Fantasy football is full of ebbs and flows. Ups and downs throughout the season, and more importantly from season to season. Every year in fantasy football some players improve from the previous season. Every year there are players whose production falls off. That's part of the fun. If everyone just produced like they did the year before it would take a lot of the excitement out of the weeks.

But lucky for us, that's not how things work. So here are the three candidates to improve on last year, and those whose numbers will drop off.

Rise

Gus Edwards (RB, Baltimore)  

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With the injury of J.K. Dobbins, this really seems like a no-brainer. Edwards' touches and targets should go up from last year's 144 and 13 respectively, so you would imagine the 852 total yards should increase. He had six TDs last season, you would hope to see that go up, though Dobbins only had nine last year.

Damien Harris (RB, New England)

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His head coach praised him for his improvement from year one to year two. So now heading into year three, Harris is ready to break out. Well, break out as much as any Patriots running back really can. Bill's burned too many fantasy owners with too many running backs over the years to expect Harris to produce RB1 numbers. Harris is set to improve on the 691 yards and two TDs in 10 games last year.

A.J. Brown (WR, Tennessee)

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Yeah, he was good last year, WR11 even while missing two games. But Brown's production is going to benefit from Julio Jones' arrival in Tennessee. Brown's numbers, 1075 yards and 11 touchdowns, are going up this year.

Fall

Melvin Gordon III (RB, Denver)

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We've all seen the shelf life of RBs dip. While 28 isn't old, heading into his seventh season Gordon definitely has some miles on him. He played in 15 games during the 2020 season. In the previous two seasons, he missed four games in each season, only playing in all 16 games once in his career (this year there are 17). Adding to the backfield is the impressive rookie back Javonte Williams. Behind Gordon, on the depth chart it is natural to see Gordon's touches go down and a drop in his 10 total touchdowns.

JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR, Pittsburgh)

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JuJu's time as the top pass catcher in the Steel City is over. Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson finished just behind him last year, and both young receivers are looking to improve on last year. And that's not to mention the immense fall off the Pittsburgh offense had as a whole after starting 11-0. There's no reason to believe the offense will be back to how it looked at the beginning of 2020. So with Claypool and Johnson's ascension and the struggles of the offense, it's time for JuJu's numbers to drop, even if he didn't fall off the milk crates.

Robert Tonyan (TE, Green Bay)  

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Tonyan somehow snuck into TE3 territory quietly last season. There was one very big reason for that, or 11 rather. Tonyan's 11 TDs were tied for league-high at the position. Though, Tonyan's 59 targets were barely over a third of Travis Kelce and Darren Waller's, the TE1 and TE2 last season. Tonyan's 11 TD catches should not be counted on to repeat in 2021. Also with such a low target percentage for an offense that likes to throw the ball, the Packers TE's fantasy production is bound to come crashing back to Earth this season.