What a day! In case you missed the news, Davante Adams is now on the New York Jets. Amari Cooper is now on the Buffalo Bills. I wrote up the Adams trade, and Dan Schneier wrote up Cooper to the Bills. Of course, we broke down both deals over on the Fantasy Football Today podcast as well. While everyone is excited for Adams, Cooper, Josh Allen, and Aaron Rodgers, there may be some reason to be cautiously optimistic about the pass catchers left behind as well.
In Las Vegas, we've already seen how good Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers could be without Adams. Bowers is TE2 on the season and TE1 in my Dynasty tight end rankings. Don't expect either to change any time soon. Meyers is dealing with an ankle injury, but he's seen 28 targets in his last three games and averaged 14.1 PPR FPPG in those three games. He may just be a must-start wide receiver in three-receiver leagues once he gets healthy.
The situation is a bit more complicated in Cleveland because, surprisingly, Deshaun Watson has been worse than both Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell. Still, David Njoku just saw seven targets last week, and that was with Cooper on the field. He's probably a must-start tight end, but that's not too surprising. What is more surprising is that Jerry Jeudy may be a Fantasy starter as well.
Jeudy has four fewer catches, two fewer yards, and one fewer touchdown than Cooper this season despite the fact that Cooper has seen 17 more targets. While Jeudy hasn't been efficient at all, he has averaged 2.2 more yards per target than Cooper and .04 more yards per route. His target share should spike as the WR1 with Cooper gone. If the Browns could be even marginally better (they can't be worse), Jeudy could be a serviceable WR3 or better.
Here is the rest of the Week 7 WR Preview:
Week 7 WR Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 7 at this time. Here's what it means:
We don't want to start a Saints wide receiver on Thursday night.
|
Trey McBride is the biggest beneficiary, but Michael Wilson could be a good flex.
|
Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson are both solid flexes.
|
Numbers to Know
- 6 -- Amari Cooper has six drops this season. Only Darius Slayton has more.
- 3.67 -- A.J. Brown leads all wide receivers (minimum 50 routes) with 3.67 yards per route run.
- 38.6% -- Cooper Kupp was targeted on 38.6% of his targets before his injury. When he returns, everyone else in this passing game may disappear.
- 12 -- Garrett Wilson leads all wide receivers with 12 red zone targets this season. Davante Adams could certainly change that.
- 11 -- 11 of Darnell Mooney's receptions have gone for at least 16 yards. Only Nico Collins and Ja'Marr Chase have more explosive plays.
- 27.9% -- Wan'Dale Robinson had a 27.9% target share with Malik Nabers healthy. Nabers return may actually help Robinson because of the attention Nabers commands.
- 20 -- Don't forget that Juju Smith-Schuster scored 20 PPR Fantasy points in the Chiefs' last game and had a ball bounce off his hands in the end zone.
Matchups that matter
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Waiver Wire Targets
This just shows you how people sort their waiver adds. Smith-Schuster is still available in more than half of leagues because he was on bye last week and didn't show up in the Week 6 projections. This after seeing eight targets and scoring 20 PPR Fantasy points without a touchdown. He's the clear top waiver add regardless of position and a good number three wide receiver. He's perfectly equipped to serve in the Rashee Rice role for as long as he's healthy.
| ||||||||||||||||||
In a true streaming sense, Tutu Atwell or Jordan Whittington may be a better option if Cooper Kupp is out, but we don't know that early in the week, and Douglas got some very encouraging signs last week. First, Drake Maye was a huge improvement over Jacoby Brissett, throwing more touchdowns in Week 6 than Brissett did the first five weeks of the season. Second, Douglas was Maye's clear top target, earning a 29% target share in their first game together. Finally, head coach Jerod Mayo said the team will look into getting Douglas on the field more in two-receiver sets. View Douglas as a WR3 who could be a WR2 for the rest of the season if Week 7 looks like Week 6 did.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Both Atwell and Whittington are in play this week, but only if Cooper Kupp is out. Since Week 3, both have a 21.6% target share but have produced 2.45 yards per route run to Whittington's 2.18 and 1.81 Fantasy points per route run to Whittington's 1.61. My preference is Atwell, but I wouldn't spend much FAB on either, even in a great matchup against the Raiders.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Both Atwell and Whittington are in play this week, but only if Cooper Kupp is out. Since Week 3, both have a 21.6% target share but have produced 2.45 yards per route run to Whittington's 2.18 and 1.81 Fantasy points per route run to Whittington's 1.61. My preference is Atwell, but I wouldn't spend much FAB on either, even in a great matchup against the Raiders.
| ||||||||||||||||||
I don't want to start Watson this week in a tough matchup against the Houston Texans, but I definitely want to add him wherever I have the room. Watson is the perfect WR3/flex play to plug in whenever you have wide receivers on a bye week. He could score you zero or 20, depending on whether he hits the big play. He still hasn't had more than five targets in a game this season.
| ||||||||||||||||||
DFS Plays
I'm definitely buying into the narrative that Aaron Rodgers is going to force-feed his friend in their reunion. Adams projects. as a top-10 wide receiver for me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he sees double-digit targets and scores multiple touchdowns. Hopefully, the difficult matchup means he won't be as chalky as I fear.
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Bengals' defense is mediocre at best, which is much better than the Browns' passing game has been. But in Jeudy's first game without Amari Cooper, I would expect a season-high in targets, catches, and Fantasy points. If he gets into the end zone, he could legitimately be a top 24 wide receiver, and his price still reflects his pre-trade reality.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 7 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 7. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
