Start Em’

Mike Williams, WR, LA Chargers

He has to catch a touchdown eventually...right?

Mike Williams has 778 yards to his name this season but no touchdowns. At 70.7 yards per game, he is on pace to break the record for receiving yards in a season without a touchdown.

Note: Robert Woods is also on pace to break that record and he would top Williams as well with 75.9 yards per game.

Williams is 13th in the NFL in air yards over the past three weeks (320) and faces a struggling Jaguars defense this week. Even if the elusive touchdown doesn’t come this week, he’s a safe bet to rack up yardage again this week.

Rashaad Penny, RB, Seattle Seahawks

Rashaad Penny is finally getting the work that many expected him to after Seattle drafted him in the first round. He carried the ball 15 times and caught four passes on Monday night football. Chris Carson received more carries but the gap between the two is closing.

Last week, Penny led the team with 14 carries and 129 rushing yards. 

Penny will still split work with Carson but his share of the team’s carries is skyrocketing. On an offense that rushes on a higher percentage of their plays than all but five teams, Penny is a clear starter.

Gardner Minshew, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Minshew Mania is back in Jacksonville as the team will be starting their rookie passer going forward. 

Jacksonville’s defense as collapsed in recent weeks and that has led to a number of great game environments for their passing attack. They have given up an average of 32.3 points over their last four games and the Jacksonville passers have combined for at least 40 attempts in each contest.

Minshew is a viable streaming option as long as the Jags keep losing. They’re 3-point dogs versus the Chargers this week.

Noah Fant, TE, Denver Broncos

The Broncos rolled with Drew Lock under center last week and pulled out an impressive win over the Chargers. Lock may not be their long-term answer at quarterback but he’s certainly a better option than Brandon Allen or Joe Flacco.

Fant was only targeted three times in Lock’s first start but he was back to running deeper routes. His aDOT of 12.7 was more in line with what he was doing early in the season. 

Fant and the Broncos face Houston as 10-point dogs this week. The game-script is perfect for a Fant bounce-back.

Sit Em’

Vance McDonald, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh has played three games without Juju Smith-Schuster and Vance McDonald has a 7-55-0 stat line through those games. The veteran tight end has just a 12% target share and a 6% share of the team’s air yards over that span.

His market share numbers are compounded by the fact that Pittsburgh has passed the ball just 53.8% of the time in their previous three games.

Fade the Arizona flow chart and bench Vance this week.

Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

Don’t let one good game fool you, Carson Wentz is not very good at football. Even after a three-score and 300-yard outing against a terrible Miami team, Wentz is still outside the top-15 in:

• Completion Percentage - 62.4%
• AY/A - 6.7
• Passer Rating - 90

He has gone below 16 points seven times this season and topped 20 four times. Wentz may be your only option but be sure to check the waiver wire before you trot him out again this week.

Sony Michel, RB, New England Patriots

The Patriots gave James White 14 carries last week, four more than Sony Michel. He hasn’t topped 100 rushing yards in any game this season. Michel has more zero-catch games than any other number of catches in a game. He also hasn’t scored since Week 7. 

Michel is an inefficient, one-dimensional grinder who you can cut from your fantasy roster. There’s no reason to play him anymore.

Brandin Cooks, WR, LA Rams

The Rams have scaled back Brandin Cooks workload in the past two weeks. He’s been targeted six total times and played on 78.3% and 77% of the team’s snaps. Josh Reynolds has more targets than Cooks over that span.

This season, Jared Goff has also been especially conservative which has had a direct impact on Cooks’ fantasy value. Goff’s 7.9 air yards per attempt is 25th in the NFL. 

LA’s offense is hardly good enough to support Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp right now. This development has left Cooks behind and it’s time to take him out to the farm up north that is the bench.