Exactly how good will Eli Manning be this week?

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Ah, what a world we live in. It’s 2019 and whether or not to start Eli Manning in your fantasy playoff matchup is still somehow a decision we are making. Wow. What a time to be alive. As crazy as it sounds, the correct choice here is Eli. It’s a lot easier to stomach starting him when he’s going up against the Miami Dolphins this week. They shouldn’t offer too much resistance. Dwayne Haskins isn’t a bad start vs the Eagles, but you gotta ride the hot hand, and there’s no quarterback hotter than Lamar Jackson who’s a lot hotter than Eli Manning but Eli Manning is at least a solid lukewarm.

Among those backs, I’m out on Devin Singletary this week vs the Steelers who’ve been very good verse backs this year. Our trusted writer Paddi Cooper has Kareem Hunt as a must start this week and I’m inclined to believe him. The Cardinals defense has been well below average this year and Hunt has been extremely reliable since coming back from his suspension, averaging 14.5 PPR points per game. So he’s your RB2.

As for your Flex, I’m going to let you pick between Marlon Mack and Darius Slayton. Mack will likely be heavily involved in the Colts gameplan and gets to face a very broken and injured Saints defense that let Raheem Mostert run all over them last week. Meanwhile Slayton is coming off his best game of the year and now gets to play against the Dolphins who are giving up the most points to wide receivers this season. I made him one of my top 5 plays for the week so I’d say I’m pretty high on him. The choice is yours my young padawan.

Happy to hear the mailbag was able to help you this season!

I’d say Saquon Barkley, which is now me basically setting myself and all of y’all up for failure given that I’ve advised to start THREE Giants players this week. But when a team plays the Dolphins, you break in favor of that team. I think Aaron Jones could be a good play this week, but he’s been quite the streaky fantasy player this season and the Bears run defense has been solid recently, giving up the ninth fewest points the last four weeks. Plus, part of me thinks Aaron Rodgers is sick of Jones getting all the touchdowns and he’s going to audible into a pass as soon as the offense sniffs the five yard line just to spite Jones. If you need a home run, Jones is the pick. Barkley is more of a sure thing this week.

You start Tyler Higbee until either a) Gerald Everett returns (but even then, are we sure the Rams are going to take targets away from the red hot Higbee and funnel them to Everett?) or b) he proves that he no longer has it. Right now, he still has it and you play him. If Everett comes back, I still might break in favor of Higbee but David Njoku is the play. The Cardinals giving up fantasy points to tight ends is a phenomenon you can trust.

Oh man, that is tough. I think I’d go with Patrick Laird and Devin Singletary question mark. I obviously think Joe Mixon is better than those other options but I’m thinking this Patriots defense is going to be pissed after last week and they’re going to shutdown the run and force Andy Dalton to beat the best secondary in the league. That’s not likely going to happen.

I would think about Mixon over Breshad Perriman only if your lineup as is wouldn’t be able to survive a goose egg from Perriman. Mixon is going to at least get you points, just may not be a lot. If you can handle the risk Perriman comes with, I’d still start him over Mixon.

Thanks for the kind words!

Q: Rank these QB’s for this week: Mayfield, Wentz, Fitzpatrick (w/wo Parker) and God help me, Eli. Yes, it’s come to this. Also available are some slightly better players with tougher matchups (Cousins, Ryan, Goff, Josh Allen). Just need one. 4pts/Pass TD; -2/INT
— Keith K.

First things first, I wouldn’t be doing my job as managing editor of Fake Teams if I didn’t direct your attention to Nic Bodiford’s excellent QB rankings that he does every week. He has all these guys in there and ranked according to his thoughts:

As for my rankings, they are as follows:

1. Baker Mayfield vs Cardinals (will be very upset if Baker does nothing this game)
2. Carson Wentz vs Washington
3. Ryan Fitzpatrick vs Giants (w/w out DeVante Parker)
4. Kirk Cousins vs Chargers
5. Josh Allen vs Steelers (his running upside is huge)
6. Eli Manning vs Dolphins (ELIIIIIIIIIIIIIII)
7. Matt Ryan vs 49ers
8. Jared Goff vs Cowboys

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