The game of fantasy football is always shifting. There will never be consecutive weeks where player values are exactly the same.
To help keep fantasy managers up to date on the ebbs and flows of player valuation, here are the top winners and losers heading into Week 4 of the NFL season.
Winners: Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears
It took a game against the deplorable Dallas Cowboys’ defense, but Ben Johnson’s offense finally delivered. The Bears did whatever they wanted, putting up 31 points, their high on the season.
Caleb Williams looked the best he has so far, throwing for 298 yards and four touchdowns. He did it by completely spreading the ball around, with no receiver hauling in more than four passes. His pièce de résistance was a 65-yard bomb to rookie Luther Burden III for a touchdown.
It remains to be seen how real this performance was, but there’s no denying that Williams has shown flashes of the talent that made him the No. 1 overall pick last year.
Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
It turns out the Philadelphia Eagles are capable of calling pass plays. Jalen Hurts threw for a season-high 226 yards and three touchdowns (his first three of the season) in a comeback victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
The bulk of Hurts’ fantasy value comes from his rushing, more specifically, the Tush Push. However, it is refreshing to see that he can do it through the air if he needs to.
Hurts found A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith for touchdowns, representing each of his top wide receivers’ firsts of the season. His other touchdown pass went to tight end Dallas Goedert. There were no ancillary players vulturing production in this one.
Unfortunately, the Eagles won’t face a team in a shootout environment with the potential to force them into a negative game script until Week 11 against the Detroit Lions.
Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
The way he got there was extremely unfortunate, but “Omarion Hampton RB1” season may be upon us. Najee Harris tore his Achilles tendon, ending his season. With no capable third stringer, HC Jim Harbaugh opted to go all in on his rookie. Hampton played 79% of the snaps and saw 26 opportunities.
The rookie looked solid on the ground, carrying the ball 19 times for 70 yards and a touchdown, but the real story was his receiving usage. Hampton caught six passes for 59 yards.
If that is going to be the norm going forward, or even something close to it, Hampton is going to deliver for fantasy managers who spent a third-round pick on him.
Trey Benson, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Whereas with Hampton, it was possible he would get to where he needed to be on performance alone, Trey Benson had one path: a James Conner injury. Sadly, that is exactly what happened.
Conner’s leg got trapped under him on a tackle, and he destroyed his ankle. It took mere hours for Adam Schefter to report that Conner was set to undergo surgery, and his season was over.
With Conner done, Benson now becomes the Arizona Cardinals’ RB1. This is a situation where he is a confident handcuff. The RB3 is Emari Demercado, not exactly a huge threat. Anyone who was fortunate enough to stash Benson now has a weekly RB2 on their hands.
Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Is Mac Jones like a very, very lite version of Matthew Stafford? Does he make wide receivers? Last year, Brian Thomas Jr. didn’t really take off until Jones displaced Trevor Lawrence. Now, Ricky Pearsall is breaking out before our very eyes with the former Patriots quarterback under center.
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Pearsall caught eight of 11 targets for 117 yards. While he’s yet to catch a touchdown, the sophomore now has two 100-yard receiving games already on the season. His worst game was still a respectable 9.2 fantasy points in Week 2.
It probably didn’t hurt that the San Francisco 49ers were without Jauan Jennings, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk. But Pearsall is still a first-round pick. He’s supposed to be good.
If this continues, he will establish himself as the 49ers’ new WR1 and won’t give that role back.
Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The theory behind drafting Emeka Egbuka is that he’s a very talented player with several different paths to success. It appears that multiple of them are hitting.
Chris Godwin’s recovery did not go as expected, so Egbuka was put in a starting role to open the season. While in that role, he’s played exceptionally well, which also earned him favor with Baker Mayfield and his coaches. Then, this past week, another one hit.
Mike Evans strained his hamstring and is set to miss time, just as Godwin is nearing a return. That will keep Egbuka in the starting lineup.
It’s obvious Egbuka is the future of the Bucs’ passing game. The longer he remains in the starting role and plays well, the harder it will be to take him off the field. His six catches for 85 yards were one thing. The clutch receptions he made on the team’s game-winning drive really hammer home what he offers this team, and in turn, fantasy managers.
Jake Ferguson, TE, Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys may not be winning football games or playing particularly well, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Jake Ferguson. If anything, it’s benefiting him. QB Dak Prescott has apparently decided that pushing the ball downfield is no longer something he’s interested in. As a result, it’s turned Ferguson into the ultimate PPR scam.
The veteran tight end caught 13 of 14 targets for an incredibly inefficient 82 yards. If there ever were an argument against full PPR, it’s Ferguson’s Week 3 stat line.
Even if WR CeeDee Lamb is alright, this is still a consolidated passing game that runs through Lamb, George Pickens, and Ferguson. 26 targets over the past two weeks — there’s nothing more that needs to be said.
Hunter Henry, TE, New England Patriots
The only tight end to outscore Ferguson this week, Hunter Henry was Drake Maye’s “receiver” of choice in Week 3. Coming off a dreadful 1-for-9 outing, Henry rebounded massively, hauling in eight of 11 targets for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Henry’s overall TE1 performance doesn’t suddenly elevate him into must-start territory. He will still be inconsistent from week to week.
Nevertheless, with the New England Patriots lacking a clear top target, it’s encouraging to know this is in Henry’s range of outcomes. He will be volatile, but based on this level of upside, he’s worth rostering and occasionally starting.
Losers: C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans
Remember when C.J. Stroud had one of the greatest rookie seasons by a quarterback in NFL history? It seems so long ago. Stroud was being drafted as a top-eight fantasy quarterback just one year ago, but now, he shouldn’t even be on fantasy rosters.
The Houston Texans’ signal-caller has been nothing short of abysmal to open his third professional season. Stroud has more interceptions than touchdown passes and has a season high of a mere 207 passing yards.
There was hope that a matchup against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars would help get Stroud back on track, but no such thing occurred. The Texans fell to 0-3 and will, at best, be 1-4 heading into their Week 6 bye. Yet to so much as reach 15 fantasy points, the days of Stroud being viewed as a potential fantasy QB1 are over.
Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys
When Dak Prescott faces a team that just gave up 334 yards and five touchdowns to Jared Goff, you expect more than 251 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. The Chicago Bears do not have a good defense, but you wouldn’t know that if you watched Prescott against them.
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The Dallas Cowboys did lose WR CeeDee Lamb to an ankle injury in the first half, but that’s not enough of an excuse. Prescott now has as many touchdowns as interceptions through three weeks, and he’s only posted one game worthy of being in fantasy lineups.
Next week, the Cowboys get the Green Bay Packers at home, who are coming off a crushing loss to the Cleveland Browns. This is not going to be pretty. Fantasy managers cannot trust Prescott in Week 4 lineups.
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots
Coming off one of the best performances of his career, Rhamondre Stevenson was set to take over the New England Patriots’ backfield. Instead, ghosts of his past returned to sabotage his rise.
Stevenson struggled with fumbles in 2024, committing a whopping seven of them. After protecting the ball each of the first two weeks of the season, Stevenson fumbled not once, but twice in Week 3.
And these weren’t situations where the ball was punched out or he took a big hit. These were extremely soft fumbles. One of them occurred at the goal line, directly costing the Patriots six points.
After the first fumble, head coach Mike Vrabel went right back to his starter. After the second one, we started to see a lot more TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson.
Despite the rookie’s slow start, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Henderson earns a bigger workload. Stevenson’s fumbling issues may expedite that. He is no longer someone fantasy managers can start with any degree of confidence.
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
Three weeks is certainly not enough time to draw any conclusions on a player, but Ashton Jeanty runs hard and is able to make defenders miss. He is undeniably a talented player who is poised for a very successful career. He is also undeniably a massive bust for fantasy football in 2025.
Jeanty had his best game on the ground, turning 17 carries into 63 yards. However, he did not see a single target despite the immense negative game script the Las Vegas Raiders faced the entire game. If Jeanty is going to be a pure two-down back on one of the worst offenses in football, he won’t even be a fantasy RB2.
Next week should be friendlier for Jeanty against a weak Bears defense. But he will be very sensitive to the caliber of opponent and the game script. At this point, Jeanty is not a weekly must-start. He should not be ranked as a top-24 running back. Instead, treat him like the touchdown-or-bust RB3 that he is.
Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Obviously, going from Joe Burrow to Jake Browning was never going to be a good thing. Last week, I theorized that Ja’Marr Chase might be okay, but Tee Higgins would be the one to suffer if either took a hit.
Now, to be fair, the Bengals were punched in the mouth from the get-go — they never had a chance. Browning threw for 140 yards. No one is going to produce on those numbers. Even so, it’s clear there was a deliberate effort to get the ball to Chase… not so much for Higgins.
The Bengals’ WR2 caught one pass for 15 yards. It’s only one game, but fantasy managers have to be concerned. Browning may not be talented enough to sustain two fantasy-relevant wide receivers. He certainly is not going to keep them at the levels they were at with Burrow.
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence is a bottom-five starting quarterback in the NFL. He probably should be a backup. That already creates a problem for Brian Thomas Jr., but we can’t put this all on Lawrence.
Depending on how generous you want to be, Thomas already has three to seven drops on the season. Most of them are egregious. And those don’t even take into account the plays where he didn’t even try to catch the ball because he was scared to get hit.
Simply put, Thomas is playing horrible football and deserves far more of the blame for his poor start to the season than his equally terrible quarterback.
Now three weeks into the season, we have enough of a sample to mostly throw ADP out the window. We need to value players based on what we’ve seen. And what we’ve seen from Thomas is someone who is not an automatic weekly starter in fantasy lineups.
That’s not to say you should definitely bench Thomas. You should merely include him when making lineup decisions rather than considering him locked into a starting spot.
Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago Bears
This was the week. The Chicago Bears were 0-2, and it was time to get their rookies more involved. We saw that manifest with Luther Burden III ripping off 101 yards and a touchdown. It looked like Colston Loveland was on his way as well, grabbing a 31-yard reception in the first quarter. Then, he failed to catch another pass.
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Loveland’s hip injury added to the pain for fantasy managers hoping this was the start of something. He exited in the second quarter and did not return.
With the potential for Loveland to miss Week 4, combined with the Bears’ Week 5 bye, any ascension is unlikely to begin until Week 6. That is a long time to sit on a rookie tight end who simply may just be a 2026 thing.
Jonnu Smith, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers
It was a challenge to find a second loser at the tight end position, so Jonnu Smith seems good enough. Interestingly, he actually saw a season-high 83% snap share. It just didn’t amount to anything.
Smith ran a mere 14 routes and earned only three targets. He did catch all of them for 23 yards, but what is that doing for fantasy managers? He’s now posted receiving totals of 15, 27, and 23. The only situation in which he will be worth putting in lineups is if he scores. Good luck predicting that.
