Our Week 7 fantasy football busts are headlined by two players smack dab in the middle of timeshares at running back. Aaron Jones scored four touchdowns in Week 5, but in Week 6, it was Jamaal Williams who had the better game as Jones made multiple costly errors. The writing was on the wall before Williams got hurt that there would be a split in Green Bay, but maybe not as dramatic as we just saw. For the Chargers, Austin Ekeler really made it too hard to sit him entirely upon Melvin Gordon’s return, and Gordon hasn’t exactly seized the reins with great play thus far, either. Both RB committees create tough start ’em, sit ’em decisions for fantasy owners this week.
The timeshare theme continues into our wide receiver picks, where all of the Chiefs’ wideouts not named Tyreek Hill have us worried. Denver has a great pass defense, and those other guys split up the time and targets too much to accurately predict how they’ll perform on Thursday Night Football. Eric Ebron’s another guy splitting time, with Jack Doyle in Indianapolis, and that makes him a TE bust candidate.
WEEK 7 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Our quarterback busts dip into the veteran QB pool for a couple of well-paid options that worry us. Philip Rivers faces a good Titans’ pass defense and has been part of a brutal start to the season for L.A. And the Vikings should get back to their run-heavy ways this week after taking advantage of a couple of great matchups, meaning Kirk Cousins should go back to handing the ball off a ton.
We hit pretty well on our Week 6 busts. Jared Goff threw for a whopping 78 yards. That meant that Gerald Everett was a good pick as a TE bust because there wasn’t any air production in that offense. We also had the right idea on Baker Mayfield and Jameis Winston, who compiled some stats but also had boneheaded moments. The Broncos offense was a dud like we anticipated, too.
We weren’t as right on Devonta Freeman ahead of his big day, or Phillip Lindsay or Alshon Jeffery. Our friend Jared Cook found the end zone again in what was otherwise a pretty quiet day. And hoping for anything good from the Dolphins’ defense was fool’s gold.
To see our Week 7 sleepers, click here.
WEEK 7 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end
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Week 7 Fantasy Busts: Running backs
Aaron Jones, Packers vs. Raiders (Billy Heyen). Jones is coming off a game with a fumble and a bad drop in the end zone. Jamaal Williams looked great in his return from injury, adding to a workload concernthat was brewing earlier in the season. And to top it off, the Raiders have allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points to running back this season.
Kerryon Johnson, Lions vs. Giants (Vinnie Iyer). The matchup stinks, and they are not using him in expected ways with their reluctance to totally trust him with second-half carries or third-down catches.
Melvin Gordon, Chargers @ Titans (Matt Lutovsky). It’s not uncommon to see RBs who held out struggle in their first game or two back, so the results from Gordon’s first two games aren’t necessarily what worry us. Rather, it’s the Chargers’ offense as a whole coupled with this tough matchup. L.A.’s offensive line is struggling in every phase, and Austin Ekeler’s presence guarantees that Gordon won’t see a heavy volume of touches. With Tennessee allowing just 16 fantasy points per game (FPPG) to RBs (seventh fewest), Gordon has an uphill battle again this week.
WEEK 7: Waiver pickups | FAAB planner | Trade values | Snap counts
Week 7 Fantasy Football Busts: Quarterbacks
Philip Rivers, Chargers @ Titans (Heyen). Rivers and the Chargers have been bad, and now they have to face a Tennessee secondary that’s been one of the best in football. Maybe Rivers is generally outside the starting tier of QBs these days, but I wouldn’t want him as my bye week fill-in.
Gardner Minshew, Jaguars @ Bengals (Iyer). The Bengals have had good numbers against the pass. Why? Because there’s no good reason to pass against them. This should be a big Leonard Fournette game, which means it can’t be a big Minshew game.
Kirk Cousins, Vikings @ Lions (Lutovsky). Cousins’ two-game resurgence undoubtedly has some fantasy owners excited, but that output was largely due to favorable matchups. Detroit gives up a lot of passing yards per game (280), but it’s also faced some pass-heavy offenses (Chargers, Cardinals, Chiefs, Eagles, and Packers all rank in the top 11 in pass attempts). Minnesota is 30th in pass attempts, so expect Cousins to go back to his game-manager ways in this one.
WEEK 7 DFS LINEUPS:
Y! cash | Y! GPP | DK cash | DK GPP | FD cash | FD GPP
Week 7 Fantasy Football Busts: Wide receivers
Terry McLaurin, Redskins vs. 49ers (Heyen). The 49ers have allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers, and they’re coming off a game when they allowed 78 passing yards to Jared Goff and the Rams. No offense to Case Keenum and McLaurin, but they’re not quite Goff and Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks.
Allen Robinson, Bears vs. Saints (Iyer). The Saints’ pass defense is playing lights out thanks to Marshon Lattimore erasing the opponent’s No. 1 wideout consistently again.
Chiefs secondary WRs vs. Broncos (Lutovsky). Whether it’s Sammy Watkins (hamstring) or Demarcus Robinson (or Mecole Hardman or Byron Pringle), you can’t trust them against Denver’s No. 4 pass defense. Sure, anyone in Kansas City’s offense is capable of a big play or touchdown against anyone, but with Tyreek Hill back and Travis Kelce still demanding his share of targets, you can’t count on anyone else getting consistent work. Starting any of the aforementioned secondary receivers is basically throwing a penny down a wishing well.
MORE WEEK 7 DFS: Stacks | Values | Lineup Builder
Week 7 Fantasy Football Busts: Tight ends
Hunter Henry, Chargers @ Titans (Heyen). His big return will have people fired up, but I’m not sure the Chargers will have much of an offensive showing in this one at all. The Titans have actually allowed production to tight ends — I just don’t believe in L.A. in Week 7.
Darren Waller, Raiders @ Packers (Iyer). If it’s not Green Bay’s defense you need to worry about, then it would be more run for rookie Foster Moreau after a bye.
Eric Ebron, Colts vs. Texans (Lutovsky). He still has name value and will catch the occasional touchdown, but with just nine catches on 20 targets, Ebron is the definition of a touchdown-or-bust tight end. It doesn’t help that Houston is allowing just 3.9 FPPG to TEs.
Week 7 Fantasy Busts: Defenses
New York Giants vs. Cardinals (Heyen). Kyler Murray has looked sharp of late, so I expect the high-paced Cardinals’ offense to do a ton more good than bad against New York on Sunday. It’s a matchup that we would’ve liked three weeks ago, but not now.
Denver Broncos vs. Chiefs (Iyer). You might think about the prime-time emotional home bump with a big performance vs. the Titans and the Chiefs not firing on all cylinders, but don’t.
Baltimore Ravens @ Seahawks (Lutovsky). This pick really isn’t about just this week — it’s more of a season-long warning to get out of the Ravens D/ST business. The Ravens aren’t good, yet they’re still owned in 69 percent of Yahoo leagues. We’ll chalk some of that up to last week’s opponent (Bengals), but it’s clear Baltimore is living off reputation. The addition of Marcus Peters gives it some big-play potential, but against the Seahawks, who haven’t thrown an INT or scored fewer than 21 offensive points in a game this year, Baltimore’s floor and ceiling are very low.
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