Booms and Busts - Fantasy Football Starts and Sits for Week 7 Lineups Including JuJu Smith-Schuster, Amari Cooper, George Pickens, And More

Don’t look now, but we’re currently in the middle of October. Where has the time gone? We’re just about at the halfway point of the regular season for most fantasy leagues, so managers are running out of time to make their moves. Week 6 was a tough one for us here. We listed Daniel Jones, Tyjae Spears, and Rome Odunze as boom calls. Jones put up a dud and finished as the QB22. Spears injured his hamstring and left the game early. Odunze only caught two passes and finished as the WR58. However, fellow Bears receiver Keenan Allen caught two touchdowns and finished as the PPR WR9. We had the right idea targeting a Bears pass-catcher, we just picked the wrong player. We did correctly nail Zay Flowers as a boom call. He torched the Washington Commanders for 132 yards on nine targets to finish as the WR6. Good stuff from Baltimore’s WR1.

We’ve only got two teams on bye this week, so we’ve pretty much got a full slate of games. Still, there’s work to be done and decisions to be made, so let’s get things going.

Make sure you’re following RotoBaller on X and check out RotoBaller.com for all your fantasy football needs. Let’s get into our boom/bust picks for Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season.

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Week 7 Fantasy Football Booms

Drake Maye - QB, New England Patriots at Jacksonville Jaguars

New England’s rookie quarterback had a solid debut in Week 6. He threw three touchdown passes and finished the week as the QB10.

Drake Maye DIME for his first career touchdown pass!

📺: #HOUvsNE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/psTLjZvOoK

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

This week, the Patriots travel to London to take on a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that continues to be one of the worst in the league. The Jaguars rank dead last in defensive passing DVOA, per FTN Fantasy, and are also last in passing yards allowed per game.

Gamers can feel confident starting Maye as a bye-week replacement or streaming option. He should have another strong game through the air and also bring dual-threat ability with his legs. Another QB1 finish is within reach.

Maye did pop up with a knee injury after practice earlier this week. At the time of this writing, he was currently scheduled for a precautionary MRI. If Maye’s status for Sunday’s game changes, then we will revisit this call. For now, Maye remains a fine streaming option as long as he suits up.

Chuba Hubbard - RB, Carolina Panthers at Washington Commanders

Hubbard’s spot here is dependent on Panthers rookie Jonathon Brooks remaining inactive for Week 7. If Brooks is activated, we will revisit, but for now, Hubbard is in line for at least one more start.

He gets a nice matchup against a Commanders defense that allows the third-most PPR points per game to opposing running backs, per Fantasy Football Today, and allows over 137 rushing yards per game.

Washington is currently listed as a 7.5-point favorite in this game, but Carolina could hang around thanks to Washington’s subpar defense. If that comes to fruition, then it would be within enough distance that Hubbard isn’t completely scripted out of the game.

Managers can confidently fire up the Panthers lead back as a back-end RB1 play. It might be our last chance to do so before Brooks makes his debut.

Demario Douglas - WR, New England Patriots at Jacksonville Jaguars

We're doubling down on the Patriots offense this week. Douglas was arguably the biggest winner of the team’s decision to start rookie Drake Maye. Douglas finished Week 7 with a 6-92-1 line on nine targets and was the WR8.

Drake Maye (3) to Demario Douglas (1)
New England Patriots
35 yards pic.twitter.com/HSKKej86BZ

— NFL TD Videos (@NFLTDsVideos) October 13, 2024

We already mentioned the struggles of Jacksonville’s defense through the air. It also struggled to guard opposing pass-catchers as Jacksonville ranks 22nd in defensive DVOA against receivers. Per Fantasy Points Data Suite, the Jaguars play man coverage at the third-highest rate in the league. That could mean good things for the Patriots WR1.

#Patriots QB Drake Maye on his chemistry with WR DeMario Douglas:

“Pop, you can’t guard him in a phone booth… he’s got a knack for finding his own… makes my job a little easier.” pic.twitter.com/xJ8SXDxXUt

— Carlos Talks Pats (@LosTalksPats) October 16, 2024

Douglas is a fine starting option this week. Gamers can start him as a WR3 or flex play as he should once again lead the Patriots in receiving.

JuJu Smith-Schuster - WR, Kansas City Chiefs at San Francisco 49ers

Smith-Schuster is not the sexiest name out there, but he appears to have taken over the Rashee Rice role in Kansas City’s offense. He finished with a 7-130 line on eight targets two weeks ago and will be one of the Chiefs' top weapons moving forward.

More importantly than all of that, he has a previous history playing with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and has the trust of Kansas City’s signal-caller.

#Chiefs HC Andy Reid on JuJu Smith-Schuster:

“Pat [Mahomes] has trust in him. We as coaches have trust in him and we’ve tried to put him in good positions for his strengths and try to utilize those… The guy opposite [Travis] Kelce ends up being very important” pic.twitter.com/CNCQMeQBLd

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) October 16, 2024

Smith-Schuster does not have the best matchup as San Francisco ranks second in DVOA against opposing receivers. However, he’s set up for a large role in the offense and should be peppered with targets.

He is on the WR2/WR3 border and is also a quality flex play, particularly in PPR leagues. Smith-Schuster could operate as Mahomes' WR1. That alone makes him a borderline auto-start moving forward.

Week 7 Fantasy Football Busts

Amari Cooper - WR, Buffalo Bills vs. Tennessee Titans

Cooper has been one of this season’s biggest disappointments. Playing with Deshaun Watson as your quarterback will do that. However, he was given new life when he was traded to the Buffalo Bills earlier this week.

BREAKING: #Browns trading WR Amari Cooper to #Bills, sources tell @NFLonFOX. pic.twitter.com/UAKGTJIriX

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 15, 2024

While this is undoubtedly great news for his fantasy outlook, we may not see immediate results. Cooper will need time to learn Buffalo’s offense and establish chemistry with Josh Allen.

On top of that, he has a tough matchup as he goes against a Tennessee Titans secondary that ranks 10th in defensive passing DVOA and sixth in DVOA against opposing teams’ WR1.

Cooper is going to have some big games playing in this offense, but we might want to temper our expectations for this week. If you’re in a pinch due to byes, you probably have no choice but to start him. However, if you’ve got depth at receiver, it might be a wise move to wait a game before deploying him.

George Pickens - WR, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Jets

Pickens was a popular third-year breakout candidate and it hasn’t panned out thus far. He has yet to find the end zone and is only the PPR WR42 on the season.

Pittsburgh appears to be switching to Russell Wilson as its starting quarterback. That might be good news for Pickens' rest-of-season outlook, but we may not see immediate results here, either. The Jets rank 11th in defensive passing DVOA and allow the second-fewest passing yards per game.

There have also been a handful of plays throughout the year that Pickens has given less than full effort. He seems to check out of games when he doesn’t get the ball enough and gets discouraged. That could be an issue seeing that he’s set to go against Jets corners Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed.

Reed is fighting an injury and it’s unknown if he will play. Even if he doesn’t, Gardner alone is a tough draw. If Gardner and/or Reed keep Pickens in check early, he could start to mentally check out.

There will be times to insert Pickens in lineups. This week is not one of them. If you have other options at receiver, you should consider starting them over Pickens.

Tucker Kraft - TE, Green Bay Packers vs. Houston Texans

Kraft is coming off a down game in Week 6 where he only caught two passes for 13 yards. He had finished as the TE1 in the previous two games. While he’s proven to have an upside, we might be set up for another down week.

The Packers welcome in the Houston Texans in Week 7, and Houston has been stingy guarding the tight-end position. It ranks first in defensive DVOA against opposing tight ends, allows the fewest yards per game to tight ends, and allows the sixth-fewest PPR points per game to tight ends as well.

Kraft is a good player, but he has a lot of target competition in this offense. This is also just a flat-out bad matchup. Gamers would be wise to look at other options (Cade Otton or Colby Parkinson) this week as there’s a very real possibility that Kraft puts up another dud.

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