clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Fantasy Football Rankings: Wide receivers for Week 7

Ranking the best wide receivers by matchup and opportunity for Week 7 of the 2018 NFL Season.

By Matias Wodner
NFL: Los Angeles Rams at Denver Broncos Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

With bye weeks starting to creep in, fantasy football managers will have to start thinking more strategically over the coming weeks. This week will handicap quite a few teams, as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders are all on bye. That means that Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Davante Adams, Tyler Lockett, Doug Baldwin, Amari Cooper and Jordy Nelson will all be unavailable to managers. Okay, the unavailability of those last two might be a blessing in disguise. Adams, Brown, Smith-Schuster and Lockett all rank in the top 20 in scoring at the position. Nelson isn’t far behind and Baldwin will be a solid WR2 when the Seahawks come back to action.

With all of these players not at your disposal, more thinking will be needed and matchups will have to be paid more attention to. Are there hidden gems that will be uncovered in Week 7? Probably not, but some well-known players who haven’t contributed in a while could become useful as bye week fill-ins. Let’s see what this week has in store for us.

WR Rankings - Week 7

Rank Player Team Opponent Notes
Rank Player Team Opponent Notes
1 Adam Thielen MIN @NYJ The Jets are dealing with a lot of CB injuries and they're most vulnerable in the slot anyway, where Thielen works everyone.
2 Julio Jones ATL NYG Janoris Jenkins had been limiting WR1s until Alshon exploded last week. PHI attacked Jenkins with Julio-type routes, which is encouraging.
3 Tyreek Hill KC CIN CIN has given up the 7th-most receptions and yards to WRs, just gave up a pair of 100-yard games to AB and JuJu, and a shootout is likely.
4 Odell Beckham Jr. NYG @ATL The targets are there and the matchup is undeniable. It's going to come down to whether Eli can get him the ball, which wasn't the case last week.
5 Michael Thomas NO @BAL BAL's defense is probably the best in the league, but NO is hot on offense and has had a week to prepare. Thomas is a matchup nightmare.
6 A.J. Green CIN @KC KC has quietly turned into a stout pass defense unit over the past few weeks, but in a shootout and not having elite CBs, AJG will eat.
7 Mike Evans TB CLE CLE has struggled to contain bigger WRs like JuJu/Mike Thomas/Amari/Jordy/Tyrell and Evans should bounce back after a pedestrian W6.
8 Robert Woods LAR @SF Has been the most consistent LAR WR since Week 1 and should soak up even more looks on the interior with Kupp sidelined.
9 Jarvis Landry CLE @TB It has been a bumpy ride, but Landry owns the league's highest team target share in the RZ and TB has given up 10 TDs to WRs.
10 Stefon Diggs MIN @NYJ Predictably struggled against Patrick Peterson last week, but should bounce back against a Trumaine Johnson/Buster Skrine-less Jets secondary.
11 DeAndre Hopkins HOU @JAX JAX gives up the fewest points to WRs. Hopkins is the 5th-best scorer among WRs. Hopkins went 7/55/1 and 4/80/1 against them last year.
12 Golden Tate DET @MIA MIA just got eviscerated by Taylor Gabriel, who is in the mold of Tate. Tate will avoid Xavien Howard all game.
13 John Brown BAL NO NO gives up the most fantasy points to WRs (and it's not even close). After a down week, Smokey is likely to explode against a porous secondary.
14 Keenan Allen LAC TEN Allen has been way more floor than ceiling, and that should continue this week against a TEN secondary that gives up a lot of short catches.
15 Brandin Cooks LAR @SF Sherman has been good, but he has historically struggled against quicker, shiftier players like Cooks. Cooks has caught 6 of his 7 RZ targets.
16 Kenny Golladay DET @MIA Babytron has hit double digits in every single game. He also has 5 looks within the 10-yard line, just one less than Jones.
17 Emmanuel Sanders DEN @ARI ARI is a funnel pass defense, meaning all of their production given up to WRs comes primarily from the slot, where Sanders has found a home.
18 Alshon Jeffery PHI CAR In the two games outside of a tough matchup against MIN, Alshon has caught 16 passes for 179 yards and 3 TDs. Also has 29 targets in 3 games.
19 Allen Robinson CHI NE You'd hope his target volume increases and it should in this one. NE just got dusted by Tyreek Hill and have allowed 9 TDs to WRs.
20 Tyler Boyd CIN @KC KC has given up the 4th-most receptions and 9th-most yards to WRs. Boyd hasn't seen less than 7 targets since W1.
21 Michael Crabtree BAL NO After dropping too many passes/not producing as expected, Crabtree put it all together in W6. Now he gets the most generous secondary in the NFL.
22 Julian Edelman NE @CHI For all of the praise showered upon the CHI defense, they've given up the 5th-most fantasy points to WRs. Edelman is Brady's most trusted target.
23 Sammy Watkins KC CIN Disappointed last week as Hill went bonkers and Hunt caught a long TD, but CIN is likely to focus their attention on Hill and open things up for SW.
24 Josh Gordon NE @CHI Gordon played 63 of 78 snaps last week and CHI just coughed up an assortment of big plays. Gordon is as explosive as they come.
25 Taylor Gabriel CHI NE Gabriel has caught all of his last 12 targets for 214 yards and 2 TDs. He's the clear #2 in the passing offense and CHI will have to throw to keep up.
26 DeSean Jackson TB CLE CLE just got demolished by deep passes from LAC and D-Jax is the best deep threat in the league. Coming off a 4/77 game, he can be trusted.
27 Marvin Jones DET @MIA Continues to be overshadowed by Golladay and is really just DET's deep threat at this point. 6 targets within the 10-yard line is a good sign, though.
28 Sterling Shepard NYG @ATL The return of Engram should dampen his target share a bit, but it's a great spot on the road against a crumbling defense in a potential shootout.
29 Christian Kirk ARI DEN Has easily overtaken Fitz as ARI's leading WR and has gone over 77 yards in 3 of the last 4 games. DEN is most attackable on the boundaries.
30 Chris Godwin TB CLE As Jameis returned, so did their chemistry from the end of last season. Godwin has 8 targets within the 10-yard line. Tied for 1st among all WRs.
31 Devin Funchess CAR @PHI Wasn't bothered in the slightest by Olsen's return and actually had his best game of the season. Now faces burnt toast Jalen Mills.
32 Corey Davis TEN @LAC LAC gave up a lot of WR production to start the year, but have tightened up as of late. Hayward will likely shadow Davis and limit his ceiling.
33 Willie Snead BAL NO #RevengeGame? Snead returns to NO as one of the more consistent WRs. He has gone for at least 5 catches and 54 yards in 4 of the last 5.
34 Paul Richardson WAS DAL He has found the end zone in 2 of his last 3 games and looks like the only reliable WR in WAS, especially with Crowder likely to sit again.
35 Albert Wilson MIA DET Wilson looks like one of the most explosive players in the league, but he's been extremely inconsistent and these long plays are tough to sustain.
36 Keke Coutee HOU @JAX Was pedestrian last week against underrated BUF, but he out-targeted Fuller for the 3rd straight week and slot guy Cole Beasley just wrecked JAX.
37 Demaryius Thomas DEN @ARI A date against Patrick Peterson will likely snap DT's 2-game TD streak. Peterson held Stefon Diggs to 3/33 last week.
38 Marquise Goodwin SF LAR LAR has given up 10 TDs to WRs over the last 4 weeks and have given up huge plays through the air, which is Goodwin's specialty.
39 Nelson Agholor PHI CAR Since Alshon returned, Agholor has caught just 12 of 21 targets for 158 yards, with most of that yardage coming on two broken plays last week.
40 Mohamed Sanu ATL NYG Likely to battle through a nagging injury with Ridley probably out. NYG is stout against WRs anyway, so he's looking like an avoid this week.
41 Dede Westbrook JAX HOU Has been way more consistent than Moncrief/Cole and acts as a safety valve for Bortles in the MOF with JAX having no worthwhile TE.
42 Cole Beasley DAL @WAS 9/101/2 vs. JAX was not within the realm of possibilities, but it happened and he's been DAL's most targeted WR all year. Will avoid Norman.
43 Jermaine Kearse NYJ MIN Took over for Enunwa in the slot last week and went 9/94. MIN also just lost slot CB Mike Hughes for the year, but it's still a daunting matchup.
44 Josh Reynolds LAR @SF Though he is around the same size as Kupp, he's more of an outside guy and won't soak up that many targets. But against SF, anyone can produce.
45 Tyrell Williams LAC TEN TEN hasn't given up many big plays through the air, but Tyrell is good for 1 or 2 deep shots per game and Malcolm Butler has been burnable.
46 D.J. Moore CAR @PHI Despite the two lost fumbles last week, CAR stuck with him and he ripped off a couple of chunk gains. PHI's secondary has been very forgiving.
47 Antonio Callaway CLE @TB He is absolutely terrible at everything except running straight, but against TB that may be all he needs to do and just have a ball fall into his lap.
48 Chester Rogers IND BUF He's been IND's most consistent WR (not saying much) with Hilton out and will avoid Tre White on the inside.
49 Will Fuller HOU @JAX Whether he's hampered by injury or not, he's been useless the last 2 weeks and Coutee continues to take away targets. Now gets Bouye/Ramsey.
50 Chris Hogan NE @CHI I will reserve the final spot for Hogan pretty much every week since he plays a good number of snaps and is attached to an elite QB.

Next Up In Fantasy Football