Fantasy Football Twitter Reactions – Week 7

Each week I will be walking through the Twitterverse extracting some of the best commentary from trusted fantasy football minds and delivering to the general public.  Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate.  In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you would have never thought to analyze.  Trends, stats, analysis and simple suggestions pour out weekly after the NFL action is completed and below are some of the highlights to consider when hitting the waiver wire or seeking trades to win your fantasy championships.

C.J. Spiller, Bills – Per Rotoworld’s Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan), “Over last 2 weeks, Spiller (ankle) has played 23.1% of the snaps & gotten a total of 21 touches.”  John Sarmento (@RumfordJohnny) also noted, “Spiller may still be dinged up, but he’s dancing at the LOS, not decisive.  Reminiscent of Chris Johnson.  Maybe Spiller is looking for a home run, or trying to avoid contact, but it’s a bad look. Full committee with FJax & Choice at this point.”  The Bills are likely best sitting Spiller to get him healthy, but even if they don’t you should be.

Jamaal Charles, Chiefs – Fantasy’s #1 RB is producing at both an impressive and consistent clip as Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) pointed out, “Jamaal Charles has both cleared 100 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown in every game this season.”  To pile on Spiller a little more, Jonathan Vandersluis (@Jonathan_TTF) tweeted, “C.J. Spiller has yet to have a single game as good as Jamaal Charles' worst game.”  These two were commonly close in drafts but could not be further apart during the season.

Trent Richardson, Colts – A heralded move by the Colts signing Richardson has become yet another weekly black mark for fantasy owners.  Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh) tweeted, “That's 10 straight games now for Trent Richardson w/out surpassing 60 rushing yards. Averaging 14.4 carries, 45.6 rush yards over that span.”  John D. Beckler II (@JDBeckler) also commented on Richardson’s usage stating, “Why trade for Trent if you don't plan on giving him 20+ carries a game? He needs volume to be effective.”  Davis Mattek (@DavisMattek) also provided the most simple and probably most common sentiment in regards to Trent, “I am really starting to believe that T-Rich just is not very good.”  Whether it is usage, skill, scheme, etc., Trent Richardson will likely not help your cause for a fantasy championship this season.

LeVeon Bell, Steelers – Two tough matchups against the Jets and the Ravens have produced 35 carries for 127 yards and a 3.6 yards per carry mark.  Chris Wesseling (@ChrisWesseling) remarked on the RBs week 7 performance stating, “Le'Veon Bell's 93 rushing yards are the most by a Steelers RB since Week 8 of last season ... and more than any PIT RB totaled first 5 games.”  Evan Silva (@evansilva) also commented, “Guessing LeVeon Bell's perceived FF value hasn’t yet caught up to his actual value because no TDs since Wk 4. Guy to target. Borderline RB1.”   

Vincent Jackson, Buccaneers – Averaging under 7 points per game in standard leagues without scoring a TD in his first four weeks it appears Vincent just needed a change at QB.  As Denny Carter (@CDCarter13) tweeted, “Vincent Jackson has been targeted 34 times since Mike Glennon took over. Thirty. Four. Times.”  With Doug Martin now sidelined, Jackson may see even more looks in the coming weeks.  Glennon will likely continue to look to his #1 WR and the fantasy points should follow.

Eddie Lacy, Packers – “Eddie Lacy is the #8 RB in fantasy over the past three weeks, averaging 25 touches for 110 total yards and .33 TD,” as John Paulsen (@4for4_John) reported.  The injuries to Cobb and Finley will continue to secure Lacy’s fantasy value down the stretch.  He is a clear RB1 and trading for him as such is advised.

Redskins RBs – Morris was a surprise bell-cow for the Redskins last season.  Shanahan has reverted to his old tricks though as Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) tweeted, “Alfred Morris has now played 226 snaps on the season. Roy Helu has played 213.”  Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) also shared the following regards the Redskins backfield, “Over last three weeks, Roy Helu is averaging 12.3 touches for 69.0 total yards per game. Again, he's earned it. More chances at DEN Week 8.”  Helu won’t have 3 touchdown games, but is definitely sapping the fantasy value of Morris and should also be owned in most leagues.

Chargers RBs – Before the season most would have been surprised to find one relevant fantasy RB on the Chargers.  As John Paulsen (@4for4_John) points out, there have actually been two.  “Ryan Mathews has 212 yards and a TD in the last two weeks. Schedule after bye (WAS, DEN, MIA) is tasty.  Danny Woodhead with another nice fantasy line: 76 total yards and a TD on 13 touches. RB13 in standard, RB8 in PPR.”

Dolphins RBs – Lamar Miller looked like he was finally going to take over a larger share of the backfield heading in the bye week.  But as Evan Silva (@evansilva) shared in response to the Dolphins RB snap counts of 33 to 29 in week 7, “Can’t expect this to change anymore.”  If you own Miller or Thomas they are both low end Flex options in deeper leagues.

Hindsight, Fantasy Football – Yes you should have known that Romo, Foles and Brady were not startable in 18 team leagues.   Pretty sure we all knew that Helu, Mathews, Jacquizz and recently acquired Peyton Hillis were all RB1s in 12 team leagues.  Also could have told you that Colts RB Stanley Havili was going to score more points than Ray Rice, McCoy, AP and Spiller.  Yes I was certain that Dolphins Brandon Gibson would outscore Josh Gordon, Larry Fitzgerald, DeSean Jackson, Victor Cruz and Antonio Brown…Combined!  At this point you should be selling your first round RB pick (minus Charles) for whatever guy was sitting on his couch last week and you should be taking fliers on #3 wide receivers.   Good luck.