Fantasy Football Week 7 Usage Report

It's not always about the fantasy points, it's about the usage.

Are you upset that the stud you drafted to be just that, a stud, is not getting the looks or touches he needs to succeed? Or on the flip side, are you wondering why some schmuck or washed up old guy is still getting all the action? In the Usage Report, we take a look at the trends as they turn into realities, and determine whether or not we expect this to end or continue to drive you nuts! Carefully color coordinated to resemble our beloved stop light system: Green means GO GO GO while Red means don’t you dare.

Week 7 saw some absolutely great performances (see the first player), and some absolutely shocking games go down. How about three teams being shut out? That’s annoying for those owners. Follow that up with six bye weeks in Week 8…

WIDE RECEIVERS

Amari Cooper

19 targets, 11 receptions, 210 yards, 2 touchdowns

Yuck. Gotta mention the target amount, but this game may be the most polarizing topic of the year. To trust or not to trust Cooper moving forward. The only thing that is likely for certain is that this will be his best game of the year. Also this hopefully means that Derek Carr will look to him more often and there will be no more of those games with only 5 or so targets.

Julio Jones

13 targets, 9 receptions, 99 receiving yards, 1 touchdown

The knock on Julio was the fact that he had no touchdowns entering the week. So what? He still ranks in the top 15 receivers in terms of receiving yards. However, this week he was targeted 4 times in the redone, and had a beautiful “I’ll take that” type catch over the defender. He will catch fire, don’t worry about the touchdowns.

Cooper Kupp

10 targets, 4 receptions, 51 yards, 1 touchdown

When you live with the quarterback for a few months, good things happen. Including 5 redzone looks. PPR option only. Otherwise you are getting too cute and hoping for a touchdown.

Kenny Stills

9 targets, 6 receptions 85 yards, 2 touchdowns

When Matt Moore came in, all he could see was Stills. He also targeted Stills three times for three catches in the redzone. If you were rostering Stills, maybe you will see him start earning that new massive contract, especially if Devante Parker continues to miss time.

Zay Jones

9 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards 

Maybe, just maybe, Jones will see some reception regression if that’s a thing. The Bills need pass-catchers, and Jones is getting many looks and leads the team in snaps week after week. Maybe more of a deep-league stash, he should have a couple games in the near future in which he catches a whack of balls for decent yardage.

The Once 100% Startable Packers Pass-Catchers

13 targets, 5 receptions, 40 yards

Brett Hundley didn’t live up to the mini-hype people were ramping up surrounding his name leading into Week 7. Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams will take a severe drop in successful usage, while Randall Cobb is now more of a dart throw flex play. Just a messy situation. Nelson/Adams/Cobb had 13 targets total in Week 7.

Eric Decker

2 targets 0 receptions, 0 yards

Decker had a great game in Week 6, and followed it up with this dud. Where were the Titans against the swiss cheese Browns secondary? It’s just incredibly hard to trust Decker week-to-week. This team seems to riding out a youth movement, outside of the old reliable Delanie Walker.

Martavis Bryant

2 targets, 1 reception, 3 receiving yards & 1 carry, 2 rushing yards

Bryant is junk, get him outta here. If you own him you are simply holding him in the hopes that he gets his wish and changes his zip code. Unfortunately this isn’t the NBA where you can pick which team you want to join even when on contract. Mike Tomlin even threw him out there early in the game for a rush, maybe hoping he’d get rocked and shut up for a bit.

TIGHT ENDS

Evan Engram

12 targets, 6 receptions, 1 touchdown

Engram is a dude. He is going to be for the rest of the year, so let’s declare him as a top 8 tight end option rest of season, especially in PPR. He also had a huge play called back due to stepping out of bounds.

Cameron Brate / O.J. Howard

CB: 9 targets, 6 receptions, 60 yards / OH: 6 targets, 6 receptions, 82 yards, 2 touchdowns

Yes, both are worth owning, but 4 weeks prior to this past week, Brate scored in EVERY game. Don’t be the seller on Brate, be the buyer for the unreasonably panicking owner after they see Howard “emerge.” The last 5 weeks, Jameis Winston has thrown 8 touchdowns to his tight ends and Brate is still much more safe. Over the last 5 weeks: Brate – 25 receptions, Howard – 10 receptions. We will use the classic yellow for Howard, as you shouldn’t read too much into his blow-up game outside of a nice ceiling play being made apparent.

A.J. Derby

7 targets, 6 receptions, 66 receiving yards

With Emmanuel Sanders banged up, it’s not a bad idea to scoop up Derby, especially having juicy matchups in his next three with Kansas City, Philadelphia and New England’s weak secondaries, as one of the only other pass catching targets outside of Demaryius Thomas.

Martellus Bennett

3 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards

He is a Packers pass-catcher too right? Not anymore.

Austin Hooper

1 target, 1 reception, 6 yards

Ups and downs continue for Hooper. He has a relatively high ceiling for the position when Matt Ryan wants to zone in on his tight end, but his floor is more like a basement.

RUNNING BACKS

Mark Ingram / Alvin Kamara

MI: 22 carries, 105 rushing yards, 1 touchdown & 5 targets, 4 receptions, 5 receiving yards / AK: 9 carries, 57 yards & 7 targets, 5 receptions, 50 receiving yards

This is the best 1-2 punch backfield in the league, hands down. If you own both, start both weekly, regardless of the scoring system. If you only own one, you should not be using the voodoo doll method on the other as they spell each other perfectly. We don’t foresee Kamara as an all purpose 3-down back nor do we like the thought of Ingram taking on more carries.

Javorius Allen

6 carries, 20 rushing yards & 11 targets, 8 receptions, 29 yards

If you are playing PPR, this is still a great outcome. Allen may have the safest floor for receptions in the league out of the backfield.

Rod Smith

8 carries, 61 rushing yards & 2 targets, 1 reception, 5 receiving yards

Maybe this is bold, but he got some decent work while we are all waiting to hear the news on Ezekiel Elliott‘s suspension. Why wouldn’t they want to get their backup(s) work during a blowout game, to get some real game action? Well, maybe they did with Smith. If Elliot is suspended, expect Smith to have some solid games, logging 13 snaps which was second in the backfield to Elliot’s dominant workload. You could do worse with a bench stash. Alfred Morris logged 9 snaps and Darren McFadden didn’t even suit up.

Latavius Murray / Jerrick McKinnon

LM: 18 carries, 113 rushing yards, 1 touchdown / JM: 14 carries, 47 rushing yards & 3 targets, 3 receptions, 10 receiving yards

Let’s just say this, it’ll be a TIMESHARE moving forward. Some games it’ll be one, the other games it’ll be the other. Preference is likely still placed with McKinnon, but Murray has made a statement to get more work. So if you owned McKinnon, you thought you had a stud, but nah. If you owned Murray, you thought you owned a bum, but not quite.

Aaron Jones / Ty Montgomery

AJ: 17 carries, 131 rushing yards, 1 touchdown & 5 targets, 3 receptions, 7 receiving yards / TM: 4 carries, 6 rushing yards & 2 targets, 1 reception, 9 receiving yards

It seems the Packers have found their every down back. “Ty” should stand for “Thank you” for the first few weeks, now see ya later. Jones even had more work in the passing game, albeit nothing special, but this is supposed to be Montgomery’s role yet saw his fewest touches of the season. You can’t start Montgomery until something changes, but I think holding him one more week, especially in PPR, is reasonable. Montgomery played 7/55 snaps, while Jones played 44/55…

To leave off…

The “Use It or Lose It” usage stats of the week!

In Week 7, “Football” actually including lots of feet. In fact, 7 times, kicks of over 50 yards were made during the early games alone. Guys, kickers are people too. Why aren’t we writing about them more? Ya gotta use the feet or the feet shouldn’t have anything to do with the name right?

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