Fantasy Football 2014: 5 Week 7 Sleepers to Start in a Pinch

Success in fantasy football is all about managing attrition. Week 6 provided plenty of adversity with Darren Sproles, Stevan Ridley and Victor Cruz sustaining serious injuries. Desperate owners can turn to sleepers like Ronnie Hillman, Andre Holmes and Jordan Reed to start in Week 7.

Injuries aren’t the only challenge facing fantasy owners as Philadelphia’s trendy offense takes a week off for the bye. Tampa Bay joins them, although losing access to the Buccaneers offense is far less significant.

A sleeper in this context is any player available in approximately 50 percent or more of ESPN Fantasy leagues with a favorable matchup.

Team Defense/Special Teams: Miami Dolphins at Chicago Bears

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

In case you missed it, Miami’s defense gave Aaron Rodgers fits until Green Bay got the better of them on the final drive.

This is nothing new for those paying attention in South Beach. The Dolphins are the top-ranked defense in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Plus, Jarvis Landry is an X-factor on special teams. The second-rounder out of LSU is PFF’s top-rated kick returner, graded just ahead of C.J. Spiller, Cordarrelle Patterson and Adam Jones. He also ranks eighth in all-purpose yards and is a threat to score on every touch.

Touting a sleeper defense on the road against a top-10 offense might seem like a stretch; but keep in mind who’s at the helm of said offense: Jay Cutler.

Cutler is tied for third-most interceptions thrown this season with six. The gunslinger can’t blame a leaky O-line anymore since Chicago’s front five rose to fifth—from 19th—in PFF’s Offensive Line Rankings.

Couple that with four lost fumbles, and the Bears’ double-digit turnovers drops the offense to 17th in D/ST points allowed.

Miami’s D/ST should be available in your league at 13.4-percent ownership. That’s great news for Eagles owners on a bye week, along with 49ers and Bengals owners facing top offenses.

Honorable mention

Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars; Buffalo Bills vs. Minnesota Vikings.

Week 6 results

Baltimore Ravens (featured), ranked tied for 11th with seven points; Green Bay Packers, tied for 11th with seven points; Tennessee Titans, sixth with 12 points. Fantasy owners at-large knew better than me with 23.4 percent adding the Titans while only 10.2 added the Ravens. The “stream-whatever-defense-is-playing-the-Jaguars” strategy seems to be working.

Tight End: Jordan Reed, Washington Redskins vs. Tennessee Titans

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Reed didn’t start off the season as a sleeper, ranking ninth in average draft position according to Fantasy Pros. But the hamstring injury that sidelined him in Week 1 dipped his ESPN ownership rate to 50.5 percent.

Head coach Jay Gruden wasn’t going to play Reed against Arizona unless he was fully healed, according to Tarik El-Bashir, Redskins Insider for CSNWashington.com:

"

The most important thing is to make sure he feels good about his hamstring so he can really run. We don’t want a 50-percent Jordan Reed. We need a 100-percent Jordan Reed.

He’s heck of a tight end. He’s going to help us in all phases if he’s ready to go. We just got to cross our fingers and hope he’s ready to go.

"

I’d say Reed is back, considering he overshadowed his replacement Niles Paul with eight catches for 92 yards to Paul’s one for seven in Week 6.

Tennessee’s defense ranks 25th in TE PA, surrendering a touchdown to Cleveland’s Jim Dray and Jacksonville’s Clay Harbor in each of the past two games. This matchup should serve as a great jump-start as Reed continues his comeback bid.

Wary Jimmy Graham owners would be wise to plug Reed in over the ailing superstar.

Honorable mention

Jared Cook, St. Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks; Dwayne Allen, Indianapolis Colts vs. Cincinnati Bengals.

Week 6 results

Dwayne Allen (featured), tied for 24th with four; Heath Miller, tied for 33rd with two; Jordan Reed, tied for eighth with nine. Allen would have made the top 10 if Coby Fleener hadn’t vultured his TE touchdown.

Wide receiver: Andre Holmes, Oakland Raiders vs. Arizona Cardinals

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Tony Sparano removed the governor stifling Oakland’s offense in his first act as interim head coach of the Raiders.  Derek Carr’s yards-per-attempt average spiked from 5.51 through the first four games to 8.29 against the Chargers as a result.

Andre Holmes is the primary beneficiary of this shift, leading the team with seven targets per game. James Jones is a close second with 6.7. Holmes stepped into the WR2 role thanks to ineffective play by Denarius Moore and injuries to Rod Streater and Vincent Brown.

Jones is the more popular of the two receivers—owned in 46.2 percent of ESPN leagues—based largely on his Packers pedigree. But Holmes—just 0.5 percent owned—deserves the nod this week based on availability and results.

Holmes averaged 11.2 fantasy points per game in his four starts to Jones’ 9.8 PPG in five.

Oakland faces a Cardinals defense ravaged by injuries and suspensions, yielding the league’s second-worst PA to WRs: 27.8 PPG.

That makes Holmes the perfect lineup fix for Jeremy Maclin and Vincent Jackson owners enduring the bye, or Victor Cruz owners searching for a replacement.  

Honorable mention

James Jones, Oakland Raiders vs. Arizona Cardinals; Mohamed Sanu, Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts; Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Cleveland Browns; Brandon LaFell, New England Patriots vs. New York Jets.

Week 6 results

Odell Beckham Jr. (featured), tied for 72nd with two; Reuben Randle, tied for 50th with five; Devin Hester, tied for 72nd with two. Well that was a forgettable week, wasn’t it?

Running back: Ronnie Hillman, Denver Broncos vs. San Francisco 49ers

Elsa/Getty Images

Hillman highlights the sleeper RBs to start in a pinch because he’s the only bona fide RB1 still available. He’s up for grabs right now in 94.7 percent of ESPN leagues.

San Francisco’s defense boasts the league’s fourth-best in RB PA. But the Jets were the sixth-best defense in RB PA heading into Week 5, and Hillman ripped off 100 rushing plus 16 receiving yards against them.

He dampened the reports of a committee approach, carrying the ball 24 times to Juwan Thompson’s eight. C.J. Anderson played only one snap.

Hillman outrushed the injured Montee Ball thus far in 2014, averaging 4.0 YPA to Ball’s 3.1.

Meanwhile, San Francisco is vulnerable on the ground, giving up 100-plus yards and a touchdown to Dallas (118) and Kansas City (103), plus 78 yards and a score to the Rams’ RB committee last week.

LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles owners know they need a bye-week replacement. Stevan Ridley and Knowshon Moreno owners just found out they need a roster replacement. Reggie Bush and Rashad Jennings owners carry the dreaded questionable status into Week 7.

If Hillman is good enough for Denver’s starting lineup, he should be for yours as well.

Honorable mention

Isaiah Crowell, Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars; Bernard Pierce vs. Atlanta Falcons

Week 6 results

Branden Oliver (featured), sixth with 18; Andre Williams, tied for 32nd with five; Ronnie Hillman, tied for 12th with 11. Two out of three at such a talent-starved position isn’t too shabby in a tight spot.

Quarterback: Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens vs. Atlanta Falcons

Steve Nesius/Associated Press

I hate to be so repetitive, but Flacco earned the sleeper-QB-to-start spot for the second straight week. He’s still owned in only 36.4 percent of ESPN leagues, but something tells me last week’s 2.4-percent add rate is about to jump.

Flacco propelled Baltimore’s offense to No. 2 in PFF’s rankings. Flacco himself ranks seventh among QBs, according to PFF. But most impressively, Flacco redeemed all of the promise tied up in that $120 million contract just 16 minutes and three seconds into the game.

CBS Sports.com NFL writer Josh Katzowitz posted this tweet from ESPN Stats and Info:

"

Today Joe Flacco had the quickest 5 TD performance from the start of a game since the NFL-AFL merger. #BALvsTBpic.twitter.com/gVXh5Joi3o

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 12, 2014"

The Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston believes first-year offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak deserves the credit:

"

While on the subject of Kubiak, it was refreshing to hear him say last week after the Ravens lost to the Indianapolis Colts that he needed to call a better game and he could have provided rookie left tackle James Hurst with help by running the ball more.

He didn't criticize the media for criticizing him or blame his players. He just went out and put 48 points on the Buccaneers.

That's how it is done.

"

Atlanta’s 16-ranked defense in QB PA is next up for Flacco, coming off his 306-yard, five-touchdown demoralization of Tampa Bay. The Falcons just lost starting safety William Moore, who was just placed on the injured reserve-designated to return list.

Things don’t look promising this week for Atlanta.

Nick Foles (bye) owners’ lineups can look more promising, however, if they just take a chance on Flacco. He could end up your QB1 on his current pace: 4,256 yards and 32 touchdowns.

Honorable mention

Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars; Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals at Oakland Raiders.

Week 6 results

Joe Flacco (featured), second (!) with 32; Kirk Cousins, tied for 17th with 16; Brian Hoyer, tied for 21st with 12. The Flacco pick alone should wash away any imperfections from last week’s picks.  

Sleeper lists are often full of pyrite masquerading as gold. But if you’re a desperate owner looking for injury and bye-week salvation, the names above are probably the best chance you’ve got.