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.
QUARTERBACK
Alex Smith, KC: Anyone who relies on quarterback streaming knows Smith well. He’s bad in tough matchups, decent in decent ones and he is capable, every so often, of week-winning fantasy performances. Against the run-and-gun Saints offence, Smith will have to take risks to keep up. In Smith’s world, taking risks often equals little more than 250 yards and a couple of touchdowns–but he is also overdue for some scrambling, and he’s still largely underrated in that department. Add it all up and you have a more-than-functional QB score for absolutely nothing.
RUNNING BACK
Mike Gillislee, BUF: LeSean McCoy, you may have heard, is day-to-day with a hamstring injury, but even if he weren’t his immediate backup wouldn’t be a bad gamble. Gillislee has scored TDs in two straight games now and is averaging well over six yards per carry this season. With the Bills relying so heavily on both McCoy and their running game, expect coaches to do everything they can to both grind out games and keep their star healthy. That means more work for a backup who has surely earned it.
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Jacquizz Rodgers, TB: Please do not take this, as some people seem to be doing with reports from Tampa, as a multi-week endorsement of Rodgers. ‘Quizz has had chances in the past and never taken advantage of them. As soon as Doug Martin returns, Rodgers is waiver fodder, and possibly even before that. For this one week, however, against a truly horrid San Francisco run defence, he is exactly what RB-needy teams are after. The 49ers run D is so bad that they routinely give up excellent fantasy lines to multiple backs they face, and since Rodgers is the only healthy back on the roster, he could run away with all of those points.
RECEIVER
Kendall Wright, TEN: Tajae Sharpe was supposed to be the go-to guy in Tennessee, and Wright the former pick who had fallen out of favour. Last week, Wright grabbed the job by the throat with eight catches for 133 yards and a touchdown, despite seeing the field far less than Sharpe. Owned in just 7 percent of Yahoo leagues, Wright should be considered a high-upside add in most leagues, simply because this Titans offence has been desperate for someone to break out at the position, and Wright should get every opportunity to be the top dog going forward.
Torrey Smith, SF: Look, Smith is a deep threat and thus he was terrible with Blaine Gabbert under centre. Colin Kaepernick, however, is a different story. The 49ers are bad (see above) and will be trailing. Their running back, Carlos Hyde, is injured. Their tight ends are mostly ineffective, and the deep ball is their best weapon. Kaepernick can be erratic, and he will make mistakes, but he will also take shots downfield. Smith saw seven targets last week. Sure, he only caught three…but one of them was a 59-yard touchdown. There are worse risks you could take if you’re desperate.
Chester Rogers, IND: Deep-as-heck league alert! Rogers stepped onto the field only after injuries to Donte Moncrief, Phillip Dorsett and Dwayne Allen. He was not exactly high on the Colts pass-catcher list. However, once on the field he caught all four balls thrown his way for 60 yards, and looked better in the process than the much-hyped Dorsett has all year. He is owned in zero (0!!) percent of Yahoo leagues, so he’s all yours if you need him, and if Dorsett and Allen are out again come Sunday (Moncrief has already been ruled out), you know he’ll be hungry to make his mark in a solid matchup.
TIGHT END
Jesse James, PIT: This one’s a repeat, despite James getting just three looks last week. The Steelers face the Patriots, who offer decent fantasy production (11th highest in the NFL) to tight ends, and with Landry Jones under centre, we should expect less complex deep routes and more checkdowns than we’d see with Ben Roethlisberger. That all points to more involvement for a tight end who has shown he can make plays in the red zone.
DEFENCE
Baltimore: We’ve pushed the Ravens before as an underrated unit, but this week they’re still owned in just about 50 percent of leagues, despite getting the flaming tire fire that is the New York Jets offence. Geno Smith will start for the Jets, but who knows who will finish this game. What we do know is that along the way there will be turnovers. Start the Ravens and don’t think twice.
KICKER
There are a lot of things you could be doing with your life, you know. Are your parents proud of you? Are you truly bettering yourself? Do you help the less fortunate and volunteer? Do you donate money to charity? Are you learning to speak another language, adopting an animal from the shelter or helping to pick the trash up off our streets? No? Well then, the least you can do is stop wasting everyone’s time by using kickers in fantasy football. It’s not much, in the grand scheme of things, but it’s one small way to make the world a better place.
