Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 7: Final Fantasy Football Advice for Sunday's Schedule

A lot of fantasy football owners will be forced into tough lineup decisions in Week 7. That's largely due to the fact that the teams on bye—the Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears—feature a lot of high-end talent.

The trickle-down effect from that is players who may typically fall right on the fantasy fringe are now worthwhile one-week options to fill a void. Of course, the tricky part is figuring out which choices from that group are due for a big week.

Let's check out some borderline players and discuss whether they belong in the starting lineup or on the bench for Week 7. Remember, the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET, so be aware of the lineup deadlines.

Start 'Em

QB Ryan Tannehill (Miami Dolphins)

Tannehill has actually tossed two touchdowns in each of the past four games. Lackluster yardage totals and seven interceptions over the past three games have prevented him from posting big fantasy numbers during that stretch, though.

He has a golden opportunity to break the 20-point barrier for the second time this season against the Houston Texans. They rank 27th against opposing quarterbacks and allowed the Jaguars' Blake Bortles to throw for 331 yards, rush for 37 more and score three touchdowns last week.

Expect the Dolphins to keep pushing the pace after their much-needed blowout victory over the Tennessee Titans. That means more chances for Tannehill to throw and, as long as he can protect the ball slightly better, should result in a strong fantasy day.

RB Rashad Jennings (New York Giants)

Jennings remains the most well-rounded option in a crowded Giants backfield. He's reached double digits in fantasy scoring twice this season while battling Shane Vereen and Andre Williams for touches. Expect him to make it three against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants' NFC East rivals are 30th in the league against opposing fantasy running backs. They have given up an eye-popping 93 points to the position over their past three games. That opens the door for fantasy success even without 25-plus touches.

Jennings should push toward 100 total yards and find the end zone at least once, putting him in the 15-point range. If he's able to have some early success and earn a heavier workload, that number could reach closer to 20.

WR Robert Woods (Buffalo Bills)

The Bills offense is decimated by injuries right now. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor, running back Karlos Williams and the top two receivers, Sammy Watkins and Percy Harvin, are all sidelined. It's not a promising sign for the team, but it does help Woods' fantasy value.

He's been a limited contributor so far, making no more than four catches in any game. The USC product is far more talented than that would suggest. That should show as he's now in line for a major uptick in targets, which is something he's preparing for, per Chris Brown of the team's official site.

"I feel like the conditioning is there," Woods said. "It's kind of one of those things where you want to be ready to go on Sunday so you limit your reps during the week, but take off and explode on Sunday."

While the Jaguars have been average against wideouts (14th), they allowed a season-worst 32 points to the position against the Texans last week. So, while the situation isn't ideal for the Buffalo offense as a whole, Woods carries sneaky No. 3 WR value.

Sit 'Em

QB Josh McCown (Cleveland Browns)

McCown has been on quite a roll as of late. He's racked up 87 points over the last four games on the strength of eight touchdown passes and three games with over 340 yards passing. In most cases, that would make him an ideal bye-week replacement.

Though the veteran did throw two touchdowns against the Denver Broncos last week, he also came back to Earth a bit with just 213 yards and two interceptions. Now he has to face another strong defense in the St. Louis Rams, which rate third against fantasy quarterbacks.

Since the Rams aren't a team with an explosive offense, it's also not a game where McCown will figure to get a lot of garbage time to accumulate numbers. Expect a low-scoring affair and a mundane outing from the Browns' signal-caller.

RB LeGarrette Blount (New England Patriots)

What fantasy owners have received from Blount over the past three weeks is pretty much what to anticipate all year. He cracked 20 points twice but sandwiched a seven-point day in between. That's life in a versatile offense for a touchdown-dependent back.

The Patriots are better than anybody else at identifying matchup advantages and exploiting them. So the workload for their skill-position players, especially the backs, is highly variable depending on the opponent. Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston provided the snap count from last week:

With the Patriots facing the New York Jets, which rank first against fantasy backs and have given up six or fewer points to the position in five of six games, this will likely be a pass-heavy week for Tom Brady and Co. That creates too much risk to lean heavily on Blount.

TE Zach Ertz (Philadelphia Eagles)

While Ertz has the talent to become a high-impact fantasy tight end, the Eagles offense isn't conducive to a breakthrough. They like to spread the ball around rather than key in on any single target, with six players catching at least three passes last week but nobody catching more than six.

The other problem for the third-year tight end is a lack of red-zone looks. He caught just seven touchdowns over his first two seasons and hasn't scored in the first six games of this season. It's tough for a tight end to emerge as a fantasy asset without regular TD production.

Facing the Carolina Panthers may seem to make him a good streaming opportunity after they let Jimmy Graham break out with eight catches for 140 yards last week. Before that, however, they had allowed just eight catches in four weeks to tight ends. That doesn't leave much upside for Ertz in Week 7.

All fantasy statistics via ESPN and based on standard scoring.