NFLWelcome back to another week of fantasy football advice from yours truly. It’s taken a little longer than normal, but things are leveling out. At this point, we know who’s who. At least, in most cases we do. There are still a few black sheep of the fantasy football world. These players continue to be hard to figure out. That’s what we at Nuts and Bolts Sports (www.nutsandboltssports.com) are here for. We help you sift through the weeds and find that flower. The flower that will help your fantasy football team blossom to 1st place glory. Got a lot to cover this week. So, strap in but let’s recap last week first.
Recap: Week 5
The buy of fantasy football last week was Dak Prescott. I would love to say that we knocked that one out of the park, but we didn’t. Dak didn’t necessarily have a terrible week. He did, though, struggle a bit. Prescott finished with 9.72 fantasy points (per Yahoo Sports fantasy football, www.football.fantasysports.yahoo.com). His biggest downfall was the interceptions. I will admit, I may have been a bit eager last week. It doesn’t seem as if the Dallas coaching staff has figured it out quite yet. So, if you did pick him up, just bench him for now. He’s not a bad backup to have. There will be matchups he’ll face that will work in your favor.
Our fantasy football sell of the week was Chris Hogan. Admittedly, this was after the Thursday night game, so there is not much else to go off at this point. Yahoo Sports Fantasy shows Hogan owned in only 61% of leagues. This has decreased over the last day. I don’t imagine that it will increase any time soon. It’s only a matter of time before Brady and Gordon click. I don’t doubt that Hogan will have a game a two. He just won’t be worth the roster spot waiting for that game to happen.
Last, the bench for the week for John Ross. As expected, he didn’t play in Week 5. Thus far, Ross is questionable in Week 6. Tyler Boyd has also complicated the situation. Without question, Ross is more talented than Boyd. Boyd, however, is getting the targets and production. This is purely a decision based on league type. If you’re in a keeper league, keep Ross. If you’re not, you got to let him go.
Buy: Royce Freeman, Running Back, Denver Broncos
You may be a little late to the party on this one, but it’s worth a shot. Per Yahoo Sports Fantasy, Freeman is owned in 85% of all leagues. So, more than likely, you’re looking at a trade. Trades are part of fantasy football. Trades are a sacrifice. You have to sacrifice to win. Freeman represents one half of the rookie phenomenon tandem in Denver. Phillip Lindsay gets the flash and the bright lights, as he should. Freeman, however, gets the goal line carries.
Goal line carries are a plus in fantasy football. Goal lines carries are sweet manna in fantasy football. A goal-line carry is an opportunity to score. The greater opportunity a player has for scoring, the better. Lindsay gets the targets out of the backfield. Freeman gets the carries at the goal-line. Take a chance on him. When the Broncos finally fire Vance Joseph, Freeman will flourish.
Sell: LeSean McCoy, Running Back, Buffalo Bills
If you’ve been following our weekly fantasy football advice, you saw this coming. Sadly, Shady’s time as a fantasy football RB1 is done. For that matter, he’s not even an RB2. McCoy managed 85 rushings yards last week in a win over the Titans. I do not see this been sustainable. It was a close game last week. As I stated when I recommended benching him, they will be behind. A lot.
Since they are bound to play catchup on most weeks, he will not be valuable. In the Bills three losses, Shady had a measly 20.6 points combined. That’s 6.9 points per game for my fellow stats nerds. That’s just not going to cut it. When you couple that with the fact that McCoy could be traded (Rodak, www.rotoworld.com, @MikeRodak), the risk of Shady is no longer worth it. You had a good run, LeSean, but all good things come to an end.
Bench: Dede Westbrook, Wide Receiver, Jacksonville Jaguars
Following the trends of Westbrook have been fascinating in fantasy football. In Week 5, we saw Dede being owned in 52% of all fantasy football leagues. By comparison, in Week 4, he was owned in 17% of all fantasy football leagues. That’s a difference of 35%! Already, in Week 6, he has dipped 6% to 42%. In every sense of the word, Dede Westbrook is a boom or bust player. There is, however, a valuable lesson to be learned.
That lesson is the word of the week: Patience. Far too often in Fantasy Football, we see players added and dropped like third period French. While I can understand the urgency of having your time complete, patience. When adding players, especially those on the bubble, they need time to prove themselves. You always want to make moves in fantasy football. Making too many moves, though, could be detrimental to your team. I’m not saying you should hoard players. Still, give them a chance.
As always, I hope that my advice serves you well and don’t forget to follow @NutsAndBoltsSP and @5280Keith for live reactions to the games on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday. See you back next week my young padawans!
