The Byepocalypse is here, with approximately every single fantasy-relevant player on a bye; you definitely have some holes to fill this week. Luckily, I definitely have players available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues to help you out. Every position has a deep dive player available in at least 90% of leagues, as well. Let’s endure this disaster together.
QUARTERBACKS
Michael Penix Jr (29% rostered) vs. Miami
Michael Penix struggled last week, and in fact, he’s struggled in every non-cupcake matchup this season. However, he dominates good matchups, and Miami (sixth in fantasy points to quarterbacks) is a great one. This is Penix’s third top-thirteen matchup, and he notched over 300 total yards and two scores in both of his other plus matchups. The Dolphins are circling the drain, too, having allowed multiple touchdowns to quarterbacks in every week but last week in a monsoon. The vibes are rancid in Miami, and Penix will take advantage.
Aaron Rodgers (37% rostered) vs. Green Bay
The ultimate matchup: the perpetually slighted guy versus the team that entertained his every whim for nearly two decades. Rodgers has a chance to put Green Bay on his 31-team list of victories so that he will be extra motivated in this “revenge” game. He has played well of late, averaging 21 fantasy points per game since the week five bye. The Packers are a pass funnel, which means a lot of fantasy points for quarterbacks; they’ve given up multiple passing scores in four straight games and in five of six weeks.
Tyrod Taylor (2% rostered) @ Cincinnati
Taylor will be starting this weekend after Woody Johnson threw Justin Fields under the bus, then backed the bus up over Fields once again. Taylor filled in once before this season, when Fields suffered from post-concussive symptoms in week three. In that game, he finished as QB9 at Tampa Bay, on a final line of 197 passing yards, two touchdowns, a pick, and 48 rushing yards. The Bengals just gave up four touchdowns to Rodgers on Thursday Night Football last week, and multiple passing touchdowns in five of six games. Every quarterback has at least 14 fantasy points against the Bengals this season, making Tyrod a great floor play, at worst.
RUNNING BACKS
Tyler Allgeier (43% rostered) vs. Miami
I’m going back to the well one more time, and banking that the woebegone Miami Dolphins defense will put up less of a fight than the 49ers did last week. Allgeier only had four carries, which didn’t allow him to do anything last week. With the Dolphins barely capable of putting up a fight this week, I expect Allgeier to hit double-digit carries. He’s done that four times this season, and put up 10+ fantasy points in three-straight such games. This is also a good matchup, as the Dolphins’ run defense is as bad as their passing game, allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to the position.
Kyle Monangai (38% rostered) @ Baltimore
We saw the Kyle Monangai Breakout Game last week, as the rookie solidified his spot behind starter D’Andre Swift. Luckily for you, fantasy football leagues haven’t caught up to this fact. So, they’re freely allowing you to scoop him up off the waiver wire. Monangai has 18 carries for 100 yards and catches for 38 yards over the last two weeks, scoring against the Saints last week. Those came against two defenses that are middling against running backs. Over the next two weeks, Kyle Monangai literally could not have a better pair of matchups: Baltimore allows the second-most points to running backs on the season, and his week nine opponent (Cincinnati) allows the most. Get him now, because he won’t qualify for this list after this week.
Devin Neal (4% rostered) vs. Tampa Bay
Devin Neal hasn’t done much of anything yet in his NFL career, but the rookie was stuck behind Kendre Miller until Miller suffered a season-ending injury last week. Neal will step right into the “spelling Alvin Kamara” role, a role that has seen Kendre Miller get enough touches to matter: he averaged ten touches per game over his three games before his season-ending injury. The Buccaneers allow the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs, and backs who get ten or more touches generally notch 10+ PPR points against the Buccaneers.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Tez Johnson (45% rostered) @ New Orleans
With Mike Evans out for the season and Chris Godwin already ruled out for week eight, the runway is greased for Tez Johnson’s takeoff. Johnson is coming off back-to-back games with a score, but he stepped up last week in a depleted Tampa Bay receiving corps, getting nine targets, four catches, 48 yards, and a score. That marked his third-straight game with double-digit PPR points, and he has the opportunity to make it four in a row. His opponent, the Saints, is a neutral matchup and should not put up much of a fight.
Alec Pierce (23% rostered) vs. Tennessee
Pierce has three games with over 80% of snaps played this year, and he has double-digit PPR points in all three, without posting a touchdown. He fills an essential downfield role for the Colts in their offense, one filled by Adonai Mitchell in a profoundly stupid way. The Titans haven’t faced a ton of 20+ air yard passes (just seventeen on the season), but opponents average the fifth-highest yards per target on such passes. Pierce doesn’t need a lot of pass work to produce, and the Titans will cooperate by allowing him to maximize his downfield passes.
Josh Reynolds (1% rostered) at Cincinnati
Garrett Wilson still isn’t practicing as of Thursday, so it looks like he will miss week eight. That puts Reynolds squarely in Tyrod Taylor’s crosshairs. Last week, Reynolds had nine targets as the WR1, but so many of those were poor-quality Justin Fields targets; with Taylor at the helm, his target load should look much better. The Bengals won’t put up much of a fight defensively, as they haven’t put up much of a battle in the passing game all season long, allowing the most passing touchdowns and the third-most passing yards per game on the year.
TIGHT ENDS
Harold Fannin (50% rostered) @ New England
This destroyed me last week, but my model tells me to go right back to Fannin. He led the team in targets, catches, and yards last week, but there wasn’t much for the Browns’ passing game to do against the Dolphins. The Patriots will score points, even against the Browns, and it will force the Browns to throw more. Last week, Fannin had a 22% target share, which means that if Gabriel throws it a normal amount (about 34 times), that would be about eight targets. I’ll take that against the fifth-best matchup of the week per my tight end matchups model.
Juwan Johnson (32% rostered) vs. Tampa Bay
Juwan Johnson has the top tight end matchup of the week with the Buccaneers. They are fifteenth overall, but on a per-target basis, they really get chewed up by the position. Johnson is dealing with a neck issue, but is looking to play this week after his seven-target, five-catch, 79-yard effort last weekend. This is a good time to dive back into the Juwan Johnson business, if you jumped bait after his three bad weeks.
Noah Fant (3% rostered) vs N.Y. Jets
Fant quietly has at least four targets in every game this season, and he finally has a good run of matchups to take advantage of that fact. Last week, he played the third-best defense for allowing tight end fantasy points with the Steelers, and he scored 14.4 PPR points. This week, he gets the Jets and their ninth-best streaming defense. Only one tight end with at least four targets against the Jets has fewer than 9.9 PPR points so far this season.
