Alvin Kamara missed another practice on Friday, and has now been ruled out for Week 7.
The very first thing you need to do is make sure Latavius Murray isn't available in your league. Incredibly he's still available in 18% of leagues even though Kamara has been banged up for the past two weeks.
Murray has a terrible matchup against the Bears, but I expect close to 20 touches and significant usage in the passing game with Jared Cook also out. I'll be starting Murray in every league where I own him.
Don't have and can't get Murray? That's OK. Well, not exactly OK. But I do have other options for you below. But they aren't near as enticing.
Week 7 RB Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 7 at this time. Here's what it means:
It will be interesting to see if Washington gives more work in the passing game to Adrian Peterson or involves Wendell Smallwood.
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Add and start Latavius Murray.
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Numbers to know
- 33 - Combined touches for Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones on Monday night. There are enough touches for both Packers backs to be starters most weeks.
- 4% - Of Joe Mixon's rush attempts have come with eight or more defenders in the box. And they still can't block anyone. Worse, Giovani Bernard played more snaps last week.
- 4 - Targets for Austin Ekeler in Week 6. The return of Hunter Henry may hurt Ekeler as much as the return of Melvin Gordon did.
- 9 - James White has at least nine targets in three straight games. With Josh Gordon hobbled that doesn't figure to change.
- 5 - Rush attempts inside the Rams' 10-yard-line on Sunday. Coleman only scored on one of them, so maybe this changes, but right now he looks like the clear red zone back.
Matchups that matter
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Waiver Wire Targets
Henderson is the passing downs back until Todd Gurley returns, and he looked better on running downs than Malcolm Brown in Week 6. If Gurley misses Week 7, it's not hard to see how both Brown and Henderson could be useful against a very bad Falcons defense. At the very least you want to stash Henderson to see if his role grows.
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Edmonds has scored in back-to-back games and is turning this in to a little bit more of a time share than it was earlier in the year. It's not just touchdowns either; he has at least 67 combined yards in both games as well. He's a flex at best, but if you're going to settle for a desperation flex, you want it to be a guy in a high-scoring game like this one.
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I don't have any new justification, but Mattison is going to remain at the top of this list because of his situation. He's the clear handcuff to a back who has yet to play 16 games in a season. He's also on a team that strives to be one of the most run-heavy in the league and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
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Much like Mattison, Pollard is just one injury away from a featured role in a very good situation. I prefer Mattison because of Cook's injury history, but both Pollard and Mattison need to be rostered virtually everywhere.
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Snell ran very hard in Week 6 and actually outperformed James Conner on the ground. Conner left the game due to injury and has been dinged up multiple times this year. Jaylen Samuels won't be back after the bye, and there's at least a small chance that means they need Snell to carry the load. If you have a roster spot to play with, this is a great guy to use it on.
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DFS Plays
Fournette is doing almost everything you want a Fantasy running back to do. His 141 touches trail only Christian McCaffrey. He's averaging more than 5 yards per carry and he's seen at least six targets in every game but one. The only thing he's not done enough? Get into the end zone. In Week 7 he gets a Bengals defense that has already allowed 10 touchdowns to running backs. Fournette is my No. 1 running back regardless of site or price.
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The Packers have almost no receivers healthy, so I anticipate a high usage for both Williams and Aaron Jones this week. Thankfully, Williams' breakout happened on Monday night so his price hasn't been adjusted.
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Heath's Projections
Non-PPR Rank | PPR Rank | RB | FPTs | PPR FPTs |
1 | 1 | Leonard Fournette | 21.59 | 26.01 |
3 | 2 | Saquon Barkley | 19.46 | 24.37 |
2 | 3 | Dalvin Cook | 20.51 | 24.30 |
9 | 4 | David Johnson | 15.37 | 20.41 |
4 | 5 | Chris Carson | 17.08 | 20.27 |
8 | 6 | Phillip Lindsay | 15.63 | 19.16 |
5 | 7 | Ezekiel Elliott | 16.48 | 19.11 |
11 | 8 | Le'Veon Bell | 13.67 | 19.06 |
7 | 9 | Marlon Mack | 16.16 | 18.95 |
6 | 10 | Josh Jacobs | 16.27 | 18.22 |
12 | 11 | Latavius Murray | 13.44 | 17.68 |
13 | 12 | Aaron Jones | 13.17 | 17.45 |
28 | 13 | James White | 9.77 | 16.82 |
18 | 14 | Jamaal Williams | 12.47 | 16.13 |
20 | 15 | Royce Freeman | 12 | 15.68 |
22 | 16 | Devonta Freeman | 11.36 | 15.28 |
10 | 17 | Derrick Henry | 13.87 | 14.90 |
15 | 18 | Mark Ingram | 12.82 | 14.86 |
16 | 19 | Kerryon Johnson | 12.65 | 14.79 |
14 | 20 | Frank Gore | 13 | 14.42 |
17 | 21 | Tevin Coleman | 12.49 | 14.04 |
30 | 22 | Austin Ekeler | 9.43 | 13.46 |
19 | 23 | Sony Michel | 11.99 | 13.37 |
24 | 24 | David Montgomery | 10.65 | 12.97 |
26 | 25 | Matt Breida | 10.34 | 12.89 |
21 | 26 | Carlos Hyde | 11.68 | 12.44 |
32 | 27 | Devin Singletary | 9.16 | 12.03 |
29 | 28 | Joe Mixon | 9.48 | 11.87 |
27 | 29 | Lesean McCoy | 10.26 | 11.83 |
23 | 30 | Malcolm Brown | 11.28 | 11.73 |
25 | 31 | Jordan Howard | 10.40 | 11.41 |
34 | 32 | Melvin Gordon | 8.52 | 11.25 |
33 | 33 | Darrell Henderson | 8.88 | 11 |
36 | 34 | Kenyan Drake | 6.89 | 10.80 |
31 | 35 | Adrian Peterson | 9.29 | 10.50 |
40 | 36 | Tarik Cohen | 5.62 | 9.56 |
35 | 37 | Chase Edmonds | 7.31 | 9.52 |
38 | 38 | Miles Sanders | 6.60 | 8.42 |
37 | 39 | Duke Johnson | 6.74 | 8.25 |
39 | 40 | Damien Williams | 6.09 | 8.24 |
So who should you sit and start this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 7 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big time last season.
