Welcome to Week 7! Last weekend saw a continuation of the regrettable injury train, picking up some more wide receivers. We were treated to another epic thriller in;s the Bears and Commanders game as time expired for a second season in a row. This did, however, have an unfortunate consequence of knocking our Commanders pick down to a mediocre performance as far as streaming. The Packers also seemed to have trouble putting away the opposition, even with the help of an additional week of preparation. A turn of good news, however, the Rams came through in a major way, putting up a hefty amount of fantasy points on DST. The trend of favorable matchups with DSTs that are already rostered in a majority of leagues continues this week, sadly, so we will have a look at what is left for defenses in around 50 percent of leagues or fewer.
I also want to give a quick heads up towards next week, which has six teams on the bye, so it is worth not only taking a look at what’s available in your league this week, but also who they are playing next week as well.
Please note that there’s a decent chance that better teams above this 50 percent threshold are available in your league, but we can’t assume they’re available to everyone. We have to draw the proverbial line somewhere, so stay active and monitor the league home page; someone might drop a desirable defense after waivers clear.
Kansas City Chiefs
Opponent: vs. Las Vegas Raiders
ESPN % Rostered: 13%
Yahoo % Rostered: 53%
The Chiefs are averaging about 20 points allowed per game this season and are getting healthy on both sides of the football in time to welcome their divisional rival to town. While Kansas City saw their three-game streak of multiple sacks and turnovers generated per game come to an end last week, it was against a prolific Lions offense that they held to just 17 points. Now they will face Geno Smith, who has been very generous with the ball, leading the league in interceptions thrown. The Chiefs are tied for the third-most blitzes called this season and will look to continue that trend against the Raiders, who have surrendered the fourth-most sacks. Las Vegas has been held to under 200 passing yards in three of their last five games and has not eclipsed 300 total yards of offense in back-to-back games now.
Cleveland Browns
Opponent: vs. Miami Dolphins
ESPN % Rostered: 53%
Yahoo % Rostered: 38%
Chicago Bears
Opponent: vs. New Orleans Saints
ESPN % Rostered: 4%
Yahoo % Rostered: 7%
Hot off the heels of last week’s victory as time expired, Chicago now heads back home to host the Saints. New Orleans is averaging giving up double-digit fantasy points to opposing fantasy DSTs as the road team this season. In those games, they average 2.5 sacks and 1 turnover per game. The Bears, meanwhile, have been averaging almost four turnovers per game over their last three matchups. Outside of their forgettable week two performance, they have been putting up solid results in fantasy. They have averaged 10 fantasy points per game over their last three games, keeping everything in front of them on defense with the third-lowest air-yards per completion while maintaining the third-fewest yards after the catch. Spencer Rattler has only thrown three touchdowns over his last four games, with an average of 6 yards per completion, and has yet to throw for 230 yards a single time this season.
After the Cut
New England Patriots (E:66% Y!:52%) – Coach Vrabel’s defense will end the three-week-long road trip against his former team in Tennessee, an offense that has been favorable to stream against.
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Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by William Purnell / Icon Sportswire