Fantasy football buy & sell: Fantasy God Aaron Rodgers has finally returned

We did it everyone; we finally saw Fantasy God Aaron Rodgers return to the world. Handshakes and pats on the back all around, especially for those who started him last week. Double handshakes for you lucky fools.

After a season of middling stats, Rodgers finally reminded us all of just how dominate he can be as a fantasy quarterback, scoring six total touchdowns against the Raiders Sunday. Rodgers finished with 429 yards and five touchdowns passing to go along with six yards and a touchdown rushing. Not a bad day for a quarterback who up until that point had been the QB14 in fantasy. Thanks to that 40+ point outing, he now ranks QB7.

It feels like every week this NFL season has had more than a few crazy storylines and stats to come out of it. I mean, Rodgers wasn’t the only player this week to score way more touchdowns than anyone rightfully expected. Let’s determine together if these Week 7 reactions are worth buying or selling.

It’s hard not to buy into Rodgers’ Week 7 performance being a sign that his fantasy star has finally decided to shine. After all this was the fantasy quarterback for multiple years and we’ve all been waiting eagerly for him to finally click in Matt LaFleur’s offense.

That being said, I’m going to go against the grain here and sell. I 100% think that we will see the Aaron Rodgers of old—the fantasy king who can get you four touchdowns with the flick of his wrist any give week—constantly at some point this season, but not right now. Prior to his huge game, Rodgers had only thrown over 300 yards once this season and hadn’t thrown above two touchdowns. Give me another big showing this week against a bad surprisingly good Chiefs secondary (4th best pass defense per DVOA) and I’ll start buying with the rest of you.

Verdict: Keeping him in my shopping cart

Chase Edmonds is a RB2 and a must-start rest of the season

Edmonds was sensation against the Giants last week, rushing for 126 yards and three touchdowns. David Johnson was declared active right before the game, but despite that, only saw one carry with the entire workload falling on Edmonds’ more than capable legs. This now marks the third week in a row that Edmonds has scored at least one touchdown and gotten you double digit points in fantasy.

As you can see in the poll though, his path to continued excellence is not as clear as maybe you would think. Obviously if he’s available in your fantasy league, drop what you’re doing and go get him. But I’m not sold on his year long value being as high as maybe many would expect.

First off, the schedule gets tough for the Cardinals over the next four weeks, facing the Saints, 49ers twice and the Buccaneers. All three of these teams rank in the top four in fewest points allowed to opposing running backs. Plus, you have David Johnson hovering over Edmonds, possible to start at any week and take the bulk of the workload suddenly away from him.

I think Edmonds has fantasy value moving forward—he’s certainly cemented a solid role in the Cardinals offense for himself the rest of the year—but I don’t think he has reliable RB2 upside from here on out.

Verdict: Sell

You should trade Keenan Allen

Last week, Antonio wrote a whole breakdown of Keenan Allen’s recent struggles, but here’s the cliff notes version: after starting the season as the best receiver in the league, Allen has done a whole bunch of nothing since then. Even last week when Allen saw 11 targets, he only managed four catches for 61 yards. It may seem rash to trade him, but aren’t you starting to wonder if Allen’s first three weeks were the mirage, not his last four? I certainly am.

There’s bound to be someone in your league who thinks that better days are coming for Allen. Find that person and get whatever you can from him. Allen is an amazing wide receiver but personally I’m moving on mainly because I have no faith in this Chargers offense. Also, Los Angeles’ next four games are against the Bears, Packers, Raiders and Chiefs, three of whom are in the top 12 of points allowed to wide receivers.

Verdict: Buying that you should be selling

Stefon Diggs is back to being a consistent WR1

Yes it’s been a rough start to the year for Diggs, but he’s now gone over 140 yards receiving in each of the last two weeks and has seen his most targets all year. We all know Diggs is more than a capable fantasy receiver by himself, so really this question is: are you buying the sudden Vikings’ passing game resurgence?

Clearly, most of you are not, which is understandable given how this team started the season and who their coach is. I firmly believe there’s nothing in this world Mike Zimmer loves more than running the football 50 times and playing punishing defense. If he could, I bet Zimmer would be fine not having a quarterback in the game (he probably gets that from his Cincinnati days).

But, I think something has shifted in the Vikings mentality and maybe, just maybe, offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski is being allowed a little more freedom in his play calling. The Vikings’ play action rate has increased over the last two weeks which has been a key part of their offensive explosion. Plus, with Adam Thielen nursing a hamstring injury, Diggs might be in for even more work in the coming weeks.

Still, you’re buying “Diggs a WR1” which, despite all the positives I’ve said, I just can’t get behind. Had I said Diggs is a WR2 rest of the season, I’d be buying that like it’s hot, but you gotta play the way it was written.

Verdict: Selling on semantics

Corey Davis finally has fantasy value

In their first start with Ryan Tannehill under center, the Titans passing game looked almost serviceable, with Davis being the main beneficiary. He was targeted seven times and caught six balls for 80 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers Sunday. I hate to tell 59% of you you are wrong, buuuuuuut 59% of you are wrong. (Thank God I worded this better than my Stefon Diggs statement.)

I completely believe Davis has fantasy value moving forward with Tannehill driving the Titans offense, so much so, I’ve added him to almost all my leagues. Part of it is because I think the offense looked better Sunday than it had in awhile, but primarily it’s because the Titans’ schedule moving forward is such a gosh darn cake walk. The Titans play the Buccaneers, Panthers, Colts, Raiders, Saints and Texans twice, all of whom rank bottom 10 in points allowed to wide receivers. FantasyPros has them having the easiest schedule moving forward for the position. Would it be nice if a team we could truly trust had this schedule? Yes, but I’m choosing to buy this Titans squad and seeing what happens.

Verdict: Buy