NFL Fantasy 2022 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 7: Wide receivers

Cooper has played six games and in four of them saw double-digit targets, scored a touchdown and put up at least 14 fantasy points. In three of them, he went for over 20 fantasy points. Cooper is currently a top-12 fantasy wide receiver and has a 28% target share and 37% air yard share. That is insane weekly volume; plus, he is a popular red- and end-zone target for Jacoby Brissett. The floor is not the safest with Cooper, but he has had far more good weeks than bad and is seeing enough volume to warrant starting weekly moving forward -- especially when he has a matchup as good as this one. The Ravens have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to receivers at 41.2 and the second-most yards to the position. Fire Cooper up this week.  

Hopkins is back in our fantasy lives! Many people may be wondering how to handle his return and, well, he’s DeAndre Hopkins. He may be coming off a down year by his standards, but again, he is DeAndre Hopkins! The Cardinals wideout has averaged 10-plus targets per game in the prior four seasons, including in 2020 with Kyler Murray. Last season he scored eight touchdowns in 10 games. Hopkins is always a threat to score, especially considering he averaged over an end-zone target per game last year. He had been a top-five receiver in the four seasons prior to last year. Even if he has declined a bit, he is still a borderline WR1. And that is on a team in need of receiver help after losing Marquise Brown to injury last week. The Cardinals lost a WR1, just in time to get another back. Hopkins also comes back in a favorable matchup, as the Saints have allowed the seventh-most fantasy PPG to receivers at 39.8 per game. Plus, their top corner Marshon Lattimore is banged up and just missed Week 6. Hopkins is back and should be started.  

Lazard is the Packers' top wide receiver and has been a reliable fantasy asset in that role. Lazard has scored a touchdown in four of his five games this season. He has also scored at least 13 fantasy points in four straight games. Since he returned in Week 2, he leads the Packers with a 20% target share and a 39% air yard share. He also leads them with three end-zone targets. As long as he is getting safe volume like that, he is always in play, especially in weeks when he has strong matchups like this one against the Commanders. Washington has allowed an average of 40.1 fantasy PPG to receivers, the sixth-most in the NFL through six weeks. Plus, after losing two games in a row, hopefully we get angry Aaron Rodgers this week! That can only help Lazard. His counterpart, Romeo Doubs, who is the only other reliable weekly target in this passing game, is in play as a flex option.   

Michael Pittman Jr. felt like too obvious of a recommendation, so we are pivoting to his teammate. Pierce was still available on a lot of waiver wires at the start of the week, but that has been changing. He is a strong option for anyone in need of a bye-week replacement. Pierce has seen at least six targets in three straight games, scoring at least 12 points in each game. I thought he won Matt Ryan over in that TNF game in Week 5 when he led the Colts in every receiving category. But there is no way he hasn’t now after catching the game-winning touchdown in Week 6. It also helps that Ryan looked more comfortable in the offense as of late. Pierce has earned consistent volume and could only continue to see more work. He has shown to have a safe floor and could flash even more upside this week against the Titans. Tennessee has allowed the second-most fantasy points to receivers at 44.4 per game. This is a secondary you can pick on. Pierce scored 12 fantasy points against it in Week 4, but has carved out a larger role since then. He is a strong streaming option this week.

Woods had been showing signs of reverting back to Bobby Trees, but the explosiveness has not been there. He has fewer than 40 receiving yards in four of his five games. In his first matchup against the Colts, he caught four balls for 30 yards. He did salvage his day and score a touchdown -- his only score of the year and one of just four the Colts have allowed to a receiver this season. However, the Colts have been tough on receivers all season long. They have allowed just 25.4 fantasy PPG to receivers, the second-fewest in the NFL. Plus, there is always the concern the Titans have the lead and rely heavily on Derrick Henry. You likely have better options this week than Woods.   

After three hot weeks to start the season, London has been held to single-digits three weeks in a row. He has been targeted on 35% of his routes, which leads the NFL, and his 33% target share is the second-highest in the NFL. I know, it sounds like I am making the case to start him! I am more so making the argument not to drop him -- like I did on "Dropped" this week on Fantasy Live! But the big issue is the Falcons have been averaging 19 pass attempts per game over the past three weeks. So even a high percentage of targets isn’t much when it's out of 19. That could change moving forward if the Falcons are trailing more often. But even if they throw more this week, the Bengals secondary has been stingy. The Bengals have allowed just 27.2 fantasy PPG to wide receivers this season, the fifth-fewest in the NFL.  

Jeudy was the Broncos' top receiver in Week 6, but he still finished with just three catches for 54 yards on seven targets. The volume is nice, but it was his fourth time finishing in single-digits in the past five weeks. This offense just is not fantasy-friendly. It looks broken if we are being honest. This week it faces a Jets secondary that has really come into its own in the last couple of weeks. On the season, the Jets are just outside the top 10 in fewest fantasy points allowed to receivers. The floor is too low and the ceiling is too infrequent to trust Jeudy right now. Get away from him in fantasy until he shows otherwise.  

Meyers had been a consistent source of targets when he has been healthy. But in Week 6, he saw just four targets, which was fifth on his team. It could be another week with Bailey Zappe, and it's in a tougher matchup than last week. The Bears have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy PPG to receivers at just 27 per game. Plus, this game has the potential to be a slow-paced run-fest between these two teams. There are options with safe floors that provide more upside than Meyers.