As we write this on Sunday night, 13 of 14 Week 7 games are in the books (with a moon night left) and the fantasy season is approaching the midway point. However, things change every week. PROMISE About trends. Convert Euismod itself first in the players and policy. As always, some of these various perspectives will have lasting ramifications in fantasy.
With this in mind I have composed another report full of fantasy. These are the most notable rises and falls in Week 8.
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INSTRUMENT
Zay Flowers, WR, Ravens
Here are the wide receivers who would rather have a rest season than Zay Flowers: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown. And Malik Nabers is thrown. That is. Crows ‘No. 1 WR just snagged eight of 11 targets for 137 yards and a touchdown from Tyler Huntley. He’s second in the league in rushing yards per route, behind Smith-Njigba, and third in the league in fantasy points per route, behind JSN and Mike Evans (shoutout to Evans, by the way). And I don’t think there’s any question anymore that he’s the best YAC threat at the position right now. He would likely be WR2 overall if not for the early injury and two mediocre games with Huntley at the helm. With Lamar Jackson close to returning and Flowers healthy — and with a few bright spots on the horizon — the second half of the fantasy season has set in.
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Bucky Irving, RB, Buccaneers
It’s been feast or famine for Bucky Irving lately, but Sunday is a 23.5 point feast on 24 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Prior to Week 7, Irving had scored fewer than seven fantasy points in three of four games … and 30.5 in the fourth (against Dallas). But there are reasons to believe this isn’t just another flukey peak on the way to many more valleys.
One, Baker Mayfield, was back for this game (with a thrown glove). While he did next to nothing – which he didn’t have – it probably relates to Cicero’s defensive hunting plans and workload. For another, while his fantasy output has been spotty, Irving has seen at least 15 in . sex he issued the right The only backs with more than 15 carries this year are Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry. It would be nice if Irving got more involved as a receiver, which would elevate it just a bit, but in what feels like an extremely short RB market this season, Irving is worthy of an RB2.
Quinshon Judkins, RB, Browns
Returning from a one-week absence due to an ankle injury, Quinshon Judkins had by far his best fantasy performance of the season. 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdownsAfter scoring just once all the time entering on Sunday. And while the Titans defense can be blamed for some of Judkins’ efficiency, so can he he looked back excellent… perhaps the first time this year. Like Irving, he had a very high floor volume – 14+ touches in each game – but is mostly a fantasy medium.
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It is worth noting that Dylan Sampson returns to action in this game and has 77 yards on nine of his own. But it’s also It’s worth noting that the Browns are 5-2 and have won five of their last six, and the “toughest” remaining opponent on their schedule, at least in recent memory, is the 5-2 Steelers … who tagged Judkins for 18.6 fantasy points in Week 4. The concept that Judkins can’t thrive because the Browns’ game writer isn’t in the best fantasy right now, and behind Pittsburgh holds a lot of water. The low end is RB2 and they are hard to come by these days.
Cam Skattebo, RB, Giants
This is probably the easiest “Stock Up” of all time. Eight weeks after he was relegated to six sacks and no touchdowns in a clear-cut offense, Cam Skattebo is back with a vengeance in Week 7. Not only is he the leading RB1 with 17 carries (to Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s six and Devin Singletary’s five), but he has a career-best 124 yards on those carries, including a mighty 16 yards to a touchdown for Hoton. He held the ball and went full “Skattebo” several times per game, finishing with a season-high 18.6 fantasy points.
More than anything, it was incredibly clear that John Harbaugh wanted Skatteb as his RB1 and the message was clearly received in Week 6. Skattebo reportedly tweaked his hamstring at the end of the game, but New York has a Week 8 bye, so he’ll have time to rest. Looking forward, he fits right into the same lineup as Irving and Judkins: a high-volume running back in some dubious offenses that should tend to slot into the RB2 end down low.
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Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Jets
While I’m nervous to buy every way in the Jets rookie receiver Omar Cooper Jr. After two big games, he flashes explosive upside that you don’t find lying around in fantasy. After catching one 30-yard pass in the opener and missing four games on injured reserve, Cooper had 100 yards and a touchdown in consecutive weeks. He caught 48 yards in Week 6 against the Bonos and then 52 yards and a 60-yarder in Week 7.
Catching, he’s also caught 11 total targets on 12 targets over the past two games … while Garrett Wilson has just six catches on nine targets. I don’t want to say that Wilson has been replaced as a WR1, but it is worth noting that when defenses make tougher connections or pull doubles, Cooper is freed up to thrive in less coverage. We’d like to see Target keep the mobile part for another couple of weeks before drawing any aggressive conclusions, but Cooper is absolutely worth adding on waivers — if he’s still available — or you can try to get him in a trade before the price gets too high.
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IN STOCK BELOW
Garrett Wilson, WR, Jets
We will begin the Stock Down section where we ended the Stock Up section. But it wasn’t just Cooper’s rise that hurt Wilson’s fantasy value. He caught three of four targets for 27 yards back in Week 4 against the Bears (with Cooper IR) and has now scored fewer than seven fantasy points in three of his last four games. And that’s kind of what Wilson does frankly. It’s typically a monster sign, but it also tends to underperform, for one reason or another, in far more games than we’d like from a WR1. He is now just WR24 in points per game on the year and WR42 on the month.
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As I said with Cooper above, I don’t think the parties have crossed over in New York, and I expect Wilson to continue his strong performances on an almost weekly basis. However, with Cooper breaking out, Wilson’s greatest strength – the elite target audience – could suffer a stretch blow. It’s definitely more of a cheap end to the WR2 in my book, and I wouldn’t mind trading it for a more consistent producer with a smaller name (or for Zay Flowers, granted it’s more likely a deal was made).
Chase Brown, RB, Bengals
Chase Brown is starting to look really ugly in Cincinnati and in fantasy. He hasn’t topped 39 yards in any of his last three games and has single-digit fantasy totals in four of his last five. The only reason he hasn’t made five straight is because he went 11 yards for 71 yards in an absurd Week 4, but that shouldn’t be expected or thrown out (he averaged 3.4 catches for 14.4 yards in his other five games). Samaje produced Perine on Sunday, but Perine still wanted to reach the finish line rushing. And Joe Burrow carried the offense with 292 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air.
Brown is just RB25 on the season in points per game … and his best performance was back in Week 1, when he scored his only touchdown of the year (and just 16.3 points). Since Week 2, he has been featured by Brian Robinson Jr., Alvin Kamara and Emanuel Wilson, among many others. That’s simply not cut out for the RB1’s fringe back. Unless Brown pulls off a major turnaround — as he did last season — he’s quickly verging on image territory.
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Aaron Jones Sr., RB, Vikings
Well, it was a nice run for Aaron Jones Sr. as the only back in Minnesota. With Jordan Mason on injured reserve from Weeks 2-5 (and a bye in Week 6), Jones averaged a monster 24.3 touches for 110.5 yards per game and was RB13 in fantasy points per game. In Mason’s return on Sunday … Jones touched the ball nine times and 26 yards. Mason, on the other hand, has racked up 15,000 yards while playing 62.5% of the snaps (as opposed to just 26.8% for Jones).
The only There might be a glimmer of hope here that the Vikings are about to enter a much tougher stretch of opponents and they are very It is likely that their undefeated streak will continue, or at least without a fight. That could mean the game writers favor Jones (a more active receiver) over Mason for the foreseeable future … but even if they do, Jones will be an inconsistent half of the backfield committee. It’s likely too late to trade him for a decent return, but you simply can’t expect Jones to move RB2’s fantasy value. Thankfully, the knee injury Jones suffered on Sunday was not serious.
Isaiah Most likely, YOU, the Giant
Isaiah’s best outlook for Week 7’s likely dud is that the Texans have found a defense to crush him, which they’ve done at tight end all season — and that his absence had nothing to do with JJ McCarthy’s takeover at quarterback. Considering McCarthy likely caught two of three targets for 44 yards and one quarter two weeks ago, it’s not blindingly optimistic … but it’s still reason to care.
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He likely caught just two passes on four targets (for 12 yards) on Sunday after 11+ targets in each of the previous three games and 9.8 targets per game in the first six weeks. He made the case that he was a top five tight end, only evidently behind Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, but that case gets a little tougher after 2.2 fantasy points. Bye, probably, McCarthy, and the entire offense heading into the week will have some time to gel a little further, and I expect things to bounce back a bit on the other side. But it’s also possible that we’ll just accept intermittent takedowns from Likely — even scoring just 2.3 points in Week 3 — as McBride or Bowers aren’t quite the dominant force.