Week 7 Fantasy Football has arrived. With injuries piling up and the explosive Bills and Ravens on Bye, many fantasy football managers are scrambling for the right ghoul or goblin to slap into their flex.
Thankfully, the Week 7 Waiver Wire still offers multiple players with Week 7 Fantasy Football appeal that are less than 20% rostered. There’s a mix of pure ceiling vs. solid-enough floor plays… so which should you prioritize?
Let’s toss on the gloves to get down and dirty in finding the Top-Five Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Plays
5. Chargers TE Oronde Gadsden Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Outlook
While everyone scrambles for Harold Fannin Jr., another uber-athletic, hyper-productive rookie TE is flying completely under the radar. Yet, he’s catching passes from Justin Herbert instead of Dillon Gabriel, and not playing in a potential typhoon.
Yes, I’m talking about the 2%-rostered Oronde Gadsden.
Why Gadsden fell to Round 5 (Pick 165), I do not know. As a 19-year old sophomore, Gadsden broke out for 61-975-6 line, averaging a team-high 75.0 receiving YPG, which was also 1.99x as much as the next-closest Syracuse player. This would be the 2nd-most yards by a TE for any Power Conference TE in at least 10 years.
He then suffered a foot injury that derailed his junior year, but returned as a senior for a 73-934-7 TD line – another Top-5 receiving yardage season within this last decade. He’s on the list twice! He had a 56% contested catch rate, which is insane.
The rookie out of Syracuse then drew enormous hype all summer. His TE coach Andy Bischoff even compared him to Darren Waller, who he previously worked with: “I know it’s a huge forecast, but I mean I was fortunate to coach Darren Waller…And Darren Waller was a receiver in college. And we turned him into a tight end. He’s got some of those traits. It’s way early. Way early. But he’s twitchy. He separates, he does some really good things in the pass game.”
Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert also heaped praise onto Gadsden, who was routinely one of the “first guys in, last guys out” types all summer. Beat writers were surprised at how active he was with the first team.
Now, we’re starting to see that hype come to fruition in the regular season.
In Week 6, Gadsden set career-highs with 75% of the snaps, 30 routes (77% share, tied Keenan Allen), 8 targets (3 Red Zone!), 7 catches, and 68 yards. He finished as the TE12 on the week. Gadsden did all this despite Will Dissly returning, and despite an early-game fumble, suggesting he is fully locked in.
Granted, Quentin Johnston, a major mouth to feed, was removed. Still, Gadsden flashed real playmaking ability. We know Greg Roman has maximized athletic TEs like Vernon Davis and Mark Andrews in the past.
Plus, the Colts are just middle-of-the-road (15th) in FPs allowed to the position, and also down to their 4th and 5th string corners. I expect Herbert to absolutely light them up, and Gadsden to play a major part in that.
4. Colts WR Alec Pierce Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Outlook
Seasoned Fantasy Owners know the Alec Pierce story by now: boom-or-bust, without much room in between.
Week 7 seems to be shaping up as an overdue Pierce boom, but he remains just 7% rostered.
Few remember that Pierce actually led the Colts in receiving last year. Yes, he was always due for some regression after scoring 7 TDs on just 37 receptions. At minimum though, the spike-week upside is real, with 25% of his games last year in the Top-12 of WRs. He was a complete route-runner in college, and has been reportedly working on becoming more consistent.
Pierce also already has two 10+ PPR FP days on his resume in only 4 active games this year, so the floor isn’t as cavernous as some might think. He just has yet to reach that massive big play.
Week 7 could be the spot he pops off. Granted, the Charger defensive MO is not allowing big plays through the air. Per the Legendary Upside “Angles and Upside” podcast, Los Angeles is at the bottom of the league in man coverage. They’re top six in cover three, cover four quarters. They allow the shallow underneath routes far more often, which screams a Michael Pittman type of day.
Yet, with Josh Downs out, Pierce may be asked to expand that route tree a bit more. Over the summer, WRs Coach Reggie Wayne noted: “”I would love to get him on intermediate stuff, you know, because he’s got more than a deep ball threat in his arsenal,” Wayne said. “That’s stuff that we are all working on. He’s capable of doing all that stuff.” Bear writers mentioned “Most of Pierce’s catches and routes so far in camp have been on short and intermediate routes… and he has shown his potential as more than just a deep threat.” One beat went as far to suggest Pierce “has had the BEST camp of all WRs, caught multiple TDs from both QBs, and his route tree seems to be expanding.”
Perhaps he pops off for the big play. Perhaps Pierce truly has added branches to his route tree. Either way, he should be an 80%+ snap player in a game I expect the Colts to be chasing points. Down their entire CB room, Indy could yield a ton of points to Justin Herbert, which would result in the right script for Pierce to spring loose.
3. Buccaneers WR Tez Johnson Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Outlook
Speaking of big-play threats, how about Tez Johnson‘s insane highlight-reel, fingertip deep ball in Week 6?!
While the acrobatic, 45-yard catch is nice… the underlying reasons it even happened are even more encouraging.
According to JoeBucsFan, Tez adjusted his route mid-play from a crossing route to a go after recognizing the coverage:
“[It] was supposed to go across the field, good adjustment on Tez’s part,” Mayfield said. “Safety is waiting on the other side for him, so he just takes it up the middle.
“It is not necessarily a busted coverage. They had it covered well if you run the drawings on the paper, but Tez making an adjustment on the fly. That is huge for a rookie to be able to do and do it confidently in the midst of a game like that, especially in that moment.”
This is the type of veteran savvy that is rarely seen in rookie wide receivers, and will certainly earn Tez soem more trust and playing time moving forward. He saw his routes jump from 49% to a season-high 84% in Week 6. He’s gone 9.9 and 11.6 FPs in back-to-back weeks — nothing Earth-shattering, but still highly usable.
Even though Mike Evans is likely to return, Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin will definitely be out, leaving tons of targets up for grabs. Both guys feel likely to rest through the Bucs Week 9 Bye, which gives Tez a path to a couple weeks of value.
Perhaps best of all, the Bucs face the Lions on Monday Night Football in what projects to be a major shootout. The 52.5 O/U is the highest on the slate, and I’d be hammering the over still. The Bucs are also 5.5 point underdogs, implying they will be chasing points.
The cherry on top? Detroit has already allowed the 4th most FPs to Wide Receivers and will now be down at least Brian Branch, who was suspended for Week 7. CB Terrion Arnold is expected to miss at least another game, as is nickel corner Avonte Maddox.
I expect Johnson, who’s just 16% rostered, to be leaned on as the No.2 or No.3 WR in a game the Bucs need points. As such, another long TD is highly possible for the deep-ball specialist, and 4-5 catches feels like a safe bet.
2. Raiders TE Michael Mayer Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Outlook
With Brock Bowers doubtful and Jakobi Meyers questionable, the Raiders target totem pole is looking quite barren.
A serious candidate to pace this team in receiving for Week 7? Michael Mayer.
In his first game without Bowers, Mayer played 91.4% of the snaps, ran 80% of the routes, and logged a healthy 35% targets per route run. In the process, he racked up a healthy 7 looks, 5 TDs, 50 yards, and 16 total FPs to finish as the TE6 on the week.
This was while contending with Jakobi Meyers for looks, and also with the Raiders only dropping back 25 times. Meyers could very well be held out with trade rumors circulating. Additionally, the Chiefs are a whopping 12 point favorites, implying the Raiders will be playing catch up all day.
In fact, Chiefs opponents are averaging 35 drop backs per game. If Mayer only maintained his peripherals from last week, he would be in line for a whopping 11 targets. We would take that all day from our TE, nevermind desperation flex play.
Yet, Mayer remains just 5% rostered right now.
Remember, Mayer was an elite TE prospect out of Notre Dame who most ranked ahead of Sam LaPorta in the same class. He simply has been blocked off by Bowers. Yet, he’s now flashing what he can do, and should have at least this Week 7 matchup to really showcase his talents.
The Chiefs have defended the TE position well, allowing just the 27th most FPs to the position. Yet, I expect Mayer to operate more like a WR1 than a TE in this outing, and think he is among the highest floor flex plays available in over 90% of leagues.
1. Rams WR Jordan Whittington Week 7 Fantasy Football Flex Outlook
This is more of a bet on Sean McVay and the invaluable “lay up YAC” role he creates for his slot WRs than anything else.
But it’s a damn strong one, and one we’ve seen Jordan Whittington cook in before. With Puka Nacau out this week, Whittington should be asked to get in the kitchen once more.
Nacua currently leads the NFL in targets (65) and target rate (36.9%), while also ranking 3rd in Air Yards (633) — all despite missing most of Week 6. His absence opens up a glaring hole.
No, Whittington isn’t even close to the player Nacua is, and should not be expected to just fill in like Nacua 2.0.
Yet, Whittington saw just two games last year with snap shares above 50% — both in games Nacua missed. His stat lines in those games:
- 8 targets, 6 receptions, 62 yards, 12.2 FPs & WR35 finish
- 10 targets (!), 7 receptions, 89 yards, 15.9 FPs & WR17 finish
That’s quite steady volume for a rookie who otherwise barely played! Granted, Davante Adams didn’t exist on that roster, and I expect a Legacy Adams Week with no Puka. Still, there will be plenty of meat in a Stafford & McVay attack for at least two mouths to eat.
Just last week, once Nacua was out, Whittington was the immediate replacement. He played 25-of-26 snaps. Granted, Tutu Atwell missed this game, and is expected back in Week 7. Still, Whittington is far more similar to Puka than a deep ball speedster like Atwell.
Whittington also ranks Top-20 in run-blocking among WRs dating back to last year. We know McVay is a big believer in “block for the rock,” and Whittington fits the mold to a tee.
The matchup is also perfect for Whittington. He excels against zone coverage, and the Jaguars run zone on nearly 80% of the snaps — a top-3 rate. The Jags currently allow the 8th most FPs to WRs, and in particular allow a ton of receptions, ranking 4th in wide receiver catches allowed.
I expect a 8-9 target, 6-8 catch day for Whittington, which is far more floor than your typical 15% rostered flex dart throw.
Need some Week 7 Fantasy Football Sit / Start Help? Tune in tomorrow morning at 8am for The Wolf’s Sunday AM Show!
