Admin October 21, 2024
Lions hand Vikings first loss, Russell Wilson cooks in Steelers debut
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 7 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
How lucky has your fantasy football team been after the season’s first seven weeks? Unless you’re undefeated, you’ve likely suffered a few bumps and bruises along the way. But heading into the second half of the fantasy season, a few minor tweaks can make a major difference.
If you’re thinking about trading and are willing to go out on a limb, you can build a stronger roster that won’t wilt under pressure. Remember, there’s always a way to make your team better.
Here are some players whose values are trending upward (or downward) as a result of their performances in Week 7:
Fantasy football players to buy for Week 8
RB Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos: On a short week, Williams produced his best stat line of the season, galloping for 88 yards on 14 carries with a pair of touchdowns. His 6.3 yards per carry was easily his best mark in any single game. As long as he is past his fumbling issues, Williams has staying power.
QB Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers: Wilson was a little rusty Sunday night against the New York Jets, but he looked like his vintage self as the game went along with a pair of passing touchdowns and another TD run. Wilson made the Pittsburgh pass offense look potent again, and a good pass attack opens up the run game, too.
WR Cedrick Wilson, Jr., New Orleans Saints: The Saints are in a bad way with injuries right now, with Chris Olave in the concussion protocol and big-play machine Rashid Shaheed out for the year. Wilson stepped up with six catches for a team-best 57 yards and a score against Denver, and he is likely to continue seeing a meaningful role even when Olave returns.
WR Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills: Coleman exploded for 125 yards on four receptions against the Tennessee Titans. When the Bills traded for Amari Cooper this past week, the thinking was that Coleman and Khalil Shakir would take a back seat. Instead, with defense focusing on the new star receiver, Coleman had a lot of one-on-one situations with lesser players covering him.
TE Ja’Tavion Sanders, Carolina Panthers: The tight end spot is generally a wasteland, so whenever someone does something remotely well, he becomes a fantasy option. Sanders cashed in all six of his targets in Week 7, giving him 11 catches for 110 yards in the past two games.
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Fantasy football players to sell for Week 8
WR DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans: Hopkins managed just a single catch and target, and he had minus-2 yards. He checked out in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss in Buffalo due to what was termed general soreness, but it might have simply been his attitude that was sore. A trade wouldn’t be surprising.
WR Tank Dell, Houston Texans: Dell was blanked on four targets in Green Bay. With Nico Collins down, it was expected Dell would see more work, but he has been unable to get on the same page with QB C.J. Stroud.
RB Braelon Allen, New York Jets: For a while, the rookie appeared to be pushing Breece Hall a little bit. Since the coaching change, the Jets’ new offensive philosophy is to lean hard on Hall, with Allen simply picking up crumbs.
WR Darius Slayton, New York Giants: Slayton was a standout when super rookie Malik Nabers was down for two games with a concussion. But Nabers is back, Wan’Dale Robinson is the high-volume guy, and Slayton is left with just a couple of targets at most on a team with a bad quarterback.
WR Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns: After moving on from Cooper, the Browns were expected to give Jeudy a much bigger role. The team traded for him in the offseason and paid him handsomely. But against the Bengals, Cedric Tillman and Elijah Moore ate up the wideout targets, with Jeudy seeing very little work.
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