Fantasy football: Week 7 stock watch

By Mark P. Stopa, Special to the Rocky

Published October 16, 2008 at 11 a.m.
Updated October 16, 2008 at 4:55 p.m.

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Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images

While many quarterbacks have fallen this year, New Orleans' Drew Brees just keeps getting better. He's on pace to set a single-season passing yardage record.

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I'm sure you realize that the stock of Tony Romo, Carson Palmer, Matt Hasselbeck and Joseph Addai is falling in light of their recent injuries. As we head into Week 7 of the NFL season, I won't waste time by downgrading these players (though there are now reports that Romo might play this weekend instead of missing the month as originally forecasted). Instead, I'll share my view on how these injuries impact the values of the players around them, as well as other "under the radar" insights.

Upgrades

Drew Brees, QB, Saints: The carnage at quarterback is really piling up this year. Tom Brady is done. Tony Romo may miss three games. Carson Palmer and Matt Hasselbeck are injured and seem unlikely to return any time soon. Even Aaron Rodgers, despite his terrific fantasy stats, gives his fantasy owners angina because of his shoulder issues. Meanwhile, Brees has continued to perform at an incredible level despite losing Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey to injury. Except for a healthy Peyton Manning, Drew Brees has separated himself from the pack at quarterback in fantasy football. Brees is already on pace to set the single-season passing yardage record – imagine what he can do with the expected return of Colston and Shockey.

Dominic Rhodes, RB, Colts: Remember last season, when the Colts continued to insist that Marvin Harrison was about to return from his injured knee, yet he basically missed the entire season? Or how about this year, when they denied rumors that Peyton Manning had a second surgery on his knee, only to finally admit the truth this week? It already appears that the Colts are playing the same type of game with Joseph Addai and his injured hamstring. It is possible that Addai returns, but expect him to miss at least a couple of games. Promising rookie Mike Hart from Michigan just got put on injured reserve, leaving Rhodes as the feature back on a good offense. Rhodes will be a top-10 running back for as long as Addai is out, which might be a while.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Cardinals: About the only bad thing that I can say about Fitzgerald is that the Cardinals have a bye this week. OK, and Anquan Boldin will be back soon. Have you seen his game log this year? Receiver statistics are supposed to be volatile from week to week, but Fitzgerald’s worst fantasy game of the year was a nine-point outing in Week 1. That’s consistency at its finest. With Kurt Warner continuing to chuck it and the Cardinals playing their home games in the desert, Fitzgerald is fantasy’s best receiver.

Matt Schaub, QB, and Andre Johnson, WR, Texans: If Larry Fitzgerald is fantasy’s best receiver, then Andre Johnson is not far behind. Did you see Johnson’s catch on fourth-and-10 on the Texans' game-winning drive? Amazing. An athletic freak on a team that will have to throw a lot to stay in games, Johnson is now a top-three receiver. Schaub is not Drew Brees or anything, but throwing to Johnson every week bodes quite well for him. Plus, the Texans' schedule is quite favorable for Schaub and Johnson; until the Titans in Week 15, the Vikings and Ravens are the only good defenses the Texans have to face and both fare better against the run than the pass.

No change

Patrick Cobbs, RB, Dolphins: Nearly every week, a no-name player has a huge game out of nowhere. Last week it was Cobbs. Don’t ever expect Cobbs, a fullback, to do anything remotely approaching that again.

Marvin Harrison, WR, Colts: I downgraded Marvin Harrison last week, so, of course, he went out and scored two touchdowns. Call me stubborn, but that doesn’t change anything for me. The 67-yard TD was the only time Harrison has gotten downfield all year, and that’s only because the Ravens go way overboard in trying to stop the run and Chris McAlister peeked into the backfield despite the lack of safety help and blew the coverage terribly. If I owned Harrison right now, I’d point out his two-TD game and sell high.

Roy Williams, WR, Cowboys: Williams was struggling on a bad Detroit team. Will things change in Dallas? I doubt it. Williams now has to learn a new offense and compete for touches with Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, Marion Barber and (when healthy) Felix Jones (out a month with a torn hamstring). If Brad Johnson is doing the throwing, I don’t see how there will be enough balls for Williams to do much better than he was doing in Detroit. Don't trade for Williams expecting a breakout.

Downgrades

All Seahawks and Bengals: The injuries to Matt Hasselbeck and Carson Palmer have absolutely killed the Seahawks and Bengals. The problem, of course, is that the drop-off from Hasselbeck to Seneca Wallace/Charlie Frye in Seattle and from Palmer to Ryan Fitzpatrick in Cincinnati is enormous. So if you were thinking that Bobby Engram or Deion Branch would emerge in Seattle, don’t hold your breath – not unless Hasselbeck comes back. Same thing for T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Ocho Cinco in Cincinnati. As for the running backs on both teams, it’s hard to score when your quarterback can’t move the team on offense.

Terrell Owens, WR, Cowboys: I'm going head-to-head here with my colleague Mike Salfino, who blames the Cowboys' play-calling and opposing defensive schemes. My take: The problem with T.O. is T.O. Owens is just not getting open like he used to, and with Tony Romo hurt, and another athletic receiver in Williams now on board, I have no choice but to downgrade Owens. He’s still an every-week starter, but he’s a notch below Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, and Brandon Marshall.

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