The NFL season is hitting the weeks loaded with teams on byes. At least four teams have a bye during five of the next six weeks. For fantasy football purposes, this means that many people will be looking for temporary replacement options, especially if they don’t have reliable players on the bench. Specifically, in week seven, the Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns will not be playing. Fantasy owners will have to play someone from the bench or from waivers in place of the likes of Christian McCaffrey, Odell Beckham Jr. and Mike Evans, among other players.
If you have someone on the bench to play, that is great. However, many people will be looking to the waiver wire for streaming options. Further, as injuries, unfortunately, continue to occur, people will be looking at potential wavier options to permanently keep rostered for the remainder of the season. Here are some potential week seven waiver pickups:
Minshew passing against Panthers (Image from Sports Illustrated)
Gardner Minshew, to say the least, did not have his greatest performance on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. He completed under 50% of his passes for only 163 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. However, that game was more emblematic of the stout Saints defense than of Minshew’s performance this season. Prior to this game, Minshew had completed 66.7% of his passes for 1279 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also had delivered at least 16 fantasy points in every game. His performance against the Saints was an anomaly and most likely will not continue. Minshew is currently owned in about 50% of fantasy leagues and is a very solid pickup if available.
Rams star running back Todd Gurley missed the team’s week 6 game matchup the San Francisco 49ers due to injury, and is questionable for their week seven game. While Malcolm Brown received 11 carries to Henderson’s six, the latter was the more productive back. Brown only rushed for 40 yards, averaging 3.6 yards per carry. Henderson nearly matched his production with 39 rushing yards, which was good for 6.5 yards a carry. Henderson also added a reception for nine yards, while Brown did not catch any passes. Based on this week’s production, if Gurley is out for more time, the Rams should start giving Henderson at least an equal number of touches. In that case, he is a solid streaming option for the flex position, and could potentially even be an RB2.
Mohamed Sanu scoring TD (Image from Fansided)
While the Falcons have not been winning games this season, they still have a great offensive core. Part of that core is wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Although Sanu is essentially Atlanta’s number three receiver now, behind Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, he has still produced in the passing game. Because quarterback Matt Ryan spreads the ball pretty evenly among his receivers, Sanu is a strong streaming option, especially in PPR leagues. He has had at least 10 PPR points in four games this season, and at least 13 in three games.
Hunter Henry is an immediate pickup form the waiver wire. Of all these players, he should easily be the number one option regardless of position (at least as long as your league allows playing a tight end at flex.) Henry played the first game of the season, suffered an injury and returned yesterday. In week one, he had four catches for sixty yards, a solid performance. In his return against the Steelers, Henry brought in eight catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He is an explosive playmaker who can be a strong piece of a fantasy roster.
Streaming defenses is common, mainly because of the wide variation in week by week matchups. This week’s best stream may be the Jaguars because they will be playing the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals have scored no more than 23 points in any game this season, including four games in which they scored only 17 points or fewer. Further, Cincinnati also has the fifth most turnovers of any team in the league.
Jacksonville’s defense has not been the powerhouse it was for the previous two years, mainly because of missing pieces like Jalen Ramsey, Telvin Smith and Malik Jackson. However, it is still a solid unit and their week seven opponent makes them a great stream.
Featured Image by Chargers Wire
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