Dynasty Top 250 Fantasy Football Rankings: Movers and Shakers

Welcome to Movers and Shakers, an in-season series from DLF. Each week we choose a different ranking category; top 250 (one quarterback and superflex), devy, and IDP. We then review players from that group who may have risen or fallen substantially from the past month’s ranks and alert you to any relevant changes. Let’s get right to it.

QUARTERBACK

During training camp and the preseason, quarterback values tend to stay relatively consistent. Teams tend to know who their signal-caller is going to be well in advance, and while reports out of camp and competition can move a player up or down a little bit, there don’t tend to be massive shifts. That being said, there is one quarterback who is on the verge of a major upgrade, and his ADP is already on the rise.

Brock Purdy, QB SF (Current QB27)

The 49ers quarterback battle was expected to be one of the fiercest of the off-season at the end of last year. A three-way grudge match between Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy and two former third-overall picks, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold. Speculation was that Purdy’s elbow injury could keep him off the field for much of the off-season, and even the start of the regular season, giving space for Lance or Darnold to impress with the first team and earn an extra look once Purdy was healthy.

That three-way competition never materialized. Purdy recovered from his elbow injury quicker than expected and the 49ers never wavered in their support. He is, was and has been the QB1 for San Francisco this entire time.

Despite that, Lance has remained ahead of Purdy in DLF’s top 250 rankings in one-QB leagues. Lance truthers haven’t given up on the upside of the third-year quarterback, and assumed that the Niners would give him more of a chance because of all that they had to trade to acquire him in the first place. We found out last week that those truthers were wrong.

Shockingly, Darnold beat out Lance for the backup quarterback job, and now the 49ers have traded their “quarterback of the future” to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick. It’s very telling that Lance couldn’t beat out Darnold for the backup job. It’s possible there were off-the-field reasons for this decision, or perhaps financial ones, but given what we’ve seen from Darnold, and what has been expected of Lance, he should have blown the former Jets QB away in the competition. He wasn’t able to, and now he’s been shipped off to Big D.

This is also a massive vote of confidence for Purdy. The Niners decided to go with the veteran backup quarterback with experience on the field, and not the unknown asset who could be one injury away from permanently demanding the job. There is no competition, there is no question, there is no injury, Purdy is the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers this season, and they’re hoping for many years to come.

Once Purdy took over the starting job, he was the model of consistency. From week 11-18, he was the QB13 in fantasy points per game with 18.1 and fourth in fantasy points per dropback (0.61, per Fantasy Points Data). He protected the football well, only throwing three picks over that time, and got the ball to his elite skill players really well.

And that is the basis of this argument. As long as Purdy has Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle, he needs to have more value in dynasty drafts. He’s clearly a mid-to-late QB2, and now that his situation has more clarity, he should climb the dynasty quarterback rankings.

Should Move Ahead Of:

Purdy should absolutely surpass Lance in our rankings. He should also surpass Jordan Love, Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford.

RUNNING BACK

The running back market has been a bit of a rollercoaster this off-season. We luckily haven’t seen any major injuries (knock on wood), but player movement, speculated player movement, draft picks and off-the-field scandals have piled up for the fantasy running backs. Luckily, many of those ups and downs have impacted the short-term value of these players, more than the long-term, dynasty value. A player who has been moving up the dynasty rankings this month has been…

Tony Pollard, RB DAL (Current RB11)

I don’t believe I am alone in saying that I assumed the Cowboys would bring in somebody this off-season to help spell Pollard’s workload, maybe even bring back Ezekiel Elliott. Well, the preseason is over and, unless the Cowboys bring in someone post-cuts, the only addition they made to the roster was drafting the diminutive Deuce Vaughn. Vaughn is not the large, bruiser back that would be a change of pace to Pollard. Unless something changes in the upcoming fortnight, Pollard is basically all by himself in a run-heavy Mike McCarthy offense.

With the lack of competition for touches, Pollard’s rankings have been on the rise up into the top 12 for dynasty already. Throughout Pollard’s career, he’s had to share the backfield with the 2016 fourth-overall pick. While Pollard’s usage has been on the rise as Elliott’s age has been as well, he was still at best the 1B in this offense.

It’s obvious, but the opportunities and production skyrocketed for Elliott when he wasn’t on the field. In the two weeks Elliott missed, Pollard finished RB4 and RB8 for the week. The week Elliott returned, Pollard still went off for 36.9 PPR points and finished as the RB1 that week.

Tony Pollard has a chance to truly break out this year in a contract year. While he is getting a bit long in the tooth at 26 years old, he’s only run the ball 510 times in his career. Josh Jacobs, a year younger, has run the ball 1,072 times. Jonathan Taylor, 24 years old and coming off an injury-riddled season, has 756 career rush attempts. Pollard is lacking the wear and tear of his peers of a similar age. He’s eclipsed the top 12 of dynasty running backs, and should continue to ascend from there.

Should Move Ahead Of:

For now, I believe Pollard is appropriately ranked at running back 11. If Tank Bigsby and Zach Charbonnet play significant roles early on in the season, Pollard could easily move ahead of Travis Etienne (RB8) and Kenneth Walker (RB9).

WIDE RECEIVER

As wide receivers continue to duke it out around the league for depth chart positioning, one player who should be in line for a sophomore breakout has had almost everything possible go wrong for him. He’s facing a suspension and saw limited time in preseason and training camp. This talented first-round pick has seen his dynasty ranking plummet in the past month.

Jameson Williams, WR DET (Current WR38)

Williams entered the NFL recovering from a torn ACL. He returned in the midst of a playoff race and saw minimal opportunities over six games. He had one catch for a 41-yard touchdown in nine targets.

The Lions knew Williams would essentially redshirt his rookie season, but 2023 was supposed to be the year. They traded away TJ Hockenson at the trade deadline last year and allowed DJ Chark to leave in free agency. Williams was locked into lining up opposite Amon-Ra St. Brown as a high-end wide receiver duo. Then the gambling suspension came, and the Lions would be without him for the first six games of the season.

Despite that, the Lions were looking forward to Williams getting “doused” with preseason reps, to use head coach Dan Campbell’s words. It would have been a great opportunity to see what the team and fantasy managers have in this second-year wide receiver. He played 51 snaps in the team’s first preseason game and caught two passes for 18 yards. It wasn’t exactly the usage anyone was hoping to see. Then he suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the rest of the preseason.

Going into week seven of this upcoming season, nearly a year and a half after the Lions used the 12th overall pick in the draft, Williams has one regular season catch for 41 yards and two preseason catches for 18 yards. It is impossible to be excited about a player like that, who won’t play until almost November, and the DLF dynasty rankings are starting to show that.

Williams was a late bloomer in college, catching only 15 passes over his freshman and sophomore seasons at Ohio State. He transferred to Alabama, and went on to lead the SEC in receiving yards (1572), receiving touchdowns (15) and yards per reception (19.9) on his way to a First-Team All-American selection. That one season in the NFL was enough to skyrocket him up draft boards, where the Lions selected him 12th overall. After all of the injuries and off-the-field problems, what if Williams is just a college one-hit wonder? With that doubt, his dynasty value is taking a big hit.

Should Move Below:

At this point in the wide receiver rankings, it’s a matter of opinion where players are slotting in. Williams is WR38 right now, and I would absolutely move him below Rashod Bateman, Mike Williams, DeAndre Hopkins, Elijah Moore and Keenan Allen, who are the next five players ranked after him. There is a buy-low window open for Williams if you believe in his 2021 season.

TIGHT END

Tight end can be such a difficult position in dynasty. If you don’t have one of the elite players, you seem to constantly be searching, claiming and trading to little avail. One tight end’s value was about as low as it could be at the end of last season, but after a trade out east, and some hype out of training camp, Darren Waller could be knocking on the doorstep of the elite dynasty tight ends.

Darren Waller, NYG TE (Current TE9)

The drumbeat for Waller has been loud and constant this off-season, but especially since the Giants kicked off training camp. On a team filled with small, slot-type wide receivers, Waller towers over his teammates at 6’6” and 255 lbs. He will be Daniel Jones’ biggest and most consistent target this fantasy football season.

The @Giants YouTube account uploaded Darren Waller's highlights throughout camp

Let's just say…he's different pic.twitter.com/kIcstlF5rX

— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) August 23, 2023

Things did not end well for Waller in Las Vegas, as he reportedly did not see eye-to-eye with head coach Josh McDaniels (add Waller to the long list of players who did not see eye-to-eye with McDaniels). Between that and injuries, Waller had his worst season since his 2019 breakout. Needing a change of scenery, the Raiders thankfully sent him on his way to the Giants. This alone was a boon to his dynasty value. Combine that with all of the great reports, and Waller could have a career resurgence in New York.

Should Move Above:

Waller’s value is capped a bit by his age. So it is tough to move him above some players who have much more of a career ahead of them, like Dalton Kincaid and TJ Hockenson. That being said, I would be happy to take Waller ahead of Pat Freiermuth, who is being selected right before Waller at TE8.

WRAPPING IT UP

We aim to tip you off as to who the movers and shakers are weekly across our different ranking platforms. During the season, they will fluctuate on the regular. The best way to stay abreast of how a particular player you are tracking is performing is to head directly to our rankings pages. Thank you for following along — best of luck in your fantasy endeavors.

Dynasty Top 250 Fantasy Football Rankings: Movers and Shakers