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Over the last four weeks, Robby Anderson has turned 38 targets sixth-most among wideouts into a total of yards and one score on 13 catches. That's unbelievably poor efficiency and makes him hard to trust as a WR3, but we can't completely ignore the heavy volume. Russell Gage returned from injury and was targeted seven times in Week 7.

He belongs on benches, but could push for flex value. Lineup locks: Josh Allen , Stefon Diggs. Tua Tagovailoa has produced a pair of top fantasy weeks since returning from injury and has the look of a streaming option moving forward, but he should not be near lineups this week against the Bills' dominant defense. Zack Moss put up a dud when we last saw him in Week 6, but he still out-snapped Devin Singletary and had produced plus fantasy points in four straight contests prior to that outing.

Moss remains a solid flex option, whereas Singletary is best left on benches. Malcolm Brown 33 carries, 5 targets, snaps this season was placed on injured reserve, which opens the door for more work for Myles Gaskin 54 carries, 36 targets, snaps and Salvon Ahmed 28 carries, 15 targets, 93 snaps. Gaskin remains the preferred flex choice. Emmanuel Sanders has averaged Cole Beasley has a pair of top fantasy weeks under his belt this season, but he's also finished outside the top 55 receivers three times.

He's a flex option in a great matchup this week. Jaylen Waddle is fantasy's No. DeVante Parker has missed Miami's last three games, but would be on the flex radar if he's back this week.

Mike Gesicki has posted four top-seven fantasy outings over his last five games and should remain in lineups against Buffalo. Lineup locks: Deebo Samuel. Jimmy Garoppolo has delivered one top fantasy showing this season and is on the verge of losing his starting job to Trey Lance.

Meanwhile, Justin Fields has just one weekly finish better than 28th 18th in Week 6. Neither quarterback should be close to lineups. Khalil Herbert outsnapped Damien Williams and racked up 18 carries and five targets last week.

He's reeled off back-to-back top fantasy weeks and is a solid RB2 this week against the 49ers' terrific run defense. Elijah Mitchell has reached 17 carries in three of his four NFL games, two of which were top fantasy showings. His lack of passing-game work is a problem four total targets , but he's seeing enough work to justify one of your RB slots. Robinson has yet to deliver any top weeks. Neither belong in lineups. Cole Kmet is 17th in TE targets, but hasn't delivered any top fantasy weeks.

He shouldn't be in lineups. Baker Mayfield had delivered one top fantasy outing prior to missing Week 7 because of injury, so he or possible replacement Case Keenum should not be near lineups against a good Steelers defense this week.

Ben Roethlisberger hasn't produced a weekly finish better than 18th and isn't a starting option even against a Browns defense allowing the most QB fantasy points over expected. D'Ernest Johnson was outstanding last Thursday yards on 24 touches , but he'll settle into a complementary role with Chubb back this week. Johnson will stay play a role Kareem Hunt remains out , but he's a shaky flex against a Steelers defense that has allowed only one RB touchdown this season.

Chase Claypool has two top fantasy outings under his belt this season -- as well as three finishes outside the top Odell Beckham Jr. Jarvis Landry produced 37 yards on seven targets in his Week 7 return and is best viewed as a deep-league flex option this week. Pat Freiermuth was targeted seven times in the Steelers' first game without Smith-Schuster, so we aren't starting him yet. However, he is a player to monitor. The gap is too wide, making Harris a value play this week.

Harris is averaging a massive He's scored plus fantasy points in five straight games, averaging The Browns' run defense started off extremely well, but over the last three weeks has allowed plus RB fantasy points to both the Chargers and Broncos.

Jared Goff was a top scoring fantasy quarterback during Weeks 1 and 2, but hasn't posted any top efforts since then.

He shouldn't be in fantasy lineups. Miles Sanders is expected to miss this week due to an ankle injury. Boston Scott seven carries, two targets seemed to take his place in Week 7, with Kenneth Gainwell five carries, eight targets seeing a boost in usage as well.

Jordan Howard figures to handle some carries and perhaps primary goal-line work against Detroit, leaving Gainwell as the only recommended fantasy starter.

Consider him as an RB2 against the Lions' poor defense. DeVonta Smith 's production has been all over the map, but he has delivered four top fantasy weeks and is handling a healthy 7.

He remains in the WR3 discussion. Kalif Raymond has been targeted six-plus times in four of his last five games and has hit double-digit fantasy points in all four contests. He's creeping toward flex status as Detroit's No. None of the other wide receivers in this game are top scorers for the season. They should not be in lineups. In the Eagles' first game without Zach Ertz , Dallas Goedert played on 63 of 69 snaps and was targeted five times, which led to his third top-eight fantasy outing of the season.

Goedert will be in the TE1 mix moving forward. Lineup locks: Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor. As that regresses to the mean, Tannehill will flirt with QB1 status. He's a streaming option against the Colts this week. So is Carson Wentz , who hasn't shown much of a ceiling his best finish is ninth , although he has put up plus points in six out of seven games. With Taylor stealing the show and Marlon Mack mixing in, Nyheim Hines hasn't had a top fantasy outing since Week 3.

Following a very slow start to the season, A. Brown has been fourth in WR fantasy points over the last two weeks and has returned to lineup lock status.

Michael Pittman Jr. Targets are a concern, as he's totaled just seven of them over the last two weeks. Hilton posted a receiving line in his only game this season and will be on the flex radar if he's back from injury this week.

Other than his yard effort in Week 2, Julio Jones hasn't reached double-digit fantasy points in any game. He's a borderline flex right now. Mo Alie-Cox now has four touchdowns in his last four games, although he's surpassed three targets only once this season.

Joe Burrow has produced three top fantasy outings during his last four games and is up to QB9 for the season. He's a non-factor with his legs, but sits sixth in passing yards and fourth in touchdowns.

That's enough to keep him in the streaming discussion against a Jets team that was shredded by Mac Jones and the Patriots last week. Neither should be close to lineups. Michael Carter produced a career-high That's well above the three targets he had seen in each of his prior four games, but he has averaged Tee Higgins was targeted a career-high 15 times last week and, though he hasn't cleared 62 yards in any game this season, he remains a big part of the Bengals' passing attack.

He can be viewed as a serviceable WR3. Tyler Boyd jumped back up to seven targets last week, but he's put up a grand total of Boyd shouldn't be in lineups. White hit Corey Davis for a touchdown last week, but it's tough to trust any of the Jets' wide receivers right now considering the QB situation. Davis is nonetheless your best flex option of the bunch. Uzomah is doing his best " Robert Tonyan " impression with five touchdowns on only 19 targets this season.

Eliminator Alert: The Bengals are double-digit road favorites against the Jets this week. Check out our Eliminator Cheatsheet for the full weekly rundown. Tyrod Taylor is expected back from injury this week and he could inject some life into the Houston offense.

Consider that in roughly 1. In roughly 5. Taylor will be a streaming play at times, but not this week against a good Rams defense.

David Johnson is Houston's top-scoring fantasy back and he's currently 45th overall, without a weekly finish better than 25th. That's not great, but the good news is that Mark Ingram II was traded, which opens the door for both Johnson and Phillip Lindsay to play a larger role. Others attack waivers only when needed injury, bye weeks and are the strongest bet to commit the most heinous act of all -- ignoring trade proposals more on this later!

As you might imagine, the active managers win at a much higher rate than the casual ones. Is it possible to simply hit on nearly every draft pick and compete for a league title?

Of course. In a high-variance game like fantasy football, it happens. In fact, that reminds me of the infamous season in my long-running team, family and friends dynasty league. Matt never or, at least, very rarely checked his team and still started The funny part of the story was Week 10 when the Patriots were on a bye.

Matt, whose team otherwise averaged Having relied only on his draft while failing to add complementary producers during the season, he inexplicably went on to lose in the semifinals. On the other hand, my team this was before my fantasy analyst days, by the way started , leading me to shake up my roster with a few trades. I won six in a row, somehow made the playoffs and went on to win the league title.

His team was way better, but a it's a weekly game and b fantasy points come in all shapes and sizes. Matthew "lucked" himself into a stacked roster, but post-draft negligence cost him what should've been a surefire league title. How do you avoid a similar fate? Let's take a look at strategies you can use on the trade and waiver market. What better way to kick this section off than another real-life example from one of my long-running dynasty leagues? I knew that I had to unload several of these QBs in order to clear roster spots of unnecessary depth while also adding talent at other positions.

Leading up to our rookie draft in June, I made the following trades:. That will do the trick. Did I just write all this so I can gloat over my loaded squad? But I also posted it as a lesson: Team building -- whether it's a season-long, dynasty or keeper -- is an ongoing process. You'll rarely be quite this stacked at one position in season-long leagues, especially with smaller rosters, but you will almost always be better at one position than you are another.

Many fantasy managers don't maximize their chances at a league title because they are content with their roster and are afraid to shake things up with a trade more on overcoming this fear later. Especially as bye weeks begin to dry up and your playoffs draw near, it's important to focus on maximizing your starting lineup.

If, for example, you're shaky at WR, but have four quality RBs, you're just hurting yourself by not shopping around. Trading in fantasy is one of the most bizarre aspects of the game, as most managers seem to either be extremely aggressive or extremely quiet in the department. If you've been playing against the same league mates for a long time, I imagine you could place each of them in one of the two categories within seconds of contemplation.

Understanding the philosophy, tendencies, skill level, etc. For example, let's say I was holding the first overall pick in a rookie draft this season. I'd have Ja'Marr Chase all but locked in as my selection. However, along the way, I observe that someone in my league is willing to pay almost any cost for Kyle Pitts.

I'd be crazy not to reach out to that manager to see how much he'd offer this is based on a true story, as in one of my competitive dynasty leagues, a savvy fantasy analyst traded three first-round rookie picks for Pitts.

There are countless ways in which knowing your league mates can help your cause and sometimes it's as simple as identifying which ones respond and which ones don't. Or which ones are open to trading and which ones are afraid to make a move with a crippling fear of the possibility that it won't work out this is very real and these managers overvalue their players so much that it's not worth your time to even negotiate. I love trading. I love throwing out offers. I love fielding offers.

The only thing better than a "Trade Proposal" alert is a "Trade Accepted" alert. I throw out trade offers because I enjoy the negotiating process, but as the commissioner of several leagues across multiple sports, I also like to try to inject activity into my leagues.

Perhaps my offer gets declined, but now that manager is on the league page and perhaps he counters, makes a waiver move, or makes an offer to someone else. An active league is a great league. One drawback to throwing out trade offers is that you're sure to rub some people the wrong way. The fun of fantasy is that we don't all value players the same way. Unfortunately, it's very easy for managers to become offended -- sometimes infuriated -- if they feel you're trying to rip them off.

We've all seen it and I'm asking you right now -- please don't be that person. Even if I get an offer I'm not even considering, I'm excited by the idea of someone being open for business. If someone is higher than I am on a player on my roster, perhaps I can take advantage with a counter offer and improve my squad.

Also, my first offer is rarely my best offer. I mean, why would it be? That's negotiating Your first offer should be fair and sensible, but it can also be a starting point. How many of you have thrown out an initial trade offer that gets accepted within minutes? Your initial reaction is almost always: "Oh no! What have I done?! Did I just rip myself off?! When making an offer, don't just consider what the other manager can do for you.

It made him a natural trade partner and, sure enough, we worked it out painlessly. If he had Patrick Mahomes on his roster, there's no way he's making that deal.

Put yourself in the other manager's shoes. This relates to my first point, but focuses more on the "fairness" of your offer. Once you have a trade proposal in mind, flip the script, imagine you're on the other side of it and think about if you'd accept, consider or laugh off the offer. If it's the latter, adjust the deal. If you think you'd at least consider it, hit that "send" button, baby!

Cure crippling trade fear with this simple trick! This is like clickbait, except you just have to keep reading for the payoff. I have a good friend in the fantasy industry who straight up admits that he's afraid to make trades. Even if he likes the deal, he dreads the thought of making the wrong decision and it backfiring.

Perhaps to some extent, we all deal with that a bit. You certainly don't want to do something you regret. Fortunately, there's a trick I use that calms any trade anxiety pretty quickly: Flip the players. If someone offers you "Player A" for "Player B" and you can't decide what to do, imagine you already had "Player A" and he was offering you "Player B". Would you accept the deal now? I realize how simple and pointless this may seem, but it's no secret that we're all guilty of overrating our own players.

In fact, it's human nature. Specifically, it's a cognitive bias called the endowment effect, in which we value an asset higher when it's in our possession than we would if it wasn't. I use the strategy of swapping the players in my head before deciding on pretty much any offer I receive and I absolutely recommend it, especially if you're afraid of the "accept" button.

Don't get mad about trade offers. I already talked about this earlier, but I'm reiterating. This drives me nuts. Even if you don't like the offer, just be happy you have someone in your league unafraid to keep the league active by making offers. Pick your spots. We've all been there. A top local beat writer tweets that "Player X" is unstoppable in camp and it looks like he's in line for a breakout. The initial inclination will almost always be to make a trade offer for that player, but now is not the time.

Even if you're buying the hype, wait a week or so until the industry is buzzing about someone else before making the move. On the other hand, if there's a negative report on a player and you're not buying it, now is the perfect opportunity to make an offer. I'm not going to lie, waivers can be a tedious process when you manage 16 fantasy football teams like I did in And yet I still put the time into making claims in every single league.

Because, if I don't, I'm putting myself at a disadvantage. Every single week, there is at least a player or two on waivers who is well worth adding to your roster, if not your starting lineup one big injury can really shake things up in a hurry. And that goes for the weeks leading up to the season, as well. One of the ways managers ended up stacked at RB last season was by snatching James Robinson off waivers. Once Leonard Fournette was cut loose, it was a mad dash to the free agent list to take a flier on the likes of Robinson, Ryquell Armstead and Devine Ozigbo.

I had some exposure to all three and, while only one worked out, it worked out in league-winning fashion, whereas all I lost by stashing Ozigbo and Armstead for a few weeks was an end-of-bench stash.

Granted he was injured down the stretch, but Robinson was one of the most valuable players in fantasy last season, as he went from undrafted in most leagues to immediate RB1 status. Just how valuable was he? It's those types of players who get you a gigantic edge on your league mates and you're simply playing at a disadvantage if you fail to remain active. I'll cut bait right away on Tuesday. Let's say Clyde Edwards-Helaire hurt his toe two days earlier and is questionable for the upcoming week.

I most certainly use this "hack" more often with my kicker slot, since we know there is a ton of randomness with that position. As long as you remember to check your lineup Sunday morning, the strategy is a no-brainer. Oh, and I recommend this during the period between your draft and the start of the season, too.

There's very little to lose and quite a lot to gain speaking as someone who dropped Chris Boswell and added James Robinson in the week leading up to Week 1 last season. By the way, I've used Robinson as an example a few times, but he's not alone: There are players like him available late in drafts or on preseason or early-season waivers every single year. Last year, for example, it cost you little or in most cases, nothing to get your hands on Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers remember, he went undrafted in shallow leagues , Mike Davis, J.

If you're active, you can butcher your draft and still claw your way to a title. A lot of what I just laid out will apply to most of you, but I realize leagues come in all shapes and sizes. Anyway, folks often ask about how to adjust strategy based on these leagues, so while this isn't the place to get too into the weeds, here are ways I adjust my strategy based on format. Want a competitive advantage? Across the league, teams are trading in their page printed playbooks for iPads.

In the last year alone, NFL teams using the iPad have quadrupled from three to 12, representing more than one-third of all teams. Those who make the switch are discovering that the technology goes far beyond the old playbook capabilities.

Those using PlayerLync report that it has revolutionized the way they push out film and significantly altered the way they communicate. The technology is such a leap forward that other teams are even considering making the iPad switch in midseason.

The Broncos were one of the early adopters of the technology. In addition to saving printing costs, digital playbooks like PlayerLync are increasing effective, real-time communication by allowing coaches and quarterbacks to add and share plays with the click of a button.

Every time new data, film or information is added, a banner alert pops up like a text message , signaling players to view the updates. Coach could know, thanks to optional modules that can track when and how long a player views a play or file.



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