By Alex Gregory
Week 7 is a bit of a down week in terms of waiver pickups. Now’s the time to roll the dice on some high-upside replacements if you’ve been rostering players like Elijah McGuire, Wayne Gallman or Samaje Perine, all of whom were solid-looking injury replacements who failed to take advantage of their respective opportunities. At this point in the year, nearly every rushing situation is a running back by committee, so don’t be scared off completely as long as it’s a monster with two heads (Titans) as opposed to three (Broncos).
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Orleans Darkwa (RB, Giants) — Darkwa has taken the lead in the Giants backfield after consecutive stellar performances, racking up 112 yards Sunday against the otherwise unblemished Denver defense. Darkwa is not much of a threat through the air and seems to get injured nearly every week, but with a limited passing offense and a reshuffled OL, the run game has finally appeared in New York.
Dion Lewis (RB, Patriots) — Lewis has snuck up New England’s depth chart over the past few weeks and has been gradually stealing carries from Mike Gillislee. Lewis offers much more in the passing game than Gillislee and even received goal line work on Sunday. It remains to be seen where Rex Burkhead will contribute when he gets healthy but in deeper leagues, Lewis and James White appear to be the main RBs in New England.
Marqise Lee (WR, Jacksonville) — Lee wins the award for most times suggested in this column (right behind Evan Engram, who finally broke out) due to a perfect storm of being a highly targeted and generally unwanted player. Lee continues to get chances and with the rash of byes and injuries remains a borderline starter, he seems bound to fall backwards into a big play at some point. He is safer than players like Ted Ginn and Nelson Agholor but lacks some of the big play ability.
Kenny Golladay (WR, Lions) — You can probably wait a week on Golladay with the Lions on a bye but Stafford will have to throw the ball to someone with Golden Tate injured and Marvin Jones the only other viable pass catcher on the roster. Golladay should finally be healthy for the first time in a month against the vulnerable Steelers secondary in a game that has shootout potential.
Alex Collins (RB, Ravens) — I’ll bet you had no idea Alex Collins has the highest yards per rush of all qualifying players through the first 6 weeks of the season. Collins will continue to lose the snap count to Buck Allen but has averaged 11 attempts per game over the last four weeks. The Ravens struggle mightily moving the ball and would be foolish not to give more of an opportunity to Collins, though two early-season fumbles still seem to be held against him. If Terrance West returns, Collins will likely be affected to some degree, but West was unimpressive before his absence in the lineup. Collins offers next to nothing through the air and is much better equipped for standard formats.
Corey Davis (WR, Titans) — Davis seems to be inching closer to returning for Week 7. With the Titans lacking a true No. 1 playmaker on the outside, Davis is an intriguing second half option in what should be a productive offense. He saw a huge amount of attention from Marcus Mariota in Week 1 and will likely slot in as receiving option 1b after Delanie Walker.
Dolphins D/ST
Miami hasn’t exactly been a force on defense this year but another crack at Josh McCown and the Jets is intriguing for the streamers out there. McCown has been run-of-the-mill bad this year and at some point will likely teeter over the edge and produce 3-4 turnovers instead of the usual 1-2. Why not this week? Other options include the Ravens at the Vikings and for the first time in years, the Saints, who take on the new-look Packers.
