| | | | Monday, October 25, 2021 | | Given how tough it was to actually field a viable lineup this week, the least Week 7 could do for us is not have a bunch of injuries, and we seemed to get lucky on that front Sunday. Miles Sanders (ankle) and Josh Jacobs (chest) both left Sunday's game with injuries, but they were the most Fantasy relevant injuries of the day, and neither seems likely to miss too much time. | | Which means we don't have to spend as much time on injury updates this week as we did last Monday. We can just focus on what happened Sunday, how it might impact your teams moving forward, and what to do with that. | | So, we'll start today's newsletter with the biggest winners and losers from Sunday's action -- and then my early waiver-wire targets column from Sunday evening and Heath Cummings' breakdown of the top storylines from Week 7 , including some buy-low and sell-high targets for this week. I'll have my full rankings for Week 8 and Jamey Eisenberg's full waiver-wire priority list for tomorrow's newsletter, and if you have any waiver-wire or trade questions, make sure you send them my way with the subject line #AskFFT to Chris.Towers@ViacomCBS.com. | | | | Biggest Winners and Losers | | | | Here are the top five from Sunday's action, and you can read my full recap of every game here, including winners and losers, one big takeaway, and a number to know for each game as well. | | Winners | | These players come out of Week 6 looking better than they did coming in. | A.J. Brown -- Brown's season got off to a bad start way back in training camp when he was dealing with soreness in his knees. Then he suffered a hamstring injury in Week 2 and just didn't look right for the first game and a half back. Something clicked at halftime in Week 6 and then he dominated in Week 7, catching eight of nine targets for 133 yards and a touchdown. Injuries remain a real concern for Brown -- he did have surgery on both knees this offseason, after all -- but he's healthy right now, and he's one of the best players in Fantasy.
Joe Burrow -- Ja'Marr Chase has received the headlines, but it's worth noting that Burrow seems to have taken a step forward alongside him. He completed 23 of 38 passes for 416 yards with three touchdowns Sunday and is now up to 9.2 yards per attempt with 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions in seven games. The interception rate is a touch too high and his touchdown rate probably isn't sustainable, if you want to nitpick, but the Bengals have also trusted him to throw 38 passes in two of the past three games after limiting his exposure early on. I don't quite know if Burrow is a top-12 QB the rest of the way, but he's really close at this point. Mike Gesicki -- It's going to be interesting to see what the Dolphins do when their full complement of receivers is available, because Gesicki played just 39% of the snaps in the team's first game but has been over 64% in all six games since. He's a tight end in name only in this offense, but with Will Fuller and DeVante Parker coming back eventually, is his role secured? It should be coming off his seven-catch, 85-yard performance Sunday; he is averaging 6.2 catches and 71.2 yards on eight targets per game since Week 1. It might be worth considering selling high on Gesicki in case his role does shift, but it's so hard to find good tight ends, you might as well just ride him until the wheels come off. Chase Edmonds. The past few weeks had been pretty concerning for Edmonds, who had just 10 carries and six catches between Weeks 5 and 6 after averaging nearly 12 carries and five catches per game in the first four. It coincided with a shoulder injury, but Edmonds was off the injury report for this game and, lo and behold, got a season-high 15 carries in this one along with three targets. Edmonds is the primary pass-catching back here, but if he's behind James Conner on the rushing hierarchy, it's harder to trust him, so this was a good sign. Now, can we please get my guy a touchdown? He has 95 touches without one right now.
Damien Harris. I've been pretty skeptical about Harris' Fantasy appeal in the newsletter, but credit where it's due, this was a great game, with 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns. This was Harris' second game as a top-12 RB in 17 starts, and there are still reasons to think he's not a great option moving forward -- only 14 carries and two targets in a 54-13 win? -- and I wouldn't mind trying to move Harris to an RB-needy team after this. But, it was a heck of a game.
| | | | Losers | | It's hard to feel better about these players coming out of Week 6 than you did coming in. | Justin Fields -- Whether Fields just isn't ready or the offense is holding him back -- or, more likely, a combination of the two -- it's basically impossible to find anything positive to say about how the rookie has played so far. He's averaging just 6.4 yards per attempt with two touchdowns and five interceptions in his five starts. He's also fumbled five times and has nearly as many sacks (20) as rush attempts (23) -- and has lost more yards on his sacks, to boot. With matchups against the 49ers, Steelers, and Ravens over the last three games, I'm not sure anyone on this offense is more than a low-end starter at their position.
Calvin Ridley -- I just don't really know what to do with Ridley. He's clearly the No. 1 receiver for the Falcons, leading the team in routes run and targets (10) this week. However, he and Matt Ryan just haven't really been able to sync up, especially down the field -- Ridley was just third in air yards on the team Sunday. I don't buy the idea that he is overmatched as a No. 1 receiver without Julio Jones, but even if you do, shouldn't the success of Kyle Pitts be helping him overcome that? I just have to move forward with Ridley as a must-start wide receiver and just hope his huge role -- 52 targets in five games -- will lead to elite production eventually.
Robby Anderson -- You've gotta wonder how long the Panthers can keep making him a focal point of the offense given the results they're getting. Over his last three games, Anderson has 55 yards on eight catches and 27 targets, and he's now caught just 36.7% of his passes through the first second games. People are going to let themselves fall for the targets, believe Anderson has to be better moving forward, and maybe he does, but I'm not sure I want to keep chasing it at this point.
A.J. Dillon -- With the Packers winning by 14, there should have been an opportunity for Dillon to put up some decent numbers, but the Packers ended up giving as many carries to Kylin Hill as to Dillon. That probably won't be a thing moving forward, and it's worth noting they played just 53 offensive snaps in this one, but it was still disappointing given Dillon's growing role of late. Though I guess Aaron Jones' six carries might have been even more disappointing. Brandon Aiyuk . There's been a lot of consternation among Fantasy analysts and players around Aiyuk's usage, with plenty of ire being sent Kyle Shanahan's way. And I get it, what with Shanahan seemingly benching Aiyuk early in the season in some kind of motivational ploy. But here's the thing: Aiyuk has played at least 71% of the snaps in three of the last four games and is right around there in route share as well. He's seeing the field plenty, so it's harder to keep pinning this on Shanahan. He has earned just 14 targets over the last four games, turning them into eight catches for 88 yards. The thing that nobody seems to want to admit is that Aiyuk just doesn't seem to be playing that well right now. He certainly isn't playing in a way that demands more targets.
| | Believe It Or Not | | | | Every week, Heath Cummings takes a look at the biggest storylines in Fantasy to try and separate fact from fiction for you. Here are this week's narratives and some of Heath's thoughts: | Ja'Marr Chase is the No. 1 WR in Dynasty leagues: "Believe it. I can even tell you the play it happened on. With 6:04 remaining in the third quarter, the Bengals faced a 3rd and 2 from their own 18. Chase took a short slant and first broke through four defenders, and then outran the entire Ravens defense, for an 82-year score. It was the type of play that leaves you speechless."You don't need to hold any of the Ravens RBs through their Week 8 bye: "Don't believe it -- I'm going to go against the vast majority here. This was a weird game script against a very good Bengals run defense. I still have hope the Ravens will look at the production they've received from their running backs and come out of the bye a little more committed to Devonta Freeman. You can drop everyone else in this backfield though."Kyle Pitts is a top-three TE rest of season: "Don't believe it. Pitts' past two games have come against the Jets and Dolphins, who have mostly been miserable defensively. But mostly this doesn't have anything to do with Pitts at all. I would still prefer Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, and Darren Waller for sure. You might be able to sell high on Pitts."
| | Top early waiver-wire targets | | | | Kenneth Gainwell, RB, PHI 46%Boston Scott, RB, PHI 2%Rashod Bateman, WR, BAL 49%Russell Gage, WR, ATL 16%Brandon Bolden, RB, NE 7% | | For the rest of my top early priorities and why I'm targeting them, head here. | | | | | | | | Destination Porto on P+ | | $100,000 Pick'em Contest | Destination Porto: The Unimaginable Journey provides an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at journalist Guilllem Balague's months-long travels across Europe amid a devastating pandemic as he covers the chase for the greatest annual prize in sports: The UEFA Champions League Trophy.
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