Week seven action kicked off this week with a real stinker, the Broncos versus the Saints. There wasn’t a lot of fantasy football goodness in that one, but there’s still a good amount to be had this weekend. We have only two teams on bye this week, with the Bears and Cowboys taking a breather, and a lot of juicy matchups on the horizon. To make this list, players must be available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues (as of Wednesday morning), and for deep leaguers, we have a player available in at least 90% of leagues. We’ve pulled some gems out of the depths, so let’s see if we can do it again!
Quarterbacks
Justin Herbert at Arizona (43% rostered)
Herbert hasn’t been a good fantasy option this season. He’s yet to finish inside the top 20 at quarterback, and he has just one game with multiple touchdowns. But that doesn’t have as much to do with Herbert as it does with Jim Harbaugh. Herbert finished under 27 pass attempts in each of the first four games. In these games, he finished with 145 passing yards per game, but he had five touchdowns and a pick.
Matthew Stafford versus Las Vegas (39% rostered)
Stafford got back to basics in week five, before their bye. The Rams’ quarterback hadn’t topped 29 pass attempts in three straight games and had the fantasy points to match. He finished with single-digit points twice in those three games. While Stafford only finished with 13.4 fantasy points in week five, he’s set to have Cooper Kupp back this weekend, and Jordan Whittington (more on him in a second) will have the opportunity to build on his week five breakout. The Raiders make for an incredible matchup, as they allow the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, with only Deshaun Watson failing to notch multiple touchdowns against them in their last four games.
Drake Maye at Jacksonville (8% rostered)
Let’s get weird. Maye is now 1/1 in finishing as a top-twelve quarterback in his career, and he gets one of the best possible matchups to make it two-for-two. Maye looked every bit the prospect that the Patriots took at the top of the first round this draft, and he also looked every bit the rookie quarterback in his first start. Despite his wobbliness, he still finished with three touchdowns and kicked in 38 yards rushing, for 21.52 fantasy points, against the Texans. The Texans allow the eleventh-most fantasy points to quarterbacks… the Jags allow literally the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season Every quarterback has scored at least 18 fantasy points against them except for… say it with me… Deshaun Watson. Three straight QBs have at least 23.5 fantasy points against them. It’ll be a cakewalk for Maye on offense.
Wide Receivers
Jerry Jeudy versus Cincinnati (40% rostered)
While I don’t believe in Deshaun Watson, Jeudy is the only receiver worth his salt in Cleveland now that Amari Cooper is a Buffalo Bill. He won’t get significantly more targets than in weeks 1-3 (24 targets in three games). But, he’s the #1 wide receiver on the Browns now, and even Deshaun Watson’s #1 wide receiver should be rostered. The Amari-less Era starts with a soft landing for Jeudy. While the Bengals allow the thirteenth-fewest fantasy points, that has much to do with playing some dumb passing games (New England, Carolina, Baltimore, and a Malik Nabers-less Giants squad). Six wide receivers have at least 10 fantasy points against them in the last three games, and six of the seven wide receivers to have more than five targets against them have notched 10+ PPR points.
DeMario Douglas at Jacksonville (28% rostered)
If Drake Maye is going to be a fantasy sleeper thanks to carving up a team’s passing defense, then someone has to benefit from that, right? In steps Pop Douglas, who led the team in targets, receptions, and receiving yards last week on a 6/92/1 line (on 9 targets). He lapped the competition in targets, as Hunter Henry came in second with five targets, and Antonio Gibson finished with four. So, through one game, it seems as though Douglas is the apple of Maye’s eye. The Jags give up the second-most fantasy points to wide receivers this year… 12 wide receivers have at least 9.4 fantasy points against them or two per game. Pop Douglas will be one of those two, and likely be above 15 PPR points when all is said and done.
Jordan Whittington versus Las Vegas (8% rostered)
This is a corollary to the Matthew Stafford stream earlier. While Jordan Whittington isn’t the Next Puka Nacua, he has 18 targets in his last two games, which he’s turned into 13 catches for 151 yards. You can’t poo-poo that volume, especially given that one of those games came against the Bears’ very good pass defense. The Raiders do not have such a pass defense, and Whittington (even if he’s running behind Cooper Kupp) should still get at least seven targets. On paper, the Raiders are a bad matchup for wide receivers, as they allow the seventh-fewest fantasy points against them. In reality, they’ve played a whos-who of bad passing games en route to that rank (Chargers, Ravens, Panthers, Browns, Broncos, Steelers). The Rams are not in that tier, and Whittington will feast against the Raiders’ secondary.
Running Backs
Antonio Gibson at Jacksonville (41% rostered)
With Rhamondre Stevenson still not practicing, someone has to play running back for the Patriots this weekend, and Gibson fits the bill. Gibson hasn’t been overwhelming for the Patriots on an overall basis, but he’s been running behind Rhamondre Stevenson. If you strip it down to his base elements, he is averaging 5.7 yards per touch… the second-highest of his career. The Jaguars provide zero resistance, as the future former Doug Pederson squad plays completely uninspiring defense to the tune of allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to running backs on the season, including 15.4 to Dare Ongunbowale in week four, 18.3 to Trey Sermon in week five, and 21.9 to D’Andre Swift in week six. Antonio Gibson is set to feast as the only man in town for the Patriots.
Tyler Allgeier versus Seattle (35% rostered)
The Seahawks have been gashed on the ground lately, with three different 49ers scoring at least 9 PPR points against them last week, and Tyrone Tracy notching 14 against them the week before. The 1B on a team has three games with at least 9.9 PPR points in the last five Seattle contests, and Tyler Allgeier is coming off of a big game. He finished with 18 carries for 105 yards and a score against the hapless Panthers in garbage time last week. While this game isn’t likely to have a ton of garbage time, Allgeier should likely get double-digit touches, as the Falcons continue to use him as a change-of-pace back.
D’Ernest Johnson versus New England (7% rostered)
With Travis Etienne likely missing this one, and Tank Bigsby locked into his two-down banger role, Johnson has a chance to flex his pass-catching chops in that portion of Etienne’s role. Bigsby out-carried Johnson seven-to-six, with Johnson finishing with more rushing yards. But, Johnson dominated the pass-catching role, running 21 routes to Bigsby’s 4. He had just two targets, but those 21 routes represent just one less route than Travis Etienne’s weekly high this season. So, he will get a chance to catch the ball against the Patriots. The Patriots are allowing 4.3 catches and 33.2 receiving yards to opposing running backs this season, without playing a premiere pass-catching back (Zach Charbonnet and Breece Hall both had five targets in week three, and both had the most targets against the Patriots this season). Johnson will also get a good shot at a touchdown, as only the Panthers allow more touchdowns to running backs this season.
Tight Ends
Cade Otton versus Baltimore (35% rostered)
Despite having Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, and Trent Simpson, the Ravens are dreadful at stopping opposing tight ends. They allow the fifth-most fantasy points per game to the position on the season, with four different tight ends notching at least 9.7 PPR points against them… without allowing a touchdown to the position. The Ravens are one of nine teams in the NFL to not allow a score to tight end, and they are still one of the best possible matchups because they’ve given up the most receptions and receiving yards to tight ends so far this year. Otton was previously a Wind Sprint All-Star (lots of snaps and routes with very few targets), he has come around over the last four weeks, finishing with 27 targets in the last four weeks, which ranks third at tight end. Otton is an easy streamer this week and will come up huge for you against the Ravens on Monday Night Football.
Zach Ertz versus Carolina (27% rostered)
Ertz took advantage of a nice matchup last week, taking the Ravens for four catches for 68 yards on five targets. While he couldn’t take advantage of a tougher matchup in week five, Jayden Daniels still targeted him eight times. Over the last two weeks, he’s second in routes and second in targets on the Commanders. With a bad receiving corps around Terry McLaurin, Ertz is now the de facto WR2 on the team. He gets the dreadful Panthers squad this week that can’t stop a cold, let alone a tight end. Caroline currently allows the eighth-most fantasy points to tight end, and they’ve done this without any tight ends getting over four targets against them. The Panthers are putting on a clinic in mediocrity, and Zach Ertz will take advantage of that this weekend.
Jonnu Smith at Indianapolis (4% rostered)
Jonnu Smith is apt to disappear, as weeks three and four combined to see him finish with a 2/4/18 line. But the last time we saw him (week five), he finished with 8 targets, 5 catches, and 62 yards against the Patriots. This week, he gets a porous Colts’ defense that allows the fourth-most catches, the eleventh-most yards, and the third-most touchdowns per game to the position. They’re the fourth-best matchup on the week, and given that Snoop Huntley can’t fully take advantage of Tyreek Hill & Jaylen Waddle, we probably see more of Jonnu Smith this week.
