Drake Maye
28.44 pts
24 of 31, 321 yards, two passing touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown.
You are up 29.74 to 7.80 with six of your seven starters still to play, and the single thing that decides this week is whether Puka Nacua's calf lets him on the field Sunday afternoon.
LordHaveMRSA
29.74
Gridiron Guru 23
7.80
One starter has played on each side. Nothing is decided. Your last starter kicks off at 8:20 PM Sunday; theirs plays Monday night.
Roschon Johnson
1.30 pts
Two carries, 13 yards, no catches. A wasted roster slot.
Puka Nacua
Questionable
Calf. Left Thursday's practice early, did not practice Friday.
Where the matchup stands
No games were played yesterday. The only Week 7 game in the books is Thursday night's Chicago Bears win over the New England Patriots, 30 to 24, and you got the better end of it: Drake Maye (New England Patriots) alone outscored your opponent's entire scoring output by more than three times.
That lead is comfortable but it is not a lead yet in any meaningful sense. Your opponent has Brock Purdy (San Francisco 49ers), Ashton Jeanty (Las Vegas Raiders), Chase Brown (Cincinnati Bengals), Christian Watson (Green Bay Packers), Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs) and DeVonta Smith (Philadelphia Eagles) all still to play. Travis Kelce and Brock Purdy on their own can erase 29.74 points in an afternoon.
You are 2-4 and ninth of twelve, with 597.2 points scored and 661 allowed. That negative margin is the honest story of your season: you are not getting blown out, you are losing close games with a running back room that produces nothing. This is a week you should be treating as must-win, not as a comfortable one.
Your starters who have played
Drake Maye (New England Patriots) - 28.44 points
A genuinely excellent night. 24 completions on 31 attempts for 321 yards, two passing touchdowns and one interception, plus four carries for 26 yards and a rushing touchdown. He threw for 10.4 yards per attempt in a loss and carried your whole week on a Thursday. Nothing to second-guess here.
Roschon Johnson (Chicago Bears) - 1.30 points
Bad, and bad in a way that was predictable. He got two carries for 13 yards and was not targeted once. D'Andre Swift (Chicago Bears) took 22 carries and the rushing touchdown ahead of him; Roschon Johnson was never going to see volume behind that. You picked him up off free agency this week, dropped Najee Harris to do it, and then put him straight into your starting lineup for a Thursday night game. That burned your second running back slot for 1.30 points when Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) was sitting on your bench with a Sunday game at Houston. Do not start a backup running back on Thursday again just because he is new.
Bench versus starters
DeMario Douglas (New England Patriots) - 5.30 points, benched
Three catches on four targets for 23 yards. He outscored your started running back four times over, and most of the fantasy press had him as a flex-worthy start this week after his 11-catch, 151-yard, three-touchdown run over the previous two games. He is a wide receiver, so he was not competing for the running back slot - but he was competing for your FLEX spot, which went to Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) instead. Xavier Worthy has not played yet, so the verdict is still open, but 5.30 is now the number he has to beat.
No bench player has yet outscored a starter at the same position, because none of your wide receivers, your other running back or your tight end have played. The real bench-versus-starter question is still ahead of you, and it is covered below.
Injuries and byes on your roster
Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) - questionable, calf
This is the one that matters. He left Thursday's practice early and did not practice at all on Friday. Head coach Sean McVay called the injury minor, and the Rams listed him questionable for Sunday at the Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 PM. A player who misses Friday entirely is a real coin flip, not a lean. See the lineup section for how to play it without guessing.
DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) - out, and on bye anyway
Listed out, and Buffalo is on bye this week, so there is no decision to make. Keon Coleman (Buffalo Bills) is on the same bye. Both are dead roster weight for seven days - which is worth remembering when you are deciding who to drop for a waiver claim.
Week 7 byes: Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders. Nothing else on your roster is on a bye or carries an injury designation.
Sunday's lineup, slot by slot
| Slot | Player | Call |
|---|---|---|
| QB | Drake Maye (New England Patriots) | Done. 28.44 points. |
| RB | Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) | Start. At Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 PM. Your only running back who gets real volume. |
| RB | Roschon Johnson (Chicago Bears) | Done. 1.30 points. Slot wasted. |
| WR | Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) | Hold for now - see the note below. |
| WR | Tre Tucker (Las Vegas Raiders) | Start. Weakest of your starters at roughly 9 projected points, but you have nothing better in that window. |
| TE | Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) | Start, no question. Versus Denver Broncos, 4:05 PM. |
| FLEX | Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) | Keep him. At Seattle Seahawks, 8:20 PM. |
The Puka Nacua play, and this is the whole point of today's report: do not decide now and do not bench him pre-emptively. Inactive lists drop 90 minutes before kickoff, so you will know his status at roughly 2:55 PM Sunday. Cooper Kupp (Seattle Seahawks) does not kick off until 8:20 PM, which means he is still swappable long after Puka Nacua's status is public. So hold Puka Nacua in the lineup, check the inactive list at 2:55 PM, and if he is out, put Cooper Kupp in that wide receiver slot before the 4:25 PM kickoff. You get the upside if Puka Nacua plays and you lose nothing if he does not. The one thing that ruins this is starting Chris Godwin Jr. (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) at 1:00 PM as insurance - that locks you in two hours before you have any information.
On Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs): the case against him is real. He has not reached 15 points in a game all season, Seattle allows the third-fewest points to wide receivers in the league, and Rashee Rice (Kansas City Chiefs) may be back to take targets off him. But the market projection still has him around 11.6 points to Tre Tucker's 9.1, and your bench alternatives - Chris Godwin Jr. coming off a four-catch, 37-yard game, or a Cooper Kupp you want held in reserve for the Puka Nacua contingency - are not clearly better. Keep Worthy, but understand you are starting a player most lists have as a sit.
Geno Smith (New York Jets) stays on the bench. You do not start two quarterbacks in this lineup.
Waivers - you have $39 of FAAB left
| Player | Why | Bid |
|---|---|---|
| Brandin Cooks (San Francisco 49ers) - WR | The best actual add on the board for you. San Francisco has Mike Evans out with Achilles tendinitis and rib trouble, Deebo Samuel out with a hamstring, and Christian Kirk questionable coming off injured reserve. Somebody has to catch passes at Atlanta on Sunday at 1:00 PM. He is 33 and not exciting, but he is the veteran in a receiver room that has been gutted. | $6 to $8 |
| Jordan Watkins (San Francisco 49ers) - WR | The cheaper version of the same bet, from the same injury vacuum. Take him instead if Brandin Cooks costs more than $8. | $1 to $2 |
| Justice Hill (Baltimore Ravens) - RB | Not a difference-maker, but your running back room is the worst thing about this team and he plays Sunday at 1:00 PM against Cincinnati. Worth a dollar on the chance Baltimore's backfield opens up. | $1 to $2 |
| Tyler Higbee (Los Angeles Rams) - TE | The most-added free agent in this league's player pool by a wide margin, on the back of the Rams' receiving-corps churn. You have Trey McBride, so this is not a need - mentioned only so you know why he keeps showing up in trending lists. | Pass |
FAAB is the $100 season-long budget you bid with on waiver pickups. You have spent $61 of yours and have $39 for the remaining eleven weeks, so bid like it is scarce. Every premium name on the Week 7 pickup lists - Omar Cooper Jr. (New York Jets), Rachaad White (Washington Commanders), Tyrone Tracy Jr. (New York Giants), Khalil Shakir (Buffalo Bills) - is already rostered in this league. What follows is what is genuinely free.
The one you do not own
Luther Burden III (Chicago Bears) - 4 catches, 130 yards, 1 touchdown on four targets
The monster game of Thursday night, and a perfectly efficient one: he caught everything thrown at him, including a 58-yard score. He belongs to honeybadgerr1, who is 1-5 and going nowhere, which makes him a trade target rather than a waiver claim. If you are serious about climbing out of ninth place, a 1-5 team holding a breakout wide receiver is exactly the kind of owner who will listen to an offer.
Eli Raridon (New England Patriots) - 3 catches, 56 yards, 1 touchdown, and actually free
The free-agent version of a good Thursday night. Three catches on four targets for 56 yards and a touchdown. You have Trey McBride at tight end so there is no room for him, but he is unowned in this league and worth knowing about if Trey McBride ever picks up a designation.