Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 7
The 2021 NFL season is in full swing as we head into Week 7. Benjamin (@FFRabbitDad) and Brendan (@obryanbren) are back with more players to take a look at when setting your fantasy football lineups. Check it all out here in our unique Start or Sit Faceoff, for Week 7 with Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 7.
Brendan: I’m back! I had some personal matters to attend to last week and was unable to get my half of this piece done for Week 6. I have to thank The FF Faceoff team for being supportive and understanding in not being able to honor my commitments. For what it’s worth, I would have much rather been arguing with you, Benjamin, about the best start or sit decisions for this upcoming week. Should be super interesting with the crazy bye week we have upon us! Call me a glutton for punishment, but I always love when bye weeks roll around. Separates the contenders from the pretenders really fast.
Benjamin: Great to have you back, Brendan! I missed you and your passion for the game. The team at The FF Faceoff really did step up and deliver last week. Kudos to these folks! Anywho, I’m definitely on the same wavelength in that I thoroughly enjoy arguing with Brendan. With six teams on bye this week, we’re gonna have our hands full with this one. I look forward to the added challenge. So let’s get to it and help some folks win their weeks!
Quarterbacks
Start: Joe Burrow – Ryan Tannehill
Benjamin: Burrow has been great as of late. He has thrown for more than 270 yards in each of the past three games including a day of 348 yards against Jacksonville in week four. He has also thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game this season. That kind of production from a fantasy quarterback is gold. He’s got weapons on offense and Joe Mixon is forcing teams to respect the ground game with his 4.6 yards per touch. The Ravens have the recognition of being known as a difficult defense to operate against, but, in reality, there’s more smoke than fire. The Ravens did limit Justin Herbert in week six but they surrendered over 400 passing yards and two scores to Derek Carr and Carson Wentz this season. I’ll keep rolling with the hot hand this week, and that’s Burrow.
Brendan: The burn from Monday night still hurts. Derrick Henry ran all over the Bills, and Tannehill did just enough to get them over the top. Tannehill had a very pedestrian stat line of 18-216 and one interception, but he also had a rushing touchdown to pad his points a bit. However, with Henry showing no signs of slowing down, defenses will need to press the line of scrimmage. This, in theory, should open things up for Tannehill in the passing game. They play Kansas City this week, which has been giving up just over 28 points per game to quarterbacks this season and a D-Pac score of 11.21 (check out our exclusive Consistency Score for more on this). All this looks like a very good game for Tannehill and his receiving group this week.
Sit: Geno Smith – Jameis Winston
Brendan: Geno Smith had a rough start to his career. He was drafted by the Jets and seemed to be in a decent situation with Todd Bowles. Bowles was fired and quarterback guru Adam Gase showed up. Gase turned a bad situation into a worse situation and ruined two quarterbacks. When I saw Smith was going to get the start this past weekend, I wanted him to do well. Much like how we’re seeing an epiphany for Sam Darnold in Carolina. Unfortunately, however, that never materialized Sunday night and he appeared to retain his captain check down form. He had a modest 23-209-1 with a costly fumble. For a veteran quarterback, he appeared very nervous in the pocket, took a ton of hits, and made numerous bad decisions. This week he plays the Saints, who are only allowing 13.85 points per game to opposing quarterbacks and a D-Pac score of 3.95 (3rd best in the league). If I had to pick between Smith or Jameis Winston, I would go with the crab leg-loving quarterback every time.
Benjamin: It’s very unfortunate, but with this massive loss of options due to the week seven byes, there are probably some people out there who actually have to make this decision. First of all, you have my sympathy. Second, Winston is not the right choice to start here. It’s unpredictable when we will get good production from a guy who has thrown more than 23 passes in a game once this year. Winston needs more opportunities to be a valid fantasy start and he won’t get that without a viable wide receiver to throw to. Alvin Kamara has seen zero targets in two of the last three games, so he’s no benefit to Winston. Seattle has only allowed elite receivers to persevere against them and held Chase Claypool to just two catches for 17 yards in week six. Until Michael Thomas returns and performs well, there is no reason to rely on Winston, even when the options are this limited.
Running Backs
Start: Cordarrelle Patterson – Chase Edmonds
Brendan: Cordarrelle Patterson is a must-start in all leagues this week, and is in the talks for a top-12 play. Patterson is quite a stat anomaly this year, as he is only averaging 13.2 touches per game, but getting a crazy 20.36 PPR fantasy points! That is just absurd and he is due to start coming back down to earth, but that is not in the cards for this week. The Falcons are playing a Dolphins defense that has been surprisingly weak against the run, allowing nearly 30 points per game to opposing running backs. Just about every week, you can look at the schedule and if your running back is going to be playing the Dolphins. Start him. The other thing to consider against the Dolphins’ defense is that they are playing a game the week after playing in London. No other teams have done that this year, and could cause some jet lag issues. Play Patterson this week and consider playing any other Falcons you might have on your roster.
Benjamin: I love me some Patterson this week, but I love Chase Edmonds just a bit more. First of all, the matchup is absurdly juicy against the Texans who couldn’t stop a snail with a full shaker of salt. Second, Edmonds is on pace to set career highs in rushing attempts, rushing yards, targets, receptions, and receiving yards. The Cardinals are going to feed him every game as much as they can. Third, the acquisition of Zach Ertz won’t take away from Edmonds’ receiving numbers, those targets will come from Christian Kirk and Rondale Moore, the second of whom has already seen a dip in usage. These are both excellent starts this week but you’ll see more from Edmonds here and going forward.
Sit: Alex Collins – Miles Sanders
Benjamin: I don’t trust anything that comes out of the mouth of Pete Carroll. His “coach speak” is notoriously misleading. He says that Collins could play but he also said that Rashaad Penny could play. In my opinion, it’s not likely that both see the field. Collins will play, but not well. His lack of usage in the passing game is also notable – more so if the Saints get ahead early. Since this is the Monday night affair, and we can’t be sure if he suits up, you can’t afford to start him this week. Get Collins out of your lineup now if you haven’t already.
Brendan: A funny thing happened this week, both of us really wanted to pick Alex Collins as our sit. Benjamin already stated it, but both of us are having a very hard time trusting Collins’ status, especially with it being a Monday night start. On the other hand, I am hesitant to put Miles Sanders in this discussion. He is just due for a breakout game at some point and all his coaches are admitting that his usage needs to increase. In Week 6 Sanders was on the field for roughly 80% of the total offensive snaps and ran for over 6 YPC against Tampa Bay. The Eagles coaching staff continue to publicly state that they need to get Sanders more involved, but Sirianni has also said that with the number of RPO’s they call, it’s on Jalen Hurts to make the judgment call. I guess Hurts is just better at Rock, Paper, Scissors as he’s only averaging 9.5 rushing attempts per game. He’s also a significant threat in the passing game but is getting targetted only 3.5 times per game. This kind of usage is just not sustainable in your starting lineup. The coaches can say all they want, but until his usage on the field starts to actually materialize, he has to ride the bench.
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Consistency Score Home
Consistency Score: Running Backs
Consistency Score: Wide Receivers
Consistency Score: Tight Ends
Consistency Score: DST
Wide Receivers
Start: Jaylen Waddle – Amon-Ra St. Brown
Benjamin: Waddle exploded production last week with 10 catches for 70 receiving yards and two scores. It was the second this season where he saw at 13 targets and hauled in at least 10 of them. He was aided by not having De’Vante Parker or Will Fuller to compete with for targets but he gave reason for the Dolphins quarterback, Tagovailoa or Brissett, to look his way more often. It’s not just a matter of chemistry that’s going on here, it’s also confidence. The Dolphins knew what they were buying into with the sixth overall draft pick and Waddle is coming into his zone quicker than many expected. Between Waddle and St. Brown, you’re likely good either way, but I’m giving the edge to Waddle.
Brendan: It’s next man up in the Lions’ wide receiver room, and Amon-Ra St. Brown is that dude. Half of me wanted to have St. Brown on this list, just to have everyone say his name. With Quintez Cephus on IR and Tyrell Williams out with a concussion, St. Brown should see a huge target share. He already has seen an increase of 23 targets over the last three weeks, so expect that number to go up. The Rams are a tough defense, but surprisingly they have been giving up nearly 40 points per game to opposing wide receivers. So with the crazy number of all-star wide receivers on bye this week, St. Brown is a solid start.
Sit: Ja’Marr Chase – Marquise Brown
Brendan: This is a pure matchup-based projection. Chase has been on fire lately and putting up good numbers, but he’s going up against the Ravens Defense that is in the top five of the league against opposing wide receivers. Justin Herbert was being talked about as an MVP candidate so far this season, then he met the Ravens last week and only had 22-195-1-1 and Keenan Allen led the receivers with five receptions for 50 yards. Expect more of the same this week as the Ravens defense will disrupt this young Bengals offense.
Benjamin: I appreciate the very hot take, Brendan, but Chase is one of the hottest receivers in fantasy right now. He’s third in receiving yards over the last four games with 398 and has three touchdowns in that span. Since you went spicy with your pick, I’m going to do the same. The debut of rookie Rashod Bateman worries me about Brown’s upside for the rest of the season. Bateman saw six targets last week to Brown’s five and there’s not a lot of targets to go around from a Baltimore offense who excels on the ground. With another featured pass catcher in the mix and the ever-present target hog, Mark Andrews, the ceiling may have collapsed for Brown. If you can afford to in this heavy bye week, you should consider another option.
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Tight Ends
Start: Zach Ertz – Ricky Seals-Jones
Brendan: So that long-awaited Zach Ertz trade finally happened. Seemed like from the draft until the end of the summer, he was traded to the Bills at least five times, but nothing came to fruition. I feel like Ertz to the Cardinals was best for all parties. Normally when a player is traded, you have to give him a little time to get acclimated into the system, but I just don’t think that is going to be the case with Ertz. The Cardinals have a plan for Ertz and he’s going to step in day one and produce. Kingsbury has made a concerted effort to get tight ends more involved in the offense this season and Maxx Williams was having a career year until his season-ending injury. Ertz also has an appealing matchup this week against the Texans. They are last in the league against tight ends, allowing nearly 19 points per game to tight ends. Expect Ertz to flash in his first week in Arizona.
Benjamin: Seals-Jones was a beacon of hope for savvy fantasy managers last week with his 58 yards and a score on four catches – a good performance for any tight end. He caught nine balls for 99 yards over the last two starts and will see at least one more this week before Logan Thomas returns. The tight end position has been a feature of the Washington offense since last season. A Washington tight end has either scored or eclipsed 40 receiving yards on five receptions in all but one game in 2021, so there is a very safe floor with Seals-Jones in Week 7. The opposing Packers allowed tight ends to score or surpass 90 receiving yards in each of their first three games before shutting down Eric Ebron and C.J. Uzomah. Then they gave up four catches for 49 yards to Cole Kmet in Week 6. Should you expect Travis Kelce-like numbers from Seal-Jones? Probably not, but he will produce a good fantasy day for those in need.
Sit: Rob Gronkowski – Jack Doyle
Benjamin: The future Hall of Famer started out white-hot in 2021 with two scores in each of the first two games. He then suffered a significant rib injury and missed the previous three games. It looks like he’s on track to return to action in week seven. Should he play, Gronkowski could find himself in more of a decoy role. With so many other great receiving options, the Buccaneers could easily manage against Chicago, who has only allowed one tight end touchdown this season. I wouldn’t bench him in favor of Doyle, but I could give you 15 other tight ends I’d prefer to start over Gronkowski.
Brendan: I agree with you on the Gronkowski take. I would be very hesitant to put him in my lineup coming back from a serious rib injury. However, Doyle is my sit this week. First off, for a starting tight end, he has been virtually non-existent in this offense. He only had one target last week and had zero receptions. Secondly, Carson Wentz has not been lighting the world on fire and continues to have lackluster production, even against a lackluster Texans defense last week. Finally, he has a horrible matchup against the 49ers this week who are only allowing 8 points per game against opposing tight ends. All this leads me to say you want Doyle on your bench, if not dropped.
Don’t forget to hit us up on Twitter with any of your lineup questions. You can find Benjamin @FFRabbitDad and Brendan @OBryanBren. You have a question, we will give you some guidance. After all, we want you to win!
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