Week seven, as the kids say, is in the books. Well, the ebooks. Okay, it’s on TikTok. A lot of weird and wild stuff happened this week. The Unc Bowl was week seven, despite feeling like seven years ago. Bo Nix vanquished Bo Nix 2.0 in a previously unseen effort, and the Chiefs had as many first downs as the Raiders had plays. There’s a lot folks would like to forget about Week Seven, but fantasy football means we have to ponder the orb that was week seven. Every week, we consider a handful of pressing questions that stemmed from Sunday’s action and hopefully answer them. Let’s dive into the Week Seven Absurdity Check.
Is it Time to Cut TreVeyon Henderson?
First, it was the Rhamondre Stevenson fumbles. That could have been Henderson’s in-road to fantasy football production. It came and went without Henderson getting increased opportunities. Then, it was Antonio Gibson’s injury That could have been Henderson’s in-road to fantasy football production. It came and went without Henderson getting increased opportunities. Then, it could be garbage-time production. That could have been Henderson’s in-road to fantasy football production. It came and went without Henderson getting increased opportunities.
The New England Patriots put boot to throat against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, and it was a big day all around. Rhamondre Stevenson scored, so did Kayshon Boutte, and Stefon Diggs had a big day. Drake Maye continued to grow and prove that he belongs in the top-ten quarterback discussion. But, TreVeyon Henderson lagged; he finished with just two carries for five yards, on nine offensive snaps. It was his fewest in a game by both sheer count, and snap share (13.8%, after averaging 34.1%). Garbage time came and went, and Mike Vrabel used the opportunity to get Terrell Jennings, not his second-round pick some touches.
Through seven games, TreVeyon Henderson simply has not arrived. This week was a step back, but we haven’t seen a step forward from Henderson. He has one top-24 finish, two RB3 finishes, and four finishes outside the top-40, including three-straight games with 11 total PPR points.
It gets worse from there, unfortunately. Henderson is playing only 20 snaps per game, for a 34% share. He bucked that trend three games ago against the Bills, but still only had nine opportunities. Henderson gets six rush attempts per game, and runs 10.6 routes per contest. That ranks forty-third in running back routes per game, and 48th in rush attempts per game. It’s incredibly brutal for Henderson right now.
Except, I am not advocating dropping him at least not in deeper leagues. He is a stash, at least for now, as his numbers are roughly analogous to two fellow rookie stashes, Woody Marks (7.2 rush attempts, 10.4 routes per game) and RJ Harvey (5.3 rush attempts, 10.6 routes per game).
In shallow leagues, pull the trigger and move on. He’s a pure handcuff that is a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble away from some fantasy football relevance. However, there is nothing there for him right now until the Patriots’ brass get tired of Rhamondre’s fumbles.
Should We Bench Travis Kelce?
Travis Kelce was TE5 entering week seven, finishing with double-digit PPR points in five-of-six games. Everyone who rostered him were flying high, as he was cashing in on his TE6 ADP. Still, a Sword of Damocles hung over all his production: all his production came with short-area target extraordinaire Rashee Rice serving a six-game suspension.
Rice returned on Sunday, and finished with ten targets, seven catches, 42 yards, and two scores. Kelce’s production fell to earth, as he finished with three catches for 54 yards on three targets. This was a massive step back for Kelce, who finished with just his second double-digit game of the season. But, it was a peculiar game, so is it cause for concern?
I would say this: absolutely not. Kelce finished with a PPR floor game here, finishing with 8.2 fantasy points, as he is still involved. He also finished with an almost identical route run rate with Patrick Mahomes. In the first six weeks of the season, Kelce ran a route on 67% of Mahomes’ drop backs. In week seven, he finished with a route on 66% of Mahomes’ drop backs. So, benching Travis Kelce is not really in the cards, at least not yet. He is running the same number of routes as he did before, this game just got out of hand very quickly and the Chiefs got everyone involved.
I would, however, love to trade Travis Kelce if I could. 8.2 PPR points after the sword falls emphatically, is a great bargaining chip. This may be the start of a slide into the abyss, so make him someone else’s problem, not yours.
Is it Time to Divest from All Titans?
The Tennessee Titans finished week seven with 255 total yards of offense, as they once again failed to produce a functional offensive effort with Cam Ward under center. They rank dead last in the NFL in yards per play (4.1), with 20 NFL teams averaging at least 4.1 yards per play rushing so far this season. Their 4.2 net yards per pass attempt rank dead last, behind even the woebegone New York Jets. They’re the last NFL team under 100 points for the season, and their 235 team yards are last in the NFL, as are their 15 first downs per game.
This is, without a doubt, the worst offense in the NFL. Cam Ward isn’t developing yet, the head coach got the axe, and all their weaponry is very even from a skillset perspective. With all of this in mind: it’s time to divest from all your Titans in ten-team leagues. Luckily, that was likely already true of all the passing game weapons, so less focus on the running backs. In twelve team leagues, everyone with a pulse and an RB designation matters, so you can’t move off Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears, but boy you’re going to want to.
Tyjae Spears returned in week five to limited action (17 snaps, 25% snap share) while Pollard continued as the lead back (49 snaps, 73% snap share). In the last two weeks, however, Spears pulled extremely close to Pollard, with Tyjae playing 51.8% of snaps to Pollard’s 49.1%, pulling slightly ahead of Pollard. Pollard is averaging eight attempts and four targets in the last two games, for 54 total yards. Spears, on the other hand, has 8.5 touches for 45 yards per game.
Neither Pollard nor Spears is a viable starter with this current workload split, and neither is likely to pull ahead as their advanced statistics are remarkably similar. Bye weeks might force them into service but the league’s worst offense doesn’t score points and doesn’t gain yards, so really, you’re rostering them for a PPR scam floor play in bye weeks. I hope that’s something that you value in a roster spot. Otherwise, move on.
