Each year has its share of fantasy football players that either make a name for themselves or fall down draft boards. Below are just a few examples of players who are already making major moves in expert consensus rankings (ECR).
Fantasy Football Players Trending Up & Down
Here is a quick glance at players who are trending in the right (or wrong) direction, heading into mid-July.
Fantasy Football Players Trending Down
Brandon Aiyuk (WR – SF) | ECR: WR88
There aren’t many examples of players purposely forcing their own downward trend, but 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk is an exception. The seventh-year veteran has been making headlines all offseason for his bizarre social media behavior, trying to find any post that finally forces the 49ers to move on from him. It hasn’t worked yet, as he’s still on the 49ers’ roster.
Aiyuk had long been connected to the Commanders and former Arizona teammate Jayden Daniels, but now he’s antagonizing them, too, making it less likely he ends up there or anywhere this season.
This was supposed to be a bounce-back year for Aiyuk. Drafted in 2020, he got better in each professional season, culminating in a 1,342-yard and top-10 fantasy season in 2023. Then he tore his ACL halfway through the 2024 season and was still recovering into the 2025 season. But then he just stopped showing up to work, i.e., rehabbing with the team. That led to the 49ers voiding the guarantees of his contract and placing him on the ‘left team list’ where he’s been ever since.
It is possible that Aiyuk could still be welcomed back by the 49ers or some other team. His contract is such that he’s now a minimal financial investment. But until such time as Aiyuk has an epiphany and stops bashing his current and potential future employers, the downward trend will continue and could reach the point where he doesn’t play at all this season… or ever again.
RJ Harvey (RB – DEN) | ECR: RB32
Expectations were understandably high for Broncos running back RJ Harvey in his rookie season. The second-round pick was entering a wide-open running back room on a Sean Payton-led offense. The hope was he could turn into Payton’s Alvin Kamara or Reggie Bush, former Saints running backs who could do a little bit of everything while providing fantasy managers with a ton of points.
Alas, it was not meant to be, at least not in 2025. Veteran J.K. Dobbins was the lead back for most of the season until an injury ended his season in Week 10. But Dobbins played so well that, despite the injury, Denver re-signed him this offseason, which is Harvey’s first red flag.
The second red flag is that Harvey never really took off in his time as a starter. His 3.7 yards per carry average was more than a yard less than Dobbins’ on virtually the same number of carries (153-147). Harvey did have some involvement in the passing game, but had just two games with over 40 receiving yards.
Which brings us to the third red flag: Denver drafting running back Jonah Coleman in the fourth round. Coleman and Harvey have similar skill sets, with Coleman getting a lot of snaps in as Harvey recovers from shoulder surgery (red flag number four).
Between the level of competition and Harvey giving fantasy managers nothing to celebrate last season as a rookie, his fantasy stock is dropping as we get closer to the start of the season.
Fantasy Football Players Trending Up
Terry McLaurin (WR – WSH) | ECR: WR22
After missing a lot of the 2025 season thanks to a quad injury, just having a healthy year would be enough for Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin to trend upwards. But not only is McLaurin healthy, but there are several signs that he’ll be better than ever.
For starters, there is the hiring of David Blough as the new offensive coordinator. Blough takes over for the since-departed Kliff Kingsbury, who was accused of running a fairly vanilla offense. Blough heard the feedback and mixed up the offense by moving McLaurin around the field. Even that should throw defenses off more than they were last year against Washington.
McLaurin also, again, has little competition for targets in the Commanders’ offense and is the undisputed 1A. In that role as a Commander, he’s recorded six straight 1,000-yard seasons and was on his way again last year before injuries kept him out of seven games.
McLaurin also gets Pro Bowl quarterback Jayden Daniels back. Daniels missed a lot of time last season (seven games) with an elbow injury, but is healthy entering the offseason and will get plenty of snaps with McLaurin before the regular season starts. The combination of both Daniels and McLaurin returning will be a boost for the Commanders, but also for fantasy managers.
Emeka Egbuka (WR – TB) | ECR: WR20
As a second-year receiver, it’s hard for Emeka Egbuka to be trending much higher. He recorded 938 receiving yards and six touchdowns and was a top-20 fantasy receiver in his rookie campaign.
Egbuka did much of his damage while former Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans was out with an injury. That could be viewed as both a positive and a negative. It’s a positive that Egbuka was able to produce as the lead dog in the offense, with all three of his 100-yard games coming while Evans was out. The downside was that when Evans did come back, Egbuka took a back seat and totaled just 132 yards in four games.
Egbuka won’t have that problem this season as Evans moved on to San Francisco, leaving the top spot open. It likely won’t be veteran Chris Godwin, who’s coming off a disappointing and injury-marred season. Which leaves Egbuka, who has been earning rave reviews this offseason in his new role. Egbuka is the WR20 in ECR, which is lower than his finish last season, when he wasn’t the full-time starter, indicating there is room to grow.
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