What a wild week 7! From Arthur Smith’s really weird talk about Bijan Robinson (more on that later,) to big weeks for deeper adds like D’Onta Foreman and Dalton Kincaid, the fantasy landscape shifted drastically. With all of the new knowledge, information, and talk swirling around the internet, here is where you can pick up some value on the trade market.
Buys
Bijan Robinson
What even went down on the Falcons’ sideline this weekend? The Bijan Robinson headache fiasco was one of the weirdest events I’ve seen play out in the football world. I think the general public reaction to what happened was an overreaction. Bijan will be fine: the Falcons love to run the ball, and he is the main benefactor of that. People will see Bijan’s usage this weekend, probably equate it to the Kyle Pitts situation of the past few years, and come for Arthur Smith’s head. This is different, the Falcons live and die by the run game.
Joe Mixon
Mixon has been the victim of a regressed Bengals’ offense with an injured Joe Burrow. They’ve now had a couple of wins and a bye week, and it seems like Joe Burrow is now healthier than ever. Teams will once again be throwing fits trying to stop this passing attack, and Joe Mixon will see less stacked boxes as a benefit. His usage is already elite – he’s fifth in the NFL with 112 total touches - we just need the production to come.
Tee Higgins
Pretty much apply what I said about the Bengals’ offense again here. Higgins has been the number two guy in Cincy for years now, and will have an easier time connecting with his QB now that both Burrow and Higgins himself can come out of the bye week rejuvenated.
Keenan Allen
Keenan has legitimate WR1 upside every single week, and that is the type of player that carries your team through the season and into the playoffs. He’s been the Chargers’ leader in targets 4/6 games this season, and in all but 1 since Mike Williams was injured. This week, his team lead in targets only amassed him 9.5 fantasy points. The expectation is for Allen to be a weekly top 12 WR, and he should do that week in and week out. I’m not sure I could name ten players I want over him ROS.
Marquise Brown
Brown has already been a solid fantasy option, and now Kyler Murray is practicing in full again, meaning the Oklahoma connection between the two will be reignited once more any week now. Hollywood is already the WR25 in PPR, and that’s with Josh Dobbs at QB. He is about to go nuclear.
Sells
Darrell Henderson
As usual, the waiver pickup of the week finds himself on this list. You are just likely to find someone who overvalues a guy like Henderson and will trade you a better asset for him. Henderson played 57% of the Rams’ snaps this week, but was reverted back to the practice squad after the game. I’m just going to stay away from the entire backfield.
Emari Demercado
Keaontay Ingram missed this week, and Demercado played 80% of snaps as a result. The week prior, his snap share was 43%, and he only touched the ball 3 times. When Keaontay Ingram is in the fold, this RB room looks a lot different. This is a massive headache to void at all costs.
Javonte Williams
Javonte scored a TD this week, but I’m certainly not buying his stock. The Broncos seemed poised to sell away a lot of their offense, which will make what is already a poor unit even worse. Further, there is always the Sean Payton factor. He is going to get guys like Jaleel McLaughlin and Samaje Perine involved. It makes you wonder how much value Williams has at all.
Kendrick Bourne
Bourne has been Mac Jones’ most reliable target so far, but it seems like New England is slowly reverting back to a RB-oriented offense like we’ve seen since Mac took over. This means less touches for the receivers, especially Bourne, who was the main beneficiary of the opened up Bill O’Brien offense. Even if they continue to look Bourne’s way, this offense is not consistent. You are better off rostering someone else.
Dalton Schultz
Schultz has stepped up in light some lingering injuries in Houston’s receiving room, but with everybody taking a bye week to get healthy, and the offense facing some easier defenses soon, I’d expect Schultz’s value to take a hit.
Holds
James Cook
Why has James Cook’s usage gone down to about 50% now? Your guess is as good as mine. However, he is still commanding the vast majority of touches out of the backfield, and Buffalo’s offense clearly looked better when Cook was being used more in earlier games. I think the obvious path is to put him back on the field at a 70-80% clip, but we will see if that becomes the reality.
Austin Ekeler
It was a poor week 7 for Ekeler, who watched Josh Kelley break off a long TD. I wouldn’t trade for him, as I am still at least a little suspicious of how he has looked coming off the high ankle sprain, which is a notoriously difficult injury for a running back to come back from. However, we know who Ekeler is when healthy, and that is a certified top 2 fantasy back. He will be a receiving monster and an every week RB1 when healthy, it’s just a matter of when.
Ja’Marr Chase
Chase has looked better recently with his absolutely elite usage: he leads the league in targets per game with 11.9. Outside of Tyreek Hill and maybe Cooper Kupp, there’s no other receiver that I even think has an argument to be in his tier for fantasy owners.
Calvin Ridley
As Calvin Ridley believers over here, this is a tough pill to swallow. This is one of those situations where there’s no use in selling him, as you will get nothing for him. But it is seeming increasingly unlikely that that sky high ceiling will ever be reached.
Darren Waller
There is no reason to be trading away Darren Waller right now, but his value is likely too high to invest into right now. He is looking like what he was drafted to be now, which is a top 5 TE. You’ve got Kelce and Hockenson at the top, and these guys like LaPorta, Waller, and Andrews making up an extremely thin second tier.
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