NFL Fantasy: Arizona Cardinals ‘impossible to contain’, Twitter questions and Bye Week ‘sleepers’ | NFL News

Sky Sports‘ NFL Fantasy Football guru Hannah Wilkes helps you navigate your way through the 2021 season in her weekly column, where this week she talks up the unbeaten Arizona Cardinals, and their plethora of offensive weapons, and takes to Twitter to solve some of your Bye Week dilemmas.

Week Six of the 2021 NFL season; three overtime games, four walk-off scores, nine teams scoring more than 30 points. They’re putting on a show out there, aren’t they?

As we head into Week Seven, and the muddy waters of bye weeks, a slightly clearer picture is starting to emerge of which teams are the real deal (half of the NFC), who were early-season pretenders (Broncos, Panthers), and who are so banged up that all bets are off (Cleveland, oh Cleveland). Above them all sit the Arizona Cardinals, who will go 7-0 on Sunday if they beat the Houston Texans (and they really should beat the Texans).

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Watch highlights of the Arizona Cardinals against the Cleveland Browns in Week Six of the NFL

As a Los Angeles Rams fan, I have to admit I’ve been seriously cynical on the Cardinals. In a division as competitive as the NFC West, it’s impossible to appreciate your rivals for anything they do well, with the constant reality that all four could be viable Super Bowl contenders. But, try as I might I cannot find a single crack, not a dry spot in the desert, not an obscure stat to over-interpret to my unsporting ends.

Kyler Murray is (seemingly) impossible to contain, all the offensive weapons are firing, and then there’s that defense. Five sacks, three turnovers and a second-half shut-out against the Browns last week. Oh, and they didn’t miss a beat while a hereto unheard of assistant receivers coach named Spencer Whipple called the offensive plays in the absence of head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Unreal!

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray believed his team showed ‘real maturity’ after leaving Cleveland with a convincing win over the Browns

From a fantasy perspective, if you’re lucky enough to have Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, Christian Kirk or the Cards defensive unit, you should be mocking your competitors and rejecting dubious trades with glee.

The main concern this week though are the six teams on a bye, and the Fantasy gems that are nestled in their rosters. While Justin Herbert et al had the stinkiest* of Fantasy weeks thanks to the Baltimore Ravens, the Los Angeles Chargers leave some big spaces along with the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys and a few select names from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings.

*spellcheck is telling me this is not a word. Spellcheck is wrong and apparently didn’t witness Herbert being bamboozled by Baltimore’s defensive scheming.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Good Morning Football’s Kay Adams picks out the five players you should target on the waiver wire in NFL Fantasy Football ahead of Week Seven

Many dilemmas lie ahead for Fantasy managers and so I asked the good people of Twitter what their biggest head-scratchers were coming into Week Seven.

I’ll start with a public service announcement that needs screaming from multiple rooftops (or at least in all caps on social media).

Your bye-week botherings…

An unexpectedly worrying, and outrageously frequent, reply was many people questioning whether they should leave an open spot on their team, rather than drop players.

Let me clear: this is a very bad idea!

No matter who you’re trying to keep that spot open for you have to remember that there are no guarantees in football, both Fantasy and real life. One of those players you loathe to drop now could get injured straight out of their bye and then you’ve voluntarily dropped points for nothing.

Score what you can, when you can, and enjoy the wild ride all the way to the playoffs (or at least the Consolation Cup). Okay? Good.

Now let’s dish out some advice that was, for once, actually asked for.

It happens to the best of us @jw_24jw (if that even is your real name), heed this lesson in your next draft but, in the meantime, don’t panic.

Let’s preface this with a note on sleepers; they’re a gamble by nature. When they go off, they make NFL bods look smart, when they stink, we pretend we never uttered their names. With that in mind…

QB options: Carson Wentz. He has been sneaky solid for the Indianapolis Colts and is only rostered in 35 per cent of leagues.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz unloads a 51-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver Parris Campbell

Matt Ryan. Not the most exciting Fantasy QB, but he comes out of the bye after a solid showing in London and is playing a Miami Dolphins defense that is trending in the wrong direction.

RB: JD McKissic. Eight rushes and eight receptions in Week Six. Hello PPR value! Even if Antonio Gibson plays a full game, McKissic has a good Fantasy floor because of his role in the passing game.

WR: A.J Green Despite the Cardinals being the red-hot team in the league, Green is readily available, led Arizona in receiving yards against the Browns and is against the Texans this Sunday. Enough said.

See above. Fill every spot.

While I don’t know the details of your bench @kushty86, I’m sure there are a couple of players you can drop to fill the gaps and ensure you’re still scoring something at each position.

Also, don’t forget very little separates fantasy QBs, so unless you have Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes don’t be too precious with that spot.

What you’ve got here @BenchSebastian is an injury-induced migraine. George Kittle is out until November 7; Dawson Knox has a broken bone in his hand but played through it (and even threw a TD pass in that ‘Buffalo Special’ on Sunday); and Kareem Hunt is headed to Injured Reserve with the calf injury he picked up in Cleveland’s loss to Arizona.

I don’t know the depth of your league but, based on your roster, I’m guessing it’s not too deep so you should be able to pick up serviceable options to get you some points through the byes.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox leaps backward for an eye-popping touchdown

My impulse would be to hold on to Knox as the Bills are the strongest team offensively (and he’s not looking like he’s heading to IR) so he should serve you well down the stretch. It’s worth bearing in mind the limited workloads when players come off IR which limits their production, and I personally don’t think Kittle has been where we expected him to be Fantasy-wise this year.

In terms of available TEs, I’ve just picked up Ricky Seals-Jones. I might be slightly guilty of chasing success here but he put up 9.10 and 15.80 pts in both of his starts in the absence of Logan Thomas. Plus he’s only rostered in 9 per cent of leagues.

Beg, blackmail, and if that doesn’t work ‘borrow’ their phone when they’re not looking!

Join Hannah Wilkes and Josh Denzel, with Phoebe Schecter and Kay Adams, on NFL Overtime, Thursday at 9pm on Sky Sports NFL.