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 Atlanta Falcons players heading into their matchup with the Seattle Seahawks to help you craft a winning lineup.
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Kirk Cousins, QB
Kirk Cousins has three touchdowns on 108 attempts this season, and we saw everything we needed to during Atlanta’s first drive in New York last week.
First Drive
Bijan Robinson, six-yard run
Bijan Robinson, 11-yard run (first down)
Bijan Robinson, four-yard run
Deven Thompkins, five-yard run
Tyler Allgeier, -1-yard run
Punt
In a game in which they were favored, they had no interest in putting the game in the hands of their veteran QB, and I think that’s something that is here to stay.
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Seattle ranks in the top quarter of the league in opponent drive distance, scoring percentage, and red zone defense. This is a near-impossible spot for most QBs, and most spots are a near-impossible spot for Cousins at this point in his career.
I’m not saying the Seahawks defense breaks the slate for a second consecutive week, but it’s certainly on the table.
Bijan Robinson, RB
Early on, it looked like it was going to be one of THOSE days.
The Falcons gave Bijan Robinson a rare goal-line carry; he failed, and Tyler Allgeier finished the drive on the next snap.
All’s well that ends well, however. Robinson cashed in a five-yard opportunity to open up the second half, a score he set up with a 42-yard catch. He flirted with 1,900 yards from scrimmage last season and should hit 2,000 in 2025: Robinson was in the 1.01 discussion this August, and that’ll be the case entering 2026 as well.
Tyler Allgeier, RB
Tyler Allgeier punched in his eighth rushing touchdown of the season last weekend against the Jets, a score that came after Bijan Robinson first got the doorstep attempt.
Don’t worry, Robinson got there eventually, but this has been some bizzaro version of Detroit’s offense over the past two seasons: Allgeier is the scoring threat of 2024 David Montgomery, but has a role, in terms of volume, similar to that of 2025 Montgomery.
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I’d love to give you some groundbacking analysis, but there’s nothing new here: Allgeier is more annoying to Robinson managers than he is productive in his own right. This is a brutal matchup to draw in a week where you could be a little shorthanded, and that’s why Allgeier doesn’t sit inside my top 25 at the position.
The Falcons have the Bucs, Cardinals, and Rams left on the fantasy schedule, spots that I’m not likely to have Allgeier ranked as a viable flex as long as Robinson is active. If their RB1 were to go down, however, we’d be looking at a top 15 option, and that’s why he’s worthy of rostering over a sixth receiver type that has no realistic path to a role that projects well.
Darnell Mooney, WR
Darnell Mooney has never been a hyper-efficient receiver because of his skill set, but this season has been bad, even by his standards.
His aDOT currently sits at a career high (15.0 yards with 40% of his looks coming 15+ yards downfield), and his yards per route are 24.5% below his career average. Over the past three weeks, he’s totaled just eight receptions, and you could, and I would, argue that all of those matchups were plus spots (Panthers, Saints, and Jets).
And now you’re comparing him against a Seahawks defense that allows points on a league-low 20.5% of drives?
Not. A. Chance.
I think he deserves to be rostered with nothing but good-weather games left on the schedule and games where this Atlanta offense is going to be forced to score to keep up, but he’s outside the flex range until we see some signs of life in this grounded offense.
Drake London, WR
In Weeks 9-11, Drake London was the third-highest scoring player in the sport. His 82.1 PPR points over that stretch trailed only Josh Allen (90.8) and Christian McCaffrey (87.0), leading the position by 19.2 points (Jaxon Smith-Njigba).
We know he was a star, but there are levels to these things, and he was ascending despite marginal quarterback play.
A knee injury has cost him consecutive games, though, and we aren’t exactly being loaded with glowing reports about his “not serious” injury.
This profiles as one of those easy situations where you simply mirror what the professional franchise does. This would be a brutal spot to return, but with 15 of 31 Kirk Cousins targets going to Kyle Pitts or Bijan Robinson last week in New York, it’s clear that there isn’t a secondary pass catcher to take looks off the plate of London.
He’s a dynasty-building piece, and while there is some risk in trusting him after a multi-week absence whenever it comes, he’s built up enough equity for us to rely on.
Kyle Pitts Sr., TE
How many tight ends do you think have at least four games with 7+ receptions this season?
The answer is three.
Kyle Pitts is obviously on that list; otherwise, this would be an awfully weird spot to drop that fact, with Trey McBride and Jake Ferguson being the others.
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The good weeks haven’t been the problem. Not this year and not since he was drafted. We know what Pitts can do when all the dots are connected, but we also know just how quickly things can go sideways and leave us feeling like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football.
He has seven games this season with under 40 receiving yards, and with him unable to offset the yardage risk with touchdown equity (his only touchdown this season came in September, and just one of his 75 targets has come with his feet in the end zone), the risk analysis conversation often skews in the negative direction.
There’s a time and place for Pitts. Maybe this is quietly one of them?
Seattle owns a great defense, that much we know. Great defenses, in 2025, aren’t great because they shut everything down (unless you’re playing the current version of the Vikings, then why not), but because they shut down what you want to rely on most.
I’m not sure Pitts is viewed as such. The Seahawks have seen a TE score at least 48% above his season average in four straight games, and if that trend continues, Pitts could finish inside the top 12 at the position in consecutive weeks and for the sixth time this season.