UK American Sports Fantasy: Football Start or Sit Week 7 (Thursday)
I thought I would just give you a quick introduction to this new article. Well when I say new it is really just an extension of the full tiers article but it allows me to move the article back a couple of days and account for the developing injury news whilst still giving you coverage on those tricky Thursday night decision.
As a general rule of thumb for Thursday I like the saying that is frequently used on the CBS Fantasy Football podcast: “When in doubt Thursdays out”
This means that I will generally rank players lower if they have a Thursday game than I may do with the same match up on a Sunday because of lack of recovery and preparation time for both teams.
Just a quick early reminder that the Saints and Raiders are the bye teams this week.
QB’s
Wilson: Safe Start. The Arizona D is fairly tough but it is still a safe bet to say Wilson will be a top 12 QB this week especially with Brees being out. If you have a backup QB along the lines of Cutler, Rivers or Romo then I would consider starting them and sitting Wilson but otherwise you are safe to role with Wilson this week.
Palmer: 2QB only. Whilst the Arizona D is just a fairly tough match up the Seattle D is a match up that would downgrade any QB they face and this is the same with Palmer. They have a good pass rush and an outstanding secondary so do not be shocked to see Palmer either on the floor or making turnovers. If you have no other choice in 2QB leagues then he should put up 5-10 points but anymore is optimistic.
RB’s
Lynch: Stud. The Cardinals are likely without Campbell this week and that further weakens a defence that gave up 100 yards to Gore last week. Seattle is a run first team and Lynch will get at least half a dozen redzone opportunities in this game so expect 80+ total yards and at least 1 TD.
Ellington: Deep League Start. Ellington is a double threat in this offence and can be lined up WR as well as in the backfield and has the makings of becoming the #1 back in this offence but this is not the weak to start him as Seattle can crush far better lines and run games.
Mendenhall: Deep League Start. He is losing his grip on the #1 RB job and that combined with this defence nearly convinced me to have him a tier lower. I would only play him if you’re desperate.
Turbin: 20+ Team Leagues only. Requires a Lynch injury or a big lead to get much work and you cannot afford to count on that.
WR’s
Fitzgerald: Deep League Start. This hurts me to say because I love the guy but beyond a massive break on a catch like last week he is a shaky flex in shallow leagues at best currently and he will have to deal with the best coverage Seattle can offer. This is the best example of the ‘if in doubt Thursdays out’ slogan this week.
Floyd: Deep League Start. Will see the secondary coverage so does not see the same bump down that Fitz has. Second receivers have had relative success against Seattle but I’m not sure Palmer can get him the ball consistently enough to make him relevant in shallower leagues.
Baldwin: Deep League Start. Sees a large percentage of Wilson’s targets but will more than likely be facing Peterson the majority of the game and that is a negative for him but not enough to make him useless in all leagues.
G.Tate: Deep League Start. Many predicted big things for Tate this year but so far he has been a disappointment for fantasy owners and on a run first team he is going to struggle to put up big numbers any week.
Rice: 20+ Team Leagues only. Is only seeing 2 or 3 targets a game and that is not enough to make him even deep league relevant.
Kearse: 20+ Team Leagues only. At one stage looked set to be fantasy relevant but he isn’t seeing enough targets for that to be the case.
Roberts: 20+ Team Leagues only. Is the third receiver at best on this team and is losing target to Ellington every week to make matters worse.
TE
Housler: 20+ Team Leagues only. Has been a supposed big threat in this offence for years but I just don’t see it currently.
L.Wilson: 20+ Team Leagues only. If Miller is out then he is the teams #1 TE but they have 4 receivers they like better and it’s a running team.
Z.Miller: 20+ Team Leagues only. Only real chance of a big day is touchdown dependent and first he needs to be active.
Defence
Seattle: Best defence in fantasy end of.
Arizona: I think Lynch will crush them but Thursday games never get out of hand so it’s unlikely to be a negative week and defences do seem to do better Thursday against the pass.
So there is my short and sweet preview of this week’s Thursday night game and I will have my tiers available later in the week. As per usual you can ask me any questions you have either using the twitter icon or the comments section below.