Welcome to Overreaction Monday (Week 7). This is where we come to take a completely reasonable look at this week’s slate of NFL games and react to them in a calm, cool, and collected manner. Just kidding!
It’s Overreaction Monday! Let’s get crazy and see what the guys have to say.
Ty Recino’s Overreactions
Quinshon Judkins is the best running back in the AFC North
Since Quinshon Judkins entered the league, he’s been balling out for the Cleveland Browns. He’s currently a top-10 running back in the league in weeks 2-7. He’s coming off his best performance against the Miami Dolphins with over 80 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Judkins has been the lone bright spot on the Cleveland Browns’ offense, and he’s their running back of the future. When we look at the other starting backs across the AFC North – Derrick Henry, Chase Brown, and Jaylen Warren / Kenneth Gainwell, Quinshon Judkins clears them all. Derrick Henry has only had 2 games this season with over 50 rushing yards.
This is not the same Henry we’ve been used to seeing over the years. For the Steelers, they bounce back & forth between Warren & Gainwell, with neither really being a standout star. For Chase Brown, he might be more talented than Judkins, but the Bengals’ offensive line is limiting him from doing anything. Brown has been one of the biggest busts of the fantasy season, from how high he was drafted in most leagues. Between these 5 guys, Judkins is averaging more fantasy points per game than all of them & is only going to get better.
Verdict: Not an overreaction
Oronde Gadsden II is a top-5 tight end?
Absolutely exploding in week 7 was Oronde Gadsden II, as he hauled in 7 receptions for a commanding 164 yards and one touchdown. This was the best game of his career, after coming off his prior best performance the week prior. Last week, Gadsden II had a respectable game with 7 receptions for 68 yards. The last two weeks, he’s been a top-5 tight end in the league. Looking at the last two games, Justin Herbert has thrown the ball a lot more.
This week, he threw the ball a total of 55 times, the 3rd most in his six-year career, and the most this season. The game script called for Herbert to throw the ball a lot, and this is not how it’s going to be week to week. The Chargers shouldn’t be playing from down this big every week. Omarion Hampton should be back in a few weeks, and the Chargers will lean on the run more. With Hampton back & the Chargers not playing from down double-digits from early in the game, Herbert won’t be targeting Gadsden II as much. I’m not buying into the hype, despite his 164-yard performance.
Verdict: Overreaction
GOYAADi’s Overreactions
Rashee Rice is the WR1 ROS
Feast your fantasy senses, because Rashee Rice is serving up an egg fried bowl of dominance, and he’s absolutely the WR1 for the rest of the 2025 season. In his rookie season, he caught 79 passes for 938 yards and 7 touchdowns. And despite limited appearances in 2024 (just three full games), in two of those, he went for 100 or more receiving yards. That’s like two servings of “extra rice” when everyone else is stuck with plain quinoa.
Now consider his chemistry with Patrick Mahomes: Mahomes already tossed two spoonfuls (read: touchdowns) to Rice in his first game back. That’s not a flash in the pan; that’s production at a WR1 level. Mahomes looks for Rice first, not as AN option, but as THE option.
Now healthy, confident, and locked into the top role in Kansas City’s passing attack, Rice has the volume, talent, and quarterback synergy to dominate every week. He’s no longer a stash, he’s arrived. And for the rest of the 2025 season, all roads to fantasy glory run through Rashee Rice.
Verdict: Maybe one or two spots of overreaction
Oronde Gadsden is Antonio Gates 2.0
Oronde Gadsden has officially stepped into legend territory, the kind once reserved for Antonio Gates. Gadsden’s Week 7 explosion (7 catches on 9 targets for 164 yards and a touchdown) wasn’t just a breakout; it was a coronation. For the first time since Hunter Henry last hit the century mark in 2019, the Chargers have a tight end who looks like a weekly game-changer.
Gadsden’s size, fluidity, and route precision echo the same traits that made Gates uncoverable for a decade. What Gates once was to Philip Rivers, Gadsden now is to Justin Herbert: a safety blanket with the explosiveness to turn checkdowns into chunks. His confidence has caught up to his talent, and the film shows a player who’s simply too big, too smooth, and too involved to sit.
If you’re looking for the next great Chargers tight end in the Gates lineage, stop searching. His name is Oronde Gadsden II, and he’s a must-start the rest of 2025.
Verdict: You can call it an overreaction, I call it a reincarnation
Chase Thornton’s Overreactions
Bengals are back, baby!! Boo-yah!!
In the Week 3 Overreaction Monday, I wrote about benching Tee Higgins. I warned fantasy managers not to bail on Higgins’s talent and that things would improve. I didn’t foresee the stunning Joe Flacco trade, but it’s making me look pretty prescient. After showing some signs of life in Weeks 5 and 6, Higgins finally delivered the kind of fantasy performance his managers have been craving. At the conclusion of Sunday’s games, Higgins’s 18.6 Half-PPR points ranked him WR11. His six catches, ten targets, and 96 yards were all personal season-highs, and he found the endzone to boot.
But it wasn’t just Higgins who thrived. Ja’Marr Chase, Chase Brown, Noah Fant, and even kicker Evan McPherson each had their best fantasy games of the season in Week 7. Chase set a Cincinnati record with 15 receptions. His 23 targets were seven more than any other player in the league has seen in a game all season. Chase was the WR5 in Week 6 and the WR1 entering the Week 7 Monday night matchups. Brown had his first 100-yard game of the year and was RB13 on the week. Fant had his second-best fantasy day since being traded by Denver. And he’s caught all eight of his targets with Flacco at the helm the past two weeks.
I’d say that Flacco won’t average 46 pass attempts per game, but even with Cleveland, he was averaging 40 this season. Zac Taylor has to be relieved to have a reliable veteran at the helm in Joe Burrow’s absence. Flacco has thrown for five touchdowns without an interception in his two games with Cincinnati. In Cleveland, he’d had just two touchdowns to six picks. With Flacco under center, the Bengals figure to air it out as we’d been hoping when we drafted our Bengals this summer. He’s not Burrow, but he doesn’t have to be to feed his receiving corps. Brown should benefit as well; “rising tides” and all that. The Queen City Kitties are back, baby.
Verdict: NOT an Overreaction
A.J. Brown is Back!! Fly, Eagles, Fly!!
A.J. Brown FINALLY had the big fantasy game we all envisioned when we drafted him in the second round as the WR10. Brown’s 121 receiving yards were his most for a game since 2023. He scored a pair of touchdowns for the first time since 2023 as well. His 26.1 Half-PPR points had him at WR3 on the week. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Halle-flippin’-lujah, am I right? Now, we dominate.
Ehhh, maybe (he said, making a Larry David face.) While it was certainly a welcome respite from the overwhelming sadness and frustration he’s delivered this season, Brown’s game isn’t necessarily a harbinger of things to come. He still only saw six targets- his second-lowest figure on the year. (It should be noted that Jalen Hurts only attempted 23 passes- his second-lowest figure on the year.) Brown is averaging less than 7.5 targets per game on the season, which would be his worst number since his rookie season in Tennessee. And he was crazy efficient, averaging over 30 yards per reception. He hasn’t done that in a game since 2019.
We all know that Brown is capable of a game like this in any given week. But this Philadelphia offense has been an enigma this season. Brown needs more targets to be able to work his fantasy magic. I need to see his target numbers improve before I put a ton of stock into one spike week. Curb your enthusiasm for now.
Verdict: Slight Overreaction (but the jury’s still out)
Well, there you have it, folks. Those are our completely rational and not at all knee-jerk reactions to this week in the NFL. Check back next week for more level-headed fantasy football takes at FSAN.
Check out Mike Lindberg and Brendon Booth‘s Week 7 Overreaction video on the FSAN YouTube Channel on this week’s Fantasy Forecast.