As I write this on Sunday night, 13 of 14 Week 7 games are in the books (with Monday night remaining) and the fantasy season is now nearing the halfway point. Still, things are changing every week. Promising improvements. Concerning trends. Performances that change our early outlook on players and teams. As always, some of these shifting perspectives will have permanent ramifications in fantasy.
With that in mind, I've compiled another full fantasy stock report. These are the most notable risers and fallers heading into Week 8.
STOCK UP
Zay Flowers, WR, Ravens
Here are the wide receivers I'd rather have rest-of-season than Zay Flowers: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown. And Malik Nabers is a toss-up. That's it. The Ravens’ No. 1 just snagged eight of 11 targets for 137 yards and a touchdown from Tyler Huntley. He's second in the league in yards per route run, behind Smith-Njigba, and third in the league in fantasy points per route run, behind JSN and Mike Evans (shoutout Evans, by the way). And I don't even think it's debatable anymore that he's the best YAC threat at the position right now. He would very likely be the WR2 overall if not for his early injury and a couple middling games with Huntley at the helm. With Lamar Jackson close to a return and Flowers healthy — and a few brilliant matchups on the horizon — he's set for an elite second half of the fantasy season.
Bucky Irving, RB, Buccaneers
It's been a feast-or-famine stretch for Bucky Irving lately, but Sunday brought a 23.5-point feast on 24 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Prior to Week 8, Irving had scored fewer than seven fantasy points in three of four games ... and 30.5 in the fourth (against Dallas). But there are reasons to believe this wasn't just another flukey peak en route to several more valleys.
For one, Baker Mayfield was back for this game (with a glove on his throwing hand). While he did next to nothing — because he didn't have to — it likely matters to defensive game plans and to the workload for Irving. For another, while the fantasy output has been spotty, Irving has seen at least 15 carries in six straight games. The only backs with more 15-carry games this year are Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry. It would be nice if Irving were more involved as a receiver, which would raise the floor just a bit, but in what feels like a very shallow RB market this season, Irving is a worthy RB2.
Quinshon Judkins, RB, Browns
In his return from a one-week absence due to an ankle injury, Quinshon Judkins had his best fantasy day of the season by far. He took 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, after scoring just once all season entering Sunday. And, while the Titans defense can be blamed for some of Judkins' efficiency, he also looked excellent ... for perhaps the first time this year. Like Irving, he's had a very high volume floor — 14+ touches in every single game — but has been mostly middling for fantasy.
It's worth noting that Dylan Sampson returned to action in this game and had 77 yards on nine touches of his own. But it's also worth noting that the Browns are 5-2 and have won five of their last six, and that the "toughest" remaining opponent on their schedule, at least by current record, is the 5-2 Steelers ... who Judkins tagged for 18.6 fantasy points in Week 4. The concept that Judkins can't thrive because Browns' game scripts are so unfavorable doesn't hold much water right now, and after Pittsburgh he gets the Saints (the best RB matchup in fantasy). He's a low-end RB2 and those are hard to come by these days.
Cam Skattebo, RB, Giants
This is probably the easiest “Stock Up” of the entire season. A week after he was relegated to six snaps and zero touches in a clearly punitive benching for fumble issues, Cam Skattebo returned with a vengeance in Week 7. Not only was he the runaway RB1 with 17 carries (to Tyrone Tracy Jr.'s six and Devin Singletary's five), but he racked up a career-best 124 yards on those carries, including a strong 16-yard touchdown and 42-yarder to set up the game-winner in overtime against Houston. He held on to the ball and went "full Skattebo" several times throughout the game, finishing with a season-high 18.6 fantasy points.
More than anything, it was incredibly clear that John Harbaugh wants Skattebo as his RB1 and that the Week 7 message was clearly received. Skattebo did reportedly tweak his hamstring at the end of the game, but New York has a Week 8 bye, so he has time to rest up. Looking ahead, he fits right into the same tier as Irving and Judkins: high-volume running backs on somewhat questionable offenses who should slot into low-end RB2 range down the stretch.
Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Jets
While I'm hesitant to buy all the way in on Jets rookie receiver Omar Cooper Jr. following two big games, he is flashing explosive upside that you don't find lying around in fantasy. After catching one 30-yard pass in the season opener and then missing four games on injured reserve, Cooper has had 100+ yards and a touchdown in consecutive weeks. He caught a 48-yarder in Week 6 against the Patriots and then a 52-yarder and a 60-yarder in Week 7.
Importantly, he's also caught 11 total passes on 12 targets these past two games ... while Garrett Wilson has just six catches on nine targets. I wouldn't say Wilson has been replaced as the WR1, but it is notable that when he draws a defense's toughest matchups or a double-team, Cooper is freed up to thrive against lesser coverage. We'll want to see the shifting target share hold for another couple weeks before drawing any aggressive conclusions, but Cooper is absolutely worth adding on waivers — if he's still available — or you can try to acquire him before the price gets too high.
STOCK DOWN
Garrett Wilson, WR, Jets
We'll start the Stock Down section where we ended the Stock Up. But it's not just Cooper's rise that's hurting Wilson's fantasy value. He had three catches on four targets for 27 yards back in Week 4 against the Bears (with Cooper on IR) and has now logged fewer than seven fantasy points in three of his last four games. And, frankly, this is kind of what Wilson does. He's typically a target monster in New York, but he also tends to underperform, for one reason or another, in far more games than we'd like from a WR1. He's now just the WR24 in points per game on the year and the WR42 over the last month.
As I said with Cooper above, I don't think the roles have reversed in New York, and I expect Wilson to continue putting up strong performances on a near-weekly basis. However, with Cooper breaking out, Wilson's greatest strength — an elite target share — could suffer a hit down the stretch. He's definitely more of a low-end WR2 in my book and I wouldn't mind shopping him for a more consistent producer with a lesser name (or for Zay Flowers).
Chase Brown, RB, Bengals
It's starting to get really ugly for Chase Brown in Cincinnati and in fantasy. He has not topped 39 rushing yards in any of the last three games and has single-digit fantasy totals in four of his last five. The only reason it's not five straight is that he caught 11 passes for 71 yards in an absurd Week 4, but that should not be expected or projected (he's averaged 3.4 catches for 14.4 yards in his other five games). He outproduced Samaje Perine on Sunday, but Perine still managed to vulture a goal-line rushing touchdown. And Joe Burrow carried the offense otherwise, with 292 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air.
Brown is just the RB25 on the season in points per game ... and his best performance was way back in Week 1, when he scored his only touchdown of the year (and just 16.3 points). Since Week 2, he's been outscored by Brian Robinson Jr., Alvin Kamara and Emanuel Wilson, among many others. That's simply not going to cut it for a back drafted to be a fringe RB1. Unless Brown pulls off a major turnaround — as he did down the stretch just last season — he is trending quickly towards bust territory.
Aaron Jones Sr., RB, Vikings
Well, it was a nice run for Aaron Jones Sr. as the solo back in Minnesota. With Jordan Mason on injured reserve from Weeks 2-5 (and a Week 6 bye), Jones averaged a monster 24.3 touches for 110.5 yards per game and was the RB13 in fantasy points per game. In Mason's return on Sunday ... Jones touched the ball nine times and totaled 26 yards. Mason, on the other hand, racked up 15 totes for 68 yards, while playing 62.5% of the snaps (to just 26.8% for Jones).
The only glimmer of hope here might be that the Vikings are about to enter a much tougher stretch of opponents and are very unlikely to continue their unbeaten streak, or at least to do so without struggle. That could mean that game scripts favor Jones (the more active receiver) over Mason for the foreseeable future ... but even if they do, Jones will be an inconsistent half of a committee backfield. It's probably too late to trade him for a decent return, but you simply cannot expect Jones to maintain RB2 fantasy value moving forward.
Isaiah Likely, TE, Giants
The optimistic outlook for Isaiah Likely's Week 7 dud is that the Texans defense found a way to stifle him — which they had done to tight ends all season — and that his disappearance had nothing to do with the J.J. McCarthy takeover at quarterback. Considering Likely caught two of three targets for 44 yards and a touchdown in McCarthy's one quarter two weeks ago, it's not blind optimism ... but there's still reason for concern.
Likely caught just two passes on four targets (for 12 yards) on Sunday, after seeing 11+ targets in each of the three games prior and 9.8 targets per game over the first six weeks. He had been making a case as a top-five tight end, only clearly behind Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, but that case gets a little tougher after 2.2 fantasy points. Heading into a Week 8 bye, Likely, McCarthy and the entire offense will have some time to gel a little further, and I expect things to bounce back a bit on the other side. But it's also possible we just get intermittent disappearances from Likely — he also scored just 2.3 points in Week 3 — as he is not quite the dominant force that McBride or Bowers are.