I want to apologize for this week’s streamers article. There are some really nasty dudes in here, but bye weeks, injuries, and situational changes leave us with no choice. The quarterbacks are a hodgepodge of young guys who might not ever put it together, the running backs are all 1Bs, the receivers are mostly there due to injury, and the tight ends… well, my big beautiful boys, they are there because they are wonderful, and perfect, and did nothing wrong.
I make some references to [Professor Frink voice] MY MODEL in this. It is something I am working on that considers production per opportunity against opponents, rather than pure top-line fantasy points. I’m still honing it, but rest assured, it is 100% correct. If it misses, it is the players who are wrong.
It is with my humblest apologies that we dive into the week seven sleepers. A couple of reminders: the roster rate applies after the first waiver run on Wednesday. To make this list, a player must be rostered in fewer than 50% of Yahoo! Leagues, with one player at each position available in at least 90%.
QUARTERBACKS
Bryce Young (23% rostered) at New York Jets
Bryce Young might just be coming around as an NFL-level quarterback. It helps when you have Rico Dowdle ripping off seven yards per carry to keep the defense honest. The Rico Dowdleaissance is helping keep defenses off of Bryce Young, and the Panthers are thriving. They’re riding a two-game winning streak and are on the verge of being 4-3 on the season, with only the winless New York Jets in their path.
Young has six passing touchdowns in the last three games, with Dowdle and Tetairoa McMillan getting in on the action last week, but he’s passed 200 passing yards just once this year. The Jets, on the other hand, have allowed seven passing touchdowns in the last three games and have allowed 52 rushing yards over the previous two games (the four rushing quarterbacks against them have all posted between 24 and 59 rushing yards), which will allow Young to use his legs on scrambles to bolster his floor.
The Jets have quit, and the Panthers have not. That’s the long and the short of it, and Bryce Young can carve through the Jets this week for you.
Spencer Rattler (7% rostered) at Chicago
Spencer Rattler has quietly been better than you think this season, and by that I mean “not an abject disaster.” He hasn’t had a good fantasy schedule, as he hasn’t faced a top-ten matchup yet this season. His best matchup, the 49ers back in week two (fifteenth in fantasy points per game to quarterbacks), saw him toss three touchdowns and go for 21.68 fantasy points.
The Bears this week change all of that, as they are serving up a top-five matchup to Spencer “The Snake” Rattler (workshopping that). They’ve given up 13 passing touchdowns in their five games, and even if you ignore Jared Goff going goofy mode on Ben Johnson & throwing five touchdowns, they still allow two touchdowns per game. They’ve also given up 83 rushing yards in the last two games, with Jayden Daniels getting 52 and Geno Smith getting 31. So, Rattler will have a lovely floor there, as well.
Dillon Gabriel (5% rostered) vs. Miami
Dillon Gabriel’s first start in America after traveling across the Atlantic is probably the least successful trans-Atlantic foray since the Titanic. Pittsburgh teed off on the kid, sacking him six times en route to a 9-23 rout at Pittsburgh’s hands. Let’s put that one down as “growing pains” for the kid. This week, he gets the Miami Dolphins in what might be Mike McDaniel’s last game as an NFL head coach. The Dolphins are in free fall, and Tua Turndaballova is likely to melt down in the face of Myles Garrett’s pressure, giving Gabriel and the Browns short fields for easy touchdowns.
Back in week five, Gabriel quietly racked up 16 fantasy points in his first start, and his self-soothing mechanism (targeting tight ends) gives him a safe outlet (more on Harold Fannin Jr., later!). Miami’s allowed multiple passing touchdowns in three straight games and ranks in the bottom five versus tight ends, meaning that Gabriel’s preference leads right into Miami’s weakness. I don’t love it, but again… I apologize, and you’re welcome if it works.
RUNNING BACKS
Tyler Allgeier (38% rostered) at San Francisco
Real Football Absurdity Heads know what’s up here, and what a Tyler Allgeier inclusion means for the state of weekly running back streamers (hint: it’s not great!). But this is more about the 49ers’ free-falling defense than Allgeier.
The 49ers lost Nick Bosa in week three, and since week four, they’ve ranked tenth in yards per carry and third in rushing touchdowns. Allgeier is getting at least ten carries in four of his last five games, and his 21-yard bulldozer run last week gives me hope for Allgeier to blast through Tatum Bethune, the 49ers’ counterpunch to losing All-World Linebacker Fred Warner for the season.
He’s the perfect “grind it out” RB2 or flex play this week. Fire him up, enjoy the quiet 50yards and a score, and then throw him back on the waiver wire next week after giving him a little kiss on the head for helping you win.
Kendre Miller (32% rostered) at Chicago
Kendre Miller is mostly an annoyance for Alvin Kamara, but over the last three games, he’s stabilized around ten touches per game. Despite putting the clamps on Bill Croskey-Merritt last week, the Bears’ run defense is dreadful. Even after shutting down Washington, they’re allowing the sixth-most fantasy points to running backs this season, and lead the league in yards per carry allowed.
Miller’s explosive enough to take advantage of this matchup, as he’s shown burst and contact balance (now that he gets to play with Dennis Allen, his main opp, out of town), and this feels like a week where he pops a big one. Think of him as a mid-range RB2 with upside, especially in PPR formats. You could do worse. You probably have done worse. Again, I’m sorry.
Jeremy McNichols (2% rostered) at Dallas
If you’re in a deep PPR league and feeling frisky, then might I offer you a Jeremy McNichols in this trying time? He’s not going to have a pretty statline, but this isn’t about yards; it’s about scamming those PPR points. He had four targets for 30 yards last week, which is how he’ll likely be used in the new Bears’ running back paradigm. Luckily, this week, he gets the dreadful Cowboys defense, which forgot to buckle up against Rico Dowdle last week. Dallas has allowed a running back receiving TD in back-to-back games, including one to Andrew Beck, which makes me a little excited about McNichols in his limited hurry-up role.
Chris Rodriguez is hurt (DNP all week last week, and played one snap on Monday Night Football), meaning McNichols should get the passing-down work and spell JCM in this one. The Cowboys suck out loud on defense and are one of the league’s best offenses, meaning that a shootout is in the cards. If McNichols keeps his role from last week, that could be the sneakiest, nastiest 12 PPR points that you’ve ever seen.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Tre Tucker (49% rostered) at Kansas City
This is the first mention of MY MODEL, and… Kansas City is a neutral matchup. Tucker has three games in his last four weeks, but many cast him aside as a one-week wonder after he finished with two catches for 13 yards after his massive 8/145/3 performance against Washington. But, he’s been great in the last two weeks, posting five touches for 70 yards in both contests, including a WR24 finish last week. There’s some fear that because he’s the speedy small guy that he is a slot receiver & will get smothered by Trent McDuffie. He’s not; he is an outside receiver (only 11% of his routes have come from the slot), meaning he gets the more vulnerable outside receivers, who allow almost a full yard per pass play more than McDuffie.
There’s also the question of the Jakobi Meyers trade rumors. The Raiders may give Tucker a heavier workload to see what he can do as the WR1 in Vegas. The Chiefs’ uptempo and potent offense will force Vegas to throw, and Tucker’s the downfield spark plug this passing game desperately needs.
Tez Johnson (11% rostered) at Detroit
With injuries to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Emeka Egbuka threatening to hamper or render inactive the three top receivers in Tampa Bay, it might just be TeSZN. Last week, an Egbuka injury led to Tez Johnson getting a career-high 38 snaps and a 72% snap share. He’s in a great spot against a depleted Lions’ secondary that is dealing with injuries and a Brian Banch suspension. The Lions’ secondary is ranked eighth-best for opposing wideouts in my model; the Next Man Up in Tampa Bay could make your fantasy week. With Godwin looking like he’s not healing correctly, and Egbuka out for an indeterminate amount of time, then Johnson is a must-add in 12+ team leagues, even if you don’t need him this week.
Jordan “Whittingham” Whittington (5% rostered) vs. Jacksonville (London)
Puka Nacua is out, and Davante Adams can’t possibly get a 100% target share (can he?). Last week, the man Jim Nantz calls “Whittingham” played 49 snaps in Puka’s absence, which was the most among Rams receivers. With Tutu Atwell banged up, playing a completely different role, and possibly missing the game, Whittington will feast on the Jaguars this week. They are the seventh-best wide receiver matchups, and have allowed four double-digit PPR WRs in the last two weeks alone (Tyquan Thornton, Xavier Worthy, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Cooper Kupp).
It’s not glamorous, but Whittington should see plenty of looks in London.
TIGHT ENDS
Harold Fannin Jr. (45% rostered) vs. Miami
I’m going back to the well, I’m sorry (I’ll be really sorry about the next guy). David Njoku’s leg is currently, possibly, split in half, and last week, with Njoku hobbled, Fannin Jr. was the guy. He finished with ten targets last week, when Fannin finished as TE7. Gabriel loves throwing to his tight ends, with Fannin and Njoku totaling 29 combined targets during the previous two contests. Miami is awful against the tight end, posting the fourth-best matchup per my model. This is a simple if-then statement (remember your SATs). If Njoku’s out, then Fannin is a top-8 fantasy tight end option this weekend. If Njoku’s playing, he’s still worth a top-twelve start given the matchup and Njoku likely being hobbled from last weekend.
Mason Taylor (36% rostered) vs. Carolina
This is where I am really, really sorry for what happened last weekend. And I’m giving you Mason Taylor with my tail between my legs. He had one target for one catch and a couple of yards last week, putting him around TE1.5million on the week. Well, the Jets won’t face the Broncos (who were, and I should have trusted my gut, a bottom-four matchup in my model). Here’s the thing, though: Carolina cannot cover tight ends. Like, at all. They’ve allowed top-10 TE finishes to Jake Ferguson, Darren Waller, Hunter Henry, and Trey McBride already, and this week they face Taylor, who will be the #2 pass catcher behind the ghost of Garrett Wilson. The Panthers are the #1 tight end matchup on the slate according to my model, and Taylor’s athletic enough to turn this opportunity into a real breakout game. Please don’t make me look stupid twice in a row, Mason. I will retroactively make your dad not my favorite player not on the 49ers growing up.
Ja’Tavion Sanders (2% rostered) at New York Jets
Remember Ja’Tavion Sanders? He’s back from an ankle injury and has a primo matchup with the New York Football Jets. Per my model, the Jets are the fifth-best matchup this week. Sanders had nine targets in his last game before going down with an injury, and Tommy Tremble saw eight in week three. The previous two weeks were the Rico Dowdle Experience, featuring Tetairoa McMillan, but that train likely slows this week.
He’s back, and the matchup is good, and he was getting targets before he went down with an injury. It’s a leap of faith play, but if you’re streaming tight ends, this is one of the better leaps available.
