Week 7 Waiver Wire Wonders

Week 7
Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr. Photo Credit: Travis AFV - Under Creative Commons License

How’s it going lovely LAFBNetwork fam?! I hope you all conquered your opponents in last week’s matchup. If not, well that sucks but at least you are not alone because exactly half of everyone who plays fantasy football received an L. Just about half the season is gone and with byes and injuries aplenty, you’re in need of this edition of Week 7 Waiver Wire Wonders.

What a Week 6 of football we had. The Falcons finally got their first win, while the Packers received their first loss. Cam Newton and the Patriots couldn’t get it done against the Broncos. The J-E-T-S are still one of the laughing stocks in the league and the Colts pull one from under the cupboard to comeback against the Bengals.

But I am sure you all knew that already because you are advantageous fantasy football goers with nothing better to do with your Sunday than spend it watching football. Either way, let’s get down to the goods.

Week 7 Waiver Wire Wonders

QB

(JAX) Gardner Minshew II @ Los Angeles Chargers

owned in about 52% of fantasy leagues

Your Week 7 Waiver Wire additions start with Gardner Minshew. He has been averaging about 24 points a week since the start of NFL season. His performance isn’t what we’d want of course because of some injuries to his offensive weapons but he’s still been chugging along. DJ Chark has been struggling to stay on the field for the whole game, so once this subsides I expect Minshew to start averaging a few more points a game. His supporting WRs Keelan Cole and Laviska Shenault have been doing a decent job keeping the Jags above water but are still coming up short when compared to Chark’s dynamic play.

(LV) Derek Carr vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

owned in about 23% of fantasy leagues

Another QB that has been silently averaging a good amount of fantasy points this season is Derek Carr. In his last four starts, he has yet to tally less than 22.1 fantasy points. The last time he didn’t score 22+ points in a week was the first week of the season. Even so, Carr is averaging 23.9 points a game. Not only that, but Carr is also averaging 288.4 passing yards a game. It’s clear Vegas has got some momentum with their QB, so might as well jump on the bandwagon for an easy stream-start.

RB

(LAC) Justin Jackson vs Jacksonville Jaguars

owned in about 46% of fantasy leagues

Now I know my loyal LAFBNetwork homies already picked up Jackson during his bye week because they read last week’s waiver article. But if you missed it here’s a little bit of a recap. Austin Ekeler is on the IR so the Chargers are pairing Joshua Kelley and Jackson to start in the backfield.

Kelley began the year as the immediate No. 2 and succeeded with Ekeler’s presence. Since Ekeler’s trip to the IR, Kelley hasn’t been able to hold the starting spot as well as he’d hope. In comes Jackson.

In the last showing of them both, Kelley finished with 11 attempts, 29 rushing yards, one target and reception, and nine yards. Jackson concluded with 15 attempts, 71 rushing yards, six targets, five receptions, and 23 receiving yards. Jackson was getting it done, making him a fantasy diamond in the rough.

(NYJ) Frank Gore vs Buffalo Bills

owned in about 31% of fantasy leagues

Now I should make this known now, I do not condone any fantasy coach to willingly seek after Frank Gore and think he is an insta-start. Do not do that. Please by all means try to find another RB or FLEX option. If for whatever reason you have Nick Chubb and Miles Sanders, or any combination of the Top 10 or 20 RBs and you have no RBs, then, and only then would think about playing Gore.

Now I know this is super conflicting but it’s been a crazy year. Injuries feel like they’re coming from all sides, Covid has been messing with our schedules. It’s been pretty rough and only six weeks have gone. So Gore is not the backup plan, but mainly the backup of the backup. Or even the backup’s backup, backup. I guess this is just a PSA to all of you that Frank Gore is still alive and kicking but fairly close to what feels like his end.

(PHI) Boston Scott vs New York Giants

owned in about 13% of fantasy leagues

Speaking of Miles Sanders. He sustained an injury this past week and could be out for a few weeks. The next man up is, you guessed it, Boston Scott. Scott doesn’t exactly have a great resume so far this year but he does have a playable matchup this week against the Giants. New York is averaging 106.5 rushing yards a game to opposing RBs, as well as, a TD a game.

WR

(HOU) Brandin Cooks vs Green Bay Packers

owned in about 62% of fantasy leagues

I know, Brandin Cooks is over my usual 50% cutoff for waiver people but I think I can break my own rules sometimes. Plus technically I already did it with Minshew. Since his Week 4 zero-point turnout, Cooks has been on fire. 30.1 fantasy points Week 5, 21.8 fantasy points last week, those are some fantasy winning weeks for you guys right there! In two weeks Cooks has amounted to 21 targets for 17 receptions, 229 receiving yards, and two TDs.

(PIT) Chase Claypool @ Tennessee Titans

owned in about 49% of fantasy leagues

I have to admit, I am very surprised Claypool is still available in half of the fantasy leagues out there. Now I’m not saying that I am some kind of fantasy savant, but fantasy production speaks for itself. Even after his bonkers Week 5 performance, Claypool came in clutch this week with four targets and receptions for 74 yards and a rushing score. Maybe fantasy coaches are spooked on his production because of the low targets but it’s starting to become clear that whenever this man has the ball in his hands, it could become a score.

(LV) Henry Ruggs III vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

owned in about 47% fantasy leagues

To complement  Carr, you would want to pair him with a nice Henry Ruggs. And who wouldn’t? He’s the No.1 WR in Vegas, last time he was on the field he took two receptions for 118 yards a score, plus with his past bye week he was able to heal up a little more. The first and last reason is the one I would take to add him on my roster but his low targets do concern me.

I don’t recall when he had his injury, whether it be during the Week 2 game or before Week 3 began but when he came back he still only received three targets. I’m hoping his Week 5 performance convinced Gruden to get him the ball as much as possible but with other reliable receiving options like Darren Waller, it could be hard to ask for more.

(PHI) Travis Fulgham vs New York Giants

owned in about 31% of fantasy leagues

To follow his crazy fantasy output last week (31.2 pts) Travis Fulgham concluded his Week 6 performance with 10 targets for six receptions, 75 receiving yards, and a TD. What’s crazy is that this could jump up because of Philly’s recent injured star Zach Ertz finding his way on the sideline for a month or so. That means more targets to go around the graveyard of the Eagles receiving corps. In just three weeks Fulgham is already second in targets (26) for the Philadelphia WRs; Greg Ward currently leads with 34 in six started games.

(IND) Zach Pascal Bye Week

owned in about 6% of fantasy leagues

Of course with a Bye week for the Colts, you do not have to seek Pascal on your waivers this week and drop your priority or FAAB. What you do want to do is keep Pascal on your “watch list” or at least keep an eye on him for the future. He and TY Hilton are the only WRs on the Colts to start every game this season but Hilton has been the WR to have in Indianapolis.

That might be coming to a halt this season because, to me at least, it looks like Hilton is not the same player that he used to be. Before Andrew Luck’s retirement, Hilton was a slam-start each and every week. From last season to this one Hilton is slowly starting to go from a WR1 to WR2 to WR3, 4, 5, now he could be considered only a FLEX option.

In comes Pascal who began his rise last season, going from 46 targets in 2018 to 72 in 2019. This season Pascal could reach up to 78 targets with his current output and that’s not accounting for any injuries or hot streaks Pascal could catch on. Consider Pascal a speculative add to see where his path could end up.

TE

(HOU) Darren Fells vs Green Bay Packers

owned in about 5% of fantasy leagues

With Jordan Akins banged up, Fells finds his way into fantasy relevancy. In last week’s shootout against the Titans, Fells’ numbers didn’t look too bad: seven targets, six receptions, 85 receiving yards, and a TD. This would be two weeks straight with Fells catching a TD in Akins’s absence. This week against the Packers you can expect a lot of points to be put up. The Packers are going to want to get some points out of their system from last week and Houston’s offense has been clicking since their Head Coach’s firing.

(TEN) Anthony Firkser vs Pittsburgh Steelers

owned in about 1% of fantasy leagues

Owned in 1% is not a big surprise. He’s owned so little because of Jonnu Smith is a dynamic player for the Tennessee Titans. Unfortunately, Smith was taken out of Sunday’s big game with an ankle sprain. In Firkser’s situation, I think it would be wise to keep Smith’s injury status monitored. Later in the week, we should find out more about Smith, when that happens you’ll know what to do with Firkser.