We are five weeks through the NFL season and we have already seen a significant shift in the dynasty fantasy football landscape. While we don’t want to make too many quick judgements, five weeks is enough time to begin to form some takeaways. In this article, I will be covering some of the biggest dynasty football risers and fallers through this point of the NFL season. I will discuss where I have them in my dynasty rankings as well as how you can treat them in lineups for the foreseeable future. In doing so I hope to help you navigate how to handle some of the more polarizing players in fantasy football.

Dynasty Fantasy Football Risers

Kenneth Walker

Initial reports are that Rashaad Penny suffered a fractured Tibia that will likely require season ending surgery. This is devastating for Penny who’s exceptionally talented but just hasn’t been able to stay healthy in his five-year career. Kenneth Walker will now take on a featured role in the Seattle Seahawks backfield. This past Sunday, Walker exploded onto the scene against the Saints with a 69-yard touchdown run. He was known as one of the best pure rushers in college football last year with Michigan State and was the 41st overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He’s played behind Penny to date but jumps into the low-end RB2 conversation due to his new role. Despite his limited playing time to this point, Walker is a top 15 Running Back in my dynasty rankings due to potential alone.

Rhamondre Stevenson

Rhamondre Stevenson is another Running Back who had an impressive performance. He rushed for 161 yards on 25 carries and also added 2 receptions for 14 yards as well. Furthermore, Damien Harris suffered a hamstring injury and was ruled out soon after against the Lions. It’s unclear the severity of the injury, but regardless. Stevenson should be moving up dynasty fantasy football rankings. Prior to this game he had actually out-snapped Harris in three consecutive contests and was taking down the passing down work as well. This injury will just give Stevenson more opportunities to cement himself as the lead back in this backfield. I expect Harris to still be a big part of the offense, however, Stevenson is now a locked-in RB2 with upside. In my dynasty rankings, he’s in low-end RB2 territory as well.

Alec Pierce

Alec Pierce has fallen beneath the raider in dynasty fantasy football rankings. Despite his second round draft capital, he hasn’t generated the hype of a lot of the receivers drafted around him. Over the last three weeks, he has compiled 221 yards receiving while playing below 50% of the snaps. This figures to change as he will continue to eat into the role of Parris Campbell who’s been unproductive in his larger role. Pierce was known for his deep threat ability at Cincinnati University and has 4.4 40-yard dash speed. He’s entering weekly flex consideration and is a borderline WR3/4 in dynasty leagues

Breece Hall

It only took a few games but Breece Hall is looking every bit of the top tier prospect people expected him to be coming into the 2022 draft. Against the Jets he finished with 197 total yards and a touchdown on 20 opportunities. He was also tackled within the one yard line twice costing him two touchdowns to Michael Carter. It was an outstanding performance. Combined with an increasing snap percentage each game this season, Hall should be locked into a large workload from here on out. Given injuries and the struggles of some of the other top Running Backs in the league, Hall is a low-end RB1 already. In dynasty leagues he is already making an argument to be the overall RB1. I would personally explore sending DeAndre Swift to a Hall manager as I prefer the latter due to health concerns.

Dynasty Fantasy Football Fallers

Cam Akers

Unfortunately 2022 has not been the comeback year that Cam Akers or fantasy managers hoped for. He’s averaged only 3.1 yards per carry and has little passing work to speak of (Player Profiler). He has no breakaway run rate because he has no rushing attempts of 15 yards or more to speak of. He hasn’t been performing and has shared a significant amount of snaps with Darrell Henderson too. These factors combined with the Ram’s struggling offense will make him impossible to trust in fantasy lineups going forward. He’s slipping down dynasty rankings quickly as well as he hasn’t looked the same since returning from an Achilles injury last year during the playoffs. Despite his talent, he’s fallen out of my top 30 dynasty fantasy football Running Backs. It’s not possible to sell Akers at this point but if he has a big game try to take advantage.

Antonio Gibson

Antonio Gibson has done little this season to hold onto the starting Running Back job in Washington. His snap share has declined with each game this season, and Brian Robinson played for the first time since suffering a gunshot wound in the preseason. This terrible accident opened up the door for Gibson to take control of the backfield. Due to a lack of production though it’s likely that Robinson takes on a higher and higher percentage of the work as he gets back into shape. In his first game back he had nine rushing attempts compared to just three for Gibson, While Gibson received more passing work, he still finished behind J.D. McKissic in targets. He’s fallen out of my top 30 Running Backs, and I feel a change of scenery is the only thing that could recoup value. I’d be happy to trade him for an early 2023 2nd round pick at this point but fear that may not be available either.

That’s all for this week! You can follow Emerson on Twitter @Dynasty_Analyst to keep up with his work. Keep your eyes peeled for more articles from our great Dynasty team, coming soon. Remember to tune into the 5 Yard Dynasty livestream every Tuesday at 8pm (GMT or 3pm EST).