NFL Fantasy Stock Report, Week 7: Which NFL Stars Are on the Rise?
All rankings and scores based on .5 PPR scoring
Stock Up
Rashee Rice: The rookie second-round pick from SMU is finally starting to showcase his talent. His snaps are trending upwards and he was just on the field for 59% of the offensive snaps Sunday afternoon vs. the Chargers. On top of that, he now has three games in a row with four or more catches with two touchdowns in that span. He has been receiving fairly steady targets for about a month now, the Chiefs are starting to click on offense, and Mahomes is clearly developing chemistry as Rice has made a handful of important third-down catches and Mahomes has also looked for Rice on multiple scramble drills so far, and that’s huge.
Don’t count on him to take Kelce’s throne any time soon but Rice was likely a waiver wire add, and may still be available in your league, so it’s a free flier on the guy who has a clear path to second on the Chiefs pecking order in their pass game. He has already found himself to be the WR38 on the year and I think he could end up being a top 20 guy when it’s all said and done. Rice is going to make a great injury or bye week fill in while also holding great upside.
Lamar Jackson: Lamar has not been bad by any means this season. The offense overall hasn’t quite come together yet under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Lamar has had terrible luck with his receivers dropping the ball. We just haven’t had the absolute explosive fantasy player we’ve come to expect. Now I’m fully aware that prior to this weekend he has three games with 20+ fantasy points. However, it’s shocking to see him get to week seven before he has that blow up game and hit 30 points. That changed this weekend as Lamar Jackson and the Ravens absolutely obliterated the Lions 38-6. Good enough for 33.88 fantasy points. He accounted for four total touchdowns on the day, threw for 357 yards, and also added 36 yards on the ground.
It was a vintage Lamar performance that left your jaw on the floor a handful of times. He has easily performed better than his numbers suggest this year so I was expecting the breakout eventually. Lamar came with some premium fantasy draft capital so it’s nice to see the numbers start to fall into place with it. Like I mentioned above, he was already posting good fantasy numbers but it looks like they could be on their way up as the Ravens offense may be catching up to Lamar. If that’s the case I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up as the QB1 on the season.
Josh Palmer: Next man up after Mike Williams went down a few weeks ago and Josh Palmer has emerged victorious. He now has four games in a row with 10+ fantasy points and at least seven targets. I’d be surprised if Palmer produces more than one or two more big games like he just had but his floor is fantastic. Players you can plug into your lineup weekly and not have to worry about totally flopping are extremely valuable. Another huge plus for Palmer is that the Chargers have had their bye already. The Chargers defense has been awful this year forcing them to throw the ball a ton. It’s unlikely the switch magically flips for them defensively so have faith Palmer’s role is here to stay. If he was drafted in fantasy it was extremely late so no potential sunken cost on your end. He’s going to end up being a slam dunk late draft pick or waiver claim. I feel comfortable plugging and playing Palmer here on out.
Stock Down
Zach Evans: The Zach Evans window has opened and closed in about the same amount of time it took the Titans to regret trading A.J. Brown. After the Rams traded away Cam Akers and both Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers went down with injury, it was finally time for the 6th-round pick to shine.
*Lee Corso voice* Not so fast, my friend!
The Rams elevated Royce Freeman from the practice squad, they re-signed Darrell Henderson off the street for what seems to be the 4th time, and by the time the Rams hit the field Sunday any shred of hope for Zach Evans was dashed. He was probably the hottest pickup this week after the aforementioned Williams and Rivers both went down the week prior against the Cardinals. There was a lot of discourse about which back would take the reigns for the Rams and by Sunday morning the report came out he would be backing up both Freeman and Henderson. The Rams clearly don’t trust Evans and I wouldn’t either if they don’t. I know it was one game but I think he’s already droppable. He didn’t even take an offensive snap against the Steelers and McVay clearly trusts the veterans right now. Pour one out for Zach Evans.
Christian Watson: The sky was the limit this year for Watson. At least that’s what Packers fans and many fantasy analysts thought. He was a pretty consensus fourth-round pick and hasn’t even come close to offering a glimpse of return value for you. He missed the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury and since his return has yet to catch more than three passes in a game. Even with the injury the hope was still there as Jordan Love looked like he was taking a step in his development through the first two games of the year. Jordan Love has since turned back into the pumpkin he is and that’s bad news for a guy who relies on big plays to truly thrive in fantasy.
Watson has been okay in two of his three games back, posting double digits in them but one game he only had 25 yards and caught a touchdown and the other he had 91 yards on three catches. I expect the Packers to struggle on offense as long as Love is their guy and his wild inaccuracy is a huge reason his connection with Watson likely won’t flourish. He’s a lower-volume guy playing in a below-average offense with a bad quarterback. I’m no mathematician but that equation doesn’t add up. Watson very well may be a great player and fantasy asset down the road but his value for the rest of the season is already tanked.
Quentin Johnston: With Josh Palmer capturing his opportunity someone has to be on the other side of that. It’s first round pick Quentin Johnston. The hype was real for QJ as many believed him to be the heir to Mike Williams in this Chargers offense. A big-bodied target who can go up and make a play. The hype was so real that he was being drafted in the 10th round of fantasy drafts. It wasainly due to people banking on a Mike Williams injury but it was still high for a guy who had no immediate path to an impactful amount of playing time.
With Williams out he has seen 50%+ snap share in his last three games yet somehow his already bleak production has gone down. Josh Palmer had the same amount of catches on Sunday as Johnston has targets over the past three weeks. Johnston has also only caught two passes over that same stretch. He made a few splash plays in training camp that made nice social media clips but it has yet to show on gameday. Justin Herbert clearly favors Palmer and they have built some nice chemistry. There isn’t enough pie to go around as Johnston is waiting for Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler, Josh Palmer, and Gerald Everett to all eat before he gets his turn. I was on record saying in the preseason saying that I thought Johnston was undraftable in redraft so this is a small victory lap, but if you’re holding on still in a redraft league it’s time to cut bait.
