Buy Miles Sanders?! The same Miles Sanders who has just 29 carries over the past four weeks? Are you smoking crack again, Donkey Teeth? Yes, yes and not at the moment, Mr. Random Italicized voice. Here’s the thing with Miles Sanders: he’s the Eagles most dynamic and explosive weapon (or tied with Jalen Hurts) and they haven’t been giving him the ball. And they’ve been losing games. I’m no longer a rocket scientist—I quit rocket science to write dick jokes and fantasy football advice—but it seems like the Eagles just might realize that they should try giving Sanders the ball. From an opportunity standpoint, Sanders’ percentage of the offensive snaps has been on the rise each of the last three weeks, culminating in a season high of 83% this past week. So the lightbulb may have already gone on in Nick Sirianni’s head. Regardless, Sanders’ consensus fantasy value can’t get much lower and his owner in your league is probably ready to quit fantasy football altogether. He’s a risky investment depending on the cost but there’s a chance Colonel Sanders returns high-end RB2 production over the rest of the season. Anyway, here’s some more players to buy or sell this week in fantasy football:
BUY
J.D. McKissic – As of this writing, the severity of Antonio Gibson’s shin injury is TBD. He came in and out of the game after the injury which is encouraging but these things also tend to get worse once the game adrenaline stops rushing—or something like that, I quit med school to write dick jokes and fantasy football advice. Jaret Patterson will likely take the early down opportunities if Gibson misses time and he’s absolutely worth a speculative roster spot, but in PPR formats, McKissic is that guy I want.
D’Ernest Johnson – The Browns went from riches to rags in a matter of hours. Kareem Hunt will miss several weeks with his calf injury and Nick Chubb may or may not be back in week 7. The Johnson of D’Ernest stands to gain great value even if Chubb does play since this offense if built for two RBs. Demetric Felton is the other Cleveland back worth consideration.
Kenyan Drake – Coincidence that Gruden is ousted and immediately Peyton Barber is a healthy scratch and Drake explodes for his best game of the year? Expect Drakes workload to expand in the coming weeks.Â
Rhamondre Stevenson – The Patriots’ rookie isn’t more than a desperation option for the time being, but he may be gaining Belichick’s trust. And if Damien Harris were to miss time again, Stevenson would immediately find himself in the RB2 conversation.
Darnell Mooney – Mooney appears to be Justin Fields’ favorite target (sorry Allen Robinson owners). It’s still tough to start anyone in the Bears’ passing game but things are finally trending in the right direction.
T.Y. Hilton – He’s back! (for now) I said the same last year, if Hilton can manage to stay on the field he can absolutely be a startable WR3. He played 50% of the offensive snaps in his return and caught 4 of 4 targets, look for those numbers to increase moving forward.
Rashod Bateman – In the rookie’s first game he tied Mark Andrews with a team high of 6 targets from LJax while playing 65% of offensive snaps. Encouraging! It’s worth grabbing the kid for the upside to see if he can build on the debut.
Marquez Callaway – Callaway rode a three game hot streak into the Saints’ bye week and no there’s work that Michael Thomas is still “weeks” from returning. There’s a chance we don’t see Thomas at all this year.
Donovan Peoples-Jones – In a shocking development, Odell Beckham Jr. is hurt. Again. OBJ is already doubtful for the Browns’ Thursday night game while Jarvis Landry’s status is up in the air as well. Peoples-Jones is good peoples.
Tua Tagovailoa – Seems like people have forgotten about Tua a bit. He was an elite QB prospect coming off a great preseason. It’s still to be determined have much he’ll be using the legs, but if he does run there’s QB1 upside in Tua. At worst he’s a nice streaming option based on matchups.
Ricky Seals-Jones – RSJ is only a short-term buy until Logan Thomas returns in a couple weeks. But if you need at TE until then, Ricky the Seal has 15 targets over the past two weeks and found the end zone this week too.
SELL
Mike Evans – I said to sell Evans last week and he caught two passes for 24 yards this week, so why is he still on the sell list? Because the sell-window is still plenty open. One down week isn’t going to deter your entire league from buying in on a guy like Evans who’s still being valued as a high-end WR2 by the consensus. He’s a fringe WR2 in my book due to inconsistency.
Antonio Brown – Two Bucs receivers in one sell column! Don’t get me wrong, these guys are going to both have some big weeks and I actually think AB will be slightly more consistent than Evans because his production is less touchdown dependent. But coming off the past two monster weeks (16 catches for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns), someone in your league might be feeling all nostalgic thinking Brown is suddenly a bonifide WR1 again. He honestly might be, but odds favor the fantasy points being spread out between AB, Godwin, Evans and Gronk from week to week which sets us all up for disappointment. Long story short, sell him but make sure you’re getting at least high end WR2 value in return.
D’Andre Swift – Like Evans, Swift is making a repeat appearance down here for the second straight week. Unlike Evans, Swift had another positive game this week making him an even better sell this week. Not only did Swift find the end zone again but he dominated the backfield touches over Willimas by a margin of 18-5. I expect this ends up as an outlier based on how this game flowed, there’s no reason to think Williams workload will evaporate and he still played 30% of the offensive snaps. See if you can cash Swift in for a low-end RB1 return.
