We have made it to week 7 which is the midway point in most fantasy football seasons. In most leagues, the regular season ends week 13 or 14, so we’re headed into the “make or break” weeks of the season. With the injuries you’ve been navigating and the bye weeks in full swing, it is even more important to find productive players to put in your flex spots. That is exactly why I write this column, to help you make these tough decisions and win your weeks!
As you know, every Thursday here on Razzball, I will be posting the weeks “Sexy Flexies” to give you a couple of players to consider starting in your flex spot. The objective isn’t to point out the obvious guys you’re starting in your RB or WR slots, but to take a look at a couple of players who are a bit more under the radar. These will likely be guys that you won’t start every week but will be good rotational pieces in the flex spot of your lineup based on matchup and opportunity.
What I do here is look at the match-ups and opportunities and highlight for you a couple of guys who I believe will perform in the situation they are in for the given week. For this column, we will be looking at players who are ranked 60th or later at the flex position for the week, according to Fantasy Pros Consensus Ratings, but will still get you double digit fantasy points in your flex spots. Let’s take a look at the players who will be the “Sexy Flexies” for week 7!
Joshua Kelley – RB – Los Angeles Chargers – vs Jacksonville
After the Austin Ekeler injury in week 4, many analysts and even journalists around the team expected rookie Joshua Kelley to step into the feature role in the Chargers backfield. Unfortunately for all of us who started him, it was a disappointing performance where he was out touched by Justin Jackson. He did run up against a stout Saints front 7, but the fact he only played 35% of the snaps have people concerned about starting Kelley this week. Anthony Lynn has raved about Kelley and there’s no doubt he likes him and wants him involved in the offense. Kelley may lose work to Jackson, but he is still the short yardage and goal line back and also gets a very favorable matchup this week.
Coming out of the bye week, the rookie has had a bit more time to slow his excitement down and prepare to carry a bigger workload. The Chargers face the Jaguars this week who have been terrible against the run this season. Jacksonville ranks 27th in PPR points per game to the RB position and has allowed the 4th most fantasy points to the position over the past 4 weeks. The Chargers are also expecting to have 2 of their starting offensive linemen back as well to help open some holes for Kelley in the run game. I expect Kelley to get 12-15 carries and a couple of targets as well, so if he can rack up 50+ yards (which he has done 3 times already) and find the endzone he will be a nice double digit flex start for you.
Christian Kirk – WR – Arizona Cardinals – vs Seattle
Underneath the bright lights in a primetime game last week, we got to see Christian Kirk score 2 touchdowns from Kyler Murray. The irony was that the big game came in one where he saw his fewest targets of the season. The week before, against the Jets, we saw Murray look to get Kirk more involved in the offense and they looked to be starting to click. The Cardinals were using Kirk in that game as both a downfield weapon and on shorter intermediate routes as well, as he tied DeAndre Hopkins in targets that week. I look for the trend to continue as the Cardinals have realized that Kyler needs another weapon to compliment Hopkins for the offense to click on all cylinders- and Kirk is that weapon.
This week he gets a matchup against the Seattle Seahawks who have allowed 12 different wide receivers to eclipse 65 receiving yards in the 5 games they have played. This is a game with a high expected point total so there should be plenty of action on both sides of the ball which should equate to more volume for Kirk. If Kirk lines up mainly against Shaq Griffin as we expect, he draws a corner who has allowed 382 yards and 4 TDs in his coverage thus far on the season. Arizona will have trouble on the ground as the Seahawks have the third best run defense according to PFF grades, so the Cardinals will likely have to throw more in this game. Even a 5 for 70 game gets you double digit points, but in a shootout game like this should be, Kirk is also likely to score a touchdown for a nice cherry on top!
As always, lets crush this week and hopefully these Sexy Flexies will help you get some wins. Both players have great double-digit point upside and should have significant roles in their team’s game plan this week. Don’t forget, for some more help with setting your lineups check out Rudy Gamble’s Pigskinator for weekly projections! I always encourage you to follow me on twitter @fantasycoachjb and ask me all your questions there as well. Good luck in all your matchups this week!
