Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers
\nRB Kenneth Walker, Seahawks<\/p>\n
I have to imagine that Kenneth Walker<\/a> and his agent are on the phone right now like the Tony Montana-Alex Sosa Scarface meme, laughing about how much money they\u2019re about to make this offseason.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because Walker went scorched Earth in the playoffs, averaging 139 total yards while scoring four TDs. He averaged 24.9 fantasy PPG, a number that would\u2019ve put him at RB1 for the season ahead of Christian McCaffrey<\/a>. Obviously, it\u2019s a small sample size, and he did that without Zach Charbonnet<\/a> on the field, but producing like that against playoff competition is mightily impressive.<\/p>\n Now, the toothpaste is out of the tube. You can\u2019t put it back.<\/p>\n Walker showed out on the biggest stage in all three playoff games, culminating in a 161-yard Super Bowl performance against the Patriots that won him MVP honors. He became the first RB since Terrell Davis in 1998 to take home the award. Under the brightest lights, Walker looked every bit the part of an elite back, making New England defenders miss in the hole and out-racing them to the edge for large chunks all night long.<\/p>\n Kenneth Walker<\/a>\u2018s 2025 EPX<\/p>\n Zooming out a bit, you now have a 25-year-old back in his prime, who\u2019s about to hit free agency after winning Super Bowl MVP and totaling over 100 yards in five of his last six games.<\/p>\n Hard not to ask for a better negotiation position than that if you\u2019re in Walker\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll see if he even makes it to the open market. With Charbonnet all but guaranteed to miss at least a portion of 2026 as he recovers from an ACL tear, the Seahawks may just throw a bag at Walker to keep him in Seattle for the long haul. But if they don\u2019t, there will be several teams lining up to potentially sign him, knowing he could be the spark that ignites their run game.<\/p>\n If Walker stays put, he\u2019ll have low-end RB1 upside as long as he gets the majority of the workload. But if he signs somewhere spicy \u2014 say, Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes<\/a> or Washington with Jayden Daniels<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019ll be unbridled excitement from his dynasty managers all offseason long.<\/p>\n No matter where he ends up, it was awesome to see Walker remind everyone of what the fantasy community has known for a while now: dude is an absolute stud.<\/p>\n TE AJ Barner, Seahawks<\/p>\n It took until the fourth quarter, but the world finally saw a TD in the Super Bowl when AJ Barner<\/a> caught a corner route off a play-action fake from Sam Darnold<\/a> to give Seattle a 19-0 lead. For Barner, the score made up for a quiet first two playoff games, as he saved his best for last: catching four balls for 54 yards and the lone offensive TD of the night for Seattle in their win.<\/p>\n Barner flew under the radar somewhat in a breakout sophomore campaign. He increased his catches from 30 to 52, more than doubled his yardage from 245 to 519, and bumped his TD total from four to six. He\u2019s still a classic boom-or-bust option at the position, though \u2014 you\u2019re happy when he scores; you question why you even roster him when he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n AJ Barner<\/a>\u2018s 2025 efficiency metrics<\/p>\n With the loss of Klint Kubiak, it\u2019ll be interesting to see Barner\u2019s role next season. Will he take another leap and jump into the TE1 conversation? Or continue to be a matchup-based option you plug in and hope for paydirt?<\/p>\n Either way, at TE17 prices on KeepTradeCut, Barner is an interesting player I wouldn\u2019t mind buying in TE-premium formats. Outside of that, I just don\u2019t think the production is worth chasing. His upside seems capped, as he\u2019s unlikely to ever command serious volume. That said, he\u2019s young and relatively affordable, enough to where I wouldn\u2019t mind paying market value to see if he continues this progression.<\/p>\n Dynasty Fantasy Football Fallers Maybe we should pump the brakes on Drake Maye<\/a> being the 1.01 in dynasty startups, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n Look, I think he\u2019s obviously extremely talented. You don\u2019t finish within one vote of winning the NFL MVP if you\u2019re just a guy. However, this postseason exposed some legit flaws in his game \u2014 and the Patriots offense in general \u2014 that we need to take into account.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re being honest, Maye benefited from a cupcake regular season schedule that made him look better than he currently is. Then, a historically tough playoff schedule brought him back down to Earth. In reality, Maye\u2019s true talents and abilities lie somewhere in the middle of what we saw in 2025.<\/p>\n The second-year signal-caller looked phenomenal in the regular season, completing 72% of his passes and throwing for 4,394 yards and 31 TDs against eight interceptions. He also chipped in 450 yards and four scores on the ground as well. Numbers that made him fantasy\u2019s QB3 on a points per game basis (21.3).<\/p>\n Drake Maye<\/a>\u2018s Advanced Metrics<\/p>\n But in the playoffs, it was a different story. In the four-game postseason stretch, Maye completed just 58.3% of his throws for 828 yards and six TDs. He also turned the ball over far too often, tossing four picks and fumbling the ball an absurd seven times. With another 17 fumbles in 30 regular-season contests, the number of times he puts the ball on the ground is starting to become a concern.<\/p>\n The turnovers didn\u2019t stop everything on the line in the Super Bowl. Maye had three, all in the second half, which killed any chance of coming back against the Seahawks. Overall, he was 27-of-43 for 295 yards, but nearly all of that yardage (235) came in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were down 19-0. He tossed two garbage-time scores, but he just couldn\u2019t get into a rhythm and took a beating behind subpar offensive line play all night long.<\/p>\n Rookie left tackle Will Campbell<\/a> struggled in particular. Campbell allowed 14 QB pressures in the Super Bowl, the most by any player in a game this season, per Next-Gen Stats.<\/p>\n All of this came just three nights after Maye was nearly crowned league MVP. Talk about flipping the script.<\/p>\n None of this is to say the future isn\u2019t bright for the 2024 third overall selection. It is. Maye\u2019s only 23 years old and clearly a cornerstone dynasty asset. That said, I just don\u2019t see how you can rank or take him above a proven beast in Josh Allen<\/a>, who\u2019s finished as QB1 or QB2 in fantasy scoring for six straight seasons.<\/p>\n I understand the age argument, but we need to stop anointing these young QBs after one strong season. We\u2019ve seen this movie before. It happened with C.J. Stroud<\/a>. It happened with Jayden Daniels<\/a>. Now it\u2019s happening with Maye. Whether it was poor play or injuries, it didn\u2019t work out well for Stroud or Daniels after getting pushed into that elite tier so quickly.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s temper expectations a bit, is all I\u2019m saying. This postseason showed Maye\u2019s not ready to take his place at the top of the mountain. Not yet.<\/p>\n RB TreVeyon Henderson, Patriots<\/p>\n I wrote about TreVeyon Henderson<\/a> and his slipping value in the previous installment of this series<\/a>, so I won\u2019t rehash everything here. But after a month-long slump, Henderson had one last chance to showcase his skills on the biggest stage of them all. Instead, the offensive coaching staff did him no favors, and he fell flat yet again.<\/p>\n On a night when the Patriots\u2019 offense desperately needed a spark, their explosive rookie had just six carries for 19 yards. He added three catches for 26 yards, 24 of which came on the final play as the clock expired.<\/p>\n He ended the postseason with some very meager stats: 30 carries for 76 yards (2.5 YPC) and six receptions for 33 yards in four games. He scored the same number of TDs as you and me: zero.<\/p>\n TreVeyon Henderson<\/a>\u2018s Advanced Metrics<\/p>\n Henderson\u2019s dynasty value is going to be a fascinating offseason storyline to monitor. He left a bad taste in many managers\u2019 mouths after this lackluster playoff run. But we saw him pop in several games during the regular season; we know the talent is there.<\/p>\n That said, Rhamondre Stevenson<\/a> seems entrenched as the lead back. He\u2019s going to get his fair share of early-down work, and the coaching staff clearly trusts him more in two-minute situations thanks to his pass-blocking ability.<\/p>\n If you want Henderson, your buying window is wide open. Start low with your offers; you never know what another manager will accept. Just know, his outlook is far murkier now than it was even a month ago.<\/p>\n For more articles from PlayerProfiler, check out the fantasy home page \u2013 NFL Fantasy | PlayerProfiler \u2013 Fantasy Football News & Media<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/K9-EPX-1024x294.jpg\")
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\nQB Drake Maye, Patriots<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Maye-PP-1024x335.jpg\")
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