We have arrived at the halfway point! Week seven marks the middle of the regular season for most fantasy football leagues. This is where the logjams of teams with .500 records start to separate. Fluke performances and overreactions give way to more calculated decisions based on consistency over the season. It’s time to start hitting on some of those guys on the watch list. After last week’s rush of activity, the pickings are a bit slim this week. Still, there in week seven, there are a few players that teams should add to their fantasy football watch list.
Week Seven NFL Fantasy Football Watch List
Next Man Up!
This week’s top priority likely falls under the radar, because his team had a bye week last week. Nick O’Leary of the Buffalo Bills was thrust into action after Charles Clay went down with a knee injury.
Clay was diagnosed with a torn meniscus and MCL sprain. Bills head coach Sean McDermott gave the vague forecast that Clay will be out “multiple weeks”. Meniscus tears have a variable recovery time for players based on the type of tear, and the position played. The average time a player misses will be two to six weeks, meaning Clay may or may not be out a while.
This means, that O’Leary won’t be a guy that wins a person their league. However, he could be a player that can squeeze out a few wins for them. Clay is the Bills second leading receiver behind LeSean McCoy (neither of which are even receivers). The Bills are already without wideout Jordan Matthews, who had surgery on his thumb, and isn’t even catching passes yet.
Clay was averaging five catches for 44 yards had scored two touchdowns in his first four games before injury. O’Leary came in for Clay and fit right in, hauling in five passes for 54 yards. The Bills have practically zero weapons other than McCoy, and the wide receivers on the roster have already proven they can’t be part of the offense.
O’Leary might not be quite as skilled as Clay, but he likely gets some production just off volume alone, and has a good chance at scoring a touchdown any week until Clay comes back. He might even be worth a grab as a free agent this week for teams who don’t want to waste a waiver pick.
Another Who Looks to Step Up Due to Injuries
The injury apocalypse continued this week, with more big names like Aaron Rodgers and Emmanuel Sanders going down. Sanders is a big loss for the Denver Broncos, and is out multiple weeks with a high ankle sprain.
Broncos receivers dropped like flies against the New York Giants, with rookie Isaiah McKenzie leaving the game, and Demaryius Thomas coming in and out multiple times. McKenzie suffered a similar injury to Sanders, so he’ll also be out a while. Thomas will likely play this week after pushing through the pain against the Giants, but won’t be one-hundred percent.
Bennie Fowler is going to see a huge increase in targets until Sanders comes back, but could use this opportunity to give himself a permanent role in the offense. With the Broncos receiving corps extremely thin, he’s a guy fantasy teams have to keep an eye on.
A Really, Really Deep Dive
Now this one is a long shot. Carolina Panthers running back Cameron Artis-Payne has not even been active this season. He is buried on the depth chart way behind veteran Jonathan Stewart, rookie Christian McCaffrey, and third-stringer Fozzy Whittaker.
What gives Artis-Payne a shot to burst onto the scene is the performance of the three rushers ahead of him. Most running backs are benched for going under a three yards per carry average. Well, the Panthers might be trying to set the bar even lower. On Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Panthers averaged 2.8 inches per carry. Inches. That is downright embarrassing.
While that game may be a statistical anomaly, their sub-par performances have been going on all season. Stewart is averaging 2.9 YPC on the season, and only has two games where he averaged over 4.0 YPC. McCaffrey may be masking his weakness as a runner by catching a ton of passes, but he is averaging 2.7 YPC. He barely has over 100 yards on the season.
Artis-Payne didn’t see much action last year in 2016, but he at least averaged 4.0 YPC on the limited carries he was given. Right now, the Panthers need to do something to get their run game going. It looks like the only way to do so is to make a big change at running back. Monitor Artis-Payne’s status closely, because if he is activated, and has even a decent game, he could quickly become a top waiver add.
Redux Re-Do
For the second straight week, Philadelphia Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor makes his return to the redux spot. It’s time to pull the trigger on him. Last week, we highlighted how Agholor hadn’t been very consistent, but had seen his targets rise each week.
Well, now he is gaining some consistency. Again, his targets increased, seeing another season high of seven. He turned those into four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Another significant stat is that target monster Zach Ertz came back to earth in terms of targets and catches, only catching two balls for 18 yards (though both were touchdowns).
The only other real threat to Agholor’s ascension is newcomer Alshon Jeffrey, who so far, has not been on the same page with quarterback Carson Wentz. He did see 10 targets, but turned them into only four catches. So far he has exactly a 50% catch rate, hauling in 24 of 48 targets. Jeffery might improve, but it looks like Agholor is trending up, while Jeffery is trending down. Don’t get left behind as he continues to build up his numbers.
Main Photo:Embed from Getty Images
