Luke Wilson answers your fantasy football questions. A deep look at both the rest of season and dynasty outlooks of the underperforming Ashton Jeanty, getting ahead of the market on a priority running back stash, shopping for deals ahead of fantasy trade deadlines, and more.

Question 1

What’s up with Tank Bigsby? Is he ready to come off of IR?

Craig Leedy (Sacramento, CA)

This one actually came in on November 3rd, but with the NFL trade deadline looming and there still being an outside chance that Saquon Barkley could join Jordan Davis and Cam Jurgens on outbound flights, I decided to risk holstering it another week. But the Eagles were true to their word, meaning Bigsby figures to play second fiddle to Barkley for Philadelphia's two-month march toward the offseason.

At least, that's what most would presume: Barkley is an established superstar player making eight figures a season, Bigsby is headed for free agency and very possibly won't be back in The City of Brotherly Love for our next trip around the sun. But that combination of factors is precisely why I would recommend hanging on to Bigsby. By electing not to ship Barkley out of town, Howie Roseman has signaled that this is a reload the Eagles are undertaking, not a rebuild — he expects to be right back in contention next fall. With Barkley set to turn 30 in a few months' time and a more than proven commodity, piling work on to a body that's already seen 2,260 NFL touches and counting doesn't make a ton of sense. Of course, Barkley's also a warrior; more than he maybe even should, he will want very much to keep playing all the way to the end.

But the Eagles may insist. Arizona ended Michael Wilson's season earlier this week over a reported vertebra fracture that didn't even make last week's Seahawks-Cardinals broadcast. A real injury to be sure, but one that Wilson could potentially have returned from in as little as six weeks. And yet the Cardinals immediately declared his season over, because there was nothing left to be gained: Wilson is now an established piece of the team's immediate future, and with or without him Arizona once again cannot compete in a forbidding NFC West. The same circumstances are now at play for the Eagles, so even a minor injury could be enough for the Eagles to mothball Barkley.

With that in mind, there's a real possibility that Bigsby returns from injury not only to rotate in liberally right away, but to have the show to himself for a number of weeks down the stretch. That may not have league-winning upside in an offense that could continue yo-yoing between Joe Milton and Tanner McKee in the weeks to come, but we have accumulated an assortment of anecdotal data that suggests Tank Bigsby is Pretty Good™. With the opportunity to possibly play his way into a tidy payday in the spring, he's exactly the sort of player I want to be stashing. In fact, after writing this up I dumped Kimani Vidal for him in the FI house league.

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Question 2

The week of 1000 questions, but I will just ask the one. Love me some Caleb Douglas, and with the big bye week and many changes through trades & injury I felt good about having Douglas lined up for starter status. So how do we feel about the QB change? Do we start a Denzel Boston this week over him, albeit in a tougher matchup? I know exactly zero about the guy who holds Caleb's fantasy fortunes for the next month.

David Kennedy (Steamburg, NY)

One thing we can say with some confidence is that Kyle McCord likes to sling it around some. After things didn't quite pan out for him in his one year attempting to succeed C.J. Stroud in Columbus, McCord transferred to upstate New York to pair up with Oronde Gadsden, and the results were pretty electric: McCord piled up a whopping 4,779 yards and 37 total touchdowns for the Orangemen, helping the program to a 10-3 finish, a Holiday Bowl win over Washington State — and the week before that, a 42-38 upset of Cam Ward and the No. 6-ranked Miami Hurricanes in the ACC title game. McCord has played in big games; I was a little surprised he was still on the board in the 6th round of the 2025 draft.

But past that, this is a bad Miami team that maybe just did a bit of the knowing self-sabotage alluded to in the previous question by sending their starting quarterback to injured reserve even though he was clearly well enough to keep playing. Miami remains more concerned with evaluating players than with wins and losses; good, in that that means Caleb Douglas will continue to be featured the rest of the way. Bad, in that now so too will be a second-year quarterback that's already been waived by one team (Philadelphia) and traded by another (Green Bay). Douglas owners should brace for turbulence.

But the situation for Denzel Boston isn't all that different: He's got quarterback uncertainty this week, and while the latent respective offenses might favor him (Cleveland is 19th in passing, Miami has overachieved to even be 30th), Boston has budding stars in Harold Fannin and KC Concepcion with which to contend. This really does kind of come down to the matchups, and I think they favor Boston: Miami gets an Indianapolis team in a bit of an identity crisis after strip mining themselves only to forget to trade the quarterback and running back, too. I could see Miami winning that game by dominating the time of possession battle behind a heaping helping of Ollie Gordon. As for Cleveland, they should have their hands full with a Houston team that just played their most complete game of the season and has no more margin for error. Cleveland should be throwing the ball this weekend, I can't confidently say the same for Miami.

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Question 3

I am in 1st place in my 16-team, standard scoring 4-keeper league. We can start either 2 RB/2WR or 1 RB/3 WR. My running backs are Corum, Jeanty, Washington and Price, receivers are JSN, Golden, Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams. This week I’m starting Corum with JSN, Golden and Williams because the Raider and Seahawk backfields are unpredictable. I have been offered Javonte Williams for Jeanty, Washington and a 4th round pick. Looking at your redrafted and dynasty rankings, I’m thinking it might be the right move to put me over the top to win another championship. Or do you think I’ll regret it giving up Jeanty (most likely) or Washington as a young keeper for next year?

Brian Rowell (Saint Johns, MI)

A 'keep 4' format pushes the timeline economy toward more of a redraft one, in my opinion — teams will mostly be keeping established earners, and with Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson, Jameson Williams and now Matthew Golden you already have some spots spoken for. Of course, those are all receivers, making things trickier.

Javonte Williams has clearly been the superior player so far this year, and with a little over $7 million bucks coming his way next season he's pretty much assured to be back for at least another season. With 10 TDs and over 800 total yards in 9 games it's very difficult to argue against him. But you did receive this offer for a reason: Jacksonville's reinforced and already impenetrable run defense, a bye week, and a full tour of the NFC West's top three defenes remain on Williams' slate, culminating with a Week 17 date with a stout Giants' front. Tough sledding.

But the Raiders just shipped away their starting quarterback in the middle of a true renaissance season, seemingly much to the chagrin of their new head coach. Rookie Fernando Mendoza has now been thrust to the fore, and I am expecting some significant growing pains. With a paltry 36 rush attempts over their last 5 games, Jeanty owners are rightfully on red alert. But this is also where your trade offeror's motivations come into view: After one more forbidding draw against visiting Seattle this weekend, Las Vegas has nothing but cake run defense matchups the rest of the way, including dates with Tennessee and Arizona to round out the fantasy playoffs. This is most assuredly what the other guy is going for here: Selling high on the older Williams, already playing at his ceiling and with an unpleasant remaining schedule, to swing big on the younger Jeanty's (and Washington's) upside. Pretty shrewd on his part.

But this is standard scoring, so while Jeanty's continued heavy involvement in the passing game has been nice in PPR formats that doesn't keep anyone's bed warm at night in yours. I would be inclined to lean Jeanty (he's a 23-year-old with a true guru running the offense, the ceiling is still very real here), but you brought this one to our doorstep for a reason. It's tough, and winning is more fun than losing. If your gut says sticking with the two Raiders is the wrong play, I would at least urge you to counter with the draft pick kicked out of the deal and see if you can make him blink.

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Question 4

Guys: What to make of Ashton Jeanty? Is he still hurt? Is he in the doghouse? Maybe not as good as we thought? He is tough to start right now with the way things are going! I traded for him in a dynasty league so I am stuck with him now. Love to know y’all’s thoughts.

Damon Duhon (Baton Rouge, LA)

You mean when you traded for Las Vegas' ballyhooed youngster you were expecting more than a 17-game pace of 2 TDs and 684 yards rushing? You and us both, Damon.

It's hard to give players mulligans. It's a 'what have you done for me lately?' business, "You are what your record says you are", etc. Ignoring poor performance from one season into the next is a great way to miss the playoffs, so when we're handing out our mulligans we definitely want to have good reason to do so: Recent struggles have been an anomaly, player has been good in previous seasons, major upgrades in supporting cast, that sort of thing. Jeanty qualifies for exactly none of those: He was deeply inefficient last year too, and the Raiders just kicked their own chair out from under themselves in exchange for a 2027 draft pick outside the top 75. That's not great! We do now have significant basis for concern going forward.

But we do need to remember two things: One, the 2025 Raiders were truly a clowns in a Volkswagen-level operation, which has been further proven by Geno Smith's positive regression back into an above-average point man on a still not great Jets team. And two, in late August Jeanty did suffer a serious ankle injury that is clearly still affecting him and will probably be addressed surgically in a couple of months. So, while it's easy to start to worry that the kid just doesn't have the same stuff as a Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs we do also have to remember that the number of NFL games Jeanty has played at or near full health in an offense not being actively sabotaged by Chip Kelly is, frustratingly, still at zero. I won't tell you Mike Washington isn't a concern; he certainly is now. But with a vice grip on the high value receiving work and a track record that still suggests he can be a prolific rusher, patience in the face of mounting, but still defeatable doubts is still my recommendation.

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Question 5

Which teams (and thus players) would you target in trades with the fantasy playoffs in mind?

Brian Boyd (Maple Grove, MN)

The kind of question that turns 2nd place finishes into championships, this goes directly toward FI's top down, holistic approach to appraising and forecasting team offenses overall and then divvying up that production within those team's players. Kudos Brian.

Obviously, getting your hands on a Ja'Marr Chase, Christian Watson or Jahmyr Gibbs would be great, but assuming we're omitting those usual suspects and going straight for the 'buy low' aisle, here are some of the names for which I'd be gunning as trade deadlines bear down:

• A.J. Brown: He's dealing with multiple leg injuries and New England has a grizzly December draw, but the upcoming three weeks are a cake walk and the Patriots need all hands on deck as they try to stay in control of their destiny heading into the home stretch. Drake Maye is putting up numbers and they do not want to continue running 18 targets a game through Pop Douglas, Mack Hollins and Efton Chism. A lot of Brown owners are primed and ready to cut bait.
• Derrick Henry: With just 1 rushing touchdown and zero games over 60 total yards since Week 5(!), some are rushing to foretell the end for the aging King Henry. But Jacoby Brissett is a quality mercenary, and he can stabilize the surrounding offense enough to enable Henry to resume chewing teams up in the second halves of games. Upcoming dates with the scuffling Panthers and winless Chargers certainly don't hurt.
• Davante Adams: I don't think the Rams are dead yet. Between Adams, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald, there's a lot of 'go out with your boots on' in effect for L.A. Already rumored to be returning after their Week 11 bye, Adams appears to have a whale of a target share waiting for him.
• Keenan Allen: We are loading up on old guys, boys. While it's certainly not a good sign that the almost 35-year-old Allen's cranky hamstrings constitute the picture of health for San Francisco's typically decimated receiver group, Allen is even deeper in his twilight than Adams and is also looking to go out as a winner (staggering: Allen has won just one playoff game since his 2013 rookie season. Just one!). With plans to make one last deep postseason run before their entire roster disintegrates in the shadow of the electrical substation, the Niners would love nothing more than for Allen to chow down on targets and allow Mike Evans to take his time recovering. Four of Allen's first five matchups as a Niner are layups. Honorable mentions for Evans and Deebo Samuel; if you can get any of them for what feels like reasonable pricing, pull the trigger.
• Cam Skattebo: After Harbaugh was rumored to covet both Kenneth Walker and Jeremiyah Love in the offseason and the Giants got down to the 5-yard line in negotiations for Jonathan Taylor, it's pretty clear Skattebo hasn't exactly cemented his standing with his new coaches. But he now gets the chance to do exactly that, and coming off of his best performance of the season gets matchups with Philadelphia and Indianapolis' trade-depleted defensive fronts, as well as Cleveland and Dallas in the fantasy playoffs.
• Emeka Egbuka: I know, pretty gross. But he's got 9-plus targets in 3 of his last 5 games, the organization wants him to be the guy, and the upcoming schedule is pudding.
• Rashee Rice: If Egbuka isn't gross enough for you, allow me to present the morally and now literally bankrupt Rice. He's been a sizable fantasy disappointment thus far, but prior to his Week 4 hamstring pull he was beginning to consolidate the targets. I'm not sure that Josh Downs' arrival is a net negative for Rice, but I am sure the worst is over for Kansas City's pass defense schedule.
• Stefon Diggs: Squeezing in one more old guy, Diggs doesn't enjoy the same Lombardi motivation buff as Adams and Allen. But there are quietly a lot of positive at play for the aging aged superstar: With the Commanders out of the hunt, the whole coaching staff is auditioning for their NFL futures the rest of the way, and certainly nobody in Landover will complain if Jayden Daniels closes out another lost season on a high note. Diggs grew up in the DC area, and with Terry McLaurin's dreaded patellar injury there is suddenly a path for him to be more than a one-year rental. Best of all, after a thoroughly crummy stretch of matchups over their last six games Diggs gets a mostly steady diet of true pass funnel defenses from Week 12 on, starting with a trip to Arizona.
• Ashton Jeanty: Hey, why not? As ugly as it's been, as scary as it still is, Jeanty hasn't actually been eclipsed by Mike Washington, who has still only managed double digit carries in a game the once. Warts and all, Jeanty has found his way to 70 total yards, a touchdown or both in 7 of 9 games, steadiness that has kept him solidly in the second tier of running backs thus far. Between an agreeable upcoming schedule and the possibility that Mendoza hits the ground running, I'd rather have Jeanty than the hotter-running Braelon Allen or Ollie Gordon the rest of the way.

Hope this list helps Brian, and happy trade hunting.

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