RADIO
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Week 7, and another week of byes. This time, we have the Eagles and Buccaneers, so we likely have some holes that need to be filled. There are plenty of wideouts either injured or on bye, or otherwise not startable this week, so it’s no surprise that four of the five most added players are pass catchers.
It’s amazing the talent that is available in most leagues, with the WRs ranging from 35% to 73% owned in Fleaflicker leagues. The best thing, from a personal level, about these players is that they all have value, and I pretty much like all of them for your teams, a first for this report in 2014. Let’s go through the Fleaflicker's most added players list and see who is here to stay.
Top Fleaflicker Players Added For Week 7
Andre Holmes (WR, OAK) - 4,652 Adds
When you aren’t owned in a lot of leagues, going for 121 yards and two touchdowns will change that pretty quickly. Including the 5-74-1 performance he put up in his previous game, Holmes is now on a nice two-game streak. The only problem is that there are huge questions about whether he can keep up the production. Over his first three games, he amassed only 74 total yards. On top of that, he also has three tough defensive matchups in a row against Arizona, Cleveland and Seattle. I don’t like how inconsistently Holmes has been targeted, either, ranging from two to 12 over a four-week span. Lastly, he is only catching a bit more than half of his catches, at 15 out of 29. All of this spells out Holmes as a bad option as a WR3/FLEX play.
In desperate times, you need a desperate waiver wire add (that’s the quote, right?) In my case, in a week where I can’t play Victor Cruz, Calvin Johnson, Ryan Matthews and Doug Martin, Andre Holmes has found his way onto my team. I don’t necessarily recommend him for the average team, but there are worse options out there.
Brandon LaFell (WR, NE) - 3,657 Adds
During Week 4 and Week 6, LaFell looked like a legitimate fantasy wide receiver. In the infamous game against KC where the Patriots were clobbered and Tom Brady’s skills were questioned, LaFell came out with 119 yards on six catches and a TD. Then last week, LaFell was at it again, racking up another 97 yards on only four catches with two TDs. The rest of the season, though, LaFell was a nobody. Week 1, he caught zero of six targets, and the same in Week 2. Week 3 he went 4-of-8 for 46 yards, capped off by a Week 5 single-catch game for 20 yards. Going into Thursday Night Football, the 36% of Fleaflicker fantasy owners who have LaFell really didn’t know what to expect. LaFell ended up going 4-of-5 for 55 yards. Nothing special, but you can’t be too upset.
Considering that Brandon LaFell is Tom Brady’s #5 target behind Gronk, Edelman, Amendola and Tim Wright, he actually does hold consistent fantasy value. Odds are, the average deep-league team isn’t going to start him. But with Calvin Johnson’s immediate future up in the air, Cruz out, and Dez Bryant, A.J. Green, Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones, Keenan Allen and Andre Johnson all on the injury report, he is a great depth option.
Cleveland Browns (DEF, CLE) - 2,693 Adds
Defenses, in most cases, are played solely on matchups. For the Browns, their next matchups are against Jacksonville, Oakland and Tampa Bay. You really can’t get much better than that. There are also some decent stats that might make you want to start the Browns in the coming weeks: in four out of five games this year, they've picked off a quarterback, including Drew Brees, Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger. Jacksonville also has thrown a total of eight picks this season, taken 27 sacks and failed to score more than 17 points all year. That all adds up to the opposing D’s scoring at least 10 fantasy points every week. I can’t guarantee the same results for the Browns, but the numbers don’t lie, and the Haden-led Cleveland D is a lot better than people give them credit for.
Malcom Floyd (WR, SD) - 2,481 Adds
Add Michael Floyd. It’s a pretty simple: Floyd is a great depth option, better than the aforementioned Brandon LaFell. In PPR leagues, he has had at least 10 points every week except Week 1. Even in standard leagues, Floyd’s 9.03 PPG makes him the 23rd-most-productive WR this season. He is still available in 60% of Fleaflicker leagues, and is a great option when it comes down to replacing some of these injured top WRs.
Floyd had one bad fantasy game, but I don’t put too much into that. He didn’t see much of the field and didn’t get any targets, so it wasn’t all of his own doing. The rest of his games show his true value. Floyd has the ability to break out, as evidenced by his 16-point game last week. Yet unlike most boom-or-bust fantasy options, Floyd has shown production even when he isn’t on his A-game, with at least 72 yards in each of the games where he failed to get into the end zone.
Mohamed Sanu (WR, CIN) - 2,305 Adds
Much like those fantasy owners who didn’t draft a wide receiver early, Mohamed Sanu is benefiting from the lack of competition. A.J. Green has missed two games so far, and is likely going to be out again this week against the Colts, leaving Sanu as Andy Dalton’s #1 target. In those two games without Green, Sanu predictably had his best performances, going for 13 catches, 204 yards and two TDs, compiling over 34 fantasy points in a two-week period. Even in the games where Green suits up next to Sanu, the latter has still found production at an average of 9.33 PPG.
It is hard to expect Sanu to produce consistently at the level he has been. Nevertheless, he's become established as one of Dalton's weapons, and I expect his value will hold throughout the year, though he’s obviously a better play when A.J. Green is on the bench.
Well, there you have it. A case can be made to add any and all of the players on this list. However, there is generally a reason these five were not drafted in most leagues. There is obviously a risk in starting every player, and these waiver wire adds might be risky for your teams until you know for sure what you are going to get out of them. Make sure to share your thoughts and comments below; leave any questions you have for me about these guys or anything related to fantasy football. Good luck in Week 7, RotoBallers.
