Waiver Favors: Early Week 7 Fantasy Football Pickups

By Ha Kung Wong  Fantasy Football Pickups

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

Week 7 is almost over, so we’re back to help you keep your fantasy football team competitive!

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues as of Sunday evening.

Eric Ebron

TE – Detroit Lions – 22% Owned

We’ve been waiting for Eric Ebron to breakout in Detroit since he was selected 10th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft.  But lack of opportunity and injury have for the most part held him back.  He started rolling in the first four games of the season, grabbing 15 of 23 targets for 179 yards and 2 TDs.  But then he had a bruised knee, causing him to miss two games.  But this week, Ebron returned, and although it turns out Matt Stafford’s return to greatness against a subpar Chicago Bears defense in Week 6 didn’t necessarily carry over to Week 7, he did manage to get Ebron involved to the tune of 5 receptions on 5 targets for 89 yards and a TD.  As long as he can remain healthy, he should be a highly targeted TE with the Lions finding themselves in catch up mode more often than not, so go ahead and grab him in 10-team leagues and deeper.

Chris Conley

WR – Kansas City Chiefs – 0% Owned

With Jeremy Maclin on the shelf with a concussion, and Jamaal Charles out for the season, someone had to take over as a top two receiving option in Kansas City.  And that person was Chris Conley.  Alex Smith thoroughly distributed the ball around the offense, but Conley led the Chiefs in targets and receptions. He ended up Week 7 grabbing 6 of 7 targets for 63 yards and his first career TD.  This is the second week in a row in which he was targeted 7 times.  Maclin will take over on targets when he returns, but Conley could remain a consistent 3rd option in the Chiefs offense.  So feel free to speculate in 16-team leagues and deeper.

Orleans Darkwa

RB – New York Giants – 3% Owned

The RB situation in New York is a hot mess.  Now, in addition to Rashad Jennings, Shane Vereen and Andre Williams, there’s Orleans Darkwa.  Who?  Well, if you’re a Giants fan, you probably know that Darkwa is a second year pro out of Tulane, who actually had a terrific preseason.  In fact, Darkwa was the Giants’ leading rusher in the preseason, averaging 4.4 yards per carry and scoring a TD.  And in Week 7, he led all Giants rushers with 8 carries, piling up 48 yards and a nifty TD.  And he did out-snap Jennings and Williams:

#Giants RB snap breakdown: Shane Vereen 23 Orleans Darkwa 14 Rashad Jennings 11 Andre Williams 5 Jennings: "It's a team game, a team win."

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) October 26, 2015

Unfortunately, the other three RBs also had at least 4 carries each, which leaves the hope of consistent weekly production incredibly low.  But Jennings and Williams haven’t been terribly productive so far, and Vereen is more of a pass-catching or change-of-pace back, so if Darkwa remains productive, there’s potential for more carries in the future.  Need a stash-and-see?  Stash Darkwa in 14-team leagues and deeper, and particularly if you’re relying on Jennings or Williams.

Alfred Blue & Chris Polk

RB – Houston Texans – 14% & 2% Owned

And to no one’s surprise, poor Arian Foster is injured again:

Source: #Texans RB Arian Foster has, in fact, torn his Achilles. His season is over.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2015

This time, he looks to be out for the season.  So that means we all go back to Alfred Blue as the likely starting RB in Houston, followed by some amount of Chris Polk.  Unfortunately, but for one game in Week 3 where he totaled 139 yards and a TD on 31 carries, Blue has been less than impressive as Foster’s stand-in.  But every starting RB in the NFL has value, so feel free to stash Blue in 12-team leagues and deeper and Polk in 14-team leagues and deeper.

UPDATE

Darren McFadden

RB – Dallas Cowboys – 36% Owned

Sure, we all thought that Christine Michael might break out in Week 7.  But after Joseph Randle got injured, it was actually Run DMC, in true Halloween form, that returned from the dead.  Run DMC was decisive getting to the hole and piled up 152 yards and a TD on 29 carries.  He’s the guy I thought would show up in the preseason.  With the Cowboys struggling to move the ball in Week 7, particularly with the oft inaccurate Matt Cassel behind center, McFadden was essentially the sole bright spot on offense.  And now we know that Randle’s injury may be serious enough for him to miss time:

#Cowboys RB Joseph Randle is dealing with an oblique injury similar to the one he suffered during the pre-season, a source said.

— Rand Getlin (@Rand_Getlin) October 26, 2015

With all this, take the performance with a grain of salt.  First of all, the Giants defense isn’t bad, but they’re more of an opportunistic defense than one that’s stout against offenses.  Second, it’s not confirmed that Randle is going to miss time, and Michael may still get a few carries, so the backfield doesn’t entirely belong to McFadden…at least not yet.  You could do worse on an RB flyer in 10-team or deeper leagues.  The Cowboys frontline is so good that if they decide to commit to Run DMC, he has top 10 potential.

And here are pickups from previous articles which I still recommend:

James Jones, James Starks, Tyrod Taylor, Terrance Williams, Chris Johnson, David Johnson, Donte Moncrief, Travis Benjamin, Matt Jones, Leonard Hankerson, Ted Ginn Jr., Charles Clay, Gary Barnidge, Antonio Andrews, Allen Hurns, Tavon Austin, Willie Snead, Charcandrick West, Josh Huff, Theo Riddick, Dwayne Harris, Stefon Diggs, Jeff Janis, Christine Michael, Michael Floyd

Keep coming back for updates all week!