If you're reading this, you've either punched your ticket to the fantasy championship weekend (congrats, by the way) or you're setting your sights on the future and making sure you're doing everything in your power to push for a title next season.

Regardless of where your team is at, let's take a look at some of the biggest movers across the dynasty fantasy football landscape over the last month.

Stock Risers In Dynasty Fantasy Football

Bucky Irving, RB - Buccaneers

It's amazing what a month can do for someone's dynasty value. Just a mere weeks ago, Bucky Irving was the dynasty RB21; now he's the consensus RB7. Even in dynasty formats that tend to take on a more long-term perspective, it's important to stay flexible and adjust accordingly to new trends and information.

It's not as if Irving has suddenly come out of nowhere over the last month. The writing has been on the wall since the early portions of the season (and Fantasy Life has been all over it).

Heading into Week 5, after head coach Todd Bowles mentioned Irving earning more touches, we saw the transformation start to take shape.

Irving went from being a rookie we were casually keeping eyes on to an every-week starter in your fantasy lineups. From Weeks 5-10 (Week 11 bye), Irving averaged 13.7 points per game and handled 13.5 touches per game.

 

We really should've "bought high" during that stretch. Yes, we may have missed the floor price but even buying on the upswing is a viable strategy if there's enough evidence to suggest that the player in question will continue his ascent even more.

During Tampa's Week 11 bye, Jonathan Fuller tabbed Irving as a fantasy football trade target with league-winning upside. He highlighted how Irving was clearly the superior rusher, but also wasn't far behind Rachaad White as a pass catcher. Finally, he cited the rest-of-season schedule for the Bucs and how, even if the current split remained the same, Irving still offered immense upside.

Then, during Weeks 12-13, Irving combined for over 50 fantasy points and cemented his status as the league winner of the 2024 fantasy football season.

Now, Irving is valued as a top-seven RB with a coveted dual-threat skillset. He's vaulted himself into elite company and will be a high draft pick in dynasty startup drafts moving forward. If you managed to land him before the breakout, enjoy the ride.

Bryce Young, QB - Panthers

There's no getting around it; Bryce Young had a pretty tough rookie campaign, and that's putting it nicely. What made it look even worse was just how exceptional C.J. Stroud looked during his inaugural season. However, I remember having several conversations about Young with people at the end of last season, and here was one of my main takeaways:

The gap between Young and Stroud isn't as wide as we saw in Year 1. Stroud wasn't likely to be as good moving forward and Young couldn't get worse (we hoped).

So far, that thought process has proven to be mostly true. Since his Week 11 bye, Young has been a solid fantasy asset, averaging almost 20 points per game.

 

Perhaps even more interesting is his sudden rushing prowess. While the Panthers aren't drawing up a ton of designed rushing attempts (just 2% from Weeks 12-16), his scramble rate is almost 10% during the same time.

Young is willing to use his legs to extend plays and rack up fantasy points. In fact, he has three rushing TDs over his last five games, to go along with six passing TDs and just three INTs.

Let's hope that Carolina continues to build around their young QB. They extended Chuba Hubbard and drafted Jonathon Brooks so the backfield looks solid for now but they desperately need more weapons in the passing game. Adam Thielen should not be your leading WR at this stage in his career.

Expected reinforcements for Young are coming soon. I don't mind aggressively targeting him in SF dynasty formats as a QB2 or QB3, regardless of my current roster construction. He's valued as the dynasty QB22 but there's plenty of room for him to rise even more in the weeks and months (and seasons) ahead.

Stock Fallers In Dynasty Fantasy Football

Kyle Pitts, TE - Falcons

"Let's get Charlie Woerner some more run. I'm done with Kyle Pitts!" – Ian Hartitz

That about sums it up. It's been a brutal almost-four-year stretch for fantasy managers who keep telling themselves that Kyle Pitts will eventually become the game-breaking player we all hoped he would become coming out of college.

Let's just put this season into context. This year, Pitts finally had a competent QB in Kirk Cousins but, despite the change under center, we've gotten the same results.

Let's take a look at this season-long numbers:

  • 76% route participation
  • 14% target share
  • 16% air yards share
  • 7.5 points per game

That's resulted in just two games with 15-plus fantasy points and a whopping 11 games with 10 or fewer points. In fact, he's now gone seven straight games without scoring double-digit points.

What happened? Is Pitts just not as good as we expected? I guess so.

From a dynasty perspective, he's still valued as the TE9. All you can do is hold him at this point. You might be able to see him on whatever name value/hype is left but I'd wager there aren't many people in your leagues clamouring to make a bid for him.

Maybe one day the fantasy community will figure out the TE position.

Deebo Samuel, WR - 49ers

Heading into Week 16, Deebo Samuel was on a career-worst streak.

He had gone five straight games without breaking SEVEN fantasy points. Remember, this is that dual-threat weapon who wasn't competing with either Christian McCaffrey or Brandon Aiyuk for touches.

In fact, coming into last weekend, he had just one game with 20-plus points (Week 6). Then, with the 49ers so decimated at RB that they rolled out Patrick Taylor, Samuel finally erupted to the tune of 25.1 fantasy points.

It was likely too little too late for fantasy managers. I hope you all enjoyed that monster performance in the losers' bracket.

Samuel is getting old (he'll be 29 next month) and has clearly lost that edge that made him so dynamic in this offense. He's under contract for one more season but who knows what this offense will look like in another year or two. Brock Purdy will get paid whether you agree with it or not and the rest of this team is aging and expensive.

Currently, he's valued way down at WR47 in dynasty formats. Samuel has provided a unique opportunity for you. Ship him off to one of the two teams competing for the title this weekend and reap the rewards while you still can.