Jesse Moeller and Joe O’Leary are back with four important fantasy football topics heading into week seven.
It’s a Fact or Fiction time once again.
Chuba Hubbard will be a top-15 RB this week versus the Giants
Joe: Fiction
Chuba Hubbard has filled in admirably for Christian McCaffrey the last three games plus. He’s averaging 13.6 PPR points per game as the starter. The Giants have been generous to running backs this year to date, so the matchup is there for him to have success in week seven. While I like Hubbard’s fantasy football outlook this week, I think he will still land below the RB15 mark.
Hubbard’s best stat line was week five when he put up 18.4 points, where he finished as the PPR RB16. With injuries and bye weeks weighing the position down, Hubbard is a solid start this week; especially with all the byes, but I’m going fiction for him landing as a top-15 running back or better this week.
Jesse: Fact
What a disaster of the week for scheduling. Go ahead and take a peek at your roster. It will be ugly for quite a few of us (myself included). With big names such as Cook, Najee, Elliott, Ekeler, and James Robinson all on a bye this week, Chuba has a great matchup against the Giants. The Giants are bottom five in rushing yards, yards per carry, and fantasy points for running backs.
In the last two weeks, Elliot and Henderson have each exceeded 20+ fantasy points playing the Giants. The talk from coach Rhule this week has been to get back to the run on offense. I expect Hubbard to be heavily involved this week.
CeeDee Lamb is a PPR WR1 (top-12) rest of the season
Joe: Fact
Big facts. I see no reason why CeeDee Lamb, who is already WR9 in PPR this season, won’t finish the rest of the season inside the top twelve and remain a WR1. Lamb saw a downtick in targets Weeks 3-5, but for the most part, has been a reliable fantasy football asset this year. Yes, Michael Gallup will return soon. Don’t fret. CeeDee Lamb is an emerging star, and the production is here to stay.
Jesse: Fact
If you watched Sunday’s game against New England and came to a different conclusion, are you sure that you watched the game? I am all in on CeeDee Lamb for the ROS as he has taken hold of the WR1 spot in Dallas. Lamb is leading the Cowboys in numerous receiving categories. Lamb has taken a step forward this season.
Questions were surrounding Lamb as he played out of the slot 84% of the time in 2020. This year, the slot snaps have dropped to 20%, and those questions have disappeared. Dallas is confident keeping Lamb on the outside and letting him win against corners; something Lamb did not often do as a rookie. Lamb’s ascension to being Dak’s alpha wide receiver for the foreseeable future safely locks CeeDee inside my top-12 WR for fantasy football.
Matthew Stafford over 2.5 touchdowns this week versus the Lions
Joe: Fact
It’s safe to say emotions will be high for Matthew Stafford on Sunday when he faces his old team, the Lions. The matchup is a beauty, as the Rams are 15 point favorites, with a respectable 50 point over-under. Stafford has three or more touchdowns in half of his games played this year. You better believe Sean Mcvay will do whatever it takes to help his quarterback light up the scoreboard in this one. Stafford is in store for another big week against his former team. I’m going fact, with three or more touchdowns for Matthew Stafford this week versus the Lions.
Jesse: Fiction
Stafford will have all the motivation he needs to bury his former team on Sunday. Even with that added motivation, expecting three touchdowns in any game is a sizeable task, particularly in a matchup that favors the Rams running backs. Henderson should have a field day against a defense that ranks 31st in fantasy points allowed to RBs. The Lions are also last in touchdowns allowed to running backs with 12 in six games.
While Stafford already has 16 touchdowns through six games, I doubt the offense continues to score touchdowns through the air at a 76% clip. Thus, some regression is likely instore for Stafford this year. Given Goff’s career as the quarterback in Los Angeles, the Rams have scored passing touchdowns at a 56% clip. Therefore, I am taking the under in this matchup.
Either D’ernest Johnson or Demetric Felton will have more than 10 PPR points this week
Joe: Fiction
With the news that Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb will be out, the Browns will have to turn to the likes of D’ernest Johnson and Rookie Demetric Felton on Thursday night. The Brown’s tandem of Chubb and Hunt is arguably the league’s best backfield. D’ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton will have their hands full trying to replace the Browns dynamic duo against a decent Denver defense. Both have appeal this week as deep flyers due to bye week issues for fantasy football managers, but expectations should be tempered. I’ll go under 10 PPR points for both D’ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton.
Jesse: Fact
I will take the over on this prop bet. The initial reaction may be to shake your head in disgust and let someone else deal with the backfield in Week 7. Let me tell you why not all things are as they seem. This matchup comes across as the immovable object versus the unstoppable force. The Browns’ offensive line is elite and lives up to the billing. However, the Broncos’ defense has begun to show cracks in back-to-back weeks, allowing the Steelers Najee Harris and the Raiders duo of Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake to obliterate it with fantasy points.
I believe an elite offensive line can make almost any running back look good. We will see how the Broncos’ defense holds up against the best line it will see this season. I anticipate Cleveland wearing on the defense throughout the game, breaking some significant gains in the second half of the matchup. With either Mayfield or Keenum at the helm, I expect the running backs to be involved in the passing game as well.
