Fantasy Football Stock Report: Star WRs Drake London and Ladd McConkey off to disappointing starts Matt OkadaSeptember 22, 2025 at 10:57 PM 0 With all but one Week 3 game in the books (LionsRavens on Monday night), we've learned a little bit more than we knew last week.
- - Fantasy Football Stock Report: Star WRs Drake London and Ladd McConkey off to disappointing starts
Matt OkadaSeptember 22, 2025 at 10:57 PM
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With all but one Week 3 game in the books (Lions-Ravens on Monday night), we've learned a little bit more than we knew last week. Or, in some cases, thought we knew. Players impressed, players disappointed, players unfortunately got hurt and there is fantasy fallout to unpack.
Once again, I've compiled the full weekly fantasy stock report below. These are the most notable risers and fallers heading into Week 4. Invest accordingly!
📈 Stock Up at RBJordan Mason
I left Mason out of last week's column, following Aaron Jones Sr.'s injury and IR designation, but I will not make that mistake again this week. In his first game with the workhorse role that Kevin O'Connell stated confidently he could carry, Mason took 16 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He's not just "Stock Up" … he might be a league-winner. Mason was a popular mid-round draft pick on the chances that he'd usurp Jones for carries at some point this season, but the door opened early and Mason sprinted through it. He will be a strong RB2 for as long as Jones is out — and likely upon his return — who holds weekly RB1 upside in games the Vikings can establish a lead.
Jaylen Warren
Last week, Aaron Rodgers made some comments about getting Warren more involved in the passing game. This week, Warren caught five of six targets for 34 yards (all tops on the team), and posted a decent 10.6 fantasy points as the clear-cut lead back for Pittsburgh. Cause, meet effect. Kenneth Gainwell is still seeing some work as a change-of-pace back, but this is Warren's backfield and even though Week 3 was his "worst" fantasy outing of the season, it still resulted in double-digit points. Given the state of the offense overall — that is, not explosive — Warren probably won't have RB1 upside very often. But with the lead job locked down, he's a solid, high-floor RB2 or FLEX play every week.
Trey Benson
This one is unfortunate, but simple: James Conner suffered a season-ending ankle injury on Sunday, and Benson is now the starting running back for a run-heavy offense. Benson has the size and explosivity to be a workhorse for Arizona and a star for fantasy, assuming he sees the vast majority of opportunities (Emari Demercado will assume his change-of-pace role, but is not a threat for significant volume in my opinion). He will be the top waiver wire add of the week — maybe of the season — and you should do whatever it takes to get him in the 48% of Yahoo leagues he's still available. Don't be surprised if Benson is a top-15 fantasy RB for the rest of the year.
📈 Stock Up at WRMatthew Golden
In the first game without Jayden Reed, Golden finally made an impact, catching all four of his targets for 52 yards. That was more catches and yards than he'd had in the first two weeks combined (by a lot), and he did it on a new high of 26 routes run, just behind Romeo Doubs (29) for most on the team. This looks like a situation where Golden will continue to ramp up as the season progresses, and it's very easy to imagine him taking a true "WR1" role over the next several weeks, considering the inconsistency from the rest of the Green Bay corps. He's not a trustworthy start just yet, but if you dropped him last week (somewhat justifiably, at the time), you might want to try to pick him back up.
A.J. Brown
We aired quite a few (well-deserved) complaints about the Eagles air attack last week, after it had been the least productive in the league through two games. Apparently our complaints were filed and addressed. Jalen Hurts threw for 226 yards (which is a lot for him) and three touchdowns, and Brown was the beneficiary of 109 of those yards and one of the TDs (on 10 targets). His stock is now much closer to where it should be — a weekly threat for WR1 performances — but we just need to be patient with the down weeks, as there will be a few more. Brown, DeVonta Smith and the entire Philly passing game is going to be spotty throughout the year, but we can continue to roll AJB out in starting lineups with (slightly spotty) confidence.
Emeka Egbuka
Egbuka has recorded double-digit fantasy points in each of his first three career games, with 4+ catches in every contest and three touchdowns on the year. The talent is obvious on tape, and the usage suggests a truly dominant ceiling to complement an already impressive floor. Plus, Mike Evans exited Sunday's game with a hamstring injury — which have nagged him throughout his career — opening the door for even more involvement for the Ohio State rookie. Chris Godwin may be returning soon, but Egbuka is confidently entrenched as a key cog in this offense. He has a WR3 floor, is an every-week fantasy starter and could climb his way up to WR1 territory if he turns into the top target for Baker Mayfield moving forward.
📈 Stock Up ElsewhereHunter Henry
Most weeks, you can probably chalk Hunter Henry down for 40-50 yards on four to five catches. And that's honestly nothing to sneeze at, if you don't have one of the top four or five tight ends. But as Sunday demonstrated, Henry also has major upside every once in awhile: he led the Patriots with eight catches, 90 yards and two touchdowns on 11 targets against Pittsburgh. Henry ran the most routes on the team (33) and accounted for 40.2% of Drake Maye's air yards. The two clearly have a connection, which puts Henry in the "weekly TE1" conversation and a must-roster player in most leagues.
Whoever's Facing the Cowboys Defense
The Dallas defense does not look good. After somehow holding the Eagles to "just" 24 points and 302 yards in Week 1, the unit has surrendered 891 yards and 68 points over the past two weeks … to Russell Wilson and Caleb Williams. In combination, those two QBs threw for 748 yards and seven touchdowns against this unit. Often in fantasy, we stream D/STs against incompetent offenses. In this case, stream offensive players against the Cowboys incompetent defense for the foreseeable future. You won't regret it.
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📉 Stock Down at RBRJ Harvey
Through the first couple weeks, there was hope to be found in RJ Harvey's relatively slow start thanks to strong underlying metrics, even without strong volume. But after a Week 3 outing in which he saw just two carries (to J.K. Dobbins' 11) and five total opportunities on 27% of the snaps, we simply cannot hold on to that hope any longer. You don't need to drop Harvey, but with Dobbins dominating the workload and playing extremely well, it would likely take an injury for the rookie to find his way into fantasy relevance any time soon. It's an unfortunate turn of events for those who drafted Harvey in the middle rounds, but he must be relegated to the bench until something changes in Denver.
📉 Stock Down at WRDrake London
At a certain point, we have to face the facts. Drake London has been good through three games. But good isn't good enough, based on where we drafted him and what we expect. He's totaled a whopping 27 targets … and has just averaged just 7.3 fantasy points per game. A lot of the blame could probably be pointed towards Michael Penix Jr., who has averaged just 153.5 passing yards the last two weeks and hasn't thrown a touchdown since the first two minutes of Week 1 (and that one was all Bijan Robinson). London's target share keeps him in the high-end WR2 conversation, but if Penix doesn't turn the dial up quickly, it's going to be very hard for London to return the value he was drafted in the second round to provide.
The Bengals Duo
Oof. Jake Browning had a tough test against Brian Flores' Vikings defense, but that's not really a good excuse for 140 yards on 27 passes with one TD (to Drew Sample in garbage time) and two interceptions. Any hope that Browning could support Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is quickly dwindling. Chase managed to put together five catches for 50 yards — incredibly mediocre by his standards — but Higgins caught one of his two targets for 15 yards. Things don't get any easier next week against Denver. If you can manage to get out from either wideout for solid trade value — especially Chase, who might still carry a WR1 price tag — go for it.
Ladd McConkey
There's no if's, and's or but's about it. Ladd McConkey is, at best, the WR1c on the Chargers. Between the return of Keenan Allen — still playing at a high level — and the unexpected breakout of Quentin Johnston, McConkey has been become a useful-for-the-Chargers slot receiver, but not the fantasy WR1 we saw during his rookie season. He's a solid possession option, but doesn't have Johnston's flashy downfield ability or Allen's elite craftiness in the red zone. Through three weeks, McConkey is averaging just 7.9 fantasy points per game, while Johnston sits at 16.2 and Allen clocks in at 15.6 — with the other receivers each scoring three touchdowns on the year. McConkey will have better fantasy days (most likely). But he's not an automatic start and has a severely capped ceiling as the third-best fantasy piece in this passing attack.
📉 Stock Down ElsewhereBaker Mayfield
Let me be clear: Baker Mayfield has been amazing through three weeks … as an NFL quarterback. He has led the Buccaneers to three straight tough victories, and been efficient and safe with the football. However, for fantasy, he has dropped from 22.58 points in Week 1, to 19.9 in Week 2, to 17.7 in Week 3, throwing one fewer touchdown pass in each successive week. And now he may be without Mike Evans (hamstring) for a period of time. Also, Mayfield has yet to throw a single interception, and has propped up his fantasy totals with 30-40 rushing yards in each of the three games. He's one of my favorite players to watch, and should continue to be somewhat effective, but the regression is starting, the TDs are dropping, the INTs will likely rise and the rushing production will likely fall. Moving forward, Mayfield is more likely to be a fringe QB1, especially with Evans absent, than a top-six fantasy star.
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce managed a touchdown in Week 1, and four catches for 61 yards in Week 2, so he entered Week 3 as the TE6 on the season. But he had not felt anything like the target-hog, Patrick Mahomes'-magic-wand from years past. So his 26 yards on Sunday night felt more fitting to the tape we've seen so far in 2025. Now, Kelce's down at TE10 entering Monday (and could fall to TE11 with 10 points from Sam LaPorta). And of course, all of this is without Xavier Worthy or Rashee Rice in the lineup. As the season progresses, other weapons return and Kansas City starts saving the 35-year-old Kelce for a playoff run (theoretically), he might drop from fringe TE1 territory to week-to-week streamer duties.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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