Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 7
Good Morning, FootClan, and a very warm welcome to Week 7 of The Fantasy Footballers’ Saturday Morning Mailbag! It’s Saturday, it’s early, and as always, I am here to select a handful of your questions from The Fantasy Footballers’ Discord server, answer some of the hot topics that didn’t quite make it to that week’s edition of The Footcast. The Ballers’ Discord is home to the biggest and best online fantasy football community in the world, and is your go-to if you’re looking to talk about all things fantasy football. Head over today and get involved with thousands of members across dozens of dedicated channels for start/sit questions, trade advice, and waiver wire insights, as well as exclusive areas available only to members of the FooCclan.
What a wild one we had in Week 6, FootClan! Cam Skattebo continued his best Juggernaut from X-Men impression, going absolutely ham against divisional rivals Philadelphia, putting up 110 all-purpose yards and three TDs. Unbelievably, that 30-point fantasy performance was only good enough to finish as the RB4 on a week that saw both Bijan Robinson and Ricoooooooooo Dowdle smash the 200-yard barrier (the latter doing so on 34 total touches!). Jaxon Smith-Njigba proved to the world that he may legitimately be the best fantasy WR going, especially with the untimely injuries to Puka Nacua and Emeka Egbuka (it is so difficult not to automatically type Emeka Eggbeggboo) – and not to be outdone, Kimani Vidal Sassoon raised hairs and temperatures across the fantasy world with a dominant 124-yard rushing performance against a Miami Dolphins team whose defense look as frazzled as their Head Coach in his post-match pressers.
In this week’s mailbag, we’re talking about just what to do with Rico Dowdle after his two humongous games, how to tackle the problem of rostering multiple top-tier QBs, and what is fair trade value for injured rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka. All that and more…so without further ado, let’s dive in!
Question #1 – Season-long Strategy (Rico Suave Special)
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Hey Ballers and Ducers! What are we doing with Rico Dowdle? With Chuba Hubbard returning, should you try to sell him high or just ride it out? – sCTEboom
Answer: In my time with The Ballers, this is probably the single most-asked question I have answered in any given week. sCTEboom’s query was just one of about fifty-five we had land in the mailbag thread over on our Discord channel…and with good cause!
Rico Suave has gone absolutely nuclear since being elevated up the Panthers’ depth chart to a leading role following Chuba Hubbard’s injury back in Week 4. The former Cowboy has turned 53 carries into a total of 389 yards, tagging on another 84 yards through the air on seven receptions…oh yeah, he’s scored two TDs for good measure. Unsurprisingly, those marks have seen the celebrated Mike Wright favorite finish as the overall RB1 and RB2 in consecutive weeks – forget NBA Jam rules, Rico is already burning a hole through the Earth’s core he’s that hot…but will it last is the question on every fantasy manager’s lips.
Don’t hear what I’m not saying – Rico’s near 400-rushing yards are an incredible achievement – but when you consider they came against the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins (yes, that’s the 31st and 32nd overall ranked teams against the run)…it doesn’t feel quite as good. Putting things into context a little, post-draft rookie hype victim Kimani Vidal Sassoon entered the season as the 4th RB on the Chargers’ depth chart…and he managed to run for 124 yards against Miami just last week. I’m not belittling Rico’s achievements, but it feels like almost any RB could put up video game numbers against the Fins and the Cowboys right now.
Chuba returned to a limited practice on Wednesday, so looks set to suit up as Carolina travel to East Rutherford to play the hapless Jets on Sunday afternoon – this, coupled with Head Coach Dave Canales coming straight out and saying “both men will get carries”, could signal the end for Rico’s stint as a fantasy darling – the man himself even noted to reporters earlier in the week that “it’s been his team from the beginning” when asked about his running mate. Oh yeah, let’s not forget about the $33.2m elephant in the room – Chuba’s 4-year deal that he inked just last year.
I am actively shopping Rico wherever I can – he was just 17 yards short of becoming only the fifth player to run for over 200 yards in back-to-back games – his stock couldn’t be any higher, and it’s only going down from here. If I can turn Rico into a Quinshon Judkins, Javonte Williams, or even a Derrick Henry following their disappointing outings in Week 6, I would be ecstatic. You’ll likely get some FLEX appeal with Dowdle for the rest of the season, but I want a home-run hitter I can start confidently. Go fishing and see who in your league bites.
Question #2 – Trade Advice (Unexpected QB Gold Edition)
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Bonjour from Liverpool Ballers! I drafted 2 QBs this year for the first time and ended up with Drake Maye and Dak Prescott. Would you be looking to trade one of them and get an upgrade at another position, or play the match-ups and have a top-tier backup in case of injury/byes? I was thinking I could try and upgrade Jake Ferguson to Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, or George Kittle, as I recently acquired CeeDee Lamb. – oooaaayyy
Answer: Bonjour! Or rather, should I say “alright mate?” to a fellow Brit living just down the road from me up here in Scotland.
That feeling of hitting gold on a late-round QB is one of the best you can get in fantasy football – waiting until the double-digit rounds to draft your starter and ending up with a guy you can confidently lock-in every week is just magical – so I can only imagine you are overjoyed having two of those type of players…or just how bad your headache is (or is going to be) each week when it comes to setting your team. I experienced something similar myself last season – I drafted Josh Allen early and then took a flyer with my last pick on Jayden Daniels, and after a few weeks I knew I had fantasy gold sitting on my bench…and that’s where he stayed all season after nobody in my league wanted to trade for him. Fortunately for you, neither Dak nor Drake is in the “must start over everyone” tier of QB like Josh Stallion, so if you can’t shift one of them for market value, sticking with the pair and playing the matchups isn’t the worst idea.
If you are going to try and move one, I’d be dangling Drake Maye in front of my QB-needy league mates like a Tom Brady-shaped carrot, with the hopes of somebody willing to give me a solid RB or WR following the sophomore sensation’s QB2 finish last week in New Orleans. Don’t take this as an anti-Maye take – he’s a locked-in QB1 rest of season and will 100% have multiple games in the top-5 at the position before the year is out…I just like Dak better – or should I say I like how bad the Dallas defense is.
Nobody has attempted or completed more passes through the opening six weeks than Mr Prescott, and only Matt Stafford has thrown for more yards. Dak’s thirteen TDs sit second behind Jared Goff (14), and he currently ranks the overall QB2 on the year despite a measly 7.8 fantasy points in the Cowboys’ Week 1 divisional loss in Philadelphia. Now, this is obviously a product of the defense in Jerry World being monumentally awful (Dallas currently ranks 31st against the run and 32nd against the pass) – but things don’t look like “improving” on that front…so it’s all systems for this Cowboy’s passing attack until further notice.
Normally, I would want to limit my exposure to a passing game with just a two-man stack, but with Dak targeting the Fergalicious one so often and CeeDee Lamb…well, being CeeDee Lamb, I have no issues starting all three each week in the hunt for a matchup-winning super-stack. Try to move Maye for some depth pieces – but hold onto your Cowboys and enjoy the wild-ride over the coming months!
Question #3 – Trade Advice (WR Special)
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Hey Ballers! I am in a 12-Team Full-PPR redraft league. I was offered Rome Odunze for Emeka Egbuka and Kyler Murray. Should I accept the trade or not? – Ty Griggs
Answer: I am one of Kyler’s biggest fans…but unless this is a SuperFlex league, I’m treating this as a straight-up WR swap. Emeka Egbuka, aka Emeka Eggbeggboo, has been nothing short of a revelation since entering the NFL this season – he became only the third WR ever to record at least 425 receiving yards and five TDs in his opening five games as a rookie – joining Ja’Marr Chase and some guy named Randy Moss. Safe to say, we are heavily buying into the hype. As is usually the case in this cruel game we call fantasy, injuries have ruined our Egbuka fun, and a suspected grade 1 hamstring injury looks set to sideline our young king for a couple of weeks…possibly even through the Bucs’ bye in Week 9.
Had I received this offer at this point last week, you would have been able to hear me laugh all the way from across the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but with Rome Odunze and the Bears through their bye week, and Egbuka set to miss up to three fantasy matchups, I am very much on the Odunze side moving forward.
Chicago’s newly anointed WR1 had a bit of a rough day at the office last time out when going up against the Commanders in the capital…but what the box score for Da Bears 25-24 W doesn’t tell you is just how close Rome was to an absolute monster game. Odunze’s 4.2 fantasy points could (and arguably should) have been north of 30 if not for a couple of holding penalties by the Bears’ O-Line, and one absolutely erroneous illegal formation call negating a spectacular TD grab in the second half.
Odunze is the overall WR11 on the year, but removing his Week 5 bye, he’s actually as high as the WR7 in total FPPG…just 0.6 behind Egbuka – and that includes his points from the dud outing against Washington. I love me some Eggbeggboo, but with not knowing just how long he’s going to be out or what the target distribution in this passing game will look like once Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Bucky Irving are all back to full health – I would much rather have the guy who I know is going to be playing as the top option on his team for the next month. Give me Odunze all day – make the trade and go find a better backup QB than Kyler – C.J. Stroud may be sitting on waivers after the Texans bye last week… you could do a lot worse moving forward.
Question #4 – Start/Sit (Mr Necessary vs Mr Mister TE Edition)
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Thank you Ballers for all you do! Who do you prefer this week in a 0.5-PPR league – Tyler Warren or Cade Otton? Please and thank you – Warren of the Worlds
Answer: With Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving – alongside the above-mentioned Emeka Egbuka – all set to miss the Buccaneers’ Week 7 trip to Detroit, early MVP candidate Baker Mayfield is fast running out of weapons in this top-5 ranked Tampa Bay passing offense. Sure, Mike Evans may return from the hamstring strain that has seen the perennial 1000-yard man miss the Bucs’ last three outings, but just how truly healthy is the 32-year-old future first-ballot Hall of Famer heading into a primetime showdown with the Lions on Monday Night Football?
We’ve bestowed the moniker of Mr. Necessary on a number of players down the years (shoutout to Charles Clay – the OG Mr. Necessary), and heading into Week 7, Tampa Bay’s Cade Otton is the latest TE to be dubbed with the honor. The 4th year pass-catcher saw a season-high six targets in the 30-19 win over San Francisco – and barring a miraculous return to full fitness from Evans – should once again be one of Laser Mayfield’s favorite targets in a potential shoot-out in the Motor City, which has the second-highest O/U on the week (52.5). Otton has a history of stepping up to the plate when his teammates are missing – posting three consecutive top-3 weeks in the middle of last season after Chris Godwin went down to a season-ending injury following his dislocated ankle.
All that said…there’s not a chance I am starting him over current TE2 on the year, Tyler Warren. If Otton is Mr. Necessary, Warren is simply Mr., as he is the man. Through six weeks, only Trey McBride and Jake Ferguson have more total targets than the Colts’ rookie, and despite seeing almost a dozen fewer looks than T-McB and Fergalicious so far in 2025, Warren is the yardage leader at the position…not bad for a rookie.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Otton finished the day with more fantasy points than the 14th overall pick from this year’s draft…but the floor for Tampa’s “smash glass in case of emergency” receiver is so much lower. If you really need massive upside, then sure, take a dart throw on Otton – but Warren gets the start for me regardless of the tougher matchup.
Question #5 – Keep/Trade/Cut (Zero RB Strategy Panic Edition)
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Keep/Trade/Cut: Tyler Allgeier, R.J. Harvey, and Tyjae Spears – Blue Medical Tent
Answer: Don’t ever say we don’t tackle real issues here on the Saturday Morning Mailbag! There are two ways of looking at this question – the more positive is that your roster is so stacked that you can afford to simply cut one of these FLEX-level RBs from your roster without issue. The other is that for some reason, you actually have all three of these guys on your squad, and that makes me a sad panda.
For me, it’s between Harvey and Allgeier as my keep. Tyjae Spears probably has the most week-to-week FLEX appeal after returning to a backfield bossed only by current RB30 on the year; Tony Pollard – ok sure, Spears will most likely put up the best numbers each week…but Allgeier and Harvey for me are by far the more talented RBs, and should an injury occur to either Bijan Robinson or J.K. Dobbins, they are immediately catapulted into every week starting consideration.
Harvey has both the draft capital and the easier lead-back to beat out in terms of competition for touches – so he’s the guy I would be holding on to. Tyler Allgeier is seeing plenty of work alongside Bijan and would immediately be in the RB1 conversation were the current overall RB3 to miss any time…and that’s the exact pitch I would be using in an attempt to trade him away to an RB-needy team.
I don’t like to roster this level of RB for any other reason that a potential home-run hit later in the season – even if Pollard were to go out, Spears will only inherit the starring role in the worst rushing offense in the league, with a team who is 1-5, and has a highly questionable rookie under center…he’s the easy cut.
It’s time for Rapid Round…
Trade away Tony Pollard and Jameson Williams to receive Quinshon Judkins? Standard league – mowens85
Answer: With Tyjae Spears coming back and the Titans being…well, the Titans, I’m not too optimistic about owning anyone in that Tennessee backfield. I still hold out hope for Jameson after the breakout game last weekend – but Judkins is a stud. If the current Judkins manager is willing to sell after his down week in London, I’m buying all day long.
Hey Ballers! Would you trade away Jacory Croskey-Merritt for Derrick Henry straight up? I’m in a 12-Team Full-PPR league? – SOLID ALIBI
Answer: Imagine telling your past self that come Week 7, you would be contemplating trading away a 7th round rookie for The Yeti himself, Derrick Henry…what a world. It’s not a wild idea, but I’m still holding onto The King…winter is coming after all.
Is it time to cut Jaydon Blue or hold onto him if I can? – Jack_Steiny
Answer: With Miles Sanders done for the year after landing on IR with a season-ending injury, Jaydon Blue is just one Javonte Williams injury away from being a potential league-winner for your fantasy team. He is 100% a hold if you’re in a 12-Team league or bigger.
Trade away Jaylen Warren and get Brian Thomas? – Pastor_Jetomy
Answer: If you are absolutely stacked at RB and Warren is your RB4 or lower, then yes. Otherwise, I’m holding onto the talented 4th-year back, especially with reports of Jags Head Coach Liam Coen looking to make Travis Hunter the first overall read in this passing offense coming out of the bye.
That will do it for this week, FootClan – good luck in Week 7!