Fake Teams Fantasy Football Mailbag: Is it worth trading Alvin Kamara or James Conner?

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Onto the mailbag:

Q: If you had Kamara, Connor, Mack and Chubb at RB. Would you trade Connor for D. Adams? Kamara for M. Thomas?

— Vincent T.

Short answer: No.

Obviously it depends on how your fantasy team is constructed. If you really really need wide receiver help, maybe try to move one of your backs for a WR2 type guy. But I would be very hesitant to give up either Alvin Kamara or James Conner heading into the fantasy playoffs.

With Nick Chubb on his bye, I’d see what offers you could get for him. Sell high on a guy who’s going to be on a losing team the rest of the year, one that’ll likely need to pass the ball more to play catch up then run the ball to establish their lead.

Plus, running backs will consistently get you more points than receivers so it’s better to have the best guys at that position than to have a good receiver and one of those dudes.

Q: PPR: MVS, Tate, Sutton, or J Brown at FLEX?

— @AndeTheEngineer

I hope you didn’t start MVS since he was a complete no-show last night. To me this ultimately comes down between Golden Tate and John Brown. I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with Brown so far this season, with many of his big games coming whilst on my bench and his average games coming as a starter. However, I have a hard time saying no to his matchup vs the Bengals who’ve just fallen apart at the seams this season.

BUT I’m going with my gut, ignoring Brown—which has always worked out for me, and saying start Golden Tate. Yes this will be Tate’s second game with the Eagles but this game is going to be a track meet and Philly is going to need to throw the ball a lot in order to keep up with New Orleans. And lucky for the Eagles, the Saints defense is hot garbage so I’d expect Tate and Carson Wentz to quickly get on the same page and bust a couple of big YAC plays in this game.

Q: Sit ONE : Manning, Mariota, Fitzpatrick

— Arnold F.

Sit Fitzmagic. The Giants defense has been top 10 at limiting opposing QB fantasy output while Eli Manning will certainly feast on the Bucs’ secondary and Marcus Mariota faces 14th ranked Colts’ defense.

Q: D Watson or M Trubisky in STD league? Trubisky concern is vikings defense and Watson concern is low scoring game with Washington.

Olsen or Ebron - Matchup seems good for Olsen and Ebron is proven so far.

— @RK_Colorado

100% Deshaun Watson. I think we could be in for a 3+ touchdown performance from Watson this weekend.

The matchup says to start Greg Olsen. Olsen has been exactly what you’ve expected him to be since coming back from injury and has been a integral part of the Panthers’ offense (6 targets in the last two games). I know Eric Ebron has been a miracle this season but he’s facing easily his most difficult matchup of the year. The Titans have allowed only 295 receiving yards to tight ends this season and have yet to allow a touchdown. There’s plenty of other places for Andrew Luck and the Colts to attack this defense so I wouldn’t be surprised if Ebron has a more pedestrian week.

Q: Which player should I play. mark Ingram coming off a big game against Cincy or demaryius thomas against a secondary that hasn’t played well against WRs lately?

— Eric P.

I’m going to stay on #brand and say Demaryius Thomas against struggling Washington secondary. As you mentioned, Washington has been giving up the eighth most fantasy points to opposing receivers over the last four weeks and I could easily see Thomas getting free for a 20 to 30 yard touchdown which instantly gives you decent fantasy production.

I’m not against starting Mark Ingram, but the Eagles’ run defense has been well above average this season, allowing only 564 rushing yards so far this season, second best in the league. However they’re giving up the ninth most receiving yards to backs, meaning I’d expect this to be a big Alvin Kamara game.

Q: 1. Need 1 RB & 1 Flex (1/2ppr); Ingram, Coleman, Lindsay, I.Smith

2. Graham or Burton (ppr)

3. Need 1 Flex(ppr); Sanders, KJohnson, Sutton, Valdes-Scat, Yeldon, I.Smith. Thanks!

— Nick B.

1. Tevin Coleman and Philip Lindsay (Side note: what’s the deal with some people spelling Philip with one L and some spelling it with two? Is there a reason? I’m not judging, just simply curious. It seems mildly arbitrary and just random since it doesn’t change the pronunciation of the name at all. I guess it’s the same thing as like Cathy or Kathy. Personal preference. Ok, side note over.)

2. I hope you didn’t start Graham :\

3. I’m going with Kerryon Johnson here. Emmanuel Sanders and Courtland Sutton have a tough matchup against a frisky Chargers secondary and T.J. Yeldon I’m not sure I trust the workload enough to reliably start in the flex. You know Johnson’s going to get his touches and the Panthers’ run defense has been average this season and susceptible to strong fantasy outputs.

Have fantasy football questions? You can email them into FTFFmailbag@gmail.com or tweet them at @petemrogers or @faketeams using the hashtag #FTFFmailbag.