Bye weeks have hit and you never know what Covid positives will bring, so stay filling your teams with talent and dropping dead weight. This article is mainly about Andy Dalton and Chase Claypool, but we discuss a multitude of other guys for the rest of the season and replacements for your players on bye this week.
QB’s
Continued Prayers for Dak Prescott, but good news is surgery was successful and his timeline is four to six months, which puts him on track for the start of next season. How will Andy Dalton fare with Prescott out?
Dalton has always been a capable QB, while at the same time wildly inconsistent and turnover prone. Dalton threw for 30 TDs just once in his career (33 in 2013) and threw for 4,000 yards twice (2013, 2016). He now steps into his greatest situation with the Dallas Cowboys and their highly talented offense. Dallas’ offensive line is not the same with the multiple injuries, but the Cowboys basically appear as if they will be playing in shootouts all season because of their lackluster Defense. Their D could improve however and maybe the Cowboys run the ball more, getting Pollard more involved. Essentially, if you are a Dak, Matt Ryan, maybe Baker owner, or are in a two QB/SuperFlex league grabbing Dalton is a sound idea. If you own Ben, Brees, Brady, I don’t think you need to go nuts here and blow a big portion of your FAAB on him. Dalton will have some nice games, but you can certainly see those 250 yard, 1 TD, 2 Int games on the horizon as well. Dalton has shown us who he is over his 9 year, 135 game career, there is def some good reward here, but just don’t think he’s going to be much different from the guy we’ve already seen.
Justin Herbert was discussed last week, hopefully you grabbed him, if not he showed out once again, he is legit, you will have to pay more now.
Fitzpatrick vs the Jets, enough said. Good bye week fill, but also could be your starter!!
Kirk Cousins vs Atlanta for your bye week? Looks tempting, but Cousins looks cooked, this matchup almost seems to good to be true, but like we saw with Houston last week, new coaching staff may ignite this Falcons D. Buyer beware.
Teddy B has been showing out also, but gets the tough Bears D this week. Not sure I feel confident about using him in that matchup.
Nick Foles gets the Panthers, but Foles sort of looks like a combo of Philip Rivers and Joe Flacco, it’s not pretty. I think Mitch has the potential to take this job back soon. But maybe Nick Foldgers in your cup, starts heating up, but probably not.
Danny Dimes time? Danny Dippin Dots? Danny started out great in Week 1 vs a tough Steelers D, but has been putrid since, even vs Dallas last Sunday, and now has failed to throw a TD in his last 4 games. He gets the Skins this week and the schedule does lighten up after a rough start, but he looks out of sync. I would expect some good performances from him soon, but let’s wait and see first.
Props to Alex Smith for returning last week, great story as he overcame tremendous odds to fight back from an horrific injury and surgery and recovery issues. I hope he gets the full time job eventually, but at this point I want no part of the Skins QB’s.
RB’s
We discussed Justin Jackson last week, if you read our article you were ahead of the masses. He likely stays relevant all season even when Ekeler comes back, as he is outplaying Josh Kelley.
Alexander Mattison and Mike Boone come straight out of the Vikings RB factory and both look great, with Mattison getting the vast majority last week, running for over 100 yards. Mattison is a must add if you need RB help or you are a Cook owner and didn’t previously have him on your bench. Mike Boone is also worth an add if you can stash him, both guys are talented playing in a extremely friendly Gary Kubiak running system. Cook usually misses a few games each year, and it looks like he may is at least one or two games this year.
I would be stashing Tony Pollard and Boston Scott if they are out there. Both highly talented backs who would pay big dividends in a starting job.
WR’s
Even though I scouted Chase Claypool and recognized his talent, I slept on him not only in my drafts, but also on waivers as he sat out there in multiple leagues the past few weeks. I just thought there was too much talent in Pittsburgh for him to be a consistent producer. I am very upset about this, I hate missing out on talents such as these. Claypool is worth at least 50% of your FAAB, and I might even be willing to go higher. 6’4, 4.4 forty, good route runner and it really appears the Steelers are going to use him often despite the other talent surrounding him at WR. Yes he went nuts with Diontae Johnson out, but the Steelers also ran two GL plays for him last week, one on the inside handoff and the other on the screens pass, both went for TD’s. His other two TD’s came on a textbook run slant route and him running a streak from the slot, where he gave the LB an inside jab and blew right past him. Impressive. That’s not even mentioning his catch where he went up over the defender, caught the ball, hurdled over him and ran down the sidelines. If you missed any portion of it or need a reminder here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVW2CpSEj9o. Simply put, Claypool is for real and I believe he’s here to stay even with Diontae Johnson returning. He could be a league winner.
Travis Fulgham is the other big WR on the wire this week. Fulgham was Wentz’ favorite target last week going for 150 yards on 10 catches. Fulgham is sort of in the Alshon Jeffrey/Marques Colston mold, big body WR who can go up and come down with balls. His speed is not anything of note, nor is his route running, but he seems like a smart WR who can do just enough to get open and has sure hands to finish the catch. Fulgham is likely going to be a bargain and is worth an add. With Jeffrey, Desean Jackson always hurt and Jalen Reagor stilll working his way back, I think Fulgham has a chance to become a consistent option in this offense.
Mike Williams out there? Williams limped off after his final catch of the game, but looked great hooking up with Herbert for two TD’s. Speaking of WR’s who can go up and get it, few do it better than Big Mike, he looked like Megatron on that bomb he caught jumping over two defenders and securing the catch. Go grab him, will be a very nice addition for your teams as long as he stays healthy.
KJ Hamler is likely out another week with his hamstring injury, but keep him on your radar. Drew Lock is returning at QB for Denver and that only helps the prospects of Hamler. Don’t forget about him.
TE’s
We spoke about Gerald Everett last week and he continued his resurgence going for 90 yards on 4 catches, although he only ran 8 routes. Still, Everett is the better player than Higbee and it really seems like the Rams are shifting to giving Everett the majority.
Irv Smith sighting!! Finally, Swirv Irv gets going. We know about Smith’s talent, explosive, fairly good route runner, who may finally may be worthy in your lineups after last week with this four catch 64 yard performance. Some good games are ahead for Swirv Irv.
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