Week six has officially passed us by in the NFL, and that means the sixth week of college football has also. It’s fantasy football time, and today we are going to be talking about weekly strategies, player insights, rankings, and projections. The main premise here is that you should be considering all of your player analysis and combining it with insights, rankings, and projections. You never want to leave out information in favor of another, just take it all in and make the best educated decisions you can make on each roster choice. Let’s get right into it by starting with something that many fantasy managers use these days, rankings, and not just generic rankings, but rankings for the season opener.
Weekly Rankings
Weekly rankings are awfully important to figure out the correct rosters to play each week in fantasy football, especially a Campus to Canton league.
College And NFL Rankings
College:
- Kaleb Johnson – Running Back
- Nick Nash– Wide Receiver
- Blake Horvath – Quarterback
- Jack Bech – Tight End
NFL:
- Lamar Jackson – Quarterback
- Derrick Henry – Running Back
- Justin Jefferson – Wide Receiver
- George Kittle – Tight End
For the first time in weeks, we’re going to be bumping down Ashton Jeanty from the top spot. However, it’s not because he hasn’t played well. No, he’s continued to dominate. He just happens to be on a bye week, so I figure it is a good time to highlight someone else who could be running back one this weekend. That player is Kaleb Johnson. The Iowa back averages just under 30 fantasy points per game and is coming off a contest in which he saw 21 carries and turned them into 166 yards and two touchdowns. He’s also hauled in multiple receptions in all but one game this season, scoring a receiving touchdown last week.
It feels like Derrick Henry might run away with the top rankings here for a while. Henry has been unreal this season but it’s the consistency that is astounding. Last week, he had 24 carries for 132 yards and two more touchdowns. He scored a touchdown in every single game, rushed for over 100 yards in three out of five, and broke 80 in four out of five. He’s an unstoppable force right now with the Baltimore Ravens.
Next, Nick Nash stays at the top. Nash doesn’t seem to be letting up, with his down weeks still being unbelievable. He’s receiving double-digit targets in four out of his five games played, and in the one game that he didn’t reach that mark, he had nine. He’s scored a touchdown in every game this season, and this weekend had seven receptions for 94 yards. His ability to consistently score coupled with the immense volume he receives, makes him an immediate start.
Given that CeeDee Lamb is on a bye week after his team was blown out, we’ll promote Justin Jefferson here. Jefferson is just wildly consistent, no matter who is throwing him the ball. He’s had over 80 receiving yards in all but one contest, and the same stat goes for his touchdowns scored this season. We should also expect that the Vikings could be in aa high-scoring game against the Detroit Lions this weekend, further raising his value.
We’re going to put Blake Horvath up here for this week. Horvath deserves to be talked about considering how great he’s been this season. The Navy quarterback averages 35 fantasy points per game, and much of that comes on the ground. He scored 10 rushing touchdowns and all of them came in the last four games. Couple that with seven passing touchdowns and some air yards, and he’s a dominant dual-threat signal caller.
As for tight ends, Jack Bech remains up here. There just isn’t another listed tight end who can produce what Bech can in fantasy. He broke 100 receiving yards in three out of five games, he scored a touchdown in four out of five, and he’s seen a total of 52 targets up to this point, which comes out to an average of 10 per game. For a tight end, this is a fantasy dream.
For the NFL, it is time for a switch at tight end. George Kittle has been too consistent to keep ignoring. He has broken 40 receiving yards in every single game this season, and he’s scored five touchdowns in as many games. He’s getting targets, bringing them in, turning in chunk plays, and scoring touchdowns. It’s hard to find all of that with a tight end these days, so Kittle is the guy right now.
Finally, we have Lamar Jackson. Jackson could genuinely be on his way to another MVP with the way that he is playing. This weekend, he completed 20 of his 26 passes for 323 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, while also taking 11 carries for 40 yards in a big win. That stat line seems tame for how he’s played this year. He’s seventh in the league in passing yards, tied for fifth in touchdowns, only has two interceptions thrown, has the sixth-best quarterback rating, and has already rushed for over 400 yards. There’s no one better at the moment.
Jersey And Bench (Start/Sit)
You all know the drill here, each week there will be players that you want to start, and players that you want to sit. Below are a couple of options and some background information on why you should do either of the following.
Jersey/Bench Picks
Jersey:
- Parker Navarro
- Kirk Cousins
- Chuba Hubbard
- Terry McLaurin
- Le’Veon Moss
Bench:
- Jeremiyah Love
- Rachaad White
- Calvin Ridley
- KJ Jefferson
- Mike Gesicki
Let’s start with the jersey picks and begin with Parker Navarro. He’s not rostered by many managers at the moment, but he could be in line for a good game. He’s had 33 fantasy points in each of the last two weeks and has another excellent matchup ahead of him. The Ohio quarterback has tremendous rushing value on top of his passing numbers, making him a strong dual-threat quarterback. If you’re in a pinch this week, Navarro could be your guy.
Next is Kirk Cousins. We saw what he could do in a plus matchup, and he gets that again here against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are truly banged up on the defensive side of the ball, and that’s showing on a weekly basis. They allowed Jared Goff to score over 27 fantasy points, then Daniel Jones to score over 22 without Malik Nabers, and most recently, allowed Brock Purdy to have his second-best fantasy game of the year. This all lines up well for Cousins, who could easily have another dominant fantasy showing.
Chuba Hubbard turned into a different player when Andy Dalton became the starting quarterback. Since that moment, he’s averaged over 20 fantasy points per game and rushed for at least 90 yards in each of those contests. The Panthers take on the Washington Commanders this weekend, a team that just lost star defensive tackle Jonathan Allen for an extended period. Hubbard should have space to run and put up numbers even if they get blown out.
Terry McLaurin has been waiting for years for a good quarterback to come around in Washington. He finally has that in Jayden Daniels. McLaurin has averaged just under 20 fantasy points per game in his last four outings, and now he takes on a porous Carolina Panthers defense. A defense that has given up the third most receiving touchdowns to receivers in the league. Keep riding the hot hand.
And the last of the jersey picks is Le’Veon Moss. Moss is on a hot streak, and as I just stated earlier, it is best to ride the hot hand. He rushed for over 100 yards in three out of his last four games and scored three touchdowns last weekend. He’s averaging just under eight yards per carry for Texas A&M and has another very good matchup ahead of him against Mississippi State.
Flipping over to the bench picks now, we have Jeremiyah Love. Love has scored a touchdown in each game this season, but without those scores, he wouldn’t have nearly as much fantasy value. Considering that he has yet to get more than 11 rushing attempts in a single game. He has also only cracked 100 yards once this season. Now, he faces one of the best-run defenses in the nation with Georgia Tech coming around on the schedule this weekend. Love could be bottled up, making him even more touchdown dependent.
Rachaad White just can’t catch a break here. After a full season of being the starting running back, White came into this season with an immediately reduced role thanks to rookie Bucky Irving. Then, White is forced to miss two weeks after starting the season slowly, and now, it appears that he might be the third running back on the depth chart. Sean Tucker had a dominant showing last weekend against the New Orleans Saints, and so did Irving, with the coaching staff already saying that both of those backs have earned more work. White is, at best, in a three-man committee in the backfield. And he’s the least productive.
Next, we have Calvin Ridley. Ridley is coming off a game in which he saw eight targets without a catch. He let his frustrations out to the media after the game, so it’s safe to assume that he’ll have a big game at some point in the season, or he’ll be traded. However, it’s hard to trust this week. He has scored single-digit fantasy points every week except one and hasn’t even been able to score over three points in any of his last three outings. In total, he has 14 receiving yards in those three games combined. Keep him on the bench against a good Buffalo Bills secondary this week.
This one is more of a warning for people who might not have known. Quarterback KJ Jefferson is not expected to log any first-team reps in practice this week ahead of UCF’s game this weekend. It has been slated that Jacurri Brown will be the starter this week, pushing Jefferson down to the bench. If you were planning to ride with Jefferson again this season after a relatively up-and-down season, be sure to double-check and take him out of there before it gets too late. He isn’t expected to play much.
Finally, we have Mike Gesicki. The value just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. He already has to compete with both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins for targets, and now he’s getting outsnapped by other tight ends. Cincinnati played Drew Sample, Erick All, and Tanner Hudson last week on top of Gesicki. It is hard enough to have tight-end production in this league, and even worse when you put them out there during a game with two-star receivers. Gesicki shouldn’t be a fantasy start anymore.
Projections
Projections are numbers that estimate how many fantasy points a specific player might get in a given week. They can vary depending on the situation or matchup and need to be monitored weekly to get a good understanding of what experts think of them.
Weekly Projections
College:
- QB – Alonza Barnett – 37.76 points
- RB – Jordan James – 21.04 points
- WR – Tez Johnson – 17.20 points
- TE – Harold Fannin – 10.43 points
NFL:
- QB – Josh Allen – 25.38 points
- RB – Derrick Henry – 15.33 points
- WR – A.J. Brown – 11.71 points
- TE – Travis Kelce – 8.88 points
These are the players who are projected to garner the most fantasy points at their position in both college and the NFL. These numbers are calculated by basically estimating the stats that a player might have given their track record and upcoming matchup. If they have an easier matchup and are historically good against that specific team, the projections will be a little higher. If it might be a blowout, the projection might be even higher than that. The reason why it is important to understand these projections is that if you’re ever stuck wondering what to do, they could give you an idea of how a player might perform. Let’s say you can’t decide who to start between two wide receivers, but one is estimated to be 10 points more than the other. That number alone can indicate that the higher projected receiver could be in line for a significantly better day, and you can feel comfortable starting them over your other option. They aren’t guaranteed to be accurate every week, and they do change quite often, because, at the end of the day, they are simply projections, but it’s a good place to start making lineup decisions.
With all of that being said, it is critical to stay on top of your weekly strategies and pay close attention to rankings, and player insights. You never know when you might be caught up between two players and need to figure out how to break the tie in your mind. That is exactly where rankings and projected points play a factor, in helping lay all of the information out for you in an easy-to-read format. Each week is going to be an exciting time for everybody, so before we get ahead of ourselves, just remember to double-check your starting lineups and make sure that you’re happy with the players you have locked in at the moment. I heavily recommend you take some of our listed rankings into consideration, and also for you to check out other projections and rankings as well to get a clear vision of how each week might play out in both college and the NFL.