The 2022 fantasy football season has been difficult to predict, and that trend continued in Week 7. Less-started players like Daniel Jones (QB2), Andy Dalton (QB4), Trevor Lawrence (QB5) and Davis Mills (QB7) were all top-10 signal-callers heading into Sunday night, while future Hall of Famers Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady once again disappointed in the stat sheets. In fact, it’s come to the point where neither of them should be considered must starts (read more on that below) at what has become a far less fruitful quarterback position.
Fantasy fans also saw the continued decline in the value of James Robinson in Jacksonville’s backfield, the emergence of a hot waiver wire running back in Baltimore and the return to prominence of a fantasy star at tight end … on National Tight Ends Day. Those are among the top fantasy story lines from this week that will no doubt affect your starting lineup decisions moving forward.
First, let’s start things off with a massive performance in Las Vegas…
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Josh Jacobs goes scorched earth on the Texans. Remember when fantasy fans were worried about Jacobs splitting the backfield work under new coach Josh McDaniels? Shame on us. The Raiders No. 1 back absolutely destroyed the Texans, rushing for 143 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-20 win. The veteran, who averaged 7.2 yards per rush, has scored 30-plus fantasy points in three straight games. With several big-name backs not living up to expectations, Jacobs has been a bright spot at the position for fantasy managers and one of the better draft bargains after the first seven weeks of the season.
Joe Burrow has joined the elite fantasy quarterbacks. One week after posting 32.5 fantasy points in a win over the Saints, Burrow was even better this week with four total touchdowns and 39.2 points in a win over another NFC South team, the Falcons. The LSU product connected with Ja’Marr Chase on a pair of scoring strikes, hit Tyler Boyd for a third score and rushed for a fourth in the contest. Burrow, who has scored 20-plus fantasy points in four of his last five games, should now be mentioned among the elite fantasy field generals like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. He’s a must-start player in all leagues.
Christian McCaffrey’s 49ers debut was no treat. We all knew McCaffrey was going to be limited in his Niners debut since he wasn’t traded until very late in the week. Still, he remained in most fantasy lineups. That ended up being a mistake, as CMC saw just 10 touches and finished with a mere 8.2 points. Things will of course be better in the very near future, but this stinker was likely the cause of many losses across the fantasy landscape. It’s also ironic that the two players who replaced him in Carolina, Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta Foreman, both rushed for more yards and scored more fantasy points. More on that below.
Kenneth Walker is the real deal in fantasy land. How in the world was this kid not the Seahawks’ No. 1 running back in Week 1? He’s been killing the competition ever since taking over the starting job from the injured Rashaad Penny, and the Chargers are the latest to feel his wrath. The rookie rushed for 168 yards with two touchdowns and scored 28.8 fantasy points in a win over Los Angeles, and he’s now seen his point totals increase in each of the last three weeks. In a Seattle offense that wants to run the football, this level of success should no longer be considered a surprise. Walker is now a must start runner.
Maybe Tom Brady should have stayed retired? One must wonder if Father Time has finally come for Brady, who is struggling in the stat sheets at the age of 45. He threw for 290 yards and didn’t have a single touchdown pass in an embarrassing loss to the Panthers, finishing with a gross 11.7 fantasy points. It’s only the 10th time in his last 72 regular-season starts that Brady has been held without a scoring strike, and he’s now thrown for one or fewer touchdowns in all but one game this season. With just two games over 15 fantasy points in his first seven starts, Brady simply isn’t a must start right now.
Jonathan Taylor returns, receives just 10 carries. Taylor’s first game back from an injured ankle was not what fantasy managers had hoped for, as he rushed for just 58 yards on 10 totes and was held out of the end zone for his fourth straight game. He went no longer than three straight games without a rushing score last season, and at one point he scored at least one touchdown in 11 straight contests. If there was one positive for Taylor, it’s that he was targeted eight times, caught seven passes and finished with 15.5 points against the Titans. But overall, the consensus No. 1 pick still isn’t meeting expectations.
Lamar Jackson’s fantasy totals have gone south. Jackson started the season on fire, averaging a bananas 34.1 fantasy points in his first three games. Since then, he’s looking like anything but a star. The mobile Jackson has scored no more than one touchdown in each of his last four games, during which time he’s averaged a mere 13.7 points. That’s due to his sagging passing totals, as Jackson has failed to throw for more than 210 yards in all four games including three with under 180 (he threw for a gross 120 yards against the Browns). With Gus Edwards (16 carries, 66 yards, two touchdowns) back in the mix, one must wonder if Jackson could also be passed over for some future goal-line opportunities. He’s clearly still a QB1, but Jackson has hit on hard times. Speaking of Edwards, he’s a must-add player.
Dak Prescott disappoints in his return to work. Countless fantasy fans, including myself, were excited about Prescott’s return after missing five games with an injured thumb. He had a positive matchup too, as the Lions defense is one of the league’s most vulnerable. Unfortunately, he finished with just 207 yards, a lone touchdown and 12.3 fantasy points in a 24-6 win. He did have some bad luck, though, as a pair of his completed passes saw his receivers tackled (or fumbled) close to the goal line. Prescott also saw a pass in the end zone fall incomplete due to defensive pass interference, and the Cowboys had success on the ground. Things will improve for Prescott, maybe as soon as next week against the Bears.
Aaron Jones shines as a receiver in Washington. If I had told you going into this week that Jones was going to rush for 23 yards and no touchdowns, would you have started him? Me neither. Well, we would have been dead wrong. The veteran back was Aaron Rodgers’s favorite target in the passing game, as he targeted Jones 10 times in a loss to the Commanders. Those targets turned into nine catches, 53 yards and a pair of touchdowns and 28.6 fantasy points. Jones had come into this week averaging fewer than 10 points in his previous four games, so fantasy managers who stuck with him were handsomely rewarded. As for Rodgers, he’s averaging just 13.8 points per game and is no longer a reliable fantasy starter.
Rookie Breece Hall leaves with an injured knee. In what could be a devastating blow for fantasy managers, Hall hurt his knee and was forced out of Sunday’s game against the Broncos. Coach Robert Saleh said after the game that it was an ACL injury, and it's confirmed he's been lost for the season. Before he left, Hall had 72 yards on four carries, including a 62-yard touchdown run. The talented rookie had been one of the league’s hottest runners, scoring a combined 48.8 fantasy points in his previous two games, and he was on his way to another huge line before going down. With Hall out of action, Michael Carter will become a viable No. 2 fantasy back moving forward. New York faces the Patriots in Week 8.
Notes
- Much to the chagrin of fantasy managers, Mark Andrews was held without a catch in a win over the Browns. He missed practice earlier in the week with a knee problem, which might have been part of the problem, but it’s a blow regardless for those who lean on the star tight end. In case you were wondering, Andrews hadn’t been held without a catch in a game since Week 14, 2018.
- Heading into last week, George Kittle hadn’t scored more than 7.7 fantasy points in six straight games dating back to last season. He broke that streak with 16.3 points in last week’s loss to the Falcons, and he followed it up with an even bigger game against the Chiefs. The veteran caught six passes for 98 yards with a touchdown and scored 21.8 points, his best fantasy performance since he scored 34.1 points against the Bengals in Week 14, 2021. At what has become quite a difficult position to fill, Kittle’s re-emergence is a welcome sight for managers.
- Chuba Hubbard got the start in Carolina’s first game since trading Christian McCaffrey, and he looked good with nine carries, 63 yards and one touchdown against the Buccaneers. That’s the good news. The bad news for those who added Hubbard is that D’Onta Foreman looked great with 118 rushing yards on 15 totes. Hubbard was also out late in the game due to an injury, which certainly improved Foreman’s touches. But when both backs are active, this will be a committee. I still like Foreman, however, and he’s a free agent in many leagues.
- Drake London and Kyle Pitts combined for four catches, 18 yards and 5.8 fantasy points in a loss to the Bengals. That’s due to a lack of focus on the passing game, as Marcus Mariota threw the ball just 13 times even in a negative game script. The Falcons have now thrown the rock 27 times in the last two weeks, and their quarterback has been held to 20 or fewer pass attempts in four of his last five games. If this continues, Pitts and London will continue to fail.
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Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on Sports Illustrated and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. Click here to read all his articles here on SI Fantasy. You can follow Michael on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for your late-breaking fantasy news and the best analysis in the business!
