Fantasy football sleepers: RB - Week 7

October 21, 2010 @ 16:49:00

By Tim Heaney and Bryce McRae
Edited by Bryce McRae and Tim Heaney

Fantasy football sleepers: QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | DT

In this article KFFL breaks down the fantasy football sleepers of the week. We will avoid marquee names because players of that caliber are rarely benched, regardless of their matchup. Instead, we will focus on the players that make your fantasy lineup decisions stressful each week. Read on to learn which midrange to low-end players you wouldn't necessarily consider that you need to get into your lineup.

Note: All statistics are from Week 3 to Week 6, unless otherwise stated.

Fantasy football sleepers: Running backs

Willis McGahee, Baltimore Ravens vs. Buffalo Bills

Fantasy value: Low-end No. 2

May the Forsett be with you

• McGahee was not traded at the deadline and will retain No. 2 duties with Baltimore.
• The Ravens are giving top back Ray Rice more goal line duty, but McGahee will continue to see work there, too. Though he didn't record a stat in Week 6, McGahee had 28 utilizations combined in the previous two games while also tallying two touchdowns and 106 yards.
• Buffalo should make it easy for the Ravens to lean on the run game this week, having allowed a spicy 197.0 yards and 1.33 touchdowns per game to opposing backs.

Justin Forsett, Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals

Fantasy value: Low-end No. 3

• The recently acquired Marshawn Lynch hasn't been named the starter but should continue to see most of the backfield work; he received 20 utilizations in Week 6. Forsett, however, wasn't too far behind with 14, including two red zone utilizations. Many fantasy owners might be giving up on Forsett too soon.
• The Cards should be able to accommodate both options. Arizona has given up 128.3 rushing yards and 1.00 touchdowns per game to carriers. Tailoring to Forsett's strong play this week, they have also allowed 5.00 receptions and 33.7 receiving yards per game to backs.
• In his Week 10 meeting with Arizona last year, when his workload had increased, Forsett cut them up for 123 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries, along with five catches for 26 yards.

NEW - Deji Karim, Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs

Fantasy value: Flex or bench

• Karim's work has been infrequent given his rookie status and Maurice Jones-Drew's abilities. Karim received 15 carries in Week 5 with Jones-Drew hurt during the game. The rook averaged 4.7 yards per carry, though it came against the Buffalo Bills' abysmal run defense. He has shown some flashes of his running ability with his special teams work, too.
• The Jags might give Karim more than his usual workload. They're expected to use an increased ground attack with Todd Bouman possibly starting behind center. Even if Trent Edwards (thumb) goes, Jacksonville's offense will probably be limited some. David Garrard (concussion) is also iffy because of a concussion suffered Monday night.
• Running backs are averaging a decent 4.3 yards per carry (14th most in the league) against Kansas City this year. The Chiefs have allowed only 90.7 rushing yards to backs per game, but they've also allowed 1.33 offensive touchdowns, 8.00 receptions and 63.3 receiving yards per contest against them.

Fantasy football sleepers: QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | DT

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Tim Heaney

Since the Boston University alum joined KFFL in 2006, his work has been featured by USA Today/Sports Weekly and Yahoo! Sports, among numerous publications.

Tim competes in Tout Wars and LABR and appears every Wednesday on 1570 AM WNST in Baltimore, as well as frequently on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio.

Follow him on Twitter.

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Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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