Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the full weekly Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of this weekend’s games.
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Waiver Wire Picks
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
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Fantasy Football Outlook
Tyler Lockett: Lockett is the WR34 in fantasy, garnering a 20% target share, a 36.0% air-yard share, and a 25.0% first-read share (second on the team). Lockett ranks seventh among receivers in red zone targets. His fantasy stock has been buoyed by his two top 20 weeks (WR6, WR19), but the other three games he has played have not been kind for fantasy (WR87, WR55, WR42). Lockett will run about 62% of his routes against Kei’Trel Clark (75.8% catch rate and 117.7 passer rating) and Marco Wilson (79.5% catch rate and 133.5 passer rating). Arizona has allowed the sixth-most PPR points to perimeter wide receivers. Week 7 Positional Value: WR2
Pat Freiermuth: Freiermuth should be back this week. He has already told beat writers he expects to be active and a full-go. Before Freiermuth was sidelined, he was becoming an afterthought in this passing offense with only a 9.8% target share, but I’m curious how much that had to do with health because he only managed a 61% route run rate. Despite the missed time, he remains tied for the team lead in red zone targets. This week’s matchup should allow Freiermuth to ring the bell and alert the NFL that he is back in a big way. The Rams have allowed the third-most receiving yards, fourth-most fantasy points, and the highest yards per reception to tight ends. Week 7 Positional Value: TE2 with huge TE1 upside in Week 7
Jaleel McLaughlin: McLaughlin continues to threaten for more work, and it’s not hard to see why. Among 53 qualifying backs, he ranks second in explosive run rate, fourth in missed tackles forced per attempt, and second in yards after contact per attempt. He is lightning in a bottle. McLaughlin’s workload this week is questionable at best, but even on 10-12 touches, he could return nice flex value. Green Bay has the ninth-lowest stuff rate, the 11th-highest missed tackles allowed per attempt, and the fifth-most rushing yards allowed per game. Week 7 Positional Value: Strong Flex/RB3
Alexander Mattison: Mattison is the RB21 in fantasy, ranking tenth in snap share, fifth in opportunity share, and eighth in weighted opportunities. He has averaged 16.7 touches and 70.6 total yards. His snaps dipped to 51% in Week 5, but he rebounded with 79% of the snaps last week. Among 53 qualifying backs, Mattison ranks 38th in explosive run rate and 40th in yards after contact per attempt. He faces a 49ers run defense that has declined to the middle of the pack. They continue to stifle big runs with the 11th-lowest explosive run rate allowed, but they are only 17th in yards after contact per attempt and 17th in yards per carry allowed to zone runs (Mattison 65.9% zone). Week 7 Positional Value: Volume-based RB2/3
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