After four-straight weeks with only one TD per contest, Tom Brady has 9 TDs in his last three games.

Rising

Tom Brady, NE
Earlier this season, Brady spent the first three weeks of the season getting marked as “falling” in this very article. In Week 4, I resisted the urge of including him even though he had his worst week of the season at that point. Since that time, Brady has gone off, throwing nine touchdowns and turning the ball over zero times in his last three games. Clearly, he is back on track. In these three weeks, Brady has gone from droppable to must start.

Ryan Tannehill, MIA
Here we have another AFC East quarterback with a complete turnaround since being a mess early in the season. After Week 3, there were rumblings that Tannehill might not even have the starting job locked down in Miami. In three games since that time, Tannehill has thrown two touchdowns in each game, while rushing for at least 35 yards. Two scores per game is great, and if he maintains the rushing, it makes him even better. He’s a clear starter in 2QB leagues and a nice bye week fill-in or streaming option in standard leagues.

Tony Romo, DAL
Romo hasn’t been lighting the world on fire; he hasn’t had to with DeMarco Murray around. So while he hasn’t had any weeks that can swing a matchup, he has been an excellent source of guaranteed points for his owners. There is something to be said for a guy you know will give you 15+ points every week you start him, which he has done since Week 2. He won’t go blow for blow with a guy like Peyton Manning, but he’s a very safe weekly starter.

Falling

Matt Ryan, ATL
First four games for Matt Ryan: Ten touchdowns.
Last three games for Matt Ryan: Three touchdowns.
As you can see from those numbers, it was tough benching Ryan early in the season. Now? It’s really annoying to leave him in. The Falcons offense just can’t score against decent opponents. I imagine it might be tough to bench Ryan if you have him, and he is a threat for a big week every time out with the weapons he has on offense, but he’s far from the elite fantasy player we were seeing in September.

Kirk Cousins, WAS
The wheels have now completely fallen off for Cousins in Washington. It was just a few weeks ago that there was debate over who should be the full-time starter when Robert Griffin III is healthy, and now Colt McCoy has supplanted Cousins. I can’t imagine Cousins getting the job back any time soon, especially now that Griffin is close to returning. If you own Cousins, you can drop him.

Brian Hoyer, CLE
Hoyer has generally been solid all season, and had a big Week 5 against the Titans, so he came off looking like a great matchup play for fantasy owners. Things changed in Week 7 with a terrible showing against the Jaguars. After seeing a quarterback struggle against Jacksonville, it’s tough to trust him going forward. He’s still usable in 2QB leagues, but I’d look elsewhere if I need help in a standard league.

Running Back

Rising

Ronnie Hillman, DEN
Over the off-season, the biggest pro-Montee Ball argument was that running backs that line up next to Peyton Manning are almost always successful. Ball didn’t live up to that in the first few weeks, but since Ball’s injury, Ronnie Hillman has stepped in and proven the argument is still true. After rushing for 100 yards against a tough Jets run defense in Week 6 and two touchdowns against an even tougher 49ers run defense in Week 7, it appears Hillman has taken his opportunity and run with it. At this point I’d be surprised if Hillman lost the starting role whenever Ball returns. Hillman is a weekly start at running back.

Jerick McKinnon, MIN
There were a couple reasons to be concerned about Jerick McKinnon in Week 7: 1) Vikings coach Mike Zimmer commented early in the week that he wanted to get Matt Asiata more touches, and 2) The Vikings were going to Buffalo, one of the toughest run defenses in the NFL. McKinnon proved both of those concerns to be unnecessary. McKinnon received 19 carries to Asiata’s 6, and he ran for 103 yards against a defense that had not allowed more than 86 yards to a running back all season. After two weeks of success as the lead back, it’s safe to say the job in Minnesota is McKinnon’s. He can be considered an RB2 with some upside the rest of the way.

Tre Mason, STL & Denard Robinson, JAC
I’m lumping these two together, because in a way they have burst on to the scene the same way. Both guys started the year as a third wheel in backfields that have found very little success. In Week 7, each guy finally got their opportunity to show what they can do. And with that opportunity, they each seemed to run away with their team’s starting job. Tre Mason ran for 85 yards against the Seahawks, averaging 4.7 yards per rush. Denard Robinson rushed for 127 yards against the Browns, this after Toby Gerhart and Storm Johnson were complete disasters in the very same backfield. Both players have their concerns, and each comes with the potential for future coaching decisions that don’t favor them; but for now, they each look like starting NFL running backs. These are two great waiver targets for running back needy squads.

Falling

Frank Gore, SF
After a slow start, Gore came on strong in Weeks 4 and 5, turning in back-to-back 100+ yard performances, averaging 5.0 or more yards per carry in each game. Since those strong outings, Gore has fallen off a cliff. In his last two games against the Rams and Broncos, Gore has rushed for 58 total yards, averaging less than 2.5 yards per rush in each of those contests. His owners have to hope the bye week helps rejuvenate him for the stretch run of the season, but for now, I’d be worried about putting him back in the lineup in Week 9.

Bishop Sankey, TEN
Coming into 2014, Bishop Sankey was supposed to become the Titans starter because he was the best option they had. Through the first five weeks, Sankey remained second in line behind Shonn Greene. Once Greene got hurt, Sankey was supposed to run away with the starting job. In two weeks as the starter, Sankey has not been able to crack the 3.5 yards per carry barrier. It remains to be seen how Sankey gets used going forward, but he has done nothing to earn more than a timeshare whenever Greene finally returns from injury. Sankey has value as long as Greene is out, but he’s not a guy I’d be in a hurry to return to my lineups if I have better options.

Steven Jackson, ATL
Jackson has managed to have a worse rushing performance than the game before in every week of the season thus far. He hasn’t reached forty rushing yards since Week 4, and he hasn’t managed over 25 rushing yards since Week 5. He continues to get the most carries in Atlanta’s four-man committee, but Jackson isn’t doing enough with those carries to warrant a start in any format, unless it’s out of total desperation.

Wide Receiver

Rising

Golden Tate, DET
Apparently being the lead receiver in the Detroit Lions offense is a dreamy position to be in. Since Calvin Johnson went to decoy status in Weeks 4 and 5 and out all together the last couple weeks, Golden Tate has gone wild. His numbers: 32 receptions, 448 yards, and two touchdowns. To put that in perspective, if he kept at this pace over an entire season, he’d finish with 128 catches for 1792 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t expect him to maintain this pace if Johnson remains out, and I definitely won’t expect numbers like this once Megatron returns, but either way, Golden Tate is a guy that certainly belongs in your lineup every week.

Doug Baldwin, SEA
Baldwin entered the season with a little momentum as a good Seahawks receiver to own, but he never really did much with Percy Harvin around. In his first game after the Harvin trade, Baldwin exploded with seven receptions for 123 yards and a score. I’m not saying Doug Baldwin is a clear-cut fantasy starter now that Harvin is out of the way, but he’s definitely worth adding to see how he does in the Seattle offense moving forward. I’m guessing he winds up being a fringe starter that you use based on matchups or bye weeks.

Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr., NYG
I’m putting these Giants together because they are moving up in unison. Victor Cruz’s season ending injury means gains for Randle and Beckham. In the first game without Cruz, Randle led the Giants in targets with nine, and Beckham came in second on the team with seven. I wouldn’t necessarily award either wide receiver must start status yet, but both are definitely usable once the Giants return from their bye week.

Falling

Justin Hunter, TEN
Hunter came into the year as a popular breakout candidate, but didn’t come close to breaking out in any of the first four weeks. Then, in Weeks 5 and 6, he finally came up huge for owners that waited on him, totaling 176 yards on just six receptions. But Week 7 showed why it’s so hard to ever trust Justin Hunter in your lineups: one catch on two targets for just six yards in a great matchup. I believe that Hunter has the ability to be a quality fantasy receiver, but he does not have the right situation.

Brandin Cooks, NO
Cooks is another guy that was popular entering 2014. In Week 1, Cooks seemed to back all the preseason fuss, gathering in seven passes for 77 yards and a score. Since that time, it’s been downhill for Cooks, at least in standard scoring leagues. He hasn’t scored again, and in three of five games he’s totaled less than 32 receiving yards. Cooks is an interesting case of standard scoring versus PPR. In PPR, he remains a solid start due to his high volume of receptions, but in standard, I have absolutely no problem dropping him.

Michael Crabtree, SF
It’s been a rough few weeks for Michael Crabtree. After back-to-back 80-yard performances in Weeks 2 and 3, Crabtree has gone four straight weeks without cracking the 50-yard barrier. A touchdown saved him in Week 6, but other than that, he has been a totally unstartable wide receiver in fantasy. I’d keep him around because we’ve seen what he can do in the 49ers offense, but if possible I’d wait for him on my bench instead of in the starting lineup.

Tight End

Rising

Jermaine Gresham, CIN
Andy Dalton has suddenly gained quite an interest in targeting Jermaine Gresham in recent weeks. After starting the season with just nine receptions for 61 yards in the first four games, Gresham has come on strong with sixteen catches for 116 yards in his last two. I will be interested to see how involved Gresham remains once A.J. Green returns, but until that time, Gresham seems like a decent tight end fill-in for those facing a bye or who have been struggling to fill the position in general.

Clay Harbor, JAC
Since joining the Jaguars lineup in Week 4, Harbor has been solid at the tight end position, especially in PPR. He is only fourth on the Jaguars in targets in his four games in the lineup, but he is second in receptions. In fact, he has caught twenty of twenty-two targets. He’s not a guy I’m starting most weeks, but like Gresham, he’s also a decent bye week fill-in or guy to grab if you’ve had a tough time filling the position.

Cooper Helfet, SEA
In a game where the Seahawks were down their top two tight ends, Helfet came in and tied for second on the team in targets with six, reeling in three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. I assume he’ll return to a backup role once either of the top guys on the roster return, but he did just have a solid game, so he’s worth monitoring to see if Seattle continues to use him down the road. Don’t add him yet, but don’t forget about him either.

Falling

Jason Witten, DAL
I haven’t brought up Witten in a while in this space, but he’s still falling. He has under fifty receiving yards in five of seven games this season, hasn’t had more than five targets in a game since Week 2, and has only scored one touchdown. It’s tough to let go of players with name recognition, but I think Witten can be dropped if you have found another tight end with more success to this point in the season. Witten is still owned in 96 percent of ESPN leagues and 93 percent of Yahoo! leagues, despite ranking seventeenth in standard scoring at tight end and eighteenth in PPR.

Travis Kelce, KC
I don’t know why, but the Chiefs refuse to use Travis Kelce regularly in their offense. Kelce leads the chiefs in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, yet he continuously plays less than sixty percent of Kansas City’s offensive snaps. It’s weird to think that you can’t trust a tight end that is his team’s top receiver, but given Kelce’s usage (or lack thereof), that’s the case here. Keep him rostered for his upside, but he’s a fringe starter at best until Kansas City realizes what they have.

Vernon Davis, SF
Zero: The number of times Vernon Davis has totaled at least five receptions or forty-five yards receiving. It’s tough to tell at this point if his issues are injury related (he has had back problems this year) or playing related. I’d hold on to him given his upside just in case it is injury related and the bye week helps fix him, but if I was totally desperate for a roster spot, I wouldn’t completely hate the idea of dropping Davis.

Suggestions, comments? E-mail or find me on Twitter.