Sneaky Starts: Week 7

Oct 20, 2016

All but the luckiest fantasy owners need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough at some point – a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor, Dak Prescott, Spencer Ware, James White, Giovani Bernard, Golden Tate, Cameron Meredith, Kenny Britt, Robert Woods and Hunter Henry were several standouts from last week.

Let’s take a look at Week 7.

Quarterbacks

Alex Smith, Chiefs (vs. NO)
Smith wasted a nice matchup against Oakland last week, as the Chiefs scored three rushing touchdowns and didn’t score through the air. That’s unlikely to happen again when he faces the Saints this week. New Orleans gave up two passing touchdowns in each of the last three games.

Jameis Winston, Buccaneers (@ SF)
Winston has been up and down this year, but a matchup with the 49ers may be just what the doctor ordered. Over the past month, San Francisco has given up two passing touchdowns to Tyrod Taylor, Drew Stanton, Dak Prescott and the combination of Russell Wilson and Trevone Boykin.

Brian Hoyer, Bears (@ GB)
Hoyer has thrown for at least 302 yards in four straight games. He didn’t throw a touchdown last week against the Jaguars, but he threw two touchdowns in each of the three previous games. The Packers are down their top three cornerbacks, so Hoyer should find the passing yards to be plentiful on Thursday night. The only concern here is that TNF has a tendency to turn ugly.

Colin Kaepernick, 49ers (vs. TB)
From a fantasy standpoint, Kaepernick wasn’t terrible against the Bills, and that’s something. He only completed 13 passes, but managed 187 yards (and a touchdown to Torrey Smith) to go along with eight carries for 66 yards. The Bucs defense played a nice game against Derek Anderson, but yielded two touchdowns each to the combination of Paxton Lynch/Trevor Siemian and to Case Keenum.

Joe Flacco, Ravens (@ NYJ)
Flacco has a right shoulder injury, so we’ll see how he progresses this week. If he can play, he’ll have a great matchup against the Jets, who recently gave up seven passing touchdowns in two games against the Steelers and the Seahawks.