Whether in daily fantasy or for your standard fantasy league, many players came up big, or not at all in week 18. Below are some of the boom and bust fantasy players for the final week of the regular season.
Boom
Bryce Young CAR QB 36.44 Points
Since his early season benching, Bryce Young has returned to look like an entirely new player. His rapid improvement reached its peak in week 18 against the Atlanta Falcons.
Young completed 25/34 passes for 251 yards and 3 TDs. He also added 24 yards on the ground along with 2 more TDs. FIVE total TDs is a career-high for Young, who ends his season on the highest note possible. Bryce Young will be a fantasy-relevant QB in 2025.
Bijan Robinson ATL RB 30.3 Points
Bijan Robinson countered Bryce Young’s massive game with an impressive showing of his own. Robinson totaled 173 yards on 30 touches and scored 2 TDs on the ground. It was his highest fantasy points total of the season.
Bijan will finish as RB4 in most league formats, but somehow it still feels like an underwhelming season for the generational talent. Historic seasons by Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry could be the cause of that, but look for him to be right in the conversation for RB1 before the 2025 fantasy season.
Jahmyr Gibbs DET RB 43.5 Points
Gibbs capped off the 2024 regular season with a career-best performance. An impressive showing in the Lions 31-9 blowout of the Vikings for the #1 seed in the NFC.
He carried the ball 23 times for 139 yards, caught 5 passes for 31 yards, and totaled FOUR TDs for one of the best fantasy outings we have seen by a running back this season.
The 2025 first-round running back pool will be loaded and Jahmyr Gibbs will be right in the thick of it.
Bust
Sam Darnold MIN QB 7.64 Points
On the other side of Jahmyr Gibbs’ outstanding performance was the Minnesota Vikings and QB Sam Darnold. After a lights-out season by Darnold, he appeared to be seeing ghosts once again in the regular season finale.
He completed only 43.9% of his passes totaling 166 yards with 10 more on the ground. It was only the 3rd game this season that he failed to throw a touchdown pass.
One of the off-season’s biggest questions is what will happen with Sam Darnold? If he is back in Minnesota as the starter, he will be a legit fantasy football QB1.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba SEA WR 3.3 Points
“JSN” has been one of the hottest receivers in the NFL for the second half of the season. Last week, his 4.7 point game was thought to be an anomaly, but he backed it up with an even worse performance this week.
With Geno Smith passing heavily to obtain some big performance bonuses, JSN was sure to have a big day. In the end, he finished with a measly 4 catches for 9 yards.
Smith-Njigba figures to be a big part of the plan in Seattle going forward. I look for him to continue his late-season success as a top-tier WR2 next year.
Adam Thielen CAR WR 6.9 Points
Adam Thielen had been on a tear lately, becoming a very popular Daily Fantasy play. Even in a shootout, Bryce Young was finding open receivers elsewhere as Thielen finished the game with just 44 yards on 5 catches. He failed to find the end zone after scoring 4 TDs in his last 5 games.
Carolina should look to bring in fresher weapons for Bryce Young, but in Carolina, Thielen has potential for a FLEX option in 2025 as the young QB is clearly very comfortable throwing to him in all situations.
All points totals are using FanDuel Fantasy standard scoring.