The Bye weeks are here, which means that not only do we have to deal with half our team on the IR, but the other half is now on Bye! Don’t fret, as we, as always, are here to help with your weekly streamers; these players are available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues. We don’t want to forget our deep league friends, so we have one player at each position available in at least 90% of leagues!
Quarterbacks
Justin Fields versus Dallas (50% rostered)
Last week’s QB1 seems like the easy answer as to who to start this week, but it gets a bit deeper than that. Fields has been let loose the last two games, averaging 33 pass attempts after getting reined into a strange, plodding, time-killing offense that saw him average just 21.5 pass attempts per game. His fantasy points have responded accordingly, as he had fewer than 12 fantasy points in each of the first two games, and 18.4 and 32 fantasy points in the last two games. He’s doing it with both his legs and his arms, passing for 557 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for 61 yards and 3 touchdowns, in the last two contests.
This week, he gets a neutral Cowboys matchup. They’re banged up, with both Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence nursing injuries from Thursday Night Football. Even with those two available, quarterbacks have two rushing touchdowns against them this season, with two signal callers rushing for at least 39 yards against Big D. Fields might just fool around and end up in the top five again.
Deshaun Watson at Washington (23% rostered)
I regretfully, and briefly, recommend The Bad Man this week. He has had a high floor so far this season, despite the disastrous Browns of it all; Watson has at least 12.2 fantasy points in three of his last four games, going for over 15.4 in two of the last three. But, this has more to do with the Commanders than Watson: three of their first four opponents finished with at least 18.3 fantasy points, thanks to allowing ten passing touchdowns across four games. In short: every quarterback that goes against them is on pace to lead the league in touchdowns.
Joe Flacco at Jacksonville (3% rostered)
This is a “break glass in case of emergency” recommendation because it’s really nasty below 10% rostered right now: Flacco, Daniel Jones without Malik Nabers (9% rostered), Gardner Minshew without Davante Adams (5% rostered), and the vaunted Snoop Huntley (3% rostered) versus Jacoby Brissett (2% rostered) slap fight. But, if Anthony Richardson does not play, then Flacco has a primo matchup against the disgusting Jacksonville Jaguars defense. The Jags have given up the most fantasy points to quarterback this season, with all four QBs notching at least 15 fantasy points. Flacco once again came in off the couch last week to chuck the ball all over the place, throwing for two scores against the Eagles’ defense.
If Flacco doesn’t go, then Pro Bowl Quarterback Snoop Huntley is my favorite of the sub-10% rostered guys. The Patriots couldn’t stop a cold last week against the 49ers, allowing long plays to George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, and Deebo Samuel. Huntley and Mike McDaniel will go as far as big plays from Tyreek Hill will take them.
Wide Receivers
Jerry Jeudy at Washington (49% rostered)
I hate to do this to you, but we are double-dipping on Brownies this week. Jeudy has quietly been cooking this year, getting 7.5 targets per game and quietly finishing between WR27 and WR33 in three of four contests. He gets enough targets to do damage against bad defenses, and he gets one of those this week. The Commanders give up the most fantasy points to wide receivers on the year, with seven players in four games notching double-digit fantasy points against them, and six players in those four games getting to 15.5 fantasy points.
Josh Downs at Jacksonville (34% rostered) IF ANTHONY RICHARDSON TRENDS TOWARDS OUT
Josh Downs burst onto the scene last week, possibly entirely thanks to Joe Flacco airing it out with Downs on the other end of his deep bombs. If Flacco plays, I expect Downs to get 7-8 targets and 100 or so air yards. Flacco came in last week and immediately peppered him with targets. Seven wide receivers have at least five targets against the Jags this season, and all have double-digit fantasy days to their name thanks to it.
Mike Williams at Minnesota (21% rostered) IF ANTHONY RICHARDSON WILL PLAY
Big Mike is finally shaking off the rust from his ACL tear last season, and he led the Jets in receiving last week, finishing with 4 catches for 67 yards on 5 targets. He’s the best vertical threat this team has, and the Vikings are a good defense to exploit deep. The Vikings have allowed the ninth-most receiving yards on passes traveling over 20 yards in the air on the season, meaning that you can push it downfield on Brian Flores’ defense.
Jordan Whittington versus Green Bay (6% rostered)
No Puka Nacua, no Cooper Kupp, no problem, apparently! Whittington took over for the failed Tyler Johnson Experiment last week, running a team-high 28 routes, and garnering a team-high 27.6% target share. He seems to be the solid answer to the wide receiver question in Los Angeles, with Tutu Atwell acting as a more volatile deep threat. This week, Whittington and the Rams take on the Packers in what will likely prove to be a shootout. The Packers are slightly below average in pass defense and are a neutral matchup. However, two wide receivers finished with 20+ PPR fantasy points against them last week, and six on the season have finished with at least 15 PPR points.
Running Backs
Justice Hill at Cincinnati (29% rostered)
It worked last week, so I am going to die on this (Justice) Hill. The Ravens’ offense has turned into a confounding mess for Mark Andrews and Zay Flowers bag holders, but it’s been a boon for the running backs. We all know about Derrick Henry going Beast Mode, but Hill has two top-30 finishes in four games in PPR this season. While the Bengals are a neutral matchup (12th in fantasy points per game to running back), they allow the ninth-most catches to backs on the season, and that’s something that Hill, not Henry, should exploit.
Antonio Gibson versus Miami (24% rostered)
Gibson had a 50-yard garbage time touch last week that made his overall line look more appealing than it otherwise would have. But, that stat line isn’t why he is on this list. Rhamondre Stevenson has four fumbles in four games, and Antonio Gibson gained a penchant for putting the ball on the ground with 6 fumbles in 300 touches back in 2021. To put that in perspective, Rhamondre Stevenson fumbles just over 5% of the time, and Antonio Gibson had a reputation for fumbling when he did it on 2% of his touches.
All of that is to say that the Patriots would be smart to get Antonio Gibson more touches, as Stevenson can’t help himself from putting the ball on the ground. He has double-digit touches just once this season, back in week two against Seattle: he put down 103 total yards on 12 touches in that game.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. at Seattle (5% rostered)
Devin Singletary is in danger of missing his second game since his rookie season thanks to a groin injury. The most recent dispatch reports that he “has a chance” to play in week five. But, he was a late addition to the injury report (which is never good) and will be limited, even if he plays. So, where will the Giants turn? With leading target-getter Malik Nabers likely also sidelined with a concussion, it’s Tyrone Tracy. Tracy will lead the way in a highly deficient rushing backfield by getting a ton of targets. Tracy is a converted receiver, which means that Brian Daboll will likely give him a ton of looks out of the backfield to replace Devin Singletary and Malik Nabers in the aggregate.
Tight Ends
Tucker Kraft at L.A. Rams (45% rostered)
To quote J.J. Zachariason: “But what if we’re adding Tucker Kraft because he hit his highest route participation of the season last week, is the clear TE1 on a team that now doesn’t have Christian Watson, has seen ~15% of their targets over the last few weeks, and tight end is a wasteland?”
I couldn’t put it better myself. Kraft is trending upward, with a target competitor ahead of him falling by the wayside, and who is actually getting targets. He gets the Rams this week, who have only seen two tight ends get more than three targets against them: both finished with at least 4 catches for 45 yards. They’re a defense that will give up points (the seventh-most to tight ends this season), and that includes 25% of their games coming against Eric Saubert this season.
Tyler Conklin versus Minnesota (29% rostered)
Tyler Conklin… Revenge Game?! The erstwhile Minnesota tight end will take on his former squad in Jolly Old England this week, on the heels of his highest target count (8) of the season. Over the last two games, Conklin has 14 targets for 9 catches and 110 yards. He should be rostered in far more leagues than this, at least for the matchup. The Vikings currently allow the fifth-most fantasy points to tight end, including Tucker Kraft’s 6/53/1 effort last weekend.
Erick All versus Baltimore (2% rostered)
If you’re in a deep league and you want a handful of points because you’re tired of being on the Mark Andrews Express, then Erick All is likely your man. All carries a 100% catch rate, snagging all 12 of his NFL targets over the last three games. He’s put down a respectable (yes, this is where we are) 6.2-7.2 fantasy points in each of his three games with a target. This week, the Bengals take on the Ravens in what will need to be a shootout. Baltimore allows the second-most fantasy points to tight ends, including almost ten points(!) to Dalton Kincaid last week, as well as huge games to Brock Bowers and Jake Ferguson.
