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Just when you thought the season couldn't get stranger, it did. Alshon Jeffery has been suspended for four games. This leaves owners in a precarious position. While Jeffery wasn't playing well to start the year, with Cutler back things were looking up for him and his owners. Now they will have to tough it out for 4 weeks as they try to maintain or fight for a playoff position. You may be wondering what to do if you are a Jeffery owner. Should you pickup Cameron Meredith or Eddie Royal, or should you go out and start to stream receivers. I tend to be in the latter group, as we are not sure how the Bears passing attack will look this week.
As it has been with the previous weeks, we will be seeing a lot of movement because of the matchups, but also because of role changes within offenses. Some people are seeing more opportunities now, while others may have to start taking a backseat to others. If you can recognize where these will happen and successfully navigate them, you will put yourself in a prime position to win. Without further talk, let's dive right into the rankings and some commentary on a few guys below.
Teams on bye: Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, New York Jets, San Diego Chargers
Rank | Player | Team | Opponent |
1 | Antonio Brown | Steelers | Browns |
2 | Odell Beckham Jr. | Giants | Bears |
3 | Mike Evans | Buccaneers | Chiefs |
4 | A.J. Green | Bengals | Bills |
5 | Dez Bryant | Cowboys | Ravens |
6 | T.Y. Hilton | Colts | Titans |
7 | Kelvin Benjamin | Panthers | Saints |
8 | Jordy Nelson | Packers | Redskins |
9 | Allen Robinson | Jaguars | Lions |
10 | Michael Thomas | Saints | Panthers |
11 | Brandin Cooks | Saints | Panthers |
12 | Amari Cooper | Raiders | Texans |
13 | Davante Adams | Packers | Redskins |
14 | Larry Fitzgerald | Cardinals | Vikings |
15 | DeAndre Hopkins | Texans | Raiders |
16 | Doug Baldwin | Seahawks | Eagles |
17 | Donte Moncrief | Colts | Titans |
18 | Stefon Diggs | Vikings | Cardinals |
19 | Jamison Crowder | Redskins | Packers |
20 | Randall Cobb | Packers | Redskins |
21 | Michael Crabtree | Raiders | Texans |
22 | Steve Smith Sr. | Ravens | Cowboys |
23 | Golden Tate | Lions | Jaguars |
24 | Rishard Matthews | Titans | Colts |
25 | Jordan Matthews | Eagles | Seahawks |
26 | Mike Wallace | Ravens | Cowboys |
27 | Terrelle Pryor | Browns | Steelers |
28 | Julian Edelman | Patriots | 49ers |
29 | Willie Snead | Saints | Panthers |
30 | Tyreek Hill | Chiefs | Buccaneers |
31 | Eli Rogers | Steelers | Browns |
32 | Sterling Shepard | Giants | Bears |
33 | Marvin Jones | Lions | Jaguars |
34 | Jarvis Landry | Dolphins | Rams |
35 | Cole Beasley | Cowboys | Ravens |
36 | Cameron Meredith | Bears | Giants |
37 | Kenny Britt | Rams | Dolphins |
38 | DeVante Parker | Dolphins | Rams |
39 | Pierre Garcon | Redskins | Packers |
40 | Adam Humphries | Buccaneers | Chiefs |
41 | Eddie Royal | Bears | Giants |
42 | Kendall Wright | Titans | Colts |
43 | Ty Montgomery | Packers | Redskins |
44 | Robert Woods | Bills | Bengals |
45 | Michael Floyd | Cardinals | Vikings |
46 | Allen Hurns | Jaguars | Lions |
47 | Corey Coleman | Browns | Steelers |
48 | Tyler Lockett | Seahawks | Eagles |
49 | John Brown | Cardinals | Vikings |
50 | J.J. Nelson | Cardinals | Vikings |
Stefon Diggs - Since Norv Turner resigned two weeks ago, Diggs has hauled in 13 receptions in each game. Clearly the Vikings have made it a focal point to get Diggs the ball as much as possible, especially when you consider how poor the running game has been. What is keeping Diggs from ranking higher though is the lack of scoring, and the potential that the Cardinals defense just bottles him up and tells the Vikings to try and beat them a different way. Either way though, expect plenty of targets in this one.
Jamison Crowder - In his last five weeks, Crowder has put up at least 9 fantasy points in each game. Crowder is one of those players that is always going to perform, regardless of whether DeSean Jackson is playing or not. Crowder and Reed are the two guys you can always trust with the Redskins to put up some numbers. This week Washington is facing a depleted Packers secondary that has been torched by most opponenets. Crowder should have himself a nice game here.
Jarvis Landry - What is going on with our "consistent" receivers this year? Players like Julian Edelman and Jarvis Landry have been anything but consistent this year. Since week 3 Landry has failed to score double digit fantasy points in standard leagues. This just isn't a guy we can trust to use as a WR2, and he is barely a WR3 this week in 12 team leagues. With a matchup against a good Rams defense, expect another subpar performance here.
Cameron Meredith - As I mentioned in the beginning, Alshon Jeffery is out for this game, and then another three after that. What this means for Bears pass catchers in the short-term is unknown. One would presume that Meredith would step in as the number one target, but just last week he was only "targeted" twice. I put targeted in quotation marks since they are counting the end of half hail mary TD catch he had as a target. So in reality, he was targeted one legitimate time. That doesn't inspire confidence in me to go out and claim he will pickup all of Jeffery's slack. My guess is that Howard is used more in the run game, and Zach Miller might get a slight uptick in targets.
Kenny Britt - Well it is official, Jared Goff has been named the starter. Why they are making the switch now makes no sense to me, but nevertheless it has happened. As I mentioned in my article recapping the top performers, if Goff became the starter, Britt would slip a little in my rankings. We just don't know what to expect from Goff at this point, or how he will distribute the targets. I personally don't think Goff will play well, which will leave the potential that Britt had with Keenum left untapped. Maybe Tavon Austin becomes used more in the offense to build Goff's confiidence, or maybe Todd Gurley finally gets going, but either way, Britt just can't be trusted to be the same consistent guy anymore.