Takeaways from Week 7 as told through
@MarcasG's tweets.
David Johnson was active but he wasn't really "active". Every once in awhile these things happen. It's always a risk when you have a player who battles injuries all week like Johnson did. But the bigger takeaway is that Edmonds is becoming a more valuable fantasy piece. This marks three straight weeks that the Cardinals second running back has found his way into the end zone (five touchdowns in that span). Next week's game against the Saints isn't a great one on paper but if Johnson is limited, Edmonds should see plenty of volume yet again.
At this point, we've all accepted the fact that as long as Jamaal Williams is healthy, Aaron Jones will not have a workhorse role in the offense. But the good news is that Jones has still been able to produce despite splitting his opportunities. All the while, Jamaal Williams is getting plenty of opportunity in the passing game and near the end zone. The yardage totals weren't exciting this week -- mostly because Green Bay's other pass-catchers were heavily in the mix -- but with the inconsistency in the wide receiver corps without Davante Adams, both running backs are viable fantasy options.
We saw the old Aaron Rodgers today. Huzzah! I'm not ready to say the Packers offense is saved or that Rodgers is back to being an elite fantasy quarterback -- we should give some discredit to the Raiders defense -- but it is a reminder that Rodgers can still take advantage of a great matchup. Next week, Rodgers goes on the road to face the Chiefs in a matchup that has turned out to be more daunting than we imagined at the start of the season.
I know, I know. Hitching your wagon to a tight end is a short term option nowadays but it's hard to deny that Everett's target share is growing in the Rams offense. He's had five or more targets in four straight games and leads all tight ends in targets over the past month. That's the kind of volume we've been begging for at the position for weeks. Now we just need Jared Goff to be a little more accurate when targeting him.
The dream of Joe Mixon being a RB1 in 2019 died a few weeks ago. But now, it's hard to even imagine him returning value as a RB4. Entering Sunday, Mixon was the 31st-ranked running back in fantasy and even with a touchdown couldn't break eight fantasy points. There are a confluence of issues working against Mixon right now. The first is a defense that continually puts the offense in a hole, forcing it to be the most pass-heavy attack in the league. The second is an offensive line that is full of holes and not giving Mixon much room when the Bengals actually do run the ball. The third is that Mixon is seeing about six fewer touches per game than he was last season -- although reason No. 3 might be a consequence of reasons No. 1 and 2. The rest of the schedule doesn't have many soft spots. Maybe you can package Mixon in a trade for something of value but at this point, he's barely startable.
Come out of your panic rooms, everyone! DeAndre Hopkins has found the end zone and all is well. For this week at least. It took Will Fuller getting hurt and the Texans being down by a couple of scores but Nuk topped 100 receiving yards and scored a touchdown for the first time since Week 1. In reality, Hopkins has been catching the ball plenty this season and is on pace for over 100 receptions. The frustration has been the depth of his targets. On Sunday, Nuk averaged better than 10 air yards per target. During the five-week slump that drove us to distraction, that number was around eight air yards per target. We'll wait to see how serious Fuller's hamstring injury is but his absence could mean more downfield throws for Hopkins. That's something we can all get behind.
Yes, the Saints defense is pretty good but Mitchell Trubisky holding the offense back isn't a new thing. Matt Nagy can scheme as much as he wants but until the quarterback improves, there's not much the head coach can do. The bad news for the rest of us is that we're doomed to watch Tarik Cohen gobble up inefficient targets and pray that Allen Robinson can score garbage time touchdowns.
In back-to-back games, the Bears defense has been shredded by Josh Jacobs and now Latavius Murray to the tune of 242 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The thing that both the Raiders and Saints went heavy on outside zone runs with a fair amount of success. This isn't to suggest that teams are going to start ramming it down Chicago's throat in the near future but maybe we don't automatically need to fear the Bears defense with running backs. For instance, the Bears and Chargers meet next week and everything we've seen from Melvin Gordon since he returned to the field shouldn't give you confidence to start him in Week 8.
So many things to unpack here. First off, Melvin Gordon's reinsertion into the Chargers offense has not gone as planned. In three games, Gordon has gained a total of 115 scrimmage yards. Contrast that with Austin Ekeler, who posted 118 receiving yards in Week 7 alone. But Los Angeles' insistence on trying to get Melvin Gordon seems to have come somewhat at the expense of Keenan Allen. In the first four weeks, Allen averaged nearly 12 targets per game -- a number slightly skewed by just five targets in Week 4 when the Chargers jumped out to a lead against the Dolphins and didn't need to throw the ball. Since then, Allen's targets have dipped to fewer than eight per game. With the Chargers season laying on the edge of ruin, you have to wonder how much longer they'll continue forcing the issue with Gordon to the detriment of the rest of the offense.
Wait...what?
- Tarik Cohen caught nine passes ... for 19 yards.
- Pharoh Cooper was the only Cardinals receiver with more than 12 receiving yards.
- Trey Quinn led Washington with 30 receiving yards. Richie James had a 40 yard reception for San Francisco.
- Mark Walton played 34 snaps. It's his backfield now in Miami.
- Gardner Minshew had more rushing yards than the entire Bengals offense.
And one for the road...
Marcas Grant is a fantasy analyst for NFL.com and a man who wonders who will watch the Watchmen. Send him your home security strategies or fantasy football questions via Twitter @MarcasG. If you read all of that, congrats. Follow him on Facebook, and Instagram.
