The Week 7 NFL Dashboard
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Seahawks at Cardinals
In this divisional matchup, the Seahawks will travel south to Arizona as two-point Vegas dogs. This game has a low total currently of 43.5 points, as both teams boast excellent defenses. The Seahawks are implied for 20.75 points; the Cardinals, 22.75 points.
Seattle Seahawks
Writer: Bryan Mears
QB – Russell Wilson
Whether it’s due to injury or something else, the Wilson we saw last year hasn’t been around in 2016:
His only good game this season came at the hands of the Jets’ last-ranked pass defense, per Football Outsiders’ Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA). This week, he faces a much tougher test in a Cardinals team that ranks third overall in defense this year, per DVOA. We saw Wilson put up video game numbers against all kinds of opponents last year — so we know what type of ceiling he possesses — but it’s likely that his knee injury is worse than he’s admitting publicly. He’s $1,200 cheaper on DK than he was in Week 1 but still has a low +1.8 Projected Plus/Minus. He’s playable only in guaranteed prize pools this week.
RB – Christine Michael
While Wilson has been disappointing, Michael has been a revelation:
This could be grasping for straws, but if there’s a position to target against Arizona, it’s running back: The Cardinals rank first in the league against the pass but ‘only’ 13th against the run. Michael doesn’t have to worry about competition among fellow RBs: He’s owned at least 64.5 percent of Seattle’s rushes in their last three games. Further, in his last two games, he has caught eight of his nine targets for 51 yards and a touchdown. He should get opportunity in Week 7, but it could just be an inefficient game. As is the case with most players in this defensive battle of a game, he should be reserved only for GPPs.
RB – C.J. Spiller
Spiller saw six targets last game and turned those into three receptions for 38 yards. His pass-catching ability is nice, but perhaps wait a week to think about getting cute by using Spiller in any lineups.
WR – Doug Baldwin
We were all ready to proclaim Baldwin’s reemergence as Wilson’s go-to receiver and a top-10 fantasy receiver when he put up 33 DK points against the 49ers thanks to an impressive 8-164-1 line. Since then, in his last two games, he has seen only nine targets and racked up 85 total yards. That’s not the type of consistent usage we’re looking for in a WR1. Honestly, it might be time to admit that there isn’t really a No. 1 WR in Seattle anymore:
Wilson has distributed the ball evenly over the last month, and if anyone can claim the WR1 crown, it’s actually TE Jimmy Graham. Baldwin is certainly still in play: We know the type of upside he has, as evidenced by that 33-point outburst a couple games ago. Further, if the Seahawks keep Graham inside and he gets the Tyrann Mathieu treatment, perhaps Wilson will look Baldwin’s way a little more often this week. These are unknown and risky variables, but Baldwin does come with just two to four percent FantasyLabs projected ownership on both sites.
WR – Tyler Lockett
Lockett was expected to have a breakout campaign in 2016, but that just hasn’t been the case. He’s received very little usage in this version of the Seahawks offense. In the last three weeks, he has caught four of his eight targets for 36 yards and zero touchdowns. That’s an average of 1.93 FD points per game, which is . . . not great. Per our Matchups tool, Lockett is set to line up opposite Patrick Peterson, who is Pro Football Focus’ 14th-ranked CB on the year. It has now been eight games since Lockett has hit 12 FD points or more. There’s no clear reason why he shouldn’t make it nine this week.
WR – Jermaine Kearse
Kearse gets the best matchup of the Arizona pass catchers, going against PFF’s 53rd-ranked CB in Marcus Cooper. For that reason, perhaps Kearse is a little intriguing in GPPs. However, he’s not getting much volume to be excited about: He’s seen only 12.03 percent of Seattle’s targets and a low 10.31 percent of the Air Yards in the last month. He hasn’t gone over three receptions or 35 receiving yards in that time frame. He’s a GPP dart at best.
TE – Jimmy Graham
As mentioned above, Graham is back and is the go-to pass catcher currently in this Seahawks offense. In the last three weeks, he’s posted lines of 6-89-0, 6-113-0, and 6-100-1. He’s gotten target totals of nine, eight, and nine in that time frame. He’s Wilson’s guy right now. Unfortunately . . . thanks to stud safety Mathieu, the Cardinals have been the best team in the league defending tight ends. Graham certainly has the talent to match up against the Cardinals, but it’s a risky play at his high $6,700 price tag on DK.
Graham (knee, hip) missed Thursday’s practice but wasn’t on the final injury report and is fully expected to play this week.
Arizona Cardinals
Writer: Bryan Mears
QB – Carson Palmer
Last week Palmer tilted the entire daily fantasy football community when he went 23 of 34 for 213 passing yards and a single TD against the dumpster fire that is the New York Jets passing defense. Palmer has now missed salary-based expectations on DK in four straight games. It’s hard to get excited about Palmer, certainly: If he couldn’t dominate against the Jets, how is he going to fare against a Seattle defense that ranks first overall and third against the pass, per DVOA? Palmer has a low projected floor of 4.3 DK points and a -0.7 Projected Plus/Minus.
RB – David Johnson
I think we might be at the point with DJ where matchup can dictate cash versus GPP allocation and the degree of exposure, but DJ should never be a complete fade. He crushed the Jets’ fifth-ranked rush defense last week, gaining 111 yards on 22 rush attempts and scoring three touchdowns. He’s also an incredible pass-catching back, as evidenced by his 265 yards receiving on the season. This is anecdotal, but I think last week’s performance told us a lot more about DJ than it did about the Jets defense. His supreme talent can mitigate matchup. Yes, the Seahawks rank second against the run this year, per DVOA. Still, I’d be hesitant about fading DJ in tournaments.
RB – Andre Ellington
Ellington has received 11 carries in the last two weeks, but that is mostly because DJ dropped the hammer on those teams and the Cardinals simply didn’t need him to play in the last couple of drives. This is Johnson’s backfield and Ellington shouldn’t be considered in DFS.
WR – Larry Fitzgerald
For a two-week stretch there, it looked like John Brown was hitting his stride and emerging as the WR1 in this offense. However, given the usage rates in the last two weeks, it looks like that title still belongs to Fitz:
He actually missed value last game on both DK and FD, as he wasn’t able to do much with his nine targets. He finished with 49 receiving yards and no touchdowns. But the important thing to note is his usage: He hasn’t received fewer than seven targets in a single game this year. This week, he has a tough matchup in the slot against Jeremy Lane, who is PFF’s 32nd-ranked CB. As a result, Fitz has a low +0.6 Projected Plus/Minus on DK. The theme continues — GPP only.
WR – John Brown
Johnny, what happened? After two weeks of receiving 11 and 16 targets, he has now gotten four and seven in his last two games. He’s caught six of those combined 11 targets for 65 yards and no touchdowns. And it wasn’t like these were against tough secondaries: He faced the 49ers and Jets, who respectively rank 16th and 32nd against the pass, per DVOA. JoBro gets an absolutely brutal matchup this week against DeShawn Shead, who is actually Seattle’s highest-graded CB on the year and fifth-overall CB in the league.
Additionally, Brown might not even play. Brown (hamstring) has reportedly been dealing with a leg issue that stems from a sickle-cell trait. He’s officially doubtful for Week 7 and seems very unlikely to play.
WR – Michael Floyd
At this point, Floyd is only interesting in DFS because of his touchdown equity. He received only two targets last week but managed to score 10.2 DK points on 22 receiving yards and a touchdown. He has three touchdowns this season, and that’s pretty much all you can hope for if you roster him. He draws Richard Sherman, who is PFF’s 41st-ranked CB this season and has an even better reputation.
WR- Jaron Brown
If Jo. Brown is out, Jaron will likely play as the No. 3 WR. Of course, Ja. Brown (knee) is questionable for Week 7 and is reportedly a game-time decision. If he can’t play, then dynamo speedster J.J. Nelson will likely serve as the No. 3 WR.
TE – Darren Fells
The Cardinals don’t use TEs as offensive weapons. In his last two games Fells has one target, which he caught for eight yards. He has five catches for 30 yards in the last four games. Again, the Cardinals don’t use TEs. Look elsewhere for your TE punt play.
News Updates
After this piece is published, FantasyLabs is likely to provide news updates on a number of players herein mentioned. Be sure to stay ahead of your competition with our industry-leading DFS-focused news blurbs:
