Five in Five: Week Seven Dynasty Storylines
Over the years, we’ve done several different weekly preview articles and love to give new things a try. This is the time of year when it’s nearly information overload with every nook and cranny of the internet flooded with all kinds of fantasy football opinions and advice. Instead of following the herd and doing the same thing you’re used to, we’re going a little off the wall this year with our “Five in Five.” This is a weekly written preview of the five biggest storylines of the week encompassed in a five-section theme and in the way I love to do it – weird. It will also be a bit of a preview for my weekly Dynasty Aftermath – the longest running dynasty series in the business as we hit year #17 in 2023 as we bring you five possible storylines we could see on Monday Morning.
Las Vegas Strip?
Have the Raiders really stripped Davante Adams of his WR1 and elite level status? After joining up with best friend Derek Carr, then seeing him subsequently leave for New Orleans, Adams isn’t happy with his role in the Raiders offense and he’s making his feelings very public. With just nine targets and six catches over the past two weeks, Adams simply wants the ball. This week is going to be big for him as we see if Josh McDaniels will cave in and start running the offense through Adams instead of the quickly emerging Jakobi Meyers. With the trade deadline fast approaching, this is going to be a big week for Adams in dynasty leagues. If he doesn’t want out at the deadline and still isn’t getting the ball in Las Vegas, this is going to be catastrophic.
Buffalo Wings
The explosive Buffalo Bills have suddenly looked very mortal. Have their wings been clipped? With just 34 points the last two games, the Bills are looking for a major get-right game against a New England Patriots team that suddenly looks like one of the worst in the NFL. Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen have still managed to put up elite level production but the rest of this crew has been pretty spotty. This would be a great day to see Gabe Davis, James Cook, Dawson Knox and the rest of this offense start to click again. If they have another sub-par performance (this time against a very inferior opponent), it’s going to create some real concern in dynasty leagues.
Saquonts to be There
The Giants aren’t tied to Saquon Barkley long-term but he seems to be tied to them for some unknown reason. In fact, Barkley came out this week and publicly said he does not want to be traded at the deadline, despite his contract status. He returned last week and handled a whopping 28 touches but the Giants sit at 1-5 and desperately need a win to have any chance at salvaging their season. The 3-3 Commanders are up next and they need a win themselves to stay within striking distance of Philadelphia and Dallas. Barkley is going to be force-fed the ball and we need to see if he can actually produce anything behind what could be the league’s worst offensive line. He was able to save his fantasy day with some late game magic but he was averaging less than two yards per carry most of the game while being hit in the backfield all too often. If this doesn’t change, the chances of him being a RB1 the rest of way on this sinking Giants roster is going to be next to impossible.
Battering Ram
The Rams have have been battered with running back injuires over the past few years and now Kyren Williams is on the shelf for at least the next four weeks with an ankle injury. Los Angeles has made a habit of creating massive value for running backs in the Sean McVay era and will now need to find production from a group that consists of Zach Evans, Myles Gaskin, Royce Freeman and Darrel Henderson. The backfield distribution will be a huge story to watch this week because we may just get a very important piece to use in fantasy leagues through the bye weeks over the next month.
Hurts so Good
The Eagles dropped their first game last week and while Jalen Hurts has still posted some relatively good numbers, this offense just looks off. They will have no choice but to be better as they play the historically high scoring Dolphins on Sunday night. Hurts needs to get into a groove to have any chance of being the overall QB1 this year and managers who have DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert or any other Eagles skill player other than AJ Brown is losing some patience.
Make sure you get your lineup questions in this week as I’ll answer them through tonight. We’ll see you next week for the Dynasty Aftermath!
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
