Ladies and gentleman - we made it. We survived Bye-Pocalypse. With six teams out on bye and all the injuries going around, the lineups got a little scrappy for sure. But next week there are no teams on bye so it’s going to feel like we’ve got a heck of an arsenal at our disposal. Before we move on to the promised land of Week Eight, let’s look at some of the biggest storylines from Week Seven and figure out what we can take advantage of in fantasy football moving forward. 

 

Week 7 Hot Takes

Bijan Robinson Gives Fantasy Gamers Headaches

Prior to Sunday’s game, there was no formal announcement that Bijan Robinson was dealing with any health issues. He was not listed as “questionable”. But, as we now know, there were questions starting last night about whether he could play or not because he was dealing with headaches. Inevitably, he only played 11 snaps receiving just one carry with Tyler Allgeier and Cordarelle Patterson receiving most of the world. In the past, we have seen this become a trend for certain players - notably, Percy Harvin. So we’ll have to monitor the situation to make sure it’s not a recurring issue. 

Is Deshaun Watson Done?

Saying the Deshuan Watson situation is weird would be an understatement. The off the field issues from last year were one thing but this year he seemingly can’t find his way onto the field, even when medically cleared by the training staff. The training staff has reportedly cleared him to play with his shoulder issue multiple weeks in a row but he refused to play, saying there was still pain. This week, he took a hit after throwing his second interception and went to the blue tent. He was reportedly cleared once again by the medical staff but did not take the field after that. At this stage we have to wonder if things are ever going to work out for Watson in Cleveland but, because of the guaranteed money in his contract, the Browns would need to eat $200 million to move on. 

The Year of the Rookie Tight End Rolls On

The “rookie tight ends can’t be fantasy relevant” crowd is certainly taking a beating this year. First year tight end’s Sam LaPorta and Luke Musgrave already earned starting jobs early on and have been contributing to fantasy lineups - especially LaPorta. Last week Michael Mayer took over the top tight end job in Las Vegas and he built on that this week as he played the vast majority of the snaps before starters were pulled. And this week, Dalton Kincaid ran 29 routes to 22 for Dawson Knox while catching all eight of his targets. That still only represents a 63% route participation for Kincaid but it certainly represents a step in the right direction. Personally I can’t add him in any leagues - because I never dropped him.

And Don’t Forget The Rookie Wide Receivers

With the victory lapping of rookie tight ends, we can’t forget the rookie wide receivers. Last week a headline in this article was “Add Josh Downs In Your Fantasy Leagues”. This week, he finished as the WR2 in half PPR. Cracking the top five once again was fellow rookie Puka Nacua. But there were some other faces across the league that also saw increased usage. Chiefs rookie WR Rashee Rice was the WR13 on the week and he played his biggest snap share yet at 59% of the snaps. In the absence of DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo played a ton and finished as WRs 15 and 16. Romeo Doubs had a WR2 Week, Zay Flowers was WR26, and Demario “Pop” Douglas played the second most snaps of any Patriots WR while finishing as WR27. And that’s all before Jordan Addison plays tonight. You have to be feeling pretty good if you took a stab on some of the high risk, high reward first year players. 

Emari Demercado Post Hype Sleeper

Folks were pumped to get Demercado off waivers only to see him throw up a dude in his first game. But, as we noted in the Week 6 Snap Count Article, he did get the bulk of the pass snaps. This week however, he got the bulk of ALL the snaps. He played 53 of 66 snaps and got 13 carries (Damien Williams had one, Rondale Moore had four, and Joshua Dobbs had six). Williams only played 12 offensive snaps and Keontay Ingram was relegated to special teams. James Conner can’t come back for a minimum three more games and, if this usage holds, Demercado is absolutely a guy that you can throw in lineups where needed.