Week 7 comes with some heavy bye weeks as fantasy assets from Green Bay, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Seattle are all unavailable. Fantasy players will have to make smart decisions with their lineups and on the waiver wire, and our position-by-position rankings will help with that. Patrick Mahomes will try to continue his torrid play in Week 7 against the Bengals, while Saquon Barkley gets a juicy matchup in primetime against Atlanta. Cam Newton and the Panthers will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, and with Greg Olsen back, SuperCam has a chance to show off his arm (as opposed to his legs) this week: [Make sports predictions to win cash prizes with Yahoo Fantasy Slate. Play for free] 2018 Fantasy Football Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ – Expert Consensus Rankings<doc-sep>Here, I’ll run through every Week 7 game and rank them from best to worst from a fantasy perspective. We’ll also look at betting lines to project possible winners and game script, as well as examining one key matchup to watch in each game. 1. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-1) Total: 57.5 Favorite: Chiefs (-6) Week 7’s highest projected scoring game comes in a meeting between two of the best teams in the AFC. The Chiefs got their first loss of the season last week against New England, but not for lack of trying. They came roaring back after a slow start and only lost by a late field goal. The Bengals have two troubling losses to good teams this year in Carolina and Pittsburgh but are good enough on offense to hang with anyone. The two will meet up in an “everyone in the pool” -style game for fantasy football. The Chiefs defense is starting to show some mild promise but have still allowed the most passing yards this year. They also got absolutely trashed on the ground by Sony Michel in Week 6. The Bengals defense looked like it could be promising but that hasn’t come to fruition. Despite talent up front, the team ranks 25th in sack rate and has faced the third-most completions in the NFL. If you have a Bengal or Chief in fantasy, you’re playing them. Break ties in favor of this game. Kansas City still looks like the superior team and could get Cincinnati without Darqueze Dennard or Shawn Williams in the secondary. Both missed portions of Week 7 practices. The Chiefs should take this one and cover the spread. Matchup to watch Joe Mixon has good odds to finish as the top-scoring back in Week 7. A week after Sony Michel trampled them, the Chiefs run defense will have to contend with Mixon, and his 11 targets and 85 percent share of his team’s rush attempts over the last two games. Mixon is operating on a true workhorse level right now, locked-in RB1 usage. With his workload secure, he’ll run through a defense that allows 5.32 yards per carry and the second-most catches (46) to running backs. Story continues Joe Mixon has every ingredient to mix up a top-scroing RB1 line in Week 7 (AP Photo/Frank Victores) The Chiefs middle of the field defense could also be exploited by C.J. Uzomah. The Bengals clear starter at tight end, he ranked fifth at the position in total air yards last week (68) and third in routes run (38) while taking 65.8 percent of his snaps in the slot. He’s a TE1 play this week against a Chiefs team allowing the most yards (550) to the position. 2. New York Giants (1-5) at Atlanta Falcons (2-4) Total: 54 Favorite: Falcons (-5.5) A meeting of two poor teams with subpar defenses but loaded skill-position spots is the perfect melting pot for fantasy success. The Falcons can be trusted at home to make bank. They’ve cleared 30 points in each of their four games in Atlanta. The Giants offense is not at all in the circle of trust but the Falcons defense is so poor, it should allow the unit to look more like the group that finally amassed 30 points for the first time since 2015 just weeks ago. Even secondary players like Evan Engram (set to return) and Sterling Shepard should find success in this potential shootout. The Falcons are one of 10 teams to allow three-plus touchdowns to tight ends this year and their slot corner, Brian Pool,e gives up a 72 percent catch rate. The Giants offensive line is a mess, ranking 32nd in Football Outsiders adjusted line yards and top-8 in quarterback hits allowed. However, the Falcons don’t provide much pass rush and cede 4.51 yards per carry and an NFL-high 53 catches to running backs. Matchup to watch Ito Smith is clearly in focus as a flex play. He is legitimately good and makes defenders miss. He has three touchdowns in as many weeks and continues to show why the team wants him to have a place in the backfield with Devonta Freeman now on IR. Tevin Coleman has not really added much to his touches, falling under 3.7 yards per carry in every game since Week 3. He’s never too much of a threat for passing game work either, as he’s had four catches or fewer in all games this season. The Giants have allowed nine total touchdowns to running backs this season, tied with the Chiefs for second-most in the NFL. 3. Cleveland Browns (2-3-1) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-3) Total: 50.5 Favorite: Buccaneers (-3) Each of these offenses has flashed moments of major promise but we’d certainly call the Bucs the more established unit. Tampa Bay quarterbacks haven’t finished lower than QB8 in any game this season, outside of the debacle in Chicago. Jameis Winston was legitimately fantastic in his 2018 starting debut, aside from his patented brain-fart turnovers. Winston finished with a completion rate 18 percent over expectation against Atlanta, per Next Gen Stats; the best among Week 6 passers. His viability keeps the offense afloat but he also spreads the ball around. Nine players caught a pass and no one saw double-digit targets. Baker Mayfield should see his breakout game come this week. The Bucs rank 32nd in completion rate allowed, touchdown rate, passing yards per game and touchdown rate. Mayfield makes his fair share of mistakes but he’ll face a defense that has just a single pick on the season and just fired their defensive coordinator. Matchup to watch The Buccaneers have allowed nearly every wideout they’ve faced to slice them up and down the field this season. No receiver needs a slump-buster more than Jarvis Landry. He has not cleared 70 yards in any of Baker Mayfield’s three starts despite seeing 10 targets in each contest. Landry still ranks top-10 with a 27 percent share of his team’s targets. Positive regression should hit this week in Tampa and Landy makes for a fine buy-low and DFS contrarian play. 4. Los Angeles Rams (6-0) at San Francisco 49ers (1-5) Total: 52.5 Favorite: Rams (-10) While this game became much more interesting after C.J. Beathard delivered a strong Monday night performance against the Green Bay Packers, the Rams are still heavy 10-point road favorites. We know the LA offense has the potential to smoke any opponent they face. The real question lies with San Francisco. The Rams defense ranks 26th in yards per carry allowed to running backs and 23rd in explosive pass play rate allowed. The team has fatal flaws defensively amid injuries in the secondary. The 49ers still rank 13th in points and yards per drive despite the quarterback change. Beathard has shown he can be trusted and could dial up more big plays for Marquise Goodwin, who smoked the Packers in Week 6. Still the NFL’s leader in yards per carry (6.8), Matt Breida should be able to slash through this front seven that isn’t all that concerned with stopping the run. This could easily become a high-scoring game. Matchup to watch With slot maven Cooper Kupp set to miss a few weeks, Robert Woods will slide inside to replace him for the time being. That will bring Josh Reynolds into the starting mix at right wideout. Woods will get a juicy matchup with the non-Richard Sherman defenders in the 49ers secondary. Teams have completely avoided the future Hall of Famer at left corner this season. Sherman has been targeted on just eight percent of his routes covered, the lowest rate among all cornerbacks. With Reynolds likely doing battle with Sherman, he is a risky deep sleeper play. Woods could be in line for one of his best games of the season as a primary slot receiver, while Brandin Cooks at left wideout could torch Ahkello Witherspoon. 5. Chicago Bears (3-2) at New England Patriots (4-2) Total: 49.5 Favorite: Patriots (-2.5) The Bears are 2.5-point home dogs against the Patriots despite showing offensive firepower in each of their last two games. New England has found their groove again, crushing the Dolphins and Colts before handing the high-flying Chiefs their first loss. Chicago being spotted less than a field goal shows the respect they’ve earned this year. What will be interesting is whether the Bears continue with a spread offense based around Tarik Cohen or try to control the clock with Jordan Howard. The last two weeks it’s been all the latter. Cohen leads all running backs to have played three-plus games this year with 18.2 percent of his snaps taken in the slot. He’s also been targeted on 28 percent of his overall routes run this year. Howard has been, whether by design or by circumstance, not much of a factor with 25 carries and no catches in the Bears last two games. Allen Robinson was downgraded to a DNP at practice on Thursday and his availability would impact the Bears options when trying to spread the field. This game should get high-scoring and potentially push its total, which dropped slightly from the 50 it opened up as. Matchup to watch The Bears need Khalil Mack healthy for this one. He was hobbling with an ankle injury in their loss to the Miami Dolphins and their defense subsequently fell apart late to a Brock Osweiler-led offense. Mack did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday this week. If he’s not out there, the Bears defense begins to slip back to ordinary status. With Mack, the Bears have a shot to exploit an area of weakness for Tom Brady this season. Brady completes just 47.5 percent of his passes when under pressure this year — 20th in the NFL, according to PFF. 6. New Orleans Saints (4-1) at Baltimore Ravens (4-2) Total: 50 Favorite: Ravens (-2.5) The Saints have rattled off four straight wins since getting upset by the Bucs in Week 1. The Ravens let the division-rival Bengals and Browns get the best of them in two contests, but have otherwise looked like a true contender in the AFC. We get your classic defense vs. offense matchup in this spot. The Ravens are No. 2 in adjusted sack rate this year, allow the second-fewest passing yards per game and give up a league-low 73.1 passer rating. You can’t run on them either, as they give up just 3.58 yards per carry and the fewest (85.5) total yards to running backs. With the Saints outside of the dome, it will take the best possible effort from their star players to secure this one. Two factors should help Drew Brees and company: using Michael Thomas in the slot and Alvin Kamara as an outlet receiver. Thomas already leads the NFL by seeing a target on 33.9 percent of his routes run from the slot. Lining up there would put him in the crosshairs of Tavon Young, who is the lone Ravens corner to allow a passer rating north of 89 (119.3) this year. Despite his one-week blip and a bye, Kamara still ranks seventh in the NFL in routes run and third in receiving yards among running backs. Matchup to watch Following the targets and air yards volume didn’t lead to fantasy success with John Brown last week, as the positive regression truck backed up for his teammate Michael Crabtree instead. However, Brown’s bounce back game could come in this spot after just 6-81 over his last two games. As the Ravens primary right wide receiver, Brown will run most of his routes against Ken Crawley, who has been one of the worst corners in the NFL this season. Teams have dunked on Crawley to the tune of 15.4 yards per catch, four touchdowns and a 141.7 passer rating, per PFF. 7. Carolina Panthers (3-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (3-3) Total: 45 Favorite: Eagles (-5) The Panthers travel farther up the east coast one week after a bad road loss to Washington. Carolina barely escaped losing to the Giants back in Week 5, so it’s fair to wonder just how good this team really is. Their biggest issue in Week 6 was getting down early, as a fumbled punt by D.J.<doc-sep>
A look at team defenses for Week 7 in fantasy football leagues, including rankings and units whose stocks are rising and falling. THREE UP: The Indianapolis Colts offer hope for production based on matchup alone. They get the Buffalo Bills at home, who are starting newly-signed backup quarterback Derek Anderson. Indy is tied for No. 10 in the NFL with 10 takeaways and should add to that number in Week 7. ... the Texans defense is heating up and travels to Jacksonville to face a Jaguars team that has the second-most giveaways (14) and second-worst turnover margin (minus-9) in the NFL. Houston has seven takeaways and two return touchdowns in its past three games. ... the Chargers get their third straight subpar offense, this time in London against the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee has some ingredients, but they aren't coming together with much consistency. And that includes giving up 11 sacks and picking up just seven first downs in a 21-0 loss to Baltimore last week. Ride the wave. THREE DOWN: The Jacksonville Jaguars are Exhibit A why drafting a defense early in fantasy is a mistake. This group was dominant last season and went into 2018 as perhaps the only defense in fantasy that could be set in lineups and forgotten. But the Jags haven't played to their upside, and they got embarrassed last week by a suspect Cowboys offense. Houston is an OK matchup on paper, but last week's circus damaged trust and dropped them to the No. 15 unit in fantasy. ... the Ravens once again rank among the elite defenses in fantasy, but even they warrant a turn on the bench facing a balanced Saints offense that has topped 40 points in two straight games and three of five. ... the Titans travel to London and get one of the hottest offenses in the NFL in the Chargers, who rank No. 5 in scoring and come off scoring 38 points on the road against a sound Cleveland Browns defense. They're worth avoiding. WAIVER WATCH: The Buffalo Bills go into Week 7 as a top-5 fantasy defense with double-digit points in three of their past four games. It's a group that is overachieving in all kinds of ways, but particularly as a defense with 12 takeaways, tied for sixth-most in the NFL, and 19 sacks, tied for third-most. The Bills have a shot to post another big number on the road against a Colts offense with precious few playmakers surrounding Andrew Luck. Perhaps the bigger storyline to watch is the Bills offense and whether Derek Anderson can sustain drives, protect the ball and keep the Bills D out of short-field situations. TOP 20 RANKINGS 1. Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 2. Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston 3. Los Angeles Chargers vs. Tennessee 4. Houston Texans at Jacksonville 5. Buffalo Bills at Indianapolis 6. Denver Broncos vs. Arizona 7. Philadelphia Eagles vs. Carolina 8. Arizona Cardinals vs. Denver 9. Chicago Bears vs. New England 10. Miami Dolphins vs. Detroit 11. Detroit Lions at Miami 12. Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets 13. Baltimore Ravens vs. New Orleans 14. Carolina Panthers at Philadelphia 15. Indianapolis Colts vs. Buffalo 16. Washington Redskins vs. Dallas 17. New York Jets vs. Minnesota 18. Dallas Cowboys at Washington 19. Cleveland Browns at Tampa Bay 20. Tennessee Titans at Los Angeles Chargers