Week 7 Fantasy Projections: Top-Tier Stars Bound to Disappoint

The bane of every fantasy football owner's existence is a star player who doesn't perform up to his early-round billing.

Whether it's a one-week anomaly or a season-long failure, if your studs aren't performing, you have as much chance at winning your week as I do of marrying Kate Upton (spoiler alert: I'm not Justin Verlander using a pseudonym). 

That's especially true in bye weeks, where most owners are simply plugging, chugging and hoping for the best. With Week 7 being one of two weeks in the NFL season where six teams are off, it's even more imperative than ever as almost every squad in your league has been hit by the bye bug. 

Unfortunately, some of the stars you're relying on simply won't perform. Here is a look at the most notable examples of oncoming failure in Week 7. 

Cam Newton (QB, Carolina Panthers)

Coming into Week 7, there may be no bigger fantasy disappointment than Newton.

The second-year quarterback eviscerated the competition last season through the air and ground, seemingly redefining the quarterback position and what we expect from it in fantasy in the process.

Unfortunately for the Panthers and fantasy owners, Newton's 2012 season has been one large humbling experience thus far. With more interceptions (five) than touchdown passes (four) and just a 58.8 completion percentage, he has taken massive leaps in the wrong direction as a passer.

That should not change on Sunday against a Dallas Cowboys defense that ranks first in the NFL against the pass, giving up just 181.6 yards per game. Assuming Morris Claiborne is in the lineup for the Cowboys, look for Newton to struggle through the air and need a huge game on the ground to have any fantasy relevance. 

While that's possible, there comes a point where you have to stop relying on your quarterback to get rushing touchdowns every single week.

You'll start him because you likely have to, but don't count on Newton having any more than 12-15 fantasy points this week. 

Marshawn Lynch (RB, Seattle Seahawks)

It's easy to point to Lynch's failures against the New England Patriots last week or the fact he faces off against the vaunted San Francisco 49ers defense and say he will fail, but my theory resides mostly due to the fact he's playing on a Thursday.

If there has been one consistent trend in fantasy, it's that you don't want to play a guy on Thursday unless you absolutely have to. The night has allowed some breakout stars to shine, but has been one where stars consistently underperform—especially running backs.

Through six weeks, there has been just one running back to hit the 100-yard mark on Thursday—the New York Giants' Andre Brown. Otherwise, it's been a seemingly never-ending stream of disappointing performances and injuries. 

Couple that with the fact he's facing the 49ers, a team that defends the run and knows Seattle's game plan well, and it seems like a mere formality that we're talking about the "demise of Marshawn Lynch" next week.

Of course it will be inane and caused by the Thursday night trend, but it will happen nonetheless. 

Torrey Smith (WR, Baltimore Ravens)

To the widespread disappointment of his fantasy owners, Smith is who we thought he was coming into the season: a great deep threat whose fantasy value will almost always be tied to whether or not he breaks that one big play. 

After grabbing 12 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in Weeks 3 and 4, it looked as if the second-year speedster was breaking out into WR1 territory.

However, after those two breakout performances, teams put the clamps on, focusing coverages on his side of the field and taking their chances with Anquan Boldin. That has led to Boldin's resurgence as a fantasy option, but drops Smith back down to a low-end WR2 or flex play going forward.

With a matchup against what should be a motivated Houston Texans secondary on tap, I'm not playing Smith this week unless absolutely necessary.

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