Every week during fantasy football season, we’ll give you a lineup full of sleepers to help you fill the gaps in your own starting crew.
A brief caution: These picks are NOT intended to replace the actual starters you drafted. But if you’re weak somewhere, or battling injuries, this is a lineup full of high-upside plays that should be available in plenty of competitive fantasy leagues, or perhaps rotting on your bench, about to have their best week of the season.
QUARTERBACK
Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ: Nobody ever said streaming quarterbacks was going to feel good. At best, it feels like a small but worthwhile risk that allows you the luxury of depth through the rest of your lineup. It offers you the ability to have that extra WR or RB there when you need one, and can also produce big wins when your crappy QB, by virtue of a great matchup against a team like, say, the Cleveland Browns, suddenly has himself a top-ten day.
At its worst, however, streaming quarterbacks feels like taking the NFL’s interception leader—a man who lost his job and only got it back because his replacement couldn’t stay healthy for a single half of football—plugging him into your lineup, saying a little prayer and waiting for it all to explode. This week, you get both, as Fitz draws the Browns and… well, you could do a lot worse considering some of the matchups this weekend.
RUNNING BACK
[NOTE: Devontae Booker is now owned in 69 percent of Yahoo leagues. If he’s still out there in yours, go get him. He’ll be the starter for the Broncos for at least the next few weeks.]
Chris Thompson, WAS: Thompson is already seeing solid work as Washington’s third-down back, but now comes news that starter Matt Jones has a knee issue that may keep him sidelined Sunday. Jones has struggled anyway, and while rookie Rob Kelley may steal some early-down carries, Thompson nabbed 12 carries and seven catches last week, a healthy workload for any back and an especially valuable performance in PPR leagues.
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Mike Gillislee, BUF: OK, we’ll try this one more time. LeSean McCoy was supposed to sit last week, and Gillislee was supposed to start. That didn’t happen. McCoy played hurt, was not very good, and then injured his hamstring. So… have the Bills learned their lesson? If so, this is a worthwhile pickup as he should see a huge majority of the touches with little else on the depth chart. But we clearly need to pay attention right up to gametime, because if Rex Ryan tries to force Shady into action again, it’s clear Gillislee isn’t worth a start.
RECEIVER
Marqise Lee, JAX: A Thursday night special! Lee is small and shifty and has emerged as the go-to slot receiver in an offence that is struggling to push the ball downfield to its bigger pass-catchers. As Blake Bortles is forced to check it down with regularity, Lee’s targets by week since Week 2 look like this: 7, 7, 6, 6, 8. That’s a ton of reliability from a guy who is the clear third receiver in his offence and owned in only six percent of Yahoo leagues.
Corey Coleman, CLE: A not-for-this-week special! Coleman isn’t expected to return from his broken hand on Sunday, but he is back at practice, and he’s listed here because he’s owned in just 42 percent of leagues and this will be our only chance to get him into this column. You may recall Coleman from the last game he played, where he caught five passes for 104 yards and two TDs. Cleveland gets Josh McCown back this week, has Terrelle Pryor to draw coverage away from Coleman and will almost always be trailing. Grab Coleman now and thank me in a week or two.
Brandon LaFell, CIN: Well, here we are again. Brandon LaFell can’t catch very well, he doesn’t gain separation often and he’s pretty much a league-average receiver on his best day… but man, he just somehow finds his way into situations where he’s fantasy-relevant. He’s done it again in Cincy, outplaying rookie Tyler Boyd by a wide margin and locking down the No. 2 receiver spot across from A.J. Green, who tends to, you know, draw a lot of attention. LaFell now has four touchdowns in the last three weeks and has seen at last five targets in his last four games. That’s enough for a spot start if you need one.
TIGHT END
C.J. Fiedorowicz, HOU: If you’ve been paying attention, you know that the tight end facing the Lions is always a safe play. The ghost of Vernon Davis had a nice day against them last week filling in for Jordan Reed, and actual starting-calibre tight ends have just roasted this defence. Fiedorowicz has seen an average of 7.33 targets per game over his last three tilts—numbers that would put him in the upper echelons of tight end opportunity—and even though those targets come from Brock Osweiler, he’s worth a play this week.
DEFENCE
New York Jets: See ‘Quarterback’ above. Streaming means playing the matchups. The Browns hope Josh McCown returns this week, but he’s not exactly a world beater. And if he can’t go, well, I know one thing about whatever dude ends up with the gig in his place: He ain’t gonna be very good. The Jets have lots of issues, but they can get after a quarterback. Play the percentages.
KICKER
C’mon man. It’s pretty clear by now that if you don’t own Adam Vinatieri you basically failed at kicker. Just give up.
