All statistics are provided via the Fantasy Points Data Suite<\/a>, the best tool in fantasy football, unless otherwise stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rashee Rice’s return from suspension was everything we hoped for and then some. The Chiefs beat the brakes off the Raiders and basically didn’t have to try to score in the second half, but that didn’t stop Rice from immediately paying off in a big way for fantasy. Rice only ran a route on 17 of Mahomes 40 drop backs but was able to post 9 targets, good for an ungodly .53 TPRR. He immediately resumed his role as the primary option in the Chiefs passing attack, posting 31.2% first-read target share, a mark that would put him 11th amongst WR’s on the season. Even more exciting than Rice immediately returning to his target-monster ways is the types of targets he was seeing. Rice earned all 3 of the Chiefs designed targets on the day and earned 2 targets inside the 5 yard line (both of which he converted for touchdowns). The Chiefs lead the league in PROE on the season, making his role as valuable as any in the NFL. He has a legit shot to finish as the WR1 overall the rest of the season. If you drafted him and were able to keep your head above water through his suspension, congratulations. It’s wheels up from here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blake Corum’s usage has been a hot topic in fantasy circles over the last few weeks as the Rams have seemingly made it a point to increase his workload. The Rams’ week 7’s RB usage looked like more of the same on the surface, but the optics of it change once you take a peek under the hood. Both Kyren Williams and Blake Corum posted 12 carries on the week, however Williams saw 7 carries to Corum’s 2 in the first half, whereas Corum saw 10 carries to William’s 5 after the Rams came out of the break up 21-0. Williams also had a solid handle on the passing work, running 14 routes to Corum’s 4. It feels like we’ve been trying to convince Sean McVay to utilize a second back ever since the preseason report last year that Williams was going to be worked in as a kick returner. The simple fact is that Sean McVay loves Kyren Williams and is perfectly comfortable with using him in a bellcow role, efficiency be damned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Kenneth Gainwell had a stronger role than Jaylen Warren in week 6 (11.8 XFP to 9.0), week 7 saw Warren’s role return to what we saw from him earlier in the season, tallying 16.5 XFP compared to Gainwell’s 4.1. Warren saw 16 of the Steelers’ 19 RB carries, ran 37% of the routes and earned 5 targets. One of the questions that I had in Warren’s return last week was which of Warren and Gainwell would get the goal line work. We didn’t actually get an answer to this in week 6 as the Steelers didn’t have an i5 carry in the game, but in week 7 it was Jaylen Warren that got the lone goal line tote. This is definitely a fluid situation that can vary week to week, but it’s clear that this staff trusts Warren to handle a huge bulk of the work on a weekly basis. And this is for good reason! Warren has been one of the most efficient backs in the NFL in 2025, posting 3.09 YACO\/ATT (7th in the NFL amongst RB’s with 25+ carries), and .29 MTF\/ATT (2nd).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Panthers didn’t employ and exact 50\/50 split, but neither back had a meaningfully better role than the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chuba Hubbard: 38 snaps, 14 carries (2.2 YPC), 13 routes, 2 targets, 11.2 XFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico Dowdle: 32 snaps, 17 carries (4.7 YPC), 6 routes, 1 target, 9.6 XFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hubbard played the entire first drive and was on the field for 13 of the team’s first 21 snaps, but Dowdle was more productive with his opportunities and earned more work as the game went on. Hubbard has been wildly unproductive this season, racking up 0 MTF and explosive rushes across 67 carries. Dowdle on the other hand has 16 MTF and 5 explosive rushes on his 98 carries. Sure, it’s likely that the calf issue that sidelined Hubbard for two weeks has played a role in his lack of success as a rusher this season, but that doesn’t change the disparity in production between him and Dowdle. While it’s hard to project this backfield as anything other than a 50\/50 split in the immediate future, Dowdle is a good bet to push for more work if he can continue to outproduce Hubbard to this degree. I’m still bullish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evan Engram has quietly put together a nice stretch for the Broncos. He’s earned at least 5 targets in each of the last 4 games after missing week 3 with a back injury. Over that stretch, Engram has led all Broncos pass catchers with at least 50 routes run with a .26 TPRR and is 4th amongst all TE’s in targets. The TE position is typically pretty devoid of every week starters, and 2025 has been no different. If you drafted Brock Bowers, hit on Darren Waller on the waiver wire before losing him to injury or punted on TE and are looking to get out of the weekly streaming business, Engram is worth a flier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Training camp darling Oronde Gadsden has burst onto the scene the last two weeks. In week 6, Gadsden ran 69% of the routes, earned 8 targets (3 i20 and 1 EZ target), had a 31.5% first-read target share, and posted 2.52 YPRR. Week 7 was even better, with Gadsden running 79% of the routes, again posting 8 targets (2 more i20 targets), a 19.4% first-read target share (a step back from the previous week but would still be a top 10 mark for a TE across the season), and a staggering 3.42 YPRR. He also racked up 62 YAC and 38 YACO. It would be a mistake to not note that this coincides with Quentin Johnston missing week 6 with a hamstring injury and likely operating as a decoy in some capacity in week 7, but production like this from the TE position in back to back weeks is notable regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Week 7 was the 5th time DK Metcalf has failed to hit 5 receptions in a game in 2025. It was also the 5th time he finished a week with less than 15 fantasy points. This was always a concern coming into the season, as he was stepping into an offense ran by the much maligned Arthur Smith, who has captained some of the run-heaviest offenses of the last decade in his different stops as a play caller, and Metcalf’s play style as a vertical bruiser not fitting the mold of the route running savants we’ve seen excel with Aaron Rodgers. The bull case was that a lack of target competition in Pittsburgh would have Rodgers lean on Metcalf out of necessity. That simply hasn’t materialized, as Metcalf’s 21.3% target share in the 22nd ranked offense by PROE has only led to 6.2 TGT\/G, the 41st best mark amongst WR’s. The saving grace for Metcalf in fantasy has been how pure he’s ran on TD’s, as his 4 scores have propped him up to the WR24 on the season. This production has far outpaced his 11.1 XFP\/G, which has him as the WR47.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill Croskey-Merritt’s disappointing fantasy stretch oddly directly correlates with his takeover of the backfield. It isn’t often that this happens, but it doesn’t change that we’ve seen Bill continue to hold onto a really strong role in Washington. Week 7 saw him take 13 of the 18 RB carries and lead the backfield in routes for the second straight week. This hasn’t led to fantasy points, especially confusing considering his week 6 matchup against the Bears porous run defense should have been a smash spot. Regardless, I’m continuing to be bullish about a back that’s going to be getting a majority of the carries next to Jayden Daniels when he returns from his new hamstring injury. Bill will likely have a tough time over the next two weeks with Marcus Mariota starting under center against the Chiefs on Monday night followed by a matchup against a very strong Seattle run defense, but after that the schedule offers easier matchups more often than not (DET, @MIA, BYE, DEN, @MIN, @NYG, PHI, DAL through week 17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had Egbuka docked last week considering Mike Evans’ impending return from a hamstring injury he suffered in week 3 and Egbuka’s own hamstring injury that forced him to leave the game early in week 6. This injury was supposed to sidle line Egbuka for a couple of weeks, but it turned out Egbuka was a surprise active on Monday night against the Lions. Evans returned and suffered two new injuries on Monday night, sustaining both a concussion and a broken collarbone while diving for a deep ball in the second quarter, the latter of which will force him to miss most if not all of the remainder of the regular season. Factor in Chris Godwin dealing with issues related to his surgically repaired fibula and Egbuka is in one of the best roles of any WR in the NFL. It’s wheels all the way up from here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Pittman has quietly been the WR10 on the season, largely on the back of his 5 TD grabs. While he isn’t posting gaudy yardage totals on a weekly basis, Pittman is the anchor of the passing attack on an offense that has been historically efficient to start the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWeek 7 Data Dump<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Rashee Rice: league winner<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
McVay can’t quit Kyren<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Jaylen Warren got his role back<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Carolina’s 50\/50 split<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Evan Engram is heating up<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Oh my Gadsden!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
DK disappoints… again<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Bill Nye the leader of the backfield guy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
ROS Top 150<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Link to the ROS Top 150 \u2b07\ufe0f<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Risers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Emeka Egbuka<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Overall: 30 \ud83d\udcc8 15
Position: WR14 \ud83d\udcc8 WR8<\/h6>\n\n\n\nMichael Pittman<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Overall: 82 \ud83d\udcc8 65
Position: WR32 \ud83d\udcc8 WR28<\/h6>\n\n\n\n