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Week 7 AAF DFS Breakdown: San Antonio is Full of Value

We’re on to Week 7 of the Alliance of American Football league, which means we once again have the luxury of competing in the glorious pastime known as daily fantasy football.

Here’s this weekend’s four-game slate:

  • Orlando Apollos at Atlanta Legends: Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT
  • Salt Lake Stallions at San Antonio Commanders: Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network
  • San Diego Fleet at Arizona Hotshots: Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
  • Birmingham Iron at Memphis Express: Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network

FanBall offers daily fantasy contests featuring six-player lineups with a $35,000 salary cap with one quarterback, one running back, one wide receiver and three flex players (running back, wide receiver or tight end).

Scoring is pretty much the industry-wide point-per-reception format with multi-point bonuses for clearing 100, 150 and 200 rushing or receiving yards and 300, 350 and 400 passing yards.

And if you’re looking for more in-depth analysis, we have you covered with all the AAF content your heart could desire:

Be sure to check out this week’s betting guide later in the week for specific Week 6 takeaways along with relevant matchup and injury notes.

Here’s a key to the table below that features the following information for every player included in our FantasyLabs AAF Fantasy Rankings.

  • Personal: Player name, team, opponent, position and FanBall salary.
  • Salary Diff: The difference between each player’s Week 6 and Week 5 salaries. A positive number means the player’s salary has increased since last week.
  • Workload: Pass attempts, carries and targets per game.
  • Week 4 snap %: Each player’s respective percentage of snaps played on offense.
  • Opportunity per dollar: The sum of each player’s average pass attempts and rush attempts (for quarterbacks) or carries and targets (for running backs and wide receivers) per game divided by their FanBall salary. A higher number indicates that player has earned an above-average workload relative to their price tag, while a low number could mean that specific player might need a huge game to meet their salary-implied expectation.

Week 7 FantasyLabs AAF Model and Roster Construction Notes

Quarterback

  • The Memphis Express signed the league’s new-best quarterback Johnny Manziel last weekend after placing Zach Mettenberger on IR, but don’t expect the artist formerly known as Johnny Football to see too much of the field on Sunday. Specifically, head coach Mike Singletary said, “We just have to see how it goes, but Brandon Silvers is definitely the starting quarterback … We’ll see how Johnny progresses, but we’re very confident in Brandon.”
  • Aaron Murray is tentatively locked in as the Legends’ starting quarterback, but backup Peter Pujals did come in late during last week’s blowout loss to San Antonio. Murray’s still-high price tag makes him an easy fade with his potentially volatile playing time along with Atlanta’s underwhelming pass-play rate.
  • The quarterback situation in Birmingham is also fairly unclear after Luis Perez subbed in for a briefly-injured Keith Price and never looked back. Iron head coach Tim Lewis noted that, “We did a really nice job on our vertical passing game … We’ve been talking about getting some explosive plays and finally we got some of them.” It’d be surprising if Perez didn’t get the start on Sunday, but don’t expect his new-found leash to be all that long.
  • This leaves us with Josh Woodrum, Mike Bercovici, Logan Woodside, Garrett Gilbert and John Wolford as the AAF’s only quarterbacks who seem to be more-than-a-few bad plays away from finding themselves on the bench.
  • Bercovici’s gunslinger mentality has produced plenty of fantasy-friendly performances despite his often-erratic accuracy. Still, his price increase of $700 is tied with Perez for the largest of any quarterback entering Week 7.
  • Both Woodrum and Woodside won’t have to deal with any potential negative weather effects while playing inside the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. Forecasts don’t indicate much of a weather impact in Arizona either, although Wolford will have to deal with the Fleet’s league-best pass rush.
  • My top-three quarterback options are thus (in order) Gilbert, Woodside and Woodrum.

Running Back

  • The only injuries to monitor are Jhurell Pressley (wrist, limited in practice Wednesday) and Brandon Ross (groin, DNP). Pressley has been limited in practice in recent weeks as well and is tentatively expected to suit up, while Ross’ potential absence would lead to even more work for Trent Richardson.
  • Speaking of workhorses, only T-Rich (20.2), Zac Stacy (16.8), Kenneth Farrow (16.8) and Pressley (15.2) have managed to receive at least 15 combined carries and targets per game this season. Pressley remains underpriced given his consistently-large workload.
  • The likes of Joel Bouagnon (59% snaps), Terrell Watson (52%) and D’Ernest Johnson (52%) are the only other backs that played at least half of their offense’s snaps in Week 6. Each is a fairly safe bet for consistent work moving forward, particularly J-Boogie after Terrell Newby may have gotten himself in the coach’s doghouse because of fumbling.
  • The Atlanta backfield predictably remained a committee situation in Week 6 even after Tarean Folston‘s big performance in Week 5. Each of Folston (42% snaps), Brandon Radcliff (41%) and  Denard Robinson (18%) offer limited ceilings in the Legends’ constantly-evolving running back room that hasn’t demonstrated much upside all season.
  • Still, Folston has carved out enough of a pass-game role to warrant some fantasy consideration. Only T-Rich (5.2 targets), Folston (4), Johnson (3) and Marshaun Coprich (3) have seen at least three targets per game this season. Richardson in particular has been at his best when utilized as a receiver.

  • Our opportunities/dollar metric indicates the week’s bell-cow backs are still underpriced. Overall, Pressley, Farrow, Ja’Quan Gardner, Radcliff, Richardson, Aaron Green and Stacy check in as the week’s top-value plays. Gardner and Radcliff possess enough big-play ability to potentially cash in with their limited snaps, but Green’s 7% snap rate in Week 6 takes him out of fantasy consideration.
  • Tim Cook (+$900 salary increase), Radcliff (+$400), Watson (+$300), Justin Stockton (+$300) and Richardson (+$300) saw the week’s top-five biggest price tag hikes among all running backs. Johnson (-$400), Ross (-$400), Newby (-$400), Bishop Sankey (-$600), De’Veon Smith (-$700) and Akeem Hunt (-$900) have seen their salary drop the most, with Johnson and Smith being the only realistic options to expect a bounce-back week from.

Wide Receiver

  • There are a multitude of injuries to monitor at the wide receiver position. Game-breaker Dontez Ford (ankle, DNP in practice Wednesday) started the week in a walking boot, but is shaping up as a true game-time decision. While Rashad Ross (shoulder, limited) and Dontez Byrd (ankle, limited) are tentatively expected to suit up, the statuses for Demarcus Ayers (leg, DNP), Mekale McKay (ankle, DNP), Tobias Palmer (illness, DNP), Alton Howard (dental, DNP) and Reece Horn (lower leg, DNP) are a bit more unclear.
  • Daniel Williams saw 11 targets in his season debut and could continue to see enhanced work if the Express’ aforementioned receivers are ultimately unable to suit up. This leaves the likes of Charles Johnson (8.5 targets per game), Quinton Patton (7.4), Ross (7.2), McKay (7), De’Mornay Pierson-El (6), Seantavius Jones (6) and Nelson Spruce (5.6) as the remaining No. 1 pass-game options throughout the league.
  • Plenty of secondary options also offer enhanced fantasy upside thanks to their high snap rate and solid target share. Overall, each of Richard Mullaney, Horn, Jalin Marshall, Brian Brown and L’Damian Washington have averaged at least five targets per game this season and played more than 80% of their offense’s snaps last week.
  • The likes of Mullaney, Freddie Martino, Brown and Tobias Palmer each boast salaries well under $5,000 and played at least 75% of their offense’s snaps this week. They’re solid salary-saving options, along with electric do-it-all athlete Greg Ward Jr.

  •  It’s unclear how big of a role former-starting receiver Amba Etta-Tawo will have in what could be his first game since Week 1. Etta-Tawo wasn’t listed on the injury report to start the week and is this week’s equivalent to Week 6 Mullaney: A potential starting receiver that’s only min-priced because of their long layoff.
  • The top value plays of the week are Williams, Etta-Tawo and Ward Jr. along with Pig Howard and Ayers if they’re able to ultimately suit up.
  • The largest increases in salary belong to Washington (+$1,700), Mullaney (+$1,400), Jamal Robinsion (+$1,300) and Horn (+$900). Among the 10 wide receivers that had a decrease of at least $500,only Ross (93% snaps), Palmer (76%), Brown (83%) and Tyms (70%) managed to play even 50% of their offense’s snaps in Week 6.

Tight End

  • Cole Hunt (leg, limited in practice Wednesday) is the only notable injury at tight end to watch.
  • It’s hard enough for tight ends to carve out significant roles in the pass game, and it’s even harder for them to do this if they’re not even on the field for half of the offense’s snaps. Each of Wes Saxton Jr.  (97% snaps), Gavin Escobar (81%), Evan Rodriguez (77%), Keith Towbrdige (72%), Cam Clear (60%), Gerald Christian (59%), Marcus Baugh (56%) and Brandon Barnes (52%) were the only tight ends to surpass the 50% threshold last week.
  • The only tight ends averaging at least three targets per game are Saxton (3.7), Anthony Denham (3.7), Towbridge (3.5), Escobar (3.2), Baugh (3.2), Nick Truesdell (3) and Hunt (3).
  • Exposure to the position should be scarce, with Saxton, Towbridge, Escobar and Baugh being the only four tight ends I’ll likely have any exposure to at all.

Cash Game Strategy

We’re going to stick with last week’s successful strategy of jamming in the slate’s top-priced running back (Richardson) with the top-priced receiver (Johnson) before adding in Pressley, who continues to be an under-priced workhorse.

This strategy again makes it tough to pay up for Gilbert at quarterback, but each of Woodside and Woodrum appear to be cheap enough to warrant the cash-game fade of the league’s best signal caller.

Woodside is particularly enticing considering McKay and Ayers’ respective injuries could open up featured roles for the likes of Ward Jr. and Alonzo Moore.

Going with Woodside and one of his sub-$4k receivers leaves us with between $4,600 and $4,900 to fill out the lineup. Mullaney is probably the best bet for lineups featuring Ward, while Terrell Watson can be played with confidence in lineups featuring Moore.

Tournament Strategy

Fading Richardson isn’t for the feint of heart, but doing so will differentiate lineups and allow for more dollars to spend up at wide receiver in a week where numerous No. 1 options in Ross, Patton and Pierson-El appear to be a bit underpriced.

Johnny Football is an easy fade in his first game that we know he won’t start. Exposure at quarterback is best focused to our group of five signal callers that aren’t involved in an active quarterback competition: Gilbert, Wolford, Woodrum, Bercovici and Woodside.

It’s generally good practice in both cash and tournament formats to feature players with high snap rates. The aforementioned running backs and receivers that have been on the field for at least half of their offense’s snaps should be prioritized in all lineups.

Core Groups

  • Orlando: Garrett Gilbert, Charles Johnson, D’Ernest Johnson
  • San Antonio: Logan Woodside, Greg Ward Jr., Alonzo Moore
  • Salt Lake: Josh Woodrum, De’Mornay Pierson-El, Brian Tyms
  • Birmingham: Trent Richardson, Quinton Patton, Amba Etta-Tawo OR Wes Saxton Jr.

Dart Throws

  • QB: Brandon Silvers
  • RB: Terrence Magee
  • WR: Greg Ward Jr., Justin Thomas, Tobais Palmer, Brian Tyms, Amba Etta-Tawo
  • TE: Marcus Baugh, Evan Rodriguez

Pictured above: San Antonio Commanders wide receiver Mekale McKay (82), wide receiver Greg Ward Jr. (84), offensive lineman Jaryd Jones-Smith (72)
Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

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We’re on to Week 7 of the Alliance of American Football league, which means we once again have the luxury of competing in the glorious pastime known as daily fantasy football.

Here’s this weekend’s four-game slate:

  • Orlando Apollos at Atlanta Legends: Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT
  • Salt Lake Stallions at San Antonio Commanders: Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network
  • San Diego Fleet at Arizona Hotshots: Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
  • Birmingham Iron at Memphis Express: Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network

FanBall offers daily fantasy contests featuring six-player lineups with a $35,000 salary cap with one quarterback, one running back, one wide receiver and three flex players (running back, wide receiver or tight end).

Scoring is pretty much the industry-wide point-per-reception format with multi-point bonuses for clearing 100, 150 and 200 rushing or receiving yards and 300, 350 and 400 passing yards.

And if you’re looking for more in-depth analysis, we have you covered with all the AAF content your heart could desire:

Be sure to check out this week’s betting guide later in the week for specific Week 6 takeaways along with relevant matchup and injury notes.

Here’s a key to the table below that features the following information for every player included in our FantasyLabs AAF Fantasy Rankings.

  • Personal: Player name, team, opponent, position and FanBall salary.
  • Salary Diff: The difference between each player’s Week 6 and Week 5 salaries. A positive number means the player’s salary has increased since last week.
  • Workload: Pass attempts, carries and targets per game.
  • Week 4 snap %: Each player’s respective percentage of snaps played on offense.
  • Opportunity per dollar: The sum of each player’s average pass attempts and rush attempts (for quarterbacks) or carries and targets (for running backs and wide receivers) per game divided by their FanBall salary. A higher number indicates that player has earned an above-average workload relative to their price tag, while a low number could mean that specific player might need a huge game to meet their salary-implied expectation.

Week 7 FantasyLabs AAF Model and Roster Construction Notes

Quarterback

  • The Memphis Express signed the league’s new-best quarterback Johnny Manziel last weekend after placing Zach Mettenberger on IR, but don’t expect the artist formerly known as Johnny Football to see too much of the field on Sunday. Specifically, head coach Mike Singletary said, “We just have to see how it goes, but Brandon Silvers is definitely the starting quarterback … We’ll see how Johnny progresses, but we’re very confident in Brandon.”
  • Aaron Murray is tentatively locked in as the Legends’ starting quarterback, but backup Peter Pujals did come in late during last week’s blowout loss to San Antonio. Murray’s still-high price tag makes him an easy fade with his potentially volatile playing time along with Atlanta’s underwhelming pass-play rate.
  • The quarterback situation in Birmingham is also fairly unclear after Luis Perez subbed in for a briefly-injured Keith Price and never looked back. Iron head coach Tim Lewis noted that, “We did a really nice job on our vertical passing game … We’ve been talking about getting some explosive plays and finally we got some of them.” It’d be surprising if Perez didn’t get the start on Sunday, but don’t expect his new-found leash to be all that long.
  • This leaves us with Josh Woodrum, Mike Bercovici, Logan Woodside, Garrett Gilbert and John Wolford as the AAF’s only quarterbacks who seem to be more-than-a-few bad plays away from finding themselves on the bench.
  • Bercovici’s gunslinger mentality has produced plenty of fantasy-friendly performances despite his often-erratic accuracy. Still, his price increase of $700 is tied with Perez for the largest of any quarterback entering Week 7.
  • Both Woodrum and Woodside won’t have to deal with any potential negative weather effects while playing inside the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. Forecasts don’t indicate much of a weather impact in Arizona either, although Wolford will have to deal with the Fleet’s league-best pass rush.
  • My top-three quarterback options are thus (in order) Gilbert, Woodside and Woodrum.

Running Back

  • The only injuries to monitor are Jhurell Pressley (wrist, limited in practice Wednesday) and Brandon Ross (groin, DNP). Pressley has been limited in practice in recent weeks as well and is tentatively expected to suit up, while Ross’ potential absence would lead to even more work for Trent Richardson.
  • Speaking of workhorses, only T-Rich (20.2), Zac Stacy (16.8), Kenneth Farrow (16.8) and Pressley (15.2) have managed to receive at least 15 combined carries and targets per game this season. Pressley remains underpriced given his consistently-large workload.
  • The likes of Joel Bouagnon (59% snaps), Terrell Watson (52%) and D’Ernest Johnson (52%) are the only other backs that played at least half of their offense’s snaps in Week 6. Each is a fairly safe bet for consistent work moving forward, particularly J-Boogie after Terrell Newby may have gotten himself in the coach’s doghouse because of fumbling.
  • The Atlanta backfield predictably remained a committee situation in Week 6 even after Tarean Folston‘s big performance in Week 5. Each of Folston (42% snaps), Brandon Radcliff (41%) and  Denard Robinson (18%) offer limited ceilings in the Legends’ constantly-evolving running back room that hasn’t demonstrated much upside all season.
  • Still, Folston has carved out enough of a pass-game role to warrant some fantasy consideration. Only T-Rich (5.2 targets), Folston (4), Johnson (3) and Marshaun Coprich (3) have seen at least three targets per game this season. Richardson in particular has been at his best when utilized as a receiver.

  • Our opportunities/dollar metric indicates the week’s bell-cow backs are still underpriced. Overall, Pressley, Farrow, Ja’Quan Gardner, Radcliff, Richardson, Aaron Green and Stacy check in as the week’s top-value plays. Gardner and Radcliff possess enough big-play ability to potentially cash in with their limited snaps, but Green’s 7% snap rate in Week 6 takes him out of fantasy consideration.
  • Tim Cook (+$900 salary increase), Radcliff (+$400), Watson (+$300), Justin Stockton (+$300) and Richardson (+$300) saw the week’s top-five biggest price tag hikes among all running backs. Johnson (-$400), Ross (-$400), Newby (-$400), Bishop Sankey (-$600), De’Veon Smith (-$700) and Akeem Hunt (-$900) have seen their salary drop the most, with Johnson and Smith being the only realistic options to expect a bounce-back week from.

Wide Receiver

  • There are a multitude of injuries to monitor at the wide receiver position. Game-breaker Dontez Ford (ankle, DNP in practice Wednesday) started the week in a walking boot, but is shaping up as a true game-time decision. While Rashad Ross (shoulder, limited) and Dontez Byrd (ankle, limited) are tentatively expected to suit up, the statuses for Demarcus Ayers (leg, DNP), Mekale McKay (ankle, DNP), Tobias Palmer (illness, DNP), Alton Howard (dental, DNP) and Reece Horn (lower leg, DNP) are a bit more unclear.
  • Daniel Williams saw 11 targets in his season debut and could continue to see enhanced work if the Express’ aforementioned receivers are ultimately unable to suit up. This leaves the likes of Charles Johnson (8.5 targets per game), Quinton Patton (7.4), Ross (7.2), McKay (7), De’Mornay Pierson-El (6), Seantavius Jones (6) and Nelson Spruce (5.6) as the remaining No. 1 pass-game options throughout the league.
  • Plenty of secondary options also offer enhanced fantasy upside thanks to their high snap rate and solid target share. Overall, each of Richard Mullaney, Horn, Jalin Marshall, Brian Brown and L’Damian Washington have averaged at least five targets per game this season and played more than 80% of their offense’s snaps last week.
  • The likes of Mullaney, Freddie Martino, Brown and Tobias Palmer each boast salaries well under $5,000 and played at least 75% of their offense’s snaps this week. They’re solid salary-saving options, along with electric do-it-all athlete Greg Ward Jr.

  •  It’s unclear how big of a role former-starting receiver Amba Etta-Tawo will have in what could be his first game since Week 1. Etta-Tawo wasn’t listed on the injury report to start the week and is this week’s equivalent to Week 6 Mullaney: A potential starting receiver that’s only min-priced because of their long layoff.
  • The top value plays of the week are Williams, Etta-Tawo and Ward Jr. along with Pig Howard and Ayers if they’re able to ultimately suit up.
  • The largest increases in salary belong to Washington (+$1,700), Mullaney (+$1,400), Jamal Robinsion (+$1,300) and Horn (+$900). Among the 10 wide receivers that had a decrease of at least $500,only Ross (93% snaps), Palmer (76%), Brown (83%) and Tyms (70%) managed to play even 50% of their offense’s snaps in Week 6.

Tight End

  • Cole Hunt (leg, limited in practice Wednesday) is the only notable injury at tight end to watch.
  • It’s hard enough for tight ends to carve out significant roles in the pass game, and it’s even harder for them to do this if they’re not even on the field for half of the offense’s snaps. Each of Wes Saxton Jr.  (97% snaps), Gavin Escobar (81%), Evan Rodriguez (77%), Keith Towbrdige (72%), Cam Clear (60%), Gerald Christian (59%), Marcus Baugh (56%) and Brandon Barnes (52%) were the only tight ends to surpass the 50% threshold last week.
  • The only tight ends averaging at least three targets per game are Saxton (3.7), Anthony Denham (3.7), Towbridge (3.5), Escobar (3.2), Baugh (3.2), Nick Truesdell (3) and Hunt (3).
  • Exposure to the position should be scarce, with Saxton, Towbridge, Escobar and Baugh being the only four tight ends I’ll likely have any exposure to at all.

Cash Game Strategy

We’re going to stick with last week’s successful strategy of jamming in the slate’s top-priced running back (Richardson) with the top-priced receiver (Johnson) before adding in Pressley, who continues to be an under-priced workhorse.

This strategy again makes it tough to pay up for Gilbert at quarterback, but each of Woodside and Woodrum appear to be cheap enough to warrant the cash-game fade of the league’s best signal caller.

Woodside is particularly enticing considering McKay and Ayers’ respective injuries could open up featured roles for the likes of Ward Jr. and Alonzo Moore.

Going with Woodside and one of his sub-$4k receivers leaves us with between $4,600 and $4,900 to fill out the lineup. Mullaney is probably the best bet for lineups featuring Ward, while Terrell Watson can be played with confidence in lineups featuring Moore.

Tournament Strategy

Fading Richardson isn’t for the feint of heart, but doing so will differentiate lineups and allow for more dollars to spend up at wide receiver in a week where numerous No. 1 options in Ross, Patton and Pierson-El appear to be a bit underpriced.

Johnny Football is an easy fade in his first game that we know he won’t start. Exposure at quarterback is best focused to our group of five signal callers that aren’t involved in an active quarterback competition: Gilbert, Wolford, Woodrum, Bercovici and Woodside.

It’s generally good practice in both cash and tournament formats to feature players with high snap rates. The aforementioned running backs and receivers that have been on the field for at least half of their offense’s snaps should be prioritized in all lineups.

Core Groups

  • Orlando: Garrett Gilbert, Charles Johnson, D’Ernest Johnson
  • San Antonio: Logan Woodside, Greg Ward Jr., Alonzo Moore
  • Salt Lake: Josh Woodrum, De’Mornay Pierson-El, Brian Tyms
  • Birmingham: Trent Richardson, Quinton Patton, Amba Etta-Tawo OR Wes Saxton Jr.

Dart Throws

  • QB: Brandon Silvers
  • RB: Terrence Magee
  • WR: Greg Ward Jr., Justin Thomas, Tobais Palmer, Brian Tyms, Amba Etta-Tawo
  • TE: Marcus Baugh, Evan Rodriguez

Pictured above: San Antonio Commanders wide receiver Mekale McKay (82), wide receiver Greg Ward Jr. (84), offensive lineman Jaryd Jones-Smith (72)
Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

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