Fantasy Football Winners and Losers From Week 14

Week 14 was a scoring bonanza, and it felt like everybody got in on the fun.

Of the 12 games through Sunday Night Football, 3 finished with 60-plus points, and 2 more were in the 50s.

If you were on the right side of it, it was bliss. But if you got Josh Allen'd, maybe revisiting the slate is a sore subject.

With so many huge showings, we've got a bunch of winners to parse through. Let's start there, laying out whose stock is up before delving into the few whose outlook may be on the decline.

As a note, none of the players in the "stock up" department will be there due to an injury to a teammate. For a full rundown of injuries from this past week, check out our Week 14 fantasy football recap.

All snap rate data is via Next Gen Stats. A "deep" target is more than 15 yards downfield, and "Red Zone Share" is the percentage of team carries or targets inside the red zone.

Stock Up for Fantasy Football

Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold has been solid in fantasy all season long, scoring 20-plus points 6 times in his first 12 games. He just didn't have any jaw-dropping performances to show he had a ceiling.

Whew, buddy, did that change on Sunday.

Darnold turned just 28 attempts into 347 yards and 5 touchdowns. It was his second time this year topping 300 yards, and they've both come in the past three games.

That part is key: Darnold seems to be on the ascent. Since T.J. Hockenson's return in Week 9, Darnold is averaging 0.20 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP, numberFire's EPA metric) per drop back. That's well above league average. Given Darnold isn't a big runner, you need efficiency for him to be a quality fantasy quarterback, and he's giving you that right now.

Darnold is still taking too many sacks, and not every game will feature 63 total points. But his remaining schedule for the fantasy playoffs is friendly, keeping Darnold firmly on the QB1 radar going forward.

Brock Purdy

With the way the season has gone, there was a chance the San Francisco 49ers completely folded down the stretch. Nobody would blame them. If it happened, it would have taken Brock Purdy off the map in fantasy.

Instead, Purdy threw for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 25 attempts Sunday. At least for now, they're still kicking.

For the most part, Purdy hasn't been the problem this year. He's averaging 0.25 Passing NEP per drop back, which is a very good number. He's even at 0.33 since Brandon Aiyuk's injury. That's an MVP-level number. You just wouldn't know it because everything around him had gone so poorly.

It was reassuring to see Purdy put up a game like this without Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, and Trent Williams. The schedule of upcoming defenses for the 49ers isn't too shabby, either. Thus, until the 49ers are officially out of playoff contention, we can still feel pretty secure in rolling out Purdy as our quarterback.

Puka Nacua

We've known for a while that Puka Nacua is a bonafide baller. On Sunday, he showed us that he can turn that into a ceiling game.

Nacua blew up for 35.8 half-PPR points. His previous high was 28.5 in Week 16 last year. He has now gotten to 100 yards in 11 of 25 games, including 4 times this year.

Potentially more important, tough, is the signal the Los Angeles Rams are giving us: they want the ball in his hands as much as humanly possible. He had five rush attempts Sunday, his first time getting more than two. A lot of these came in crucial situations, including three in the red zone. With their season on the line, they're feeding Nacua as much as he can handle.

Not many receivers are getting Nacua's volume from a quarterback as efficient as Matthew Stafford. I'm inclined to keep buying high in DFS until they give me a reason not to.

Amari Cooper

The Buffalo Bills should get Dalton Kincaid and Keon Coleman back soon. That has the potential to thin things out again.

But for the first time all year, Amari Cooper was cooking, and we should be higher on him now even when they get back.

Cooper led the Bills with a whopping 14 targets Sunday. His previous high was 5 in his debut. Of those, eight were deep.

That kind of volume gives Cooper an obvious path to upside, and they've been lacking a downfield threat in their offense all year long. That's why I'd still be keen on Cooper even when the others return.

Looking at Cooper's game log won't give you much confidence in starting him in the fantasy playoffs. But with a potential shootout on tap in Week 15, I'd be willing to light him up as his ceiling can help erase duds elsewhere in your lineup.

Brian Thomas Jr.

In order to be a fantasy-relevant receiver with poor quarterback play, you need volume. Lots and lots of volume, preferably downfield.

We got that out of Brian Thomas Jr. on Sunday.

Thomas finished with 12 targets, 40.0% of the Jacksonville Jaguars' total for the day. He had all four deep targets and both looks in the red zone.

Doesn't get much better than that.

There are worse plans for Mac Jones than, "Eff it, BTJ down there somewhere." They've got some struggling and beat-up secondaries coming on the schedule, so Thomas belongs in season-long lineups even in a dysfunctional offense.

Stock Down for Fantasy Football

Amon-Ra St. Brown

Touchdowns have provided a lot of lipstick for Amon-Ra St. Brown's median output this season. The Detroit Lions have a handful of quality pass-catchers, and they can pound the rock when they want, lowering target totals for ARSB.

We don't need to bench him in season-long, obviously, but we should lower expectations.

The Lions have played 10 games this year with both Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta active. Here are the team's target shares in those games.

For context, St. Brown's target share was 30.2% in the games he played last year.

To make matters worse, Tim Patrick has emerged and is playing good football, meaning the target competition isn't getting any easier down the stretch. It's entirely possible St. Brown's shares don't get rosier in the near future.

The Lions have some potential shootouts on tap for the fantasy playoffs, so we're still starting St. Brown with confidence. We'll just want to proceed with caution in DFS as the touchdown binge has kept St. Brown's salary higher than it should be there.

A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith

The Philadelphia Eagles' approach of "grind opponents to death on the ground" has been successful. They've won nine straight games, and it doesn't seem fluky with Saquon Barkley playing at an MVP level.

It's just sucking the life out of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Neither player has had double-digit targets since Week 3. The only time either has hit double digits in a game they played together was in Week 1. That's despite Dallas Goedert's sitting out all or most of five of those games.

Brown and Smith are good enough to convert on low volume. But Jalen Hurts hasn't topped 250 passing yards since Week 6, meaning there's just not much yardage to go around.

Again, the biggest issue is that it's working, and it's likely their best route to winning games. Thus, it's hard to expect them to change, complicating issues for rosters with Brown and Smith in the fantasy playoffs.

You're starting Brown regardless. His upside is too high for you not to.

Smith, though, is a different discussion. He has gone under 40 receiving yards in three straight. Thus, if you've got good alternatives, you do have the green light to bench him, even if it feels awkward.

As for DFS, I still don't mind limited exposure to Brown and Smith in tournaments. We know that if the Eagles do -- for once -- throw the ball 30 times, it's going to just those two, and they'll probably cash in on the targets they get. Thus, as long as you're okay with the risk, they're still on the map. You just have to do so cautiously to safeguard yourself from the very obvious downsides.

James Cook

James Cook's snap rate has been low all year. His best snap rate is 60.3%, and that came in Week 1.

It's just reaching concerning levels as we enter the stretch run.

Sunday's 46.3% snap rate for Cook was his third straight under 50%.

One of those was due to a blowout, but the other two were either neutral or negative game scripts. It's hard to tell which setup you want to maximize Cook's usage.

The red-zone issues have been there all along. His red-zone share is just 29.8% in the games he has played. But now, even with solid efficiency levels, Cook has topped 100 yards from scrimmage just twice all year, and he has been under 30 in 2 of the past 3.

It'd be tough to sit Cook in a game with an eye-popping total for Week 15. With that said, there is a non-zero chance that you've got a better alternative somewhere on your roster. If you need a player with a good median expectation (rather than straight gunning for ceiling), I do think it's defensible to consider benching Cook even while acknowledging he could make you look very silly for doing so.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.