Fantasy Football: Who’s “Grilling” and who’s “Chilling”
This marks our 2nd year of the Grilling-N- Chilling series, where we look at which players for the coming weekend will be on fire and which you can leave in the cooler cooling off. I’m planning to do this a little different this year and, rather than select 2 guys for each category, I’m going to give 2 guys per position. With that… let’s get this bad boy started.
Week 7
QB
Dak Prescott
Dak finally returns against a Lions defense that has been shredded early on this year. While he struggled in Week 1 against Tampa, I think a lot of that had to do with rust and the elite level Tampa’s D plays at.
Now that the receiving core has Michael Gallup back and an offensive line that appears to be gelling, I like Dak’s chances to have a strong performance this week.
Joe Burrow
The Bengals offense had a major hangover from the Super Bowl last year and looked rough to start the season. That sluggishness appears to be behind them, though, as Joe Burrow has finished T11 in 4 straight weeks. This week he gets the Falcons who have one of the worst pass rushes and secondaries in the league. With Higgins reportedly back and Chase continuing to be his dominant self, I love Burrows matchup this week.
Jared Goff
The Cowboys defense is very salty. With Micah leading a group of elite pass rushers and Diggs doing the same for the secondary, the Dallas defense has studs on every level. Jalen Hurts has been playing at an MVP level to start the season and this defense completely shut him down.
Jared Goff isn’t that. He has an elite arm but his play is essentially a roller coaster… you never know which QB you’re going to get. He’ll need to look St. Brown and Hockenson’s way a lot for dump offs but that’ll be about the most he does this weekend.
Aaron Rodgers
The weapons just aren’t there for Rodgers and the Packers. Jones isn’t receiving nearly the passing volume he should be and they have yet to establish a true #1 WR. Truthfully, the Packers would be wise to try and make a move for someone like DJ Moore or Chase Claypool to help bolster their corps with a better vet. All that to say, Washington gets a lot of pressure on the QB and the weapons aren’t there to help. The Pack’s o-line has allowed a ton of pressure in these first few weeks and while the Commanders secondary stinks, the pass rush will get home several times on Sunday.
RB
Kenneth Walker
Walker was one of the best running backs coming out of college football last year and he fell to the Seahawks in the 2nd round. He started the year as a backup to Rashaad Penny, but, as is typical of Penny, he got injured a few weeks ago and we saw the Walker show take life.
Walker finished as RB8 last week and this week he gets the Chargers defense who is fresh off a gashing from Latavius Murray who all but walked off the street to run for 60+ yards against them. Don’t overthink it. Walker is the real deal.
Josh Jacobs
Josh Jacobs is scorching hot coming out of a bye week. After finishing as the 1st and 3rd top RB in b2b weeks, he got a week of rest, and a juicy matchup against Houston this week. The Texans have the worst run defense in the NFL and that would be as good of a situation as it gets for Jacobs. I’m sure at some point this season he’ll slow back down to his usual averages, but this isn’t the week that happens.
James Robinson
Robinson started the year off strong after coming off an unfortunate Achilles tear in 2021, but his last few weeks he’s fallen off a cliff. Etienne has outrushed him, out-touched him, and out-snapped him in recent weeks and that doesn’t appear to be slowing down. J-Rob still gets a lot of goal line work so he may vulture a touchdown from Etienne (or Trevor Lawrence will) but I can’t confidently start Robinson in any lineup right now.
David Montgomery
Sometimes it feels like Montgomery just gets piled on but, I swear it’s not true! The Bears just stink and their weapons are easy targets for bust weeks in spite of the volume they receive. I’m not sure Fields is an NFL player if he weren’t drafted so high as he seems to continuously make terrible decisions with the ball. I also don’t know that Montgomery is the best RB in the Bears backfield, but until Khalil Herbert receives a true commitment from this coaching staff, Montgomery is going to be a high-volume play.
The Patriots shut down the Lions last week in dominant fashion. I don’t know that we’ll see a repeat of that but I do think they’ll put the clamps on a pedestrian offense that includes D-Mont.
WR
Tyreek Hill
With Tua coming back and Miami facing Pittsburgh, Hill gets a prime match up and a guy who loves to look his way. All the hand wringing around whether or not Tyreek would continue to show out as a T5 fantasy WR has been put to rest thus far. Tyreek Hill leads the NFL by a decent margin in yards, he’s #2 in catches, and he’s #3 in targets. You know who (surprisingly) holds the worst pass defense in the NFL? That’s right… the Pittsburgh Steelers. Until they get TJ Watt back who creates havoc all over, the Steelers are a prime target to be picked on in fantasy football. I anticipate a big day for Tyreek on Sunday.
Chris Godwin
Tom Brady came off the field absolutely livid last week at his offensive linemen. You know who he didn’t yell at? His receiving core. Godwin has been a target monster since coming back from his hamstring injury he suffered in week 1 and gets a perfect matchup against the lowly Panthers this week. Reports have all 3 starting corners either confirmed as out or questionable going into this weekend. I expect this to be a get-right game for the Bucs with one of the biggest beneficiaries to be Brady’s seemingly favorite target right now.
Courtland Sutton
With Russ announced as being out and a sluggish last few weeks for Sutton, I just can’t confidently say he’s a good candidate for fantasy this week. Let’s face it… Hackett is quite possibly going to be fired before his 1st year is even over. This guy was supposed to be an offensive architect but it’s looking more and more like he’s just in way over his head. In an odd coincidence, Rypien’s last start over 2 years ago was against the Jets. The Broncos went very run heavy and I expect they’ll try to go that route again.
Drake London
London is a stud and I’m confident he’ll be good for the Falcons for a long time, but he won’t be good this week. Chidobe Awuzie has quickly become one of the top corners in the NFL and he’ll trail London across the field as needed. Add to the fact that London has seen significant drop off over the last few weeks and that leaves him on the outs for me.
Wait… is this write up about Wentz or not-so-Scary Terry? I forgot. McLaurin has struggled big time against Dallas to start his career. Between the pressure the Cowboys front 7 will put on Carson and the secondary coverage with a Diggs/Brown combo, I don’t see a world where McLaurin breaks a massive one out of his 3 receptions for 40 yards average against Dallas.
TE
Jake Ferguson
Who!? Jake Ferguson replaces Dalton Schultz in the Cowboys lineup as the pivotal, receiving tight end. You know who loves to utilize their TE early and often as a safety valve? That’s right. Dak Prescott. Consider this a deep sleeper but I think Jake Ferguson is in a good spot to be a sneaky T10 play at TE the remainder of the year. He sits in an offense with high upside and replaces a guy who we know was utilized a ton in previous years. On top of that, he’s a decent blocker so they don’t pull him out of the game much. This is a hunch… but I think Ferguson is in for some terrific opportunities down the stretch.
Kyle Pitts
Look, I don’t actually think the matchup is all that great but we saw Pitts get his first TD on the year last week and I want to see if that continues. The Falcons will be down quickly in this one and will rely on throwing the ball to get back in it. Shouldn’t that mean Pitts is a perfect candidate for high volume on Sunday? It should… but will it?
Robert Tonyan
With Rodgers on my chill list, it’s only natural that some of his weapons might appear here also. Tonyan finally had a monster volume game, albeit without scoring a TD, but we’ve been waiting all year for even just the volume moment. This week he gets a Commanders D who has completely shut down TEs this season.
Mike Gesicki
Last week’s #1 TE finished with 69 yards off 7 targets and 2 TDs. The Steelers have struggled against the pass, but they have bottled up TEs throughout the year. Tua has a lot of mouths to feed in Miami and there’s no doubt that Gesicki is on the lower half of that priority list. With Hill and Waddle commanding the majority of the volume and Raheem Mostert showing flashes at RB, I fully expect Mikey G to take a backseat once again.