Five Dynasty Risers From Preseason Wk 1 (2025)
Welcome to my Five Dynasty Risers From Preseason Wk 1 (2025)
Football is officially BACK! Although it is just preseason, there are still a lot of fantasy-relevant nuggets that we can take away from these games, and we can find some players that we otherwise may not have thought about before now.
In today’s discussion, we are going to go over five players from Week 1 of the NFL Preseason that caught my eye, and break down their potential fantasy outlook for this season and beyond, whether that be for redraft or dynasty. None of the highly touted rookies will be included in today’s discussion, as we already know how talented those players are and how much excitement they provide for fantasy purposes. Instead, we will try to find players that are flying a bit under the radar in fantasy circles right now. Diamonds in the rough, if you will.
WRs Johnny Wilson & Ainias Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
Thanks to the play of quarterback Tanner McKee, second-year wide receivers Johnny Wilson and Ainias Smith showed out for the Philadelphia Eagles in the first week of preseason. Yes, Jahan Dotson is indeed the WR3 for the Philadelphia Eagles right now. Jahan Dotson is a free agent next offseason, so he might not even be on the team anymore once 2026 rolls around, because the Eagles are already paying massive amounts of money to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith at the wide receiver position.
Against the Cincinnati Bengals this past week, Johnny Wilson hauled in 3 receptions for 73 yards, and Ainias Smith hauled in 2 receptions for 11 yards and a touchdown. Even though these two players played a very low amount of snaps for the Eagles last year, there is still hope for them in year two. Specifically for Ainias Smith, if he can carve out a decent enough schemed touch role in this offense, which he had a designed play rate of 33.3% last year, then this could be fun.
Both of these players are worth stashing in dynasty, just in case Jahan Dotson does not work out as the WR3 for this team.
RB Keaton Mitchell, Baltimore Ravens
Derrick Henry is the star of the show in this Baltimore Ravens backfield. Still, another young running back emerged this past week when third-year player Keaton Mitchell ran for 68 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries vs. the Indianapolis Colts. Henry is going to get all the volume possible on the ground in this Ravens offense, but where Mitchell can carve out a role is in the receiving game, because Henry does not see much work at all in that department.
The young running back missed almost all of last season due to tearing his ACL as a rookie a couple of years ago, but in that rookie season in 2023, he popped in a big way whenever he got the opportunity. In just seven games that year, Mitchell averaged 56.6 rushing yards per game and averaged an extremely impressive 8.43 yards per carry as well. He also capped it off by averaging 10.0 fantasy points per game.
Keaton Mitchell was also dominant in the receiving game, as he put up an elite yards per route run number of 2.21, which is extremely impressive for a running back. Mitchell’s direct competition for this passing-down role in Baltimore is Justice Hill, but I am personally not all that worried about him at the end of the day. Hill is a good receiving back in his own right, but he is not nearly as explosive and elusive as Keaton Mitchell once he gets the ball in his hands and reaches the open field.
Keaton Mitchell is the perfect player for the very last pick of your drafts this year, as he could carve out a decent role as a high-level pass catcher in this extremely high-powered Baltimore Ravens offense.
WR Tory Horton, Seattle Seahawks
After being selected in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks, the general thought was that Tory Horton would take a bit to develop and contribute to an NFL offense, after this past week vs. the Las Vegas Raiders, though, Horton may be in line to contribute a lot sooner than expected, as the player put up three receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown on the night. Tory Horton has potentially a lot of opportunity ahead of him this year right away as a rookie in Seattle, as the weapons in this passing game outside of JSN are a bit lackluster to say the least.
Cooper Kupp is old and sadly injury-prone at this point in his career. MVS has always been a disappointment in the past. I like Elijah Arroyo a lot at the TE position in this offense, but he is just a rookie at the end of the day as well.
Horton also brings something to this offense that the team does not have currently, which is downfield speed and separation skills. This is a player who might start the season off a bit slow right out of the gate, but as the season goes on, Tory Horton could easily become the WR2 in this Seattle Seahawks offense behind JSN over veterans like Cooper Kupp and MVS.
WR Isaac TeSlaa, Detroit Lions
Rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa is in an interesting spot in this Detroit Lions offense right now. He may not be in line for much action this season, but he could be in 2026 and beyond. While breakout wide receiver Jameson Williams is still under contract with the team for two more years, legit trade rumors were swirling around involving him earlier this offseason, so if the Lions wanted to trade Williams next offseason, as he will be heading into a contract year at that point, they could.
Detroit has a lot invested in TeSlaa, as they selected him in the third round this year back in April, and traded away two future third-round picks to move up and get him on top of that. So this is a player that Brad Holmes and his front office wanted pretty severely, and a lot could be in store for him in this offense in the future.
Isaac TeSlaa popped in the NFL Hall of Fame game and also hauled in 2 receptions for 18 yards and a touchdown this past week vs. the Atlanta Falcons, so if he can continue to have an impressive preseason this year and carve out a good enough role at all this season in this high powered Detroit Lions offense, the team will feel comfortable with potentially trading away Jameson Williams next offseason, and TeSlaa’s value will shoot up tremendously in dynasty leagues everywhere.
WR Nick Nash, Atlanta Falcons
Nick Nash is a UDFA who put up fantastic numbers over the last couple of years at San Jose State, and because of it, he could be in store for a pretty decent amount of opportunity as soon as this season with the Atlanta Falcons. Nash hauled in 3 receptions for 35 yards this past week vs. the Detroit Lions, showing off his route-running ability as a big slot player.
I know that the Falcons love veteran Ray-Ray McCloud in the role that he is in right now, but I truly believe that Nick Nash could pass him on the depth chart and become this team’s WR3 sooner rather than later. McCloud racked up 686 receiving yards in Atlanta last year. Still, a decent amount of that production came on easy touches from the quarterback, as he possessed an aDOT of 6.8, and saw a designed play rate of 21.4%, which means that the Falcons coaching staff gave the player a lot of schemed touches to get him the ball in space. McCloud also posted a very underwhelming 1.35 yards per route run number in 2024, which is just not acceptable for a receiver that got a pretty decent amount of volume in an NFL offense.
Nick Nash is a much bigger downfield threat than Ray-Ray McCloud is, and the intriguing UDFA could be in line for a surprising amount of opportunity in this offense. Outside of Drake London, Darnell Mooney is nursing a significant shoulder injury right now, Kyle Pitts has disappointed year after year now, and we just talked about the concerns with Ray-Ray McCloud.
This is a prime stash candidate in dynasty right now, mainly because of his college production profile and potential to move up the depth chart in Atlanta sooner rather than later.