This article is part of our Run 'N' Shoot series.
An undrafted free agent in 2009, Arian Foster sure gave Texans fans and fantasy owners a lot to cheer about the last six years. Perhaps that's why it was so sad to watch him limp off the field with a torn Achilles' tendon in garbage time of a blowout. Foster turns 30 in 2016 and has 1,703 career touches, so this might be the end. I say we all take a moment and give Foster a Namaste bow -- his signature touchdown celebration, one that's always been on my short list of personal favorites.
With Foster out for the year, Alfred Blue and Chris Polk probably belong on fantasy rosters. Hold your nose. I'd rather own Darren McFadden than either of those. The Cowboys' offensive line remains terrific, McFadden has the third-down role to himself, Julius Randle hurt his back Sunday and Christine Michael is in the doghouse. (Seriously, how stupid must Michael be?) Much like Jordan Reed, I'd ride DMC until the next injury comes.
• Speaking of Reed, he now has more targets in 2015 on a per-game basis than Rob Gronkowski. Reed will get hurt again, but he should be a fixture in all lineups any week he's healthy.
• After posting 218 yards from scrimmage and zero TDs in four games under Joe Philbin, Lamar Miller has 254 yards and three TDs in two games under interim coach Dan Campbell. Even with an unfriendly schedule from here on, Miller is firmly entrenched as
An undrafted free agent in 2009, Arian Foster sure gave Texans fans and fantasy owners a lot to cheer about the last six years. Perhaps that's why it was so sad to watch him limp off the field with a torn Achilles' tendon in garbage time of a blowout. Foster turns 30 in 2016 and has 1,703 career touches, so this might be the end. I say we all take a moment and give Foster a Namaste bow -- his signature touchdown celebration, one that's always been on my short list of personal favorites.
With Foster out for the year, Alfred Blue and Chris Polk probably belong on fantasy rosters. Hold your nose. I'd rather own Darren McFadden than either of those. The Cowboys' offensive line remains terrific, McFadden has the third-down role to himself, Julius Randle hurt his back Sunday and Christine Michael is in the doghouse. (Seriously, how stupid must Michael be?) Much like Jordan Reed, I'd ride DMC until the next injury comes.
• Speaking of Reed, he now has more targets in 2015 on a per-game basis than Rob Gronkowski. Reed will get hurt again, but he should be a fixture in all lineups any week he's healthy.
• After posting 218 yards from scrimmage and zero TDs in four games under Joe Philbin, Lamar Miller has 254 yards and three TDs in two games under interim coach Dan Campbell. Even with an unfriendly schedule from here on, Miller is firmly entrenched as an RB1 in fantasy.
• I don't own Stefon Diggs in any seasonal leagues. This makes me sad. Maybe the most impressive part of Diggs' 2015 explosion isn't that he's a rookie who came out of nowhere, but that he's been so consistent despite playing on a run-first Vikings offense that, when it does pass, loves to spread the ball around (11 Vikings caught a pass Sunday). Consider Diggs a solid WR2, while all other Vikings wideouts are waiver-wire fodder.
• With his 6.1 YPC, Ryan Mathews sure looks like a better fit for the Eagles' offense than DeMarco Murray, 3.6 YPC.
• Through six games, the Bucs' defense has allowed career-best performances by Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles and Kirk Cousins, the last of which gave the Redskins the biggest comeback in franchise history. Yikes. Even that suckitude may pale in comparison to the Lions, though, who are now last in the NFL in YPA (9.1; nobody else is above 8.5), QB Rating and rushing TDs allowed; quite a trifecta.
• Aside from Tampa and Detroit, here are some defenses I'll target in year-long fantasy and DFS:
49ers: 31st in YPA and yards/game
Saints: at or near the bottom in basically every defensive category
Bears: 31st in passing TDs allowed, 108 QB Rating
Chargers: Terrible against the run (last in YPC) and the pass: 8.1 YPA, 102 QB Rating
Ravens: 8.2 YPA, 286 yards/game, 102 QB Rating
Browns: Mediocre in pass D, but abysmal against the run; last in rushing yards, 30th in rushing TDs, 31st in YPC
• If Sunday night wasn't rock bottom for Jordan Matthews -- 3-14-0 on seven targets -- then I don't want to see what bottom looks like.
• I'm not in Vegas as often as I'd like, so someone please tell me ... when am I able to bet that the Colts will win the AFC South with a 6-10 record and lose to the Steelers at home by double-digits in the wild-card round? As soon as this bet opens, put me down for $250K, secured by RotoWire colleague Chris Liss' personal residence. (Don't worry, Chris -- if I lose, which I won't, I'll fight the foreclosure.)
• Seriously, what's wrong with Andrew Luck? At this point I almost hope he's still hurt; at least that would help explain his suckitude. Fortunately for fantasy owners, real-life play often does not translate to fantasy stats. Just look at Week 7, where some of fantasy's best QBs didn't play particularly well in real life (Luck, EJ Manuel, Philip Rivers, etc.). If I'm Indy, I scale back the Colts' offense a bit -- much like they did when Matt Hasselbeck played -- until Luck starts playing more efficiently.
• Much like the last two weeks were the time to buy Mike Evans low in fantasy (after 9,742 mistakes, that's one thing I got right this year), consider the next six days your window to buy all Steelers. Ben. Le'Veon. Antonio. Martavis. Heath Miller (deeper formats). DeAngelo Williams (high-upside bench stash). Go get these guys. Overpay. The explosion is coming, starting this week against the Bengals.
• The 2015 Bills will make a run after their much-needed Week 8 bye, but when they miss the playoffs for the 713th consecutive season, I'll look back at their Week 7 loss to a terrible Jaguars team as the reason why. Sorry, Buffalo, playoff teams don't lose to Jacksonville to fall to 3-4.
• If J.J. Watt comes anywhere close to the DPOY award in 2015, I'll incite a riot. No matter what kind of stats Watt finishes with, we can't give an award to a guy on a defense getting lit up every week. Josh Norman and Darrelle Revis are playing better on teams with far superior records.
• As I typically do on Sunday night, I took a quick peek at next week's prices on DraftKings. Here's what jumped out at me:
Quarterback
Philip Rivers at Ravens, $6,600: In a week when the high-priced QBs have bad matchups (Aaron Rodgers at Denver, Andrew Luck at Carolina), give me the guy on pace to set an NFL record for passing yards against the defense that lets everyone score through the air.
Andy Dalton vs. Steelers, $6,000: Here are Dalton's game-by-game point totals in DraftKings' scoring format: 18, 21, 35, 21, 31, 21. At just $6K, that means Dalton's worst game yielded a result of three times salary. Coming off a bye, with the Bengals fully healthy, Dalton and Rivers are the only reasonable choices for cash in Week 8.
Jameis Winston at Falcons, $5,200: If the Falcons bury a bad Bucs defense at home, as we all expect, then Winston will be chucking it a lot to a rejuvenated Mike Evans in a dome for $200 above minimum. Yes, please.
Running Back
Devonta Freeman vs. Bucs, $8,000: Fantasy's top-scoring player at home against one of the NFL's worst defenses (see above), and the Falcons coming off a bad offensive game? Sign me up.
Todd Gurley vs. 49ers, $6,300: The 49ers are one of the defenses we pick on (see above), especially on the road. Gurley should be at least $1,000 more expensive in this spot.
Eddie Lacy at Broncos, $6,200: Can you believe Fat Eddie is $6,200 against Denver? Is it possible to have a 0.00 percent ownership rate?
Jonathan Stewart vs Colts, $4,100: Stewart looks like a different back in the two weeks since the Panthers' bye. Cam and Tolbert are TD vultures, but 20-plus touches give Stewart a nice floor for this price.
Orleans Darkwa at Saints, $3,600: Darkwa got his first touches of the season in Week 7, leading the Giants in carries and looking good in the process, posting 8-48-1. I'll be listening to reports out of Giants practices this week about how the carries will be distributed.
Wide Receiver
Antonio Brown vs. Bengals, $7,900: Early in the year, with Ben under center, Brown was a $9,000 player. Even at this price, there's value here -- so long as Ben returns.
Keenan Allen vs Ravens, $7,700: Allen just set an NFL record with 62 receptions in seven games. This price isn't that huge of a discount, but there's massive upside against the porous Baltimore secondary, in DK's PPR format.
Alshon Jeffery vs. Vikings, $6,400: A healthy Jeffery was consistently a $7,500 to $8,000 player last year. Well, Jeffery proved he was healthy before the Bears' Week 7 bye, posting 8-147-1, yet there he sits at just $6,400. Sign me up. I like pairing him with a near-minimum Cutler in GPPs, too.
Martavis Bryant vs. Bengals, $5,300: One of the cheaper ways to get exposure to a game that has blowout potential ... again, so long as Ben is back.
Stefon Diggs at Bears, $4,800: Diggs' ownership percentage is sure to be high -- a bad thing for GPPs -- but this price is about $1,000 too cheap in a great matchup (see above).
Tight End
Greg Olsen vs. Colts, $6,500: The Colts' strength on defense, Vontae Davis, won't impact Olsen. In a week without a lot of great tight-end options, if you're not going to punt, it might make sense to pay up for Olsen.
Antonio Gates vs. Ravens, $4,800: Someone from San Diego is going to score against the Ravens. Who will it be? Gates is expected to play, but if he sits again, then Ladarius Green at $3,000 becomes a quasi-elite option.
