Fantasy Football Rankings And Projections (August 29 Update)
The Rashee Rice suspension highlights my latest projection update for the 2025 draft season. Over the next two weekends, I have five, possibly six high-dollar drafts, where I hope to use my summer research to reach the promised land. I’m looking to take down the overall championship, where there is a carrot for a life-changing payday.
The player pool remains fluid, due to multiple trades this week and NFL teams placing some players on the PUP list. Here’s my latest roster adjustments:
Note: Some RB4s may be placeholders due to NFL teams making roster cuts and shipping some players to their practice squads.
Arizona Cardinals
No Changes.
Atlanta Falcons
Darnell Mooney (shoulder) survived the dreaded PUP list, and he returned to practice this week. On my 8/5 update, I downgraded him to missing four games due to his lingering injury. His positive news led me to add back two more weeks of stats to his projection. Nathan Carter draws the RB3 ranking after the Falcons’ roster cutdowns.
Baltimore Ravens
No changes.
Buffalo Bills
No changes.
Carolina Panthers
As expected, the Panthers traded Adam Thielen to the Minnesota Vikings. This deal solidifies Xavier Legette as Carolina’s WR2 while giving Jalen Coker a much better pass-catching opportunity. All receivers have been adjusted in Carolina’s offense.
Chicago Bears
No Changes.
Cincinnati Bengals
No changes.
Cleveland Browns
I restructured the Browns' running back depth chart, assigning Quinshon Judkins an RB3 role. With no news of his signing, he falls only into a spec play. The fantasy market wonders if he is a value or a roster spot donation. His talent screams upside, so at some point, Judkins will be the best-looking player in the draft queue.
I also sense that Deshaun Watson may be more of a factor for the Browns later in the season than initially expected.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys running back projections have been adjusted for all players, with Jaydon Blue rising to RB2.
Denver Broncos
No changes.
Detroit Lions
No changes.
Green Bay Packers
No changes, but my projections for the Packers’ wideouts look messy due to the high number of players with injury tags next to their names. I’m against the public opinion with Matthew Golden, but his opportunity looks higher than I projected just by him being one of Green Bay’s healthy wide receivers. Only slight adjustments were made.
Houston Texans
The Texans are painting a regressing picture of Joe Mixon’s outlook this year, but all NFL teams lie. Last week, I downgraded him by five games. I made further adjustments to this backfield, but I still lack a clear understanding of the expected usage of Dameon Pierce and Woody Marks.
Indianapolis Colts
No changes.
Jacksonville Jaguars
I added Tim Patrick to the Jaguars’ wide receiver depth chart and adjusted the backend of Jacksonville’s wideouts.
Kansas City Chiefs
After adjusting for two more missed games, Rashee Rice slipped to WR52 by projections (61/735/5) while scoring 164.87 fantasy points in PPR formats. Based on my outlook, there is still value in drafting him if he falls into the WR5 range. His new expected fantasy points divided by 11 games deliver a top 10 wide receiver weekly average (14.98).
I downgraded Patrick Mahomes by two touchdowns. Xavier Worthy moved from WR23 (75/1,053/9) to WR18 (82/1,137/9).
Earlier this week, I outlined how the Rashee Rice suspension affected his 2025 fantasy value and what his roster slot was worth to a fantasy team.
Miami Dolphins
Jaylen Wright won’t play in Week 1 after having leg surgery. Miami expects him to miss multiple weeks, but his issue appears to be minor. I already downgraded him last week, promoting Ollie Gordon to RB2 in this offense. I left their running back projections the same.
Minnesota Vikings
The addition of Adam Thielen to the Vikings provides them with a veteran receiving option to help bridge the gap left by Jordan Addison's suspension. To account for Thielen’s talent, I had to either pull chances away from Minnesota’s top three receiving options or add more passing attempts. Thielen does help this offense, so I’ll go with one pass per game bump for JJ McCarthy while pulling targets away for Jalen Nailor and the tight end position.
New England Patriots
The Patriots decided to go with Mac Hollins at WR5 over Kendrick Bourne. I adjusted the backend of their wide receiver projections.
New Orleans Saints
Over the past week, the Saints upgraded their WR4 and WR5 depth by acquiring Devaughn Vele and claiming Trey Palmer. I updated their projections for these two players. Spencer Rattler earns the Week 1 start for New Orleans while remaining a coin flip with Tyler Shough for playing time over a 17-game schedule.
New York Giants
No changes.
New York Jets
Xavier Gibson replaced Malachi Corley on the Jets’ wide receiver depth chart after they released him.
Las Vegas Raiders
No changes.
Philadelphia Eagles
No changes.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Scotty Miller moves to WR4 while Ben Skowronek takes over the fifth slot on the Steelers’ wide receiver depth chart.
Los Angeles Chargers
Najee Harris returned to practice. No changes.
San Francisco 49ers
The backend of the 49ers’ wide receiver corps looks messy due to so many injuries. San Francisco claimed Marquez Valdes-Scantling and shipped him to their practice squad. I don’t have him projected, but I expect him to play in Week 1.
Seattle Seahawks
Tory Horton and Jake Bobo moved up a notch at wide receiver after Seattle released Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Los Angeles Rams
No changes.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers activated Chris Godwin off the PUP list, and he should play in Week 1. Cade Otton will miss some time, so I shifted some of his chances back to Tampa’s wide receiver to add more value to Godwin.
Tennessee Titans
No changes.
Washington Commanders
No changes.
CLICK HERE to view our 2025 Updated Projections.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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