RADIO
Adam Koffler's fantasy football risers, fallers, sleepers, and busts heading into Week 17 of the 2025 season. He identifies players with rising and falling fantasy values.
If you're reading this, you most likely made the fantasy football championship! Congratulations, now let's win a title.
As we've done every week of the season, we'll take a look at whose stock is rising and whose stock is falling coming out of the previous week. Week 16 was riddled with injuries, explosive performances, and down games from a handful of studs.
Our Week 16 risers didn't rise so much (Rashid Shaheed, Mike Evans, and Colby Parkinson), but a couple of our fallers fell quite a bit (Breece Hall and Dalton Kincaid). Without further ado, here's whose stock is rising and falling heading into fantasy football championship Week 17.
Editor's Note: Identify fantasy football draft busts, overvalued ADPs, and key players to avoid so you can draft with confidence this season.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Risers
Tyjae Spears, RB, Tennessee Titans
Tony Pollard has three straight 100-yard games on the ground. That's impressive on a 3-12 Titans team. But Tennessee also looks somewhat competent in those three games. And in Week 16, we saw Pollard's backfield mate, Spears, enter the mix a lot more.
Spears' RB opportunity share skyrocketed from 24% in Week 15 to 46% in Week 16. That included five targets, which he turned into 53 yards. Per Hayden Winks, Spears had the fourth-highest expected half PPR fantasy points (17.1) behind only Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, and Kyren Williams in Week 16.
Since the Titans' bye week, Spears is averaging four catches per game. He also has double-digit touches in two of his last three. Up next is a matchup against a Saints team allowing 18.7 fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. With the Saints playing so well, and possibly with the lead in this one, we could see even more Spears as the Titans go into passing mode more often.
Parker Washington, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Washington went off for a career-best 26.5 fantasy points in Week 16. At this point, it's no longer a fluke with him; he's become a legitimate weapon for Trevor Lawrence and this Jaguars offense.
Washington has produced 17+ fantasy points in four of his last six healthy games since the Jags' bye week. This past weekend, he showcased his "yards after catch" ability.
Parker Washington gained 90 of his 145 receiving yards against the Broncos after the catch.
Washington's +70 YAC over expected are the most by any player in a single game this season, and the most by any Jaguars' pass catcher since at least 2016.#JAXvsDEN | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/dWlalP4lsZ
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 22, 2025
It's abundantly clear that Washington is a significant part of Jacksonville's game plan. Per Fantasy Points Data, he tied Jakobi Meyers with a 23.8% first-read target share in Week 16. And he's one of Lawrence's most trusted weapons, as evidenced by his five first downs on 28 routes run.
Up next is a favorable matchup indoors against a Colts defense allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to opposing wideouts. Not only that, but per Hayden Winks, the Jaguars have become a pass-happy team recently, as evidenced by their second-highest neutral pass rate between Weeks 13-16.
Taysom Hill, TE, New Orleans Saints
The answer to Audric Estime vs. Evan Hull was Taysom Hill. It was right there in front of our faces. It was so obvious that we all missed it. Hill did a little bit of everything in Week 16. He earned six targets on 19 routes (0.32 targets per route run). He lined up out wide, in the slot, and in the backfield.
In addition to his six targets, Hill also toted the rock a team-high 12 times and even threw a touchdown pass late in the game to Chris Olave. He had 19 combined opportunities (carries, targets, and pass attempts) in Week 16, and he's listed as a tight end in fantasy football.
Cinema.
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/nggfuDSBnx
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 21, 2025
As long as Alvin Kamara (who has missed the last four games) remains out for New Orleans, Hill, a pseudo-RB and QB, deserves to be started in your TE slot unless you have Trey McBride or George Kittle. The Saints have another relatively favorable matchup on deck in Week 17 vs. the Titans.
Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Gainwell is so much more than just a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's an elite wide receiver with elite receiver skills.
KENNETH GAINWELL HOW
TD STEELERS 😱
PITvsDET on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/sZg9uFqkMF
— NFL (@NFL) December 21, 2025
And the Steelers treat him as such. They line him up in various places, including the slot, in line, out wide, and in the backfield. He's become a versatile weapon for this team.
Since Week 10, per Fantasy Points Data, Gainwell is second among running backs in first-read target share (15.6%) behind only Gibbs. He's also seventh in route participation (55.5%), third in target share (17.4%), and second in targets per route run (0.29).
Gainwell also leads all backs in first downs per route run (0.107) over that period. And now, DK Metcalf is suspended, which should lead to even more work for Gainwell as a receiver in Week 17.
Other Fantasy Football Risers:
Week 17 Fantasy Football Fallers
Xavier Worthy, WR, and Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
This one hurts. With the Chiefs already down Rashee Rice (concussion), it appeared as if Worthy and Kelce would shine as the top two options in Kansas City. But then Gardner Minshew II went down early in Week 16, and all bets were suddenly off.
The Chiefs find themselves as 13-point home underdogs in Week 17 against the Broncos, with either Chris Oladokun or Shane Buechele under center. Seriously, those are two real names who could be throwing passes to Worthy and Kelce.
The Chiefs also have nothing to play for. This one could get really ugly, really fast, making both of these pass-catchers unplayable in the fantasy football finals.
Darren Waller, TE, Miami Dolphins
Waller had a heavenly matchup vs. the Bengals in Week 16 and couldn't capitalize. In fact, he played just under half of the snaps and earned just five targets from Quinn Ewers. Fellow TE Greg Dulcich put up more yards than Waller.
Per Fantasy Points Data, Waller drew a 17% first-read target share from Ewers. That's not terrible, but in three games after the bye with Tua Tagovailoa, Waller had nearly a 25% first-read target share.
Maybe things change in Week 17 vs. the Bucs, but it's also possible the Dolphins continue to get Dulcich (and other pass-catchers) involved. Despite the talent, it's tough to bet on Waller with Ewers and with the Dolphins playing for nothing down the stretch.
Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. both back up to full speed, Egbuka has become WR3 at best for the Buccaneers. In Week 16, he even ran fewer routes than Jalen McMillan (17 to 15). Per Fantasy Points Data, his first-read target share in Week 16 (5.6%) was a season low and tied WR5 Tez Johnson.
Egbuka is simply not the same guy he was earlier in the season without Evans and Godwin on the field. With Evans and Godwin back, the rookie's snap share has decreased to 64% and 56%, respectively, in the last two games.
He's splitting snaps with McMillan and isn't trusted by Baker Mayfield in critical moments, as evidenced by his one first down in Week 16. After a white-hot start to his rookie campaign, Egbuka is averaging just 7.05 fantasy points per game in his last six games.
Michael Wilson, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Marvin Harrison Jr. (heel) returned in Week 16 and yet again turned Wilson into a pumpkin. Wilson still had an 86% snap share, but his utilization was baffling. Just look at this route tree with even just a part-time MHJ back in the mix:
Marvin Harrison Jr. came back and they turned Michael Wilson into Spencer James 😭 pic.twitter.com/V6DGG3LVxP
— Underdog (@Underdog) December 22, 2025
Not great! That's now the second time Harrison has come back from something (first the appendectomy, now the heel) and made Wilson into a one-dimensional receiver. The first time was back in Week 13, when Wilson caught just 3-of-7 targets for 36 yards. This time, he caught just 2-of-3 targets for 52 yards.
In four games without Harrison recently, Wilson averaged nearly 125 yards on 15 targets per game, so to see him become so one-dimensional with MHJ back is wild.
But we now have a two-game sample size of this happening. Despite the production without MHJ, we need to reel in our expectations for Wilson when he's playing.
Week 17 could be a Trey McBride game as well against a Bengals team that's been historically bad against opposing TEs this season. Meanwhile, the Bengals are allowing the fifth-fewest receiving yards to opposing WRs in 2025.
Other Fantasy Football Fallers:
- Colby Parkinson
- Oronde Gadsden II
- Michael Carter
- Kareem Hunt
- Jordan Addison
More Fantasy Football Analysis
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