Fantasy Football Outlook: Alexander Mattison, Jonathan Taylor, Rachaad White, Zack Moss

Fantasy football managers are facing a six-team bye week. Bye-mageddon has arrived.

Six-team bye weeks are challenging, arduous, headache-inducing … and kind of fun?

There are plenty of lineup nightmares in weeks where we have a half-dozen teams on bye at once. But you are really playing the game of fantasy football at a time like this.

I provide my fantasy football rankings and tiers for Week 7 to help you navigate your start/sit lineup questions. Below we dive into a few notable players for the week.

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Fantasy Football Outlook

Tier 3 looks pretty sketchy this week, and what’s scary is that Tier 3 forms the bulk of our RB2 group. As uninspiring as Alexander Mattison and Rachaad White have been so far, I can’t imagine benching either unless you play in an eight-team league. Mattison averages 16.7 touches a game, White 17.2 touches. Volume is king at the RB position, especially in a six-team bye week. Mattison and White are pretty close to auto-starts this week.

When Jonathan Taylor came off injured reserve and returned to action in Week 5, he played 10 snaps and had seven touches, while Zack Moss played 53 snaps and had 25 touches. Colts head coach Shane Steichen said Taylor would get more work in Week 6, and Steichen was true to his word. Moss played 39 snaps, Taylor 33 last week. Both had 13 touches. Eventually, Taylor will get a majority of the snaps and touches, and it could very well happen this week. I’m ranking Taylor RB15 even though he hasn’t given us any glimpses of the Jonathan Taylor Magic Show yet. Fear not. It’s coming. Moss checks in at a playable RB25. At worst, Moss figures to get a snap/touch share of around 35%-40%, and his increased usage in the passing game stabilizes his floor. Moss has never had more than 23 receptions in a season. He’s already up to 14 receptions in 2023, and last week he had six catches for 38 yards on seven targets. The matchup against the Browns is tough, but the Colts’ rank sixth in running game DVOA. The Indianapolis offensive line was a big disappointment last year, but it’s been a good unit this year. PFF has the Colts with the fifth-highest run-blocking grade so far. Both Indianapolis RBs are playable.

-Pat Fitzmaurice