Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition: Is it time to pull the plug on Rachaad White? Slumping players who'll turn things around. Can we give up on Javonte Williams? And how the Fantasy Index sausage is made.
Question 1
I am in a keeper league and have Rachaad White as a keeper. I also picked up Bucky Irving and put him into the flex position in Week 6 (worked out nicely). Is Rachaad White even worth keeping at this point? Who is this other random guy who exploded this past week?
Andrew Napoli (Woodbridge, VA)
Sean Tucker. He was an undrafted free agent that generated some buzz at training camp as a rookie, but then hardly got on the field. He played well enough on Sunday that Todd Bowles says he expects they’ll be using a three-back approach in the coming weeks. We’ll see where it goes from there. White is the most experienced and the best in passing situations, but Bucky Irving has outplayed him as a runner in most games. I saw one of the team’s beat writers saying yesterday that he expects White will continue to start. It's a messy situation for a team that hasn’t tended to run the ball very well. I think that leaves us with White being worthy of being on a fantasy roster but not being a guy that anybody is excited to have.
Question 2
Which players do you feel are good trade targets at this point? Let’s define it as those who have dramatically underperformed compared to preseason expectation – to the point where you’d suspect their fantasy owners may be ready to move on, yet you have reason to feel bullish on them.
Greg Resin (Palos Verdes Estates, CA)
How about George Pickens? I think he might be one of the top dozen wide receivers in the game. I see a franchise-type guy. It looks like the Steelers are switching quarterbacks, and I think Mr. Unlimited will do a better job of connecting with Pickens on some downfield throws. Dangeruss had a good connection with Courtland Sutton last year; I think Pickens will be his Sutton this season. And I will stay the course with Sam LaPorta. They haven’t been using him as much this year, but I think he’ll come around. That’s a great offense, and they don’t have much else. Jameson Williams is a good big-play weapon, but I think LaPorta will eventually emerge (or re-emerge) as the other main cog in that passing attack. Amon-Ra St. Brown and LaPorta – those are the meat-and-potatoes guys there.
Question 3
Do you have anyone coming out of nowhere or off from injury (I already have Brooks and Hockenson on my watch list) who can make a difference in my league? We went from a 12-team PPR to a 14-team, and there are slim pickins'.
Todd Faulds (Coral Springs, FL)
In that style of league, part of the regular weekly routine should include checking the status of all backup running backs. While you’re at your kid’s soccer game or dance recital, you should be ignoring the action and scrolling through the names on your phone, checking to see who’s available. I think the following backup running backs have some value (and I’m not listing players like Tyler Allgeier, who I know is rostered): Trey Benson, Roschon Johnson, Emanuel Wilson, Dameon Pierce, Ty Chandler, Kimani Vidal, Blake Corumn, Kendre Miller, Jaylen Wright, Kenneth Gainwell, Isaac Guerendo. I would guess that in a typical 14-team league, a couple of those flyers would be available.
Question 4
I usually rely on your weekly rankings. But this year has been weird. You have Gibson, Dobbins and Bucky ranked ahead of GIBBS!! You gotta be kidding, Gibbs is a stud and against Dallas who has struggled vs, the run. What is up?
Mike Erickson (Bluffdale, UT)
The Lions buried Dallas 47-9, so you were correct on that front, but two of those three backs actually outperformed Gibbs. He’s better than all three, of course, but those other three guys (at least in Week 6) all projected to fill larger roles, playing close to full time. Our general process here is to carefully look at each team each week, adjusting levels of production for each player. For the Lions, the current numbers have them finishing with 145 rushing yards and 1.65 TD runs in a typical week, with both Gibbs and David Montgomery logging a 45 percent share of the rushing yards (other players account for the final 10 percent). We’ve got Montgomery leading Gibbs 53 to 41 in the percentage of rushing touchdowns. The process is similar for the passing production, and Gibbs has taken a hit there, with him failing to blossom into a pass-catching weapon (he hadn’t caught any passes in the two games leading into last week). On Monday-Tuesday, when writing up the game preview, we pencil out team projections for the notable numbers (rushing yards, rushing TDs, passing yards, passing TD), while leaving the individual player share levels in place. That produces a ranking/projection for each player. In this particular example, the Patriots, Bucs and Chargers didn’t project to run for as many yards and touchdowns as the Lions, but those backs had much larger player-share numbers (70-80 percent), making those unheralded guys look better than Gibbs. At least on paper. As a final step in the process, I skim down the list on Wednesday, adjusting some numbers if I don’t like the look of them. For the Week 7 version, for example, the first-draft numbers suggested Drake Maye will outperform Patrick Mahomes and C.J. Stroud. I wouldn’t start Maye ahead of those guys, so I trimmed his production a little.
Question 5
Is there a chance McCaffrey misses the entire season? I’m playing Mason in one league but I’m thinking about moving him while he still has value.
James Costello (Portland, ME)
It's a possibility. There are no guarantees. I expect that in a few weeks, the 49ers will have McCaffrey start practicing, and they'll see where it goes. With Mason, there's the additional factor of Isaac Guerendo. He popped a couple of nice runs at Seattle. I would think that going forward, they'll want to be giving Guerendo a half-dozen carries per game.
Question 6
My league has a midseason draft after Week 7. We can keep 5. We can start 3 RBs. Scoring system is TD-heavy, and rushing TDs are worth more than passing/receiving. I’m keeping D Henry and Montgomery, but undecided between Chuba Hubbard and Pacheco. Hubbard has been great, but what happens when Brooks is activated? When might Pacheco come back, and will he be KC’s bell cow like he was before his injury? Rankings customized as much as possible for our one-off scoring have them very close. Can’t keep both — then I’d have to give up two from Hurts, Deebo and Tyreek (for whom I still have hopes). Thanks.
Eric Pryne (Vashon, WA)
I haven’t seen a timeline, but Pacheco broke his leg in Week 2. I think I’d rather wait a few weeks for him, with the possibility he becomes a top-10 back for the final third of the season, then get another game or two out of Hubbard, who then starts losing playing time to Jonathon Brooks. Brooks is now practicing; I think we’ll see him on the field in Week 9 or 10.
Question 7
Why does everyone continue to rank Javonte Williams so high when he continues to be a disappointment?
Donald DeKeyser (Green Bay, WI)
He’s the top running back on his team. (At least, he’s supposed to be.) There’s the hope the running game will come around a bit. They’re getting their right tackle back, which might help. And for me, I like Sean Payton’s history of using his backs in the passing game. Williams is doing fine on this front, with 19 catches in his last five games. In PPR scoring, 4 catches for 30 yards is the same as 70 rushing yards.