Over the past few years during the NFL season, Ted Schuster and I have been doing a segment on the SiriusXM radio show called “Right, Wrong or Indifferent.” Basically what this means is a scorecard for all of the predictions, rankings and recommendations we gave out during the previous week for fantasy football.
I feel very strongly about users (readers, listeners, customers, etc) holding fantasy analysts responsible for the information and advice they pass along. To be honest, its way too easy for us to disguise our analysis on a week in and week out basis because there are thousands of excuses to be made. After all, we aren’t the ones playing the game, right? Well, nah, eff that. We need to be held accountable. If we aren’t then its too easy to become soft and not pay as much attention or not watch the games that we are trying to make sense out of. You guys deserve better.
Thus, I will be putting our radio segment down on paper and posting it right here each week on the Fantasy Alarm site. I encourage you to help be hold myself (and Ted!) accountable for the information that we provide. Now be careful here because if you are going to try and come at me with blame for something I didn’t say or take my thoughts out of context than I reserve the right to fire back at you. And you had better believe that I will. Just stick to the actual things that I say and we should have no problems.
This is a good spot to post your submissions for our Haterade segment on the SiriusXM show as well. Just light me on fire in the most negative way possible in the comments section, on the Fantasy Alarm Forums or on Twitter (@Jeff_Mans).
Here is my Right, Wrong & Indifferent for Week 7:
RIGHT
Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers
One of my favorite things to do is to buy low on really good players who many people are currently down on. This was the case with the Monday-Thursday DFS contests last week when I went all in on Rodgers and the Packers receivers. Not only did I play Rodgers, I also predicted that he would throw for 300+ yards and 3 TD’s in the nationally televised game. He did and it was my most profitable Monday-Thursday night of the year so far.
Andrew Luck, QB, Colts
I shouldn’t be proud of myself for predicting two of the best QB’s in the NFL would have good games but this is where we are at in our society. So many people are ripping on Luck and asking whether to start him every single week. Luck should be in your lineup every single week regardless of matchup.
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Buccaneers
The 49ers are a grease fire of a defense right now. I am convinced that you could take one of the Kardashian’s and have them prance around to the tune of 100+ yards and a touchdown against them. Rodgers has a lot of juice right now as the schedule is soft for the Bucs and Doug Martin had a setback last week meaning he will not be back for a while.
DeMarco Murray, RB, Titans
The easiest call of the entire week but I am going to take some credit for it and I will tell you why. I saw quite a bit of DFS analysts on Twitter and other places who were saying to fade Murray this week. I paid up for him in DFS and got back a top six performance for my efforts.
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Mike Evans, WR, Buccaneers
All of the chalk receivers hit this week but Evans was the one that I had the most shares of myself. I was debating today whether or not Evans was the best fantasy WR in football right now? The only WR that I am more confident in on a week to week basis is actually Julio Jones. I’d say that Antonio Brown, Julio Jones and Evans are the top three receivers in any order that you want to put them.
Mike Wallace, WR, Ravens
I didn’t get the 40+ TD catch that I had predicted for Wallace this week but I did get a 50+ yard catch and a 120 yards instead which is very good. Factor in the 10 receptions in a PPR league and I am thrilled with the production I got out of him this week.
Michael Crabtree, WR, Raiders
Go ahead and call me the Michael Crabtree whisperer because I have been absolutely dead right on him every single week so far this season. I know that by writing this I am thereby jinxing myself but that is fine. Crabtree has been fantastic for fantasy owners so far this season and with the Raiders upcoming schedule I see no reason for that trend to not continue.
Kenny Britt, WR, Rams
If you are playing Rams WR’s you are playing fantasy football wrong. Kenny Britt is a complete has been who has never been the same since tearing his ACL back in his Tennessee Titans days. The Rams are not supposed to be throwing the ball as much as they are currently and if they do they will not be successful.
Jack Doyle, TE, Colts
Both Ted Schuster and I were high on the Colts receivers coming into the season. Doyle has been a bit of a problem for us though as he’s encroached on some of the production of Dwayne Allen. But with Allen out this week, we went all in with Doyle in both seasonal and DFS and that paid off handsomely. The only problem I have with Doyle is that I didn’t own nearly enough of him this week.
Vernon Davis, TE, Redskins
I am just going to say it. Vernon Davis is the same as Jordan Reed. Ok, so that is not 100% accurate but its also not as far off as you might think. Reed was averaging nine targets per game before his concussion two weeks ago. While Davis hasn’t been seeing those kind of numbers we will take a TE that has 6+ targets, 50+ yards and a solid chance for a TD anytime. For those that lost Jordan Reed, Davis has been a very good find filling in.
Martellus Bennett, TE, Patriots
The three touchdown game of a few weeks ago is long gone. Rob Gronkowski has reestablished himself as the alpha TE here in New England and until there is an injury that is not going to change. Bennett can still be owned and even used in certain spots but he should not be viewed as a player you can start on any kind of a regular basis.
Others I Was Right About
Jameis Winston, QB, Buccaneers
Andy Dalton, QB, Bengals
Melvin Gordon, RB, Chargers
Julio Jones, WR, Falcons
A.J. Green, WR, Bengals
Tyrell Williams, WR, Chargers
Cameron Meredith, WR, Bears
Delanie Walker, TE, Titans
WRONG
Drew Brees, QB, Saints
The Saints and specifically Drew Brees don’t play well on the road. I did not like this matchup against a tough Chiefs defense in what is one of the windiest stadiums in the NFL. But Brees did what he does and that is throw for a ton of yards and a few touchdowns in the Saints loss this week. The next four weeks are quite interesting because the Saints have two very tough home games and two very soft away games which will create some tough decisions for fantasy players.
Blake Bortles, QB, Jaguars
Somehow Bortles fantasy production wasn’t as bad as he actually played this week. Make no mistake, he was awful and this was a bad decision by me to use him in cash games this week. I have a big problem with him pointing the football at the ground which is an absolute cardinal sin for a QB at any level of organized football. He has a lot of mechanics to sort out before he will be useful for us in fantasy again.
Jay Ajayi, RB, Dolphins
There is no slowing down Jay Ajayi anymore. The Dolphins have found their rhythm as an offense and that involves putting six linemen on the line of scrimmage and allowing Ajayi to sit back, find the holes and explode to the second level of the defense. I have missed out on Ajayi big time this year and at this point am very upset at myself for doing so.
Matt Jones, RB, Redskins
Never trust a running back with a fumbling problem. Jones rookie season got derailed last year because of putting the ball on the ground and head coach Jay Gruden has showed that he will not tolerate a running back who turns the ball over. As good as Jones flashes as a runner, he cannot be trusted until he learns how to hang onto the ball.
Allen Robinson, WR, Jaguars
Sure Blake Bortles has not been great lately but Allen Robinson deserves at least some of the blame here too. A-Rob has had a ton of dropped passes this season and just isn’t competing for the football the way that he did a year ago. He is no longer a WR1 in fantasy football and I am not sure that players like Tyrell Williams, Michael Thomas and Terrelle Pryor don’t have more value than he does at this point.
Ty Montgomery, WR, Packers
One stupid tweet and I have to put Montgomery in my “wrong” column for the week. The fact of the matter here is that I did take out Montgomery from our Monday-Thursday optimal lineups after the news of Knile Davis, Don Jackson and Devante Adams dropped last Monday night. But, I pivoted to Randall Cobb in one lineup and Devante Adams in the other each of who outscored Montgomery this week. Now, I accept the blame here because I understand how my tweet could have been perceived as telling folks to not start Montgomery. If anything, I have learned a lesson in being more clear with my social media posts that could potentially affect any of our players.
Chester Rogers, WR, Colts
I was very high on Rogers coming into this week and I played him a lot in every form of fantasy. The results were very disappointing of course but there is a bit of a silver lining. Rogers had another catch for 11 yards that was nullified, had another ball slip off his fingertips and he played 81% of snaps. I’m may be on him again next week against the Chiefs.
Hunter Henry, TE, Chargers
Henry was concussed during this week’s game against the Falcons but he was still a major disappointment. The Chargers are playing some real good football lately but will likely be without Henry for at least a week or two with the concussion. Antonio Gates catapults back into fantasy relevance with this news and will be in a good spot moving forward.
Others I Was Wrong About
Derek Carr, QB, Raiders
Matt Ryan, QB, Falcons
Jeremy Hill, RB, Bengals
DeSean Jackson, WR, Redskins
Brandon Marshall, WR, Jets
Zach Miller, TE, Bears
INDIFFERENT
Colin Kaepernick, QB, 49ers
Kaepernick did exactly what we expected this week. Although I figured the passing totals would be a little higher and the rushing number a little lower but overall. Kaepernick will have a couple of weeks to get familiar with his receivers and hopefully that helps his passing totals get up closer to the 200 yard mark more frequently.
Shaun Draughn, RB, 49ers
I went out on a limb this week and declared that I liked Draughn more than assumed starter Mike Davis. Technically, it was the right call but I can’t ignore the fact that Davis was acting at the lead running back for most of the game. We’ll call this one even as the needle didn’t move in either direction here.
Frank Gore, RB, Colts
I way hyping Gore in a few circles this week and then advised against him in DFS this week. This indifferent was more about me being inconsistent with my analysis than it was with how the results played out. Gore is the very definition of a RB2 in fantasy football this year.
Devante Adams, WR, Packers
I was not on Adams whatsoever this week especially coming off of a concussion just four days before the Thursday night game. But I am very happy with the last second pivot to Adams in DFS last week because it paid off quite handsomely.
Dennis Pitta, TE, Ravens
Pitta is boring but he’s effective. There just aren’t many regular tight ends who are fantasy contributors each and every week. He is my constant fallback guy when people are asking about who to plug in at the TE position. It is never pretty, but he doesn’t really ever disappoint either.