Week 7 in the NFL was filled with story lines and incredible highlights. With all the talk of the NFL being all about passing, only 3 quarterbacks passed for over 300 yards, while 8 runnning backs rushed for over 100 yards. Lets check out who else was of interest in the world of fantasy football.
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Quarterbacks
Studs:
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens – After trailing 10-0 to Tampa Bay in the 1st quarter, Jackson took over the game, and was unstoppable completing 17 of 22 pass attempts for 281 yards and 5 TDs. He had a rushing TD negated from a holding call just prior to one of his passing TDs. Jackson also rushed 9 times for 52 yards, giving him the fantasy QB1 title for week 7. Baltimore needed every bit of Jackson’s efforts to get the win over the Bucs, 41-31.
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Across the field from Jackson, Mayfield was doing everything he could to keep his team in the game, but his 2 INTs didn’t help his cause. In fantasy though, he compiled 370 passing yards and 3 TD, bolstering his fantasy point value.
Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers – Well, it wasn’t Kirk Cousins’ 500+ yards from a few weeks ago, or Lamar Jackson’s 5 TDs, but it was what the Steelers needed to put the hammer down on the NY Jets and get the win 37-15. In Wilson’s first game played in the black and yellow, he completed 16 of his 29 attempted passes for 264 yards and 2 TDs, a bit pedestrian in yardage, but he did also rush for a goal line TD, which boosted his fantasy numbers.
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles – Hurts was a bit pedestrian as a QB himself, only attempting 14 passes, completing 10 of them for 114 yards and 1 TD. The Eagles were able to have their way in the run game against the Giants and didn’t need Hurts to air it out all day. Hurts did add 2 goal line rushing TDs, to push him to help out his fantasy point total.
Honorable Mentions:
Kyler Murray, ARZ – 14/26 for 145, 1 TD and 1 INT; rushed 6 times for 64 yards and 1 TD
Josh Allen, BUF – 21/33 for 323 yards and 2 TDs
Drake Maye, NE – 26/37 for 276 yards and 2 TDs
Brock Purdy, SF – 17/31 for 212 yards, 0 TDs and 3 INTs; rushed 8 times for 27 yards and 2 TDs
Duds:
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans – Stroud only completed 10 of his 21 pass attempts for a mere 86 yards. Houston came into the season with expectations of a deep playoff run, possibly Super Bowl, and a strong sophomore season from Stroud. Thus far, Stroud has been inconsistent and slightly underwhelming at times.
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons – Although he passed for 232 yards and 1 TD, his 3 turnovers were detrimental to both the team and his fantasy value.
Patrick Mahomes, KC – The Chiefs have found a way to be 6-0 despite the mediocre play of Mahomes. In week 7, he only completed 16 of his 27 passes for 154 yards, no TDs and 2 INTs. His fantasy day was somewhat salvaged by him rushing for 39 yards and 1 TD.
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Wide Receivers
Studs:
Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens – Bateman only had 4 balls thrown his way, but he caught all 4 of them for a robust 121 yards, including a 59 yard deep pass TD in the 2nd quarter. Both Bateman and his QB, Lamar Jackson, make the top of the studs list for week 7.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions – St. Brown has been kind of quite in 2024, for his standards, but not in week 7 against their divisional rival Minnesota Vikings. St. Brown caught all 8 of his targets for 112 yards and 1 TD, helping the Lions get past the Vikings, 31-29.
George Pickens, Pittsburgh Steelers – Pickens has also been quite in 2024, but even more so than St. Brown. He scored his 1st TD of the season on one of his 5 receptions, that went for a total of 111 yards.
Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars – Thomas caught all 5 of his targets for 89 yards and 1 TD, helping the Jags smack up the lowly Patriots, 32-16.
Honorable Mentions:
DK Metcalf, SEA – 4 of 7 targeted receptions for 99 yards and 1 TD
A.J. Brown PHI – 5 of 5 targeted receptions for 89 yards and 1 TD
Justin Jefferson, MIN – 7 of 8 targeted receptions for 81 yards and 1 TD
Tee Higgins CIN – 4 of 8 targeted receptions for 82 yards and 1 TD
Duds:
Tank Dell, Houston Texans – When your supposed stud QB only throws for 86 yards in an entire game, there’s a chance at least one of the WRs will hit the duds list. Dell had a chance to avoid the list, had he caught one of his 2 targets in the red zone and been able to score. Dell was targeted a total of 4 times, in the absence of star WR Nico Collins, but was unable to come down with any of them.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts – With the Colts “backup” aging veteran QB, Joe Flacco under center for the past 3 weeks, Downs had 24 receptions on 30 targets, going for 217 yards and 2 TDs. With “starter” QB Anthony Richardson back from injury, Downs had 1 reception for 3 yards.
Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers – While Reed has been dealing with an ankle injury from 2 weeks ago, he doesn’t show up on the NFL’s injury report, so his lack of production lands him on my duds list. When you can average almost 100 yards from scrimmage and 1 TD per game when your starting QB is playing, coming up with only 2 receptions for 10 yards is unacceptable to Reed fantasy owners.
Running Backs
Studs:
Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions – When I told my son during a fantasy draft to definitely grab Gibbs, when he was still on the board, these are the kinds of games I was envisioning he would have more often. Sure, I knew that David Montgomery would take some goal line TDs away from Gibbs, but he would still have high fantasy value due to his extraordinary running abilities. In week 7 at Minnesota, Gibbs did me proud with his 116 yards rushing on 15 attempts, 2 TDs, and 4 receptions for 44 yards, making him fantasy’s RB1 for the week.
Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles – The NY Giants decided they weren’t willing to pay Barkley what he was asking for, so they traded him to the Eagles. I don’t think Barkley appreciated that much, and wanted to give them a clear reminder of what they passed on. So he went into MetLife Stadium, where he use to play his home games for the Giants, and just wrecked shop. Barkley was handed the ball 17 times and ran for 176 yards and 1 TD.
Joe Mixon, Houston Texans – Mixon has been a fantasy monster since returning from injury 2 weeks ago. After running for 102 yards and 1 TD last week, as well as catching 2 passes for 30 yards, one of them going for a TD, Mixon ran for 115 more yards and found the end zone twice again, but both of them on the ground, in week 7.
Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens – Henry, the only Raven’s offensive player not at the top of his list this week, just continues to dominate like a man among boys each and every week. He’s sitting on 873 rushing yards, 169 of them coming in week 7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he also caught a 13 yard TD pass. Henry has scored at least 1 TD in every contest of the season thus far, and is currently fantasy’s RB1 for the season by quite a bit.
Honorable Mentions:
Tank Bigsby, JAX – 26 rushes for 118 yards and 2 TDs
Jovonte Williams, DEN – 14 rushes for 88 yards and 2 TDs
Rachaad White, TB – 10 rushes for 40 yards; 6/6 receptions for 71 yards and 2 TDs
Duds:
Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints – Kamara was only able to pick up 14 yards on 6 receptions, and 10 yards on 7 rushing attempts against a stingy Denver run defense on Thursday night.
David Montgomery, Detroit Lions – Montgomery has been a fantasy darling this year scoring at least 1 TD in each of his first 6 games. Unfortunately for Montgomery fantasy owners, the streak ended in week 7, where he had 9 rushing attempts for 31 yards and 3 receptions for 39 yards, but lost a fumble, that ended up getting scooped and returned for a TD by the Vikings.
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Tight Ends
Studs:
Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens – After an extremely slow start for the first 5 weeks of the season, Andrews seems to be back as a viable fantasy option. His 4 receptions for 41 yards and 2 TDs makes him TE1 for the week, and the 3rd player from the Ravens to be at the top of the list in their perspective position.
Jonnu Smith, Miami Dolphins – With backup quarterbacks under center for the Dolphins, the safety blanket that a TE can be was heavily used in this game against the Colts, as Smith caught all 7 passes thrown his way for 96 yards and 1 TD.
David Njoku, Cleveland Browns – Njoku also had a break out game, as he’s been dealing with injury most of the season, with his 10 receptions on 14 targets for 76 yards and 1 TD.
Honorable Mentions:
Zack Ertz, Washington Commanders – 5 targets, 4 receptions for 40 yards and 1 TD
Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 10 targets, 8 receptions for 100 yards.
Duds:
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs – Is KC HC Andy Reid just in a league of his own? His superstar QB has played mediocre at best, and is on the duds list repeatedly, his WR1 and WR2 are out with injury, his RB1 is out with injury, and his superstar TE Kelce, is also on the duds list repeatedly, yet they’re the lone undefeated team in the NFL. Go figure. In week 7, in the Chiefs’ win against the struggling 49ers, Kelce was only able to pick up 17 yards with his 4 receptions.
Sam La Porta, Detroit Lions – After finishing his rookie campaign in 2023 as fantasy’s TE1, La Porta has yet to have more than 4 receptions in a game. The last 2 games, he’s had only 1 reception each. Last week his lone reception just happened to go for a 52 yard TD, to salvage that week. In week 7, La Porta fantasy owners weren’t quite so lucky if they had him in their line up, as he only had that 1 reception again, even if it did go for 25 yards.
Defense
Studs:
Denver Broncos – Denver dominated the Saints all day getting to the QB 6 times, one of them causing the ball to pop into the air and into the hands of a Denver linebacker, who took it to the house for 6. They also had another fumble recovery.
Los Angeles Rams – The Raiders atrocious offensive play helped the Rams defense look spectacular. QB Gardner Minshew continues to look like he doesn’t belong in the NFL, throwing 3 INTs, one of them going for 6 the other way. The Rams added 2 sacks and recovered a fumble as well.
Duds:
New York Jets – The Jets were able to get to QB Russell Wilson once, but other than that, the Steelers did as they pleased against New York’s defense, putting up 37 points.
Thanks for checking out this weeks addition of fantasy’s biggest studs and duds. I hope you enjoyed this article and possibly found it useful in setting next weeks line ups. As always, I enjoy your feed back, so feel free to leave any thoughts below!
This Fantasy Football Studs & Duds Week 7 analysis is incredibly insightful! I appreciate the detailed breakdown of top performers and disappointments across each position. What are your predictions for Week 8’s standout players? Are there any sleepers or waiver wire pickups that could make a significant impact? How do you think injuries and bye weeks will affect fantasy lineups in the coming weeks?
Hey Cyril!
Thanks for checking out this weeks studs and duds lists! I appreciate your comments! Aside from some obvious players who will probably have stand out weeks like QB Lamar Jackson or his RB Derrick Henry, here are a few predictions for week 8:
I’m very interested in seeing how Chicago’s rookie QB Caleb Williams does this week in Washington. I think it might set up for a big day for #18.
The Dolphins get QB Tua Tagovailoa back this week, so WRs Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, and even RB De’Von Achane will all benefit from having their starting QB on the field again.
The Raiders haven’t shown they can stop any running back, so RB Kareem Hunt could have himself a nice little stat line. In that same game, as good as the Chiefs defense has been this year, they seem to struggle to cover tight ends, which is one of the Raiders only bright spots on the team in Brock Bowers.
Injuries all ways play a roll in fantasy football, so you have to check the injury reports often, not only for a player you may have in your line up, but the players on his team around him as well.
It doesn’t look like there are any byes in week 8, which is odd.
Good luck with all your fantasy football line ups this week!