clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Win your Week 7 fantasy football game

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Editor's Note: FanDuel is running a $2 million fantasy football league in week 6. The top 90,800 teams win cash with $150,000 paid to first place on Sunday. Join now!

I'm not a player, I just crush a lot. Follow me on Twitter for daily advice and start/sit questions. Last week a $2 bet into most general public categories and my perfect roster would have landed you just over $200. Not bad.

So the perfect lineup last week would have looked like this:

Matthew Stafford (33.9 points), Devonta Freeman (27.6)*, Chris Ivory (25.6), DeAndre Hopkins (26.8)*, Martavis Bryant (26.5), Greg Olsen (19.1)*, Chris Bosell (15.0) and Miami DST (24.0). (*- a recommend start in this column last week).

And if you want to be really humbled, my get shiesty's last week (Colin Kaepernick, 22 points and Stefon Diggs, 16.5 points) likely saved your butt as well.

My sleepers for you last week: Kaepernick (22 points), Bortles (22), LaGarrette Blount (23.5), Charcandrick West (1), Daniel Herron (0)*, Theo Riddick (8.5), Marquess Wilson (6), Willie Snead (7), Kamar Aiken (9.5), Leonard Hankerson (5), Ted Ginn (1.5), Stefon Diggs (16.5), Delanie Walker (13), Zach Ertz (6), Richard Rodgers (4) and Derek Carrier (5).

*I can't take credit for the goose egg on Herron because I warned against him if LeSean McCoy played - and boy did he ever. Not all of those are the greatest numbers, but here is an example of Matthew Berry's Top 10 Waiver Wire pickups for week 6:

Christine Michael (n/a), Knile Davis (2.5), Javorius Allen (0), Kamar Aiken (9.5), Jamison Crowder (6), Dwayne Harris (2), Marques Wilson (6), Denard Robinson (3.5), Ty Montgomery (2) and Stefon Diggs (16.5).

So, my team of waivers got you a top score of 109.5 (with no kicker or defense) and a low score of 33.5 (if you made some awful choices from my waivers). But ESPN's Matthew Berry's list only got you a top score of 31.5 and a low score of 12.5.

So, you're welcome.

I have no idea what I am doing...

League Play Waiver Wire:

In week 6 Matthew Stafford (33 points in standard scoring), Philip Rivers (28), Ryan Fitzpatrick (25), Brian Hoyer (25) were four of the top five quarterbacks in fantasy football. Only Andrew Luck (27) was omitted from that top five, meaning those five outscored every other quarterback in fantasy football last week. That's a combined real-life win total of like 9 wins and 21 losses among those five.

Stafford is in my top 10 this week (but not waiver wire fodder in your league). Bortles is owned in 51% of Yahoo leagues, and I would start him this week over anyone except Luck, Cam Newton, Carson Palmer or Rivers. Seriously. I expect Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Derek Carr and Colin Kaepernick to score about the same amount of points as Tom Brady and Drew Brees. If Zach Mettenberger ends up starting, he'll be up there as well.

How is that for some waiver wire pickups? Fitzpatrick, Hoyer, Carr and Kaepernick to be on par with Brady and Brees.

Running backs: James Starks (23), LeGarrette Blount (22) were the only huge surprises, but both outscored every other running back that isn't Devonta Freeman or Chris Ivory. The insane thing is in the NFL.com Celebrity League, Jerry O'Connell (apparently a fantasy football genius) drafted Starks in the final round with an intention to start him in week 6 over Eddie Lacy (whom he also has on his team). He said it on TV last week on Thursday. Nuts.

Of note that the only other surprise on running back scores is Ronnie Hillman (11 points).

Starks is going to be impossible to predict, but he should be on your roster. He has a bye this week. Blount is likely off your waiver wire now, but check anyway and play the will he/won't he game with Dion Lewis every week while you play the will he/won't he with Starks and Lacy as well. I think the trick to Starks will be the fact that he'll get a ton of carries in the games when Lacy gets a ton of carries. So, when the Green Bay Packers play a bad fantasy rush defense, you can sneak a start with Starks. Packers next game is against the Denver Broncos, so that would be a bad sneak start.

This week at running back I like Chris Thompson, Chris Johnson, Knile Davis, Theo Riddick and Khiry Robinson if you need to believe deeply with your heart. I predict that they'll outscore the likes of Melvin Gordon, Alfred Morris, Shane Vereen, Andre Ellington. Riddick is a must if you are in a PPR league as it appears that Ameer Abdullah has lost the confidence of coaches in Detroit. When Stafford has a good game, Riddick will have a good game. I'm not ready to give up on Davis yet, because he still outscored Charcandrick West last week, though is was only by a fantasy point. Thompson, Johnson and Robinson are all risk plays that will be dependent on their teams playing bad rush defenses (which they are this week).

Wide receivers: Martavis Bryant, John Brown, Lance Moore, Marvin Jones, Riley Cooper and Stefon Diggs all outscored Julian Edelman, Demaryius Thomas, Larry Fitzgerald, James Jones, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones.

That's soul-crushing as you definitely started one of those last six over those top six.

Bryant (owned in 86% of Yahoo leagues) will be a top ten wide receiver every week for the rest of the season, especially once Ben Roethlisberger is back. John Brown seems to be the benefactor of defenses picking up that Fitzgerald is having a career year in his twilight, Lance Moore is perhaps just an anomaly, but has been targeted 14 times in the past two weeks to put up back-to-back weeks of 10+ fantasy points. His Lions play the Minnesota Vikings who are the 9th best fantasy defense against wide receivers. He is a third receiver behind Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate.

Marvin Jones has had three big games this season, Jones will apparently have a big game whenever A.J. Green faces a very strong corner (as he did Sunday in Buffalo against Ronald Darby). I'd pick-up both Moore and Jones if you have room on your bench and play the best match-up at flex if you're in trouble, Jones and the Bengals are on bye this week though. Riley Cooper has scored twice in the last three weeks, he has also been targeted 14 times in the last two weeks, so check him out if you're desperate. Stefon Diggs, well, you know. I made no secret that you needed to get Diggs into your starting lineup last week. He is a PPR monster and will only get better as Teddy Bridgewater continues to find him.

You want wide receiver sleepers? Go sign Brandon LaFell right now (owned in just 50% of Yahoo leagues), he began practicing Wednesday and could even start this weekend against the New York Jets. Others to look into this week: John Brown, Michael Crabtree, Willie Snead, Stefon Diggs, Allen Hurns, Jamison Crowder and Rishard Matthews.

For tight ends: Benjamin Watson (18 standard points), Gary Barnidge (15) and Julius Thomas (13) all out scored Rob Gronkowski (11). I had Delanie Walker (who was only available in 19% of Yahoo leagues last week) as my biggest sleeper last week. My highest sleeper last week in this category was Zach Ertz (6 points). Watson has put together two weeks of incredible and pretty good, but I don't expect him to have the greatest week this week. I do have Watson in my top ten, Barnidge is my 8th ranked tight end this week, Walker is my 2nd ranked tight end this week. Sleepers are slim pick'ens, Charles Clay is my 10th ranked tight end, Eric Ebron is my 13th ranked tight end, Derek Carrier my 14th. Julius Thomas is my 15th ranked tight end this week for what it is worth.

Josh Lambo is my sleeper kicker this week and the Miami Dolphins are my sleeper defense this week.

Get called shiesty this Monday and Tuesday:

My week 6 pick(s) got you 22 points if you went with Colin Kaepernick and 16.5 points if you went with Stefon Diggs.

My week 7 recommendation is a scary one for me to make because it comes with a caveat of him being a must start if Jeremy Maclin does not play in week 7. Maclin suffered a concussion on Sunday in Kansas City's game at Minnesota. So, my recommendation for this week is Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley. He was targeted 7 times last week but only came down with 3 of them. Those targets are hard to ignore, especially with Maclin possibly not playing. Three of Conley's seven targets were deep shots; the Chiefs are not going to stop calling that play.

Khiry Robinson is another one I would like to recommend, maybe not as a start this week, but as a stash. He has passed C.J. Spiller in New Orleans as the second back.

As I recommended earlier, for ultimate shiest this week, sign wide receiver Brandon LaFell.

Daily fantasy:

What fun is FanDuel if you don't get the satisfaction of grabbing someone on the cheap and watching him light up your scoreboard and wallet?

Go with these guys:

QB - Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer, Blake Bortles, Drew Brees 
RB - Devonta Freeman, LeVeon Bell, Adrian Peterson, Todd Gurley, Latavius Murray, LeSean McCoy, Arian Foster, Justin Forsett, Frank Gore 
WR - DeAndre Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald, Odell Beckham, T.Y. Hilton, Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones, Keenan Allen, John Brown, Jarvis Landry, Martavis Bryant
TE - Greg Olsen, Delanie Walker, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, Jason Witten, Travis Kelce

Avoid these guys:

QB - Nick Foles, Josh McCown, Teddy Bridgewater, Kirk Cousins, Jameis Winston
RB - Ameer Abdullah, Melvin Gordon, Alfred Morris, Shane Vereen, Isaiah Crowell, Andre Ellington, Antonio Andrews, Christine Michael, Darren McFadden
WR - Cecil Shorts, Danny Amendola, Andre Johnson, Ted Ginn, Stevie Johnson, Michael Floyd, Cole Beasley, Malcolm Floyd, Riley Cooper
TE - Lance Kendricks, Vernon Davis, Heath Miller, Darren Fells, Ladarius Gren, Jacob Tamme

Broncos players:

You're hurting this week if you have any Broncos you regularly depend on (Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas, Brandon McManus and the Denver DST).

You all saw Ronnie Hillman against the Cleveland Browns' third worst fantasy defense against running backs and that's what he did - 11 points in standard scoring. He's owned in 59% of Yahoo leagues, so grab him if you're willing to bench him every week.

Notes:

Among teams not on bye this week:

Five worst fantasy defenses to QBs (worst to fifth): Ravens, Saints, 49ers, Chiefs, Texans
Five best fantasy defenses to QB (best to fifth): Jets, Rams, Panthers, Vikings, Dolphins
Five worst fantasy defenses to RBs (worst to fifth): Chargers, Falcons, Browns, Jaguars, Saints 
Five best fantasy defenses to RBs (best to fifth): Jets, Steelers, Eagles, Patriots, Seahawks
Five worst fantasy defenses to WRs (worst to fifth): Chiefs, Ravens, Colts, 49ers, Eagles 
Five best fantasy defenses to WRs (best to fifth): Seahawks, Panthers, Chargers, Rams, Vikings