Early pickups for Week 7: Who to target on waive wire

Ugh, let’s get into the Fantasy Football Week 7 waiver wire pickups and regret how we got here. Kansas City’s defense (14th) is OK, but not good enough to shut down Drew Brees & Co.

Everyone is always eager to label the early season’s surprise top quarterback as fool’s good if they aren’t one of the usual suspects. Think Steelers and Texans – thanks to quarterback injuries and nightmare defensive matchups. He has turned those targets into 20 catches for 243 yards and a touchdown.

Eddie Lacy actually got injured a week ago but he played in the game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Cleveland has allowed 29.3 points per game, 403.3 yards per game and are the only team in the league to surrender 25-plus points in every single game thus far. While that may be a huge leap to make after two sub-par weeks, there is no question that he hasn’t lived up to his pre-season QB ECR, and his poor deep ball completion percentage is a large red flag for his owners. The week prior, Jordan Howard put up 163 yards and a touchdown against them.

If there was anything that Case Keenum’s 30-plus fantasy point performance against Detroit taught us last week, it’s that some teams are match-up proof. The Patriots run their offense through tight ends now and Edelman no longer has that value and is closer to a WR-4 at this point. Ertz might still have a bright future, but he needs to show it before he warrants a fantasy lineup slot. It should at least get him the lion’s share of carries for the next game. The Bills are one of the hottest teams in the league and Woods, despite a pedestrian 9.6-yard catch average, is Tyrod Taylor’s top target in Sammy Watkins’ absence.

Zach Ertz (TE – PHI) vs Vikings: Before the season started, Ertz was hyped as a great late-round selection for fantasy owners, but he’s been largely ineffectual since returning from injury. “At quarterback I like Matt Ryan. and Philip Rivers in that matchup in Atlanta”. Well, it’s not unfortunate for Dalton, who, standing mostly upright for the first time this season, will dismantle the Browns defense on Sunday. The Eagles have lost two straight and Carson Wentz has regressed during those games. The Vikings are allowing just 13.0 FPPG on NFL.com and have allowed just four passing touchdowns. Adams status for Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Bears remains uncertain. He has the ability to dominate DBs with his height, so basically all Hoyer has to do is throw the ball up to either Jeffery or Meredith and more times than not they’re coming down with it. “I mean, you can”. Speaking of slow starts, Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns aren’t putting up the numbers they did past year, but this should be a rebound week for them… and Blake Bortles. We’re not completely sold – yet – and he has a pair of tough division opponents up next, but this signals the rare opportunity to add a back with a feature role now his to lose in a run-first offense. He and Jamison Crowder are both strong options with the Lions allowing 27.4 FPPG to receivers with 1,090 yards and nine touchdowns given up. So we’re talking about a fast receiver with reliable hands playing nearly every single snap with Tom Brady throwing to him against a Pittsburgh defense that’s full of holes? Brown has been the best wide receiver in the league for a number of years now.

The 25-year-old back hasn’t been used much this year and has certainly shown flashes in the past so I’d say take a chance on him as the Packers need to shake things up in their offense.

Just missed: Dion Lewis, Mike Davis, Rob Kelley, Corey Coleman, Donte Moncrief, Kendall Wright, Torrey Smith, Jack Doyle, C.J. Fiedorwicz and Ladarius Green. As we all know, the Lions give up touchdowns to almost every tight end.

Ty Montgomery, WR, Green Bay Packers – This is an interesting one. This week he should be a phenomenal play, in a game against the Falcons who have given up the thirst most points to opposing tight ends. On the day, he only had five incompletions in his 32 attempts, racking up 321 yards and three TDs, succinctly silencing the calls for No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff to start. He gets a nice matchup against a permissive San Francisco D in Week 7. The former #1 running back of the Ravens will look to prove he still has something left in the tank and a banged up Lions backfield might just be the flawless place to do so.