PlayerProfiler is home to the award winning redraft rankings and tools. Our Player Rankings are second to none, and the World Famous Draft Kit contains detailed player write ups and cheat sheets to help You dominate fantasy drafts! Check it out. Below, Bradley Stalder breaks down premium fantasy football flex players for fantasy Week 7.
In this weekly flex plays article, I identify three players outside the top 50 projected FLEX starters who will “win” the FLEX. How do I define “winning” the FLEX position? If a player earns at least 12.5 points in half-point PPR scoring, that’s a “win.” Anything less than that is a loss. One player outside the top 100 in projected points for the week is my long-shot, double-or-nothing score. Throughout the season, I’ll offer players I think will “win” the FLEX each week and update how I did last week as accountability.
Week 6 Record: 3-2
Running Records 9-11 , 45-percent
Chase Brown| RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Chase Brown is rostered on 75-percent of teams, but only projected to start on 9-percent. He projects as the 64th-highest FLEX player in Week 7. For the first three weeks, Zack Moss led the Cincinnati Bengals backfield. Now, the tides have shifted. Brown has earned the majority of snaps over the last three weeks, and set a season high 62-percent Snap Share in Week 6. During that three week span, Brown did not finish with fewer than 13.4 fantasy points in a game. Brown ranks No. 5 in True Yards Per Carry, No. 6 in Juke Rate, No. 9 in Fantasy Points Per Opportunity, and all while facing the tenth-most defenders in the box.
The Bengals face a free-falling disaster of a Cleveland Browns team on Sunday as 6.5 road favorites. Brown should handle the majority of backfield work yet again, continue to work ahead of Moss, and offer another strong FLEX week.
Brian Thomas, Jr. | WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Brian Thomas Jr. is rostered on 81-percent of teams, but only projected to start on 16-percent. He projects as the 56th-highest FLEX player for Week 7. Thomas struggled against the elite Chicago Bears defense in Week 6, producing his worst fantasy output of the year. However, things are about to get much better across the pond. Despite the down week, Thomas still ranks No. 8 in Yards Per Route Run, No.9 in receiving yards, No. 15 in Deep Targets, and No. 20 in fantasy points per game among wide receivers. Perhaps most impressively, Thomas ranks No. 6 among receivers in Route Win Rrate.
The Jaguars and Patriots travel to London for another Sunday morning showdown. While a 42.5 projected game total is less than inspiring, the Patriots allow the fifth-most fantasy points to wide receivers. Fire up Brian Thomas for a boom potential week.
Austin Ekeler | RB, Washington Commanders
Austin Ekeler is rostered on 88-percent of teams, and projected to start on 26-percent of them. Ekeler projects as the 75th-highest FLEX player for Week 7. The veteran back ranks No. 1 in True Yards Per Carry, No. 1 in Yards Per Touch, No. 1 in yards per reception, No. 1 in Yards Per Route Run, No. 2 in Yards Created Per Rouch, No. 3 in Breakaway Run Rate, and No. 4 in Fantasy Points Per Opportunity. And that opportunity is knocking. Brian Robinson is still nursing a knee injury that kept him out of the Week 6 matchup against Baltimore. While that was a tough matchup, it was encouraging to see Ekeler earn 80-percent of snaps. Outside of the injuries Ekeler sustained earlier in the season, he hasn’t fallen below 43-percent of snaps in a contest.
The matchup between Washington and Carolina projects as the highest game total for the slate. Even if Robinson gets healthy for this matchup, Ekeler is poised to score a ton of fantasy points. Carolina just allowed both Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier to finish top 9 among running backs in Week 6, and the Panthers allow the most fantasy points to running backs on the season. Fire up Ekeler in Week 7.
Deep Cut: Antonio Gibson | RB, NE Patriots
Antonio Gibson is rostered on 34-percent of teams and projected to start on 2-percent. Gibson projects as the 135th-highest FLEX player for Week 7, per Sleeper. There’s two factors at play for Gibson: Rhamondre Stevenson‘s health and ball security. Remember in Week 5, Stevenson did not receive the start due to fumbling four times in the first four weeks. Gibson’s Snap Share increased as a result. In Week 7, Stevenson is still nursing an injury that cost him the Week 6 contest. Gibson earned 16 touches in that game.
Expect Gibson to float between 14 and 16 touches in the matchup against the Jaguars in London if Stevenson misses. Gibson is PlayerProfiler’s projected RB14 with Stevenson not expected to play.
View all Bradley Stalder’s Playerprofiler articles here.
