards, catching one pass for seven yards, and losing a fumble.
The turnover was the second lost fumble in as many games for JCM, who might have some concerning ball-security issues moving forward. The fumble on the handoff was attributed properly to quarterback Jayden Daniels, but Croskey-Merritt's fumble was on a different play.
Croskey-Merritt fumbles and this is ruled on the field as a Chicago fumble recovery.
It looks like Wylie lands on it though. #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/XIpFAwI7Q2
— Chad Ryan (@ChadwikoTWW) October 14, 2025
His fumble in Week 5 didn't appear to cause him to lose any playing time, though, and neither did this one. Washington's other running backs hardly got any rushing work. "Bill" appears to have a workhorse role for the Commanders, and it's yet to be seen if that changes.
They traded away their RB1 from last season, Brian Robinson Jr., likely as a vote of confidence in Croskey-Merritt's capabilities. It does appear that he's vulnerable to poor games, though, and he didn't have much of a pass-catching role. This was supposed to be a good matchup, too.
The Bears have one of the NFL's weakest rush defenses, yet were able to bottle up one of Pro Football Focus' highest-graded running backs. The Commanders face the massively struggling Dallas Cowboys defense next, so it will be a chance for him to bounce back, but perhaps the most optimistic managers of JCM should adjust their expectations downward a bit. He was a seventh-round draft pick, after all.
Other Fantasy Football Fallers:
- Kenneth Walker III (likely has a lingering foot injury that's being managed with a low workload)
- TreVeyon Henderson (bottom five in the NFL in elusiveness and gaining yards after contact)
- J.K. Dobbins (big efficiency drop-off over the last two games)
- Quinshon Judkins
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