Quarterback
Drake Maye, Patriots (16%)
Maye has made two starts this year. He is averaging 20.1 fantasy points per game in those games which is the fourth-highest mark for a quarterback with multiple starts. Maye has five touchdowns plus 56 yards on the ground over the past two weeks. Most importantly, the Pats started to open up their offense on Sunday. Week 7 was their first game of the year with a positive pass rate over expected.
Maye gets a tough matchup with the Jets this week but remains the best streaming option if you missed the boat on Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and other early-season adds at the position.
Russell Wilson, Steelers (7%)
Wilson made his first start of the year on Sunday Night Football. He took every snap despite reports of a potential split with Justin Fields. Wilson even plunged in a one-yard touchdown, a play that would have been for Fields if he was going to get on the field in any capacity. He averaged 10.5 adjusted yards per attempt, his highest mark since Week 18 of the 2022 season. Wilson gets a Giants defense in Week 8 that ranks 20th in EPA per dropback allowed and has given up the eighth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
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Jameis Winston, Browns (1%)
Deshaun Watson will miss the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles. Winston was a healthy scratch in favor of Dorian Thompson-Robinson last week, but DTR went down with a finger injury late in the game and did not return. Winston is all but guaranteed to get the start in Week 8. The Browns lead the NFL in dropbacks over the past season and a half. We saw what that could do for a gunslinger quarterback when Joe Flacco took over in 2023. Flacco averaged 321 yards and 2.3 passing touchdowns per game across six starts (including the playoffs). Winston averaged 286 yards in three starts all the way back in 2022. If you’re playing in a Superflex league, Winston is possibly the best quarterback option that will become available for the remainder of the season.
Others receiving votes: Bo Nix, Trevor Lawrence, and Justin Herbert
Running Back
Tyler Goodson, Colts (14%)
Goodson predictably stole the Indianapolis backfield from Trey Sermon in Week 7. Sermon was dreadfully inefficient in his two starts, so the Colts gave Goodson 44 percent of their carries on just under half of the snaps. He ran 14 times for 51 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Taylor didn’t practice last week before being ruled out and might need at least one more week to get back on the field. If he is sidelined for Week 8, Goodson will work his way into the RB3 ranks.
Ray Davis, Bills (26%)
James Cook returned in Week 7, relegating Davis to a backup role once again. He only saw a quarter of Buffalo’s carries on a 22 percent snap share. Davis did, however, make the case that he should see the ball more. He ran five times for 41 yards and a touchdown while averaging 5.2 yards after contact per carry. Davis will be hard to start in Week 8 against the Seahawks, but his talent could lead to a larger role going forward.
Jaylen Warren, Steelers (41%)
Warren’s role hit a season-high in Week 7. He was on the field for 50 percent of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps and ran a route on 61 percent of Russell Wilson’s dropbacks. He accounted for a third of the Steelers’ carries. On an Arthur Smith offense, that was good for 12 attempts and 44 rushing yards. The Steelers are favored by 4.5 points at home versus the Giants next week, setting them up for another run-heavy script.
Tyler Allgeier, Falcons (39%)
Despite a quiet Week 7, Allgeier is the best of the premier contingency value backs. It’s safe to assume he will get an RB1 workload if anything happens to Bijan Robinson, but he also has enough of a role in the offense right now to offer some minor standalone fantasy value. Allgeier has touched the ball at least nine times in four games and is averaging an impressive 5.9 yards per touch. The Falcons are underdogs in their next two outings but are then favored in eight straight contests to close the year. Allgeier will be a fringe RB3 versus the Bucs this week but should rise up the ranks once the game script turns in his favor.
Others receiving votes: Braelon Allen, D’Ernest Johnson, and Blake Corum
Wide Receivers
Ricky Pearsall, 49ers (13%)
Pearsall came off the NFI list in Week 7 to make his NFL debut. He ran a route on 86 percent of the 49ers’ dropbacks and earned an 18 percent target share. This likely wasn’t Kyle Shanahan’s plan, but Brandon Aiyuk went down with what appears to be a season-ending knee injury, forcing San Francisco to thrust Pearsall into a full-time role out of the gate. This means that one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL has a first-round receiver running all of the routes and he is available in nearly 90 percent of Yahoo leagues.
Cedric Tillman, Browns (0%)
The trade of Amari Cooper thrust Cedric Tillman into the starting rotation in Week 7 and the second-year wideout made the most of his newfound role. He caught eight passes for 81 yards on a team-high in targets (12). He ran a route on 82 percent of his team’s passing plays and earned a 24 percent target share. Tillman was a third-round pick who went for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns in his fourth season at Tennessee. Tillman missed most of his fifth and final season before flopping as a rookie. Even if he doesn’t live up to the hype of his draft capital, Tillman is an outside receiver who can stretch the field and Jameis Winston is his quarterback.
Romeo Doubs, Packers (44%)
Week 7 was easily the best of Doubs’ 2024 campaign by usage. He earned 10 targets, eight of which were caught for 94 yards. Jordan Love targeted him on nearly a third of his throws and Doubs accounted for 41 percent of the Packers’ air yards. Love is second in the NFL in yards per game and first in touchdowns. That is total touchdowns, despite Love missing two weeks. We want pieces of his passing attack and Doubs is one of the most involved receivers on the roster.
Keon Coleman, Bills (32%)
Coleman is coming off what is easily the best performance of his young career. He caught 4-of-7 targets for 125 yards and had a touchdown questionably called back upon review. The natural conclusion is that Amari Cooper’s presence made his life easier, but that would be wrong.
I keep seeing people talk about how Amari Cooper has opened up Keon Coleman's fantasy potential. So I looked at the film. And Amari Cooper was on the field for exactly zero of Coleman's targets in Week 7.
— JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) October 21, 2024
The good news is that Coleman didn’t need another receiver on the field to get him open. The bad news is that Cooper’s role is only going to grow. We should still be buying Coleman, but this is just one step in the growing process for a young receiver.
Mason Tipton, Saints (1%)
Tipton and Bub Means both ran over 90 percent of the Saints’ passing plays in Week 7. Chris Olave was sidelined with a concussion and Rashid Shaheed is done for the year after undergoing meniscus surgery. Tipton led the way in targets with nine. He caught six balls for 45 yards. Tipton posted College Dominator Ratings of 31 and 41 percent in his final two seasons at Yale. He ran a 4.34-Forty before going undrafted. While not a notable prospect, Tipton had some NFL-caliber markers on his profile, cracked the 53-man roster, and has already worked his way into a prominent role.
Others receiving votes: Tre Tucker, Elijah Moore, Troy Franklin, and Alec Pierce
Tight End
J’Tavion Sanders, Panthers (1%)
Tommy Tremble has been sidelined for the past two weeks, putting Sanders in line for a larger role in the Carolina offense. He has run a route on 74 percent of the team’s dropbacks over the in those games and earned a 25 percent target share. Sanders turned his opportunities into 11 receptions for 110 yards. His fantasy outlook will be questionable at best if Tremble returns in Week 8, but Sanders is a young player earning volume and we want to buy into that.
Jonnu Smith, Dolphins (4%)
Smith started getting more involved in the Miami offense in Week 5 before their bye. Coming out of the week off, he became the centerpiece of their passing attack with a 32 percent target share. He converted that into seven receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown. He has been targeted on 32 percent of his routes over his past two games and has a 27 percent target share during that stretch. The Dolphins offense will normalize upon Tua Tagovailoa’s impending return, and with that will come a reduced role for Smith. Still, the offense improving under Tua will also benefit him.
Hunter Henry & Zach Ertz
These two have appeared in every one of my waiver wire articles seemingly since the start of the 1995 season. And would you look at that, they are the TE4 and TE6 on the week pending Monday’s doubleheader. Henry is top-five in targets and air yards. Ertz is top-10 while playing on a better offense. Both players are available in over a third of all Yahoo leagues.
