Week 7 Fantasy Preview
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When it came to draft time in Fantasy Football, the running back position seemed to be the area where the focus of most GM’s seemed to be. The productivity in recent years of Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson and Arian Foster saw them almost certainly go in the first three picks of the drafts all around the world.
However so far this season, all the headlines seem to be being made by quarterbacks. There has been the scintillating play of Aaron Rodgers, the breathtaking start to the pro-career of Cam Newton, the boneheaded late game ineptitude of Tony Romo and the collapse of the Colts due to the absence of Peyton Manning.
All the players above, apart obviously from Manning, have scored heavily in Fantasy Football. Tony Romo’s tendency to capitulate in the 4th quarter does not have such an effect in the realms of Fantasy Football, his predisposition to throw interceptions not nearly as damaging as it is in the real world. Romo
is expected to score heavily again this week as the Cowboys take on St Louis.
The elite quarterbacks in the NFL are generally all snapped up in Fantasy Leagues, however, as this site’s own League shows there are still some pretty good QB’s out there who haven’t been snapped up.
Matt Schaub is one of the Top 10 projected scorers in this weeks ESPN Fantasy League, yet he does not feature in the roster of any of the players on this site. That may be down to bias, and the dread that a great Schaub performance may hurt the Titans. That’s why I still don’t expect him to get picked up this week, with the AFC South leadership on the line as the Texans visit LP Field. If he does produce the goods on Sunday, he may well be snapped up for Week 8.
The AFC West is an interesting division for quarterbacks, and was made even more so this week by the Oakland Raiders snapping up Carson Palmer from the Bengals. This follows the injury suffered by Jason Campbell last week. Palmer is a solid acquisition by the Raiders, but his Fantasy value may well come in later weeks once he has settled into his new offense. He may be worth taking a risk on by adding to the bench. Palmer’s introduction heaps more pressure on Darren McFadden, but if he copes and Palmer clicks the Raiders could be very dangerous customers.
It’s at divisional rivals Denver where most eyes will be focusing this week, with the starting debut of Tim Tebow. When I first saw him play, I honestly believed he could be the greatest player ever to play in the
NFL. That was in his junior year at Florida when he won not only the Heismann Trophy but a national championship. He was the reason, along with a holiday to Florida, that I chose the Gators as my college team.
I was however unaware of the subtle and not so subtle differences of the college and the Pro game, having never really had the opportunity to watch college football over here in the UK. When it was touted that not only would he not be the Number 1 pick in the draft, but that teams were not even looking at him, I was amazed. With most teams not sure if Tebow could make the change from an option offence to the Pro-Set it was only the Broncos who were willing to take the chance and after almost a year and a half, he now has the start. He probably couldn’t wish for a gentler introduction than against the toothless Dolphins and his Fantasy stock is quite high this week. Watch it grow higher with a game winning performance.