Was it just me, or was Week 7 in the NFL weird?

By Martin Richardson

Week 7 in the NFL saw some weird results, starting with the Bucs demolishing the Panthers by 30 points, the Chiefs being humbled by the Seahawks and we also saw the Jets capitulate against the Dolphins.

As we hit week 8, we have teams that have begun selling up shop, most recently the Titans sending their top defensive piece to the Bears for a mere two first round picks. I wouldn’t be surprised is Tony Pollard is on the move at some point from the Titans. Those of you who have held on to Tyjae Spears could be in for a big payoff.

And in terms of fantasy, some of you could be looking to make moves to push for the playoffs or maybe look to the future and sell some of those big ticket items on your roster. Week 8 could well be decisive on that front if you want to push on or sell the farm.

We have some great matchups this week, with Lamar Jackson looking likely to play against the Bills; the Jags are back of their bye week and look to lay down a marker on the Colts; and the Jets play the Raiders in what could be a fantasy slobber-knocker.  

ONES TO WATCH: THE GOOD

Whilst it looks like the Colts have put up for sale signs, this could be good news for anyone who is playing them between now and the end of the season. Losing not only Quentin Nelson on the offensive line and the DeForest Buckner on the defensive line makes for a long rest of the season. I can’t imagine it gets any better any time soon. Unless you’re a Jets fan watching that first round draft pick. This is a good time to have some of the players from the Jags, Cowboys, Dolphins and Texans in the next four important fantasy weeks.

But in all seriousness, I want to start properly with Zay Flowers and his resurgence with the Ravens, even without Lamar Jackson. Even though it was a very weird game against the Bengals, Flowers managed to have just shy of 140 receiving yards and a touchdown from 8 receptions. Now prior to the Jackson injury Flowers was hitting over 100 yards and touchdowns regularly, which is promising given that Lamar is back. If this is the usual Jackson injury scare that leads to a Ravens resurgence, then I would bank on Flowers being a huge part of any success that the Ravens are to have down the stretch.

And following on from one WR to another, I want to take a look at Tre Tucker, who is carving out a real role as the lead receiver on this Raiders team. With his last two weeks being his biggest and best fantasy weeks, he comes into a string of games that could be considered difficult; but if he can get 103 yards and a touchdown from five receptions against the Rams, and two touchdowns from 97 yards and also five receptions against the Bills, then Tucker could be incredibly important on fantasy rosters. For some reason, even with an average of 10+ points a week this season, and those big games, he is still available in 30% of ESPN leagues. I’d be looking to snap him up if he’s still on the waiver wire in your league.

Having looked through the numbers, I’ll stick with a WR who came in for some criticism at the start of the season, partly due to how he came back from an injury, but in the past few weeks Luther Burden has been great. In those last two games, that coincide with Caleb Williams’ return, he has over 200 air yards and a touchdown. And that was from twelve receptions. And to add to that, that is also from twelve targets, which is just what it was like prior to the Williams injury,

With a tough game against the Seahawks on the horizon, and a trip to the Buccaneers before a week 10 bye, this is certainly the time to see if Burden can establish himself as one of the top options for the Bears offense as they look to finish the season strong.

The Ones to Watch: The Bad

I know I said it was a weird game between the Bengals and Ravens, with ultimately the Ravens coming out on top with a top Burrow second half performance. However, one person who wasn’t a part of that was running back Chase Brown.

There was so much preseason hype about how dependable Brown would be in this dynamic Bengals offense, but with only one touchdown that came in week one, Brown has been anything but dependable. Other than that touchdown week, which naturally came against me in my matchup (standard), Brown’s only other solid performance was when he had 71 yards receiving against the Jaguars in week 4.

After the bye week, I’d like to say that things would be better, but even then they needed to move the chains and get back in the game against the Ravens, they didn’t get the output they wanted. Perhaps a favourable set of matchup against the now Simmons-less Titans and then the Falcons, if he was going to have some upturn in form, it should come here.

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Now this is not necessarily something that is bad for fantasy, but it is certainly a situation to watch, and that is what is happening with the Rams and both Blake Corum and Kyren Williams.

Last week the backs nearly had an equal split, with Williams having 53% and Corum being on the field for 43% of the offensive snaps. Now at the minute, Williams is leaps and bounds ahead of Corum in terms of fantasy relevance, averaging nearly 15 points a game, and having six total touchdowns. But Corum’s rise to prominence over the last few weeks could impact Williams’ fantasy value as we reach the business end of the of the fantasy season.

As for those of you who had Corum as a stash and see option, his three touchdowns in the last three weeks are cause for optimism as you make your way through the season. I’d stick with him and see how much of an impact he can make in your matchups. Having said that I fully expect him to have his best week next week as I am coming up against the guy who drafted him.  

Ones to Watch: The Wildcards

First of all, I’m starting with someone who had the lion’s share of the carries last week against the Cardinals, and that’s Jonah Coleman. I want to see one more week of him being the lead back (50% of snaps) ahead of both Harvey (21%) and Dobbins (25%) before I truly see him as a solid fantasy option. And the reason for this is that he only had 54 yards off his nine carries. It was Dobbins who got the touchdown and then the week before that it was Harvey who went for the long touchdown.

If this week he turns at least one of those carries into either a big gain or a trip into the end zone, then he may well be worth a more consistent start. This is perhaps the week to stash him and see if you have the chance to do so.

To end with, I’m drawing on what I saw and heard in London at the Jaguars game. Not only was it his best game on defense, but it was also Travis Hunter’s best game on offense too.

Listening to both Head Coach Liam Coen and QB Trevor Lawrence in the post match press conference (still wild to me that I did that by the way) talk about Hunter, it is clear that there is a plan for Hunter on the offensive side of the ball, and I think this will be clear after a bye week to get this plan in full motion.

Given that Brian Thomas Jr is the subject of much trade talk, it would not shock me if Hunter becomes more of a focus on some plays and Thomas is faded out.

It also helps that they are playing the Colts too this weekend.

MARTIN RICHARDSON

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

A Yorkshireman living in Lancashire, Martin is a massive NFL fan but his heart belongs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also a huge Fantasy Football enthusiast and spends far too long crunching the numbers! Follow him at @MRBucsFan31

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