QB’s
Blake Bortles, Jax
Bortles is coming to fruition this season, making better decisions, looking more accurate and showing off his athleticism and big arm. Allen Robinson is a legit WR and Allen Hurns is coming into his own as well. Add in Julius Thomas and of all a sudden this Jaguars offense is somewhat legit. Their Defense is also going to have them playing catch up a plenty, so Bortles should be slinging it almost every game like we saw against the Bucs last week. Blake is looking like a safe start almost every week at this point.
Josh McCown, CLE
Shockingly, Josh McCown has 6 TD’s and nearly 1,000 yards in his last three games with the Browns. Playing bad defenses has helped, but McCown is making some big throws and now has some legit weapons with Travis Benjamin, Gary Barnridge and Duke Johnson. But tread lightly the next three weeks as McCown plays against the Broncos, Rams and Cardinals and his true colors may begin to show.
Brian Hoyer, HOU
After Mallet came out because of hit he took, Hoyer stepped in and didn’t relinquish the job back. Mallet was looking like an angry schoolboy, while Hoyer was throwing TD’s and moving the Texans offense. Hoyer finished with 300 yards passing and two TD’s. Hoyer is better than Mallet, but he isn’t very good. However, with good matchups against the Jaguars, Dolphins and Titans the next three weeks, he could but up some decent performances while throwing to DeAndre Hopkins and dropping it off to Arian Foster.
E.J. Manuel, BUF
Manuel stinks, he isn’t accurate and can’t really scramble all that well. Taylor will be out a few weeks with the MCL sprain, but please avoid Manuel at all costs. He is going to hurt the value of this whole offense.
RB’s
Charcandrick West & Knile Davis, KC
I lost Charles in 6 leagues yesterday, who was the #1 Fantasy RB on the year so far. Overly invested? Maybe, but I would do the same thing again for a player like Charles. So as you can see, I am analyzing this pickup this week very studiously.
West was playing ahead of Davis the last couple weeks as Davis has taken a backseat and been subjected to Special teams. There isn’t much tape out there on West, just some highlight videos from him in High School and at Abilene Christian University which almost seemed like watching a High School game.
From what I can tell, West is a good athlete, has good speed can break tackles and can make people miss. But this was Division 2 Football and the athletes in the NFL are obviously way better. But Andy Reid seems to really believe in West, praising his work ethic, saying he’s more similar to Charles (which he is) and using him as Charles’ backup over Davis. West has also said in the past that “He will be better than Charles one day”, so the kid is clearly very confident in his ability and is an extremely hard worker. He is better than Davis in the pass game and reportedly has improved his pass blocking. He should be the main guy, but Davis could get the Goal Line work as he is the bigger back and more suited for that role.
Davis has looked impressive at times in Charles absence in the past, but surprisingly is just averaging about 3.5 YPC, which isn’t good. Davis with a heavy workload is better suited to do damage, but with West in the mix, he likely won’t have too much of an impact outside of most likely getting the GL work. Davis has 12 TD’s since the 2013 season.
Charcandrick is the the guy to own, as he seems like he’s has prepared mightily for this opportunity and has the coaches backing. There is a chance he could completely underwhelm, but if you are a Charles owner, like myself, then you need to invest a good amount in FAAB to grab him and put him #1 on your waivers this week. Davis should follow somewhere close behind.
Regardless, Alex Smith is looking pretty awful despite having two very good weapons in Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce, so this offense will likely struggle overall. West could be a nice play in PPR leagues, but in standard he could disappoint with Knile Davis taking GL and short yardage work. Grab West and/or Davis to add to your RB depth and hope that they can help win you some key games down the stretch here.
Lastly, the Chiefs were reportedly working out Pierre Thomas and Ben Tate so that could throw a wrench into everything. If I were the Chiefs I would sign Ahmad Bradshaw and make him the starter tomorrow. If they sign Tate, don’t even bother, he stinks. But Pierre Thomas could be decent.
Antonio Andrews, TEN
Bishop Sankey, Dexter McCluster, and Terrance West all aren’t very good, so Antonio Andrews has the chance to emerge here in a young offense led by Marcus Mariota. Andrews had 55 total yards and TD on Sunday, which isn’t anything mouth watering, but he did get the GL carries and was a factor in the passing game. He could be the next man up here, so give him a shot if you need RB help.
AVOID
Boobie Dixon, Dan Herron, Zach Zenner
Handcuffs
Forte Owners should own Jeremy Langford.
WR’s
Anquan Boldin & Andre Johnson
Both these guys could be on your wire after weeekssssssss of doing jack. Johnson, silenced some of the haters with two TD’s on Thursday night and there is a chance this could boost him back into relevancy. I would take the shot, I don’t think he’s fully done yet and playing with Luck in this offense, is still intriguing. Snatch him back up, there is a ton of reward here.
Same thing goes for Boldin, he revived this week after doing much of nothing to start the year. Boldin is coming off back to back 1,000 yard seasons with 12 TD’s combined, and looks like he’s got plenty of juice left. Kaepernick looked like he made a few improvements in that Giants game, so there is some hope there as well.
Willie Snead, NO
We have talked about him before, but will bring it up again. Snead is a good WR, has the trust of Drew Brees and is playing over Colston and Brandon Coleman. He is going to be heavily targeted by Brees, go snatch him up if he’s still available in your leagues.
Marquess Wilson, CHI
Wilson was a popular DFS play and pickup last week and he came through for owners with 6 catches for 85 yards and a TD. With Alshon Jeffrey OUT the last two weeks, Wilson has seen 17 targets. But even with the return of Alshon and Royal, Wilson could remain a factor. He is a talented player with good size at 6’4.
Brandon LaFell, NE
LaFell is set to return in Week 7 and should be owned in all leagues at this point, especially if you need WR help. We saw what LaFell did last year with Brady finishing with 950 yards, 7 TD’s in just 13 starts. No other WR has emerged with Edelman, so LaFell, already having a good rapport with Brady, should step in and see success once again.
Be ready to pounce
Dorial Green-Beckham, Jaelen Strong, Philip Dorsett, Stefon Diggs (10 targets in week 4)
TE’s
Gary Barnridge, CLE
3 Words. Go. Grab. Gary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4th word, Beast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Defensive Streamers
Vikings vs KC, Detroit vs CHI
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