The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Los Angeles Rams players heading into their matchup with the New Orleans Saints to help you craft a winning lineup.
Matthew Stafford, QB
Matthew Stafford put on a clinic in London before the bye with his 18th career game of 4+ TD passes (three in the first half), not bad for someone missing the most productive receiver in the sport.
The Stafford profile is no secret: dead accuracy with no versatility. The running game has yet to get on track, and it’s safe to label that as a priority for this 5-2 team that has its eyes set on a playoff run this winter.
Even with Nacua back, I have a hard time seeing this as a high-volume game, which caps the ceiling for his veteran QB. The matchup obviously isn’t a concern, and that has Stafford just ahead of the streaming tier, but without access to a top-5 week, I can’t go much higher than that.
Blake Corum, RB
If you’re really trying to get in the weeds, sure, as a big favorite, you talk yourself into flex appeal from a player in Blake Corum who handled 13 touches in Week 7 thanks to a 28-point win.
That work resulted in 5.3 fantasy points.
You’d be taking on a ton of risk by assuming a blowout (through two months — haven’t we learned not to assume anything?) without the certainty of efficiency.
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Corum is a great handcuff, but that’s all he was. The former third-round selection is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and would be an interesting flex option if he walked into a 15+ touch role, but we aren’t going to get there as long as Kyren Williams is active.
Kyren Williams, RB
A narrow range of production outcomes isn’t a bad thing in most situations, and that’s what we’re seeing from Kyren Williams on the ground.
In five of seven games, the lead Ram has given us 50-66 rushing yards, and that’s … fine? He doesn’t have big play ability via the handoff (one regular season run of 25+ yards since the beginning of last year), and he’s down a full red zone touch per game from last season, leaving him very much without the upside we thought we were signing up for in the third round.
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He’s caught multiple passes in six straight games and is picking up at least five yards on 42.1% of his carries, a nice increase from his 36.4% rate a season ago. All hope is not lost, especially not when you consider that Chase Brown and Omarion Hampton held a similar ADP in August, but I’ve lost faith in him as a week winner.
This is obviously a good spot where the game script should lean in his favor. But with the 49ers, Seahawks, and Bucs up next, I’m not sure we’ll see a ton of that over the next few weeks. Enjoy this game … and consider moving on to better position yourself for the stretch run should he offer up a top 10 week.
Davante Adams, WR
I’m not sure that Davante Adams could handle a full season of being the featured pass catcher, but he looked fine in that role in London before the bye against the Jags with Puka Nacua out.
Not only did he score three short touchdowns, but he also earned a 30% target share in the first 30 minutes when that game was reasonably competitive and sucked in the defensive attention that allowed Matthew Stafford to be efficient, even when not throwing his way.
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In Weeks 2-5, with Nacua at the peak of his powers, Adams was a top-10 performer at the position in both total and per-game PPR points. It’s clear that he has plenty of juice left in the tank, and his savvy in those short-yardage spots is second to none.
The only reason I don’t have 2025 Adams ranked as 2024 Tee Higgins is the Los Angeles defense. This team doesn’t need to score the way the 2024 Bengals did, but even without that, you’re starting Adams with confidence as a WR2 that carries as much scoring equity as anyone outside of the top tier at the position.
Puka Nacua, WR
The bye week came at the perfect time for the Rams, as all signs point to their time without Puka Nacua (foot) being held to just the one game.
His red zone target rate has nearly been halved from last season (17.2% from 34.3%), so I’m not comfortable blindly assuming that there is more TD equity in his volume than what we’ve seen up to this point.
That said, it doesn’t really matter. He’s recorded 10+ catches in four of five healthy games — a remarkable feat without any context added — but with a 13.8% spike in aDOT, it’s borderline ludicrous.
Nacua has as good a shot to be the top scorer at the position for the remainder of the season as anyone and could put your team over the top as you prepare for the fantasy playoffs (road dates with the Panthers and Cardinals in Weeks 13-14).