| | | | Tuesday, October 20, 2020 | | Welcome to Week 7! Before we get to the latest injury news, the top waiver-wire priorities for Week 7 and more in today's newsletter, here's a friendly reminder that the Colts, Dolphins, Vikings and Ravens are on bye this week. That means no Lamar Jackson, Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Marquise Brown, Mark Andrews, Myles Gaskin, Jonathan Taylor or DeVante Parker among others. | | We also likely won't have Miles Sanders or Raheem Mostert this week, as we learned Monday. Mostert is likely heading to IR with a high-ankle sprain, while Sanders is expected to miss at least one week with a knee injury. Oh, and Christian McCaffrey may not be back this week either. And Zack Ertz is probably out 3-4 weeks with a foot injury. | | So, yet again, Fantasy players have to deal with a slew of injuries and absences this week. That's the story of 2020, and you should be used to it by now, but we're here to help you either way. We'll walk you through everything you need to know for Week 7, beginning with the top waiver priorities, answers to your biggest questions for this week, and a recap of what you might have missed from Monday night's doubleheader. And, as always, if you want your questions answered, send them directly to me at Chris.Towers@CBSInteractive.com with the subject line "#AskFFT" for inclusion in our next mailbag. And, if you're looking to make a trade, don't miss Dave Richard's Trade Values Chart here. | | | | Week 7 Waiver Wire Priority List | | | | Here are Jamey Eisenberg's top priorities on waivers for Week 7: | | Justin Jackson (60%) — The bye week seems to have suppressed Jackson's roster rate, so if he's still available in your league, consider yourself lucky. He figures to start for at least the next few weeks with Austin Ekeler sidelined, and he should have a role even when Ekeler comes back, given Joshua Kelley's struggles. Jackson could be a No. 2 RB for the next few weeks at least. Boston Scott (19%) — Scott got one start last season and played 74% of the snaps after Sanders left another game, and he combined for 60.6 PPR points in those two games. I'm not saying he'll do that again, but it does go to show how high the ceiling is for him in this offense. Of course, we also saw him have just 7.4 points in a Week 1 start, so there are no guarantees here. Travis Fulgham (51%) — We'll see if the short week gives DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery enough time to get right, but with Ertz and Sanders out, Fulgham should have plenty of opportunity to earn targets in Week 7 either way. How can you bench a guy with three straight games with a touchdown and 23 targets in his past two? Tim Patrick (39%) — Patrick put up his second 100-yard game in a row in Week 6, and he did it against the Patriots. That's pretty impressive. The Chiefs are another tough matchup, but he looks like the Broncos' No. 1 WR right now, and will be worth using in that role. J.D. McKissic (29%) — Six catches in three straight games is six catches in three straight games. You can't ignore the role McKissic has, and while there probably isn't much upside here — he topped out at 14.4 PPR points in Week 6, the matchup against Dallas in Week 7 should make him a viable starting option in all leagues. Mike Williams (54%) — We've seen the good, the bad and the injuries from Williams so far, but he has huge weekly upside and gets the Jaguars in Week 7, so you probably want to start him for this week. | | Head here to see who else Jamey is targeting for Week 7, and check out Tuesday's episode of theFantasy Football Today podcast for more on the top targets. | | | Week 7's Biggest Questions
| | | | I went to Twitter to find your biggest questions for Week 7, and there was no shortage of options. Here are my answers to just some of this questions: | | At what point do you bail on a committee RB? I have Cam Akers, Anthony Gibson and Kenyan Drake, and I'm trying to figure out who is eventually going to emerge, if at all. | | There's no one easy answer to this kind of question, except: You probably have to wait it out. In the case of the three you mentioned, Akers is the one you can most justify dropping at this point, given that Darrell Henderson has been so good in the running game and the Rams clearly trust Malcolm Brown most in the passing game. Gibson is in a super-frustrating situation splitting time with J.D. McKissic , but at some point you figure the Football Team is going to give him more responsibility as the future of the position. And as for Drake, he's still getting plenty of touches, and he reminded us Monday that maybe five games is too small a sample size to just decide a player is washed up. Despite what the Fantasy community at large wants, it doesn't look like Drake is losing his job any time soon. | | In all three cases, you're still hoping for upside, but the guiding principle I would use when trying to figure out who to drop and who to hang on to is this: Keep whoever you think might make you regret dropping them most. Adrian Peterson might be serviceable as a No. 3 back, but you're unlikely to ever be facing a situation where you really regret dropping him, because he just doesn't have much upside. Prioritize guys who could become three-down backs, or at the very least, who could get passing game and goal-line work. All three guys here pass that test. | | What do you think D'Andre Swift's role looks like moving forward? | | I wouldn't expect the Lions to go away from their three-back rotation, but I do expect Swift to be the best back there moving forward. He's already proven to be the most dynamic playmaker in the passing game, but he showed his skills in every facet of the game Sunday for the first time. He's the only back in Detroit who can say that, so I expect him to get something like half of the running back touches and snaps, including the passing work. That should make him a viable flex starter, with significant upside beyond that. | | Should we be worried about Tyreek Hill? | | So, that's five times in six games with six or fewer targets for Hill after his three-catch, 20-yard performance Monday. It's fair to be worried that you won't get first-round value from Hill, but you also have to remember that he's one of the most dynamic playmakers in the NFL and gets work in the running game regularly — seven carries in six games. Hill can score every time he touches the ball, which means you don't need huge volume every week, though it may also mean he's more like a low-end No. 1 WR than an elite option. | | Does Ronald Jones keep this up when Fournette comes back? | | Well, he's not going to keep running for 100 yards and a touchdown every week, but Jones was still playing more snaps than Fournette even before the injury in two out of three games. Jones has certainly benefited from Fournette's absence, and at this point, it seems safe to assume he's not going to lose his job to Fournette as we feared he might at the start of the season. But it's also more than fair to view Jones as a sell-high candidate if someone views him as a potential top-12 running back moving forward. He probably won't be that. | | Which early-round picks are you willing to drop (not counting injuries)? | | We'll stick with the first four rounds in ADP for this exercise … | | Can definitely drop: Mark Ingram — He's on a bye in Week 7, and there just hasn't been enough work to view him as anything more than a fringe starter. … Zach Ertz — I didn't want to give up on him, but given how he's played this season, he isn't worth hanging onto through the injury if you need the roster spot. Maybe one bad week away: Leonard Fournette — If he comes back in Week 7 and only gets five or so carries, it'll be worth considering. … JuJu Smith-Schuster — The Steelers receiving corps doesn't really have a clear hierarchy, except that we know JuJu isn't at the top of it. He hasn't led the team in targets in any game so far, and frankly hasn't played like he deserves a bigger role. If Diontae Johnson is back in Week 7 and Smith-Schuster is once again third or fourth on the team in targets, you'll have to consider it. Definitely not dropping (but see if someone will still pay for the name value): Mike Evans, Devin Singletary, Todd Gurley, David Johnson. My concerns about Evans are well known if you've been reading this newsletter, but I'm not sure he's going to be much more than a No. 3 wide receiver for Fantasy moving forward. | | Which hot starts are you selling? | | It might be a bit too late with Josh Allen, so maybe I'll wait until after he gets to face the Jets this week. Ronald Jones is also an easy and obvious sell-high candidate, and I would consider moving James Robinson if someone views him as an elite running back, because the production has trailed the perception for a few weeks. And at wide receiver, I would consider moving DK Metcalf and Justin Jefferson, who probably can't quite sustain what they've done so far in terms of big plays or touchdowns. Though, in those cases, I would be happy to hang on to both, too. | | | | MNF Recap 1: Chiefs 26, Bills 17 | | | | We didn't get quite the offensive fireworks we were expecting or hoping for in this one, but Clyde Edwards-Helaire managed to make a strong case to keep his job. | | Winner: Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Well, someone doesn't want to lose his job. Edwards-Helaire went out in his first game after the Chiefs signed Le'Veon Bell and put together arguably the best performance of his young career, rushing for 161 yards on 26 carries and adding four catches for 8 yards, giving him two 100-yard rushing games in his first six. It's still not clear what Bell's role will be upon joining the Chiefs, and this game may not have made any difference on that either way. But admit it: You feel a lot better about Edwards-Helaire moving forward than you did last week, right? I'm still expecting Edwards-Helaire to be the primary rusher, with Bell taking more passing game work. Loser: Josh Allen. The good news is, even in his worst game of the season — by far — Allen still had 19.1 Fantasy points, as he had his best rushing performance since Week 1. However, that gives Allen his two worst passing performances in a row after he opened the season so strong. Allen completed just 14 of 27 passes for 122 yards, and he really wasn't very close on many passes. He's still well ahead of where anyone could have reasonably expected coming in, but this regression is a bit disappointing after it looked like Allen may be making the leap to the elite tier. The good news? He's got the Jets on the way in Week 7, so it won't be three poor performances in a row. What you might have missed: As good as Edwards-Helaire was, his bad touchdown luck continued Monday night. On the team's third drive of the night, Edwards-Helaire rushed for 36 yards, doing much of the heavy lifting to get the Chiefs in close, and he capped off the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run … which was nullified by penalty. It was his only carry inside the 10-yard line in the game, and continued this streak of five straight games without a touchdown — he has 103 touches in those five games. The concern is that Bell might take on the goal-line and/or passing-downs work from Edwards-Helaire, so this was definitely frustrating to see. | | MNF Recap 2: Cardinals 38, Cowboys 10 | | The drop off from Dak Prescott to Andy Dalton might be huge, but the Cowboys never had a chance after Ezekiel Elliott's two first-half fumbles. | | Winner: It's hard to stay level during the NFL season, because the schedule is so short that you almost have to overreact sometimes. However, it's important to remember that even though the Fantasy season is nearly halfway over, we're still in small-sample-size theater season, and Kenyan Drake is our latest example. He entered Week 6 averaging 3.7 yards per carry and with most of the Fantasy football community clamoring for him to be benched in favor of Chase Edmonds. After Monday's 164-yard, two-touchdown game, Drake is a top-15 back in Fantasy, average 4.6 yards per carry and on pace for 1,300 total yards and 11 touchdowns. And as for Drake looking slow? Well, that 69-yard touchdown looked pretty fast. Loser: Ezekiel Elliott. Really, it's the whole Cowboys offense, but special shout out to Elliott, who helped sink the Cowboys and countless Fantasy teams with his two fumbles. He now has five through six games, one shy of his career high set in 2018. The good news is Dalton still looked his way early and often, targeting him 11 times because he just didn't have much time to drop back and wait for anything else to develop. Even in a bad version of the Cowboys offense, Elliott is an elite Fantasy option; this was just an especially bad performance, and the fumbles probably aren't something to be concerned about moving forward. What you might have missed: Dalton wasn't good Monday, but the offense line is a much bigger problem. Among the five starters along the Cowboys line in Week 1, only Connor Williams and Terence Steele made it through Week 6 because they lost Zack Martin with a concussion Monday — and Steele is already starting in place of La'el Collins and Cameron Erving. Once a strength of the team, the line has been an issue all season for the Cowboys. Andy Dalton can be productive with these weapons in good circumstances, but that's not what he has right now. It's not an overreaction to drop Michael Gallup, and Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb both look like boom or bust No. 2 Fantasy WRs. | | | | | | | | 24/7 Sports News | | UEFA Champions League | Want your sports news and highlights straight without the noise? Stream CBS Sports HQ on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and more!
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