Best Week 7 Moves From Our Experts: Should You Start Josh Jacobs?
Best Week 7 Moves
Whether you're playing redraft or dynasty, knowing what moves to make is crucial to success.
That's why we're having each of our fantasy football experts give you one move to take advantage of this week.
Don’t Hesitate to Start Josh Jacobs
If you have been holding on to Josh Jacobs since you drafted him, or even grabbed him off the waiver wire, plug him into your lineup this week. You didn’t wait all this time to hesitate and leave him on the bench.
The Packers run game may have you questioning that call. They rank 31st in rushing yards over expected per attempt at minus-0.93. They lead the league in stuffed-run percentage at 55.9% (the Raiders sit second by a decent margin at 49.7%).
Watching the team’s last two games pretty thoroughly, I chalk most of this up to the RBs. The O-line certainly isn’t great at run blocking, but I don’t believe it’s among the worst in the league. Bad vision combined with a lack of short-area quickness has led nearly all of the Packers RBs (MarShawn Lloyd, Kaleb Johnson, Pierre Strong Jr., etc.) to play poorly.
The team has also leaned into the pass. It ranks fourth in pass rate over expected (7.8%) and is having success throwing so far. But this remains a team that wants to run the ball more when it has the chance.
They have passed less than expected since Jacobs joined the team in 2024. Their PROE finished at minus-4.32% for 2024 and minus-1.61% in 2025.
Start Jacobs and take the risk that they get back to running the ball with him in the lineup.
A.J. Brown’s Bad Week is Your Buying Window
A.J. Brown Active
NE WR17
The person in your league who drafted A.J. Brown in the second round is probably off to a rough start. Last week’s rusty performance likely deepened those concerns.
As bad as Brown looked, there’s reason to be optimistic. In his return to the lineup, he ran a route on 97% of dropbacks and commanded a whopping 33.3% target share. That’s the kind of usage a WR1 needs, and it came right as he got back on the field.
The opportunity should grow. Romeo Doubs will be out for the next month, which can only help keep Brown hyper-involved in a New England offense that has been humming.
The schedule is friendly, too. According to our strength of schedule tool, the Patriots have the 12th-easiest slate for wide receivers over the next four weeks.
Last week’s miserable outing creates a solid chance to buy low on a proven star who could start paying off his draft capital. If his manager is losing patience, now is the time to make an offer.
Buy Jeremiyah Love Before It Feels Comfortable
Jeremiyah Love Not declared
ARI RB21
I know I’ve found a good buy when I pitch him to the rest of the staff and immediately get shot down.
That tells me he’s, at worst, acquirable; at best, acquirable at a strong value.
That’s the case with Jeremiyah Love right now.
The arguments against him are obvious:
- He’s still hurt.
- He was sharing work with Tyler Allgeier even before the latest ankle injury.
- And he plays in a subpar offense.
But that’s why he’s buyable.
Love is still the elite prospect who went third overall in the NFL Draft. And we’ve already seen the upside.
Back in Week 3, when Love was the healthiest he’s been this season, he played 64% of Arizona’s offensive snaps, handled 21 carries, and drew 5 targets. He finished RB4 in both expected and actual fantasy points.
The schedule adds to the appeal. Arizona has the fifth-easiest RB schedule from Week 8 on, including the second-best slate for the fantasy playoffs: Jets, Saints, Raiders.
There’s risk here, especially with Love’s health. You need enough RB depth to weather some short-term uncertainty.
But if you wait until he’s healthy and coming off another big game, the discount disappears. Shop for him now, while his current manager is focused on all the reasons to sell.
Tanking is an Underutilized Skill in Dynasty
This week marks the halfway point of the fantasy regular season. If you haven’t already accepted that your dynasty team is not winning the championship this season, you’re falling further behind.
Time to tank.
The benefit of tanking is simple: Put your team in a better position to win the championship next season and beyond at the cost of making the playoffs this year. That typically consists of selling off worthwhile aging players for future picks or young players that aren’t scoring as many points … yet.
But the concept behind selling points is becoming less understood and more of a formality among dynasty managers. The majority of leagues are determining draft order for non-playoff teams based on inverse Max Points For. That means you’ll be judged on your best possible lineup -- best-ball style -- and can’t simply throw your worst players out there each week.
The difference between achieving the first overall pick and second is massive. Especially in draft class that will feature Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith, commonly viewed as the greatest WR prospect of his generation.
Ja’Marr Chase, Marvin Harrison Jr, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and even Carnell Tate arrived valued as WR1’s before taking an NFL snap. Smith’s stature signals the value of the first overall pick will be on par with a top-3 WR at minimum.
But getting to the fewest points possible over the course of the season, without lighting value on fire, is the underutilized skill.
Since draft order is based on the scoring of your best possible lineup each week, if you have three QBs that all finish with the three most points in a week but your league only has one QB spot in the lineup, the second and third highest scoring QBs wouldn’t count against your ‘Max PF’ score.
Whereas if you hold the three highest scoring WRs in a week, and your league has two WR spots but multiple flex spots, they all count against you.
With the abundance of trading in dynasty leagues, holding onto a plethora of one position doesn’t lock you into that being the case when you’re ready to compete next year. But doing so now is a simple way to store player value in your lineup without actively moving away from the highest pick.
The difference between Jeremiah Smith and the 1.02 in 2027 rookie drafts will be massive and there’s still time to take advantage.
Tell My Colleagues They’re Wrong About Kirk Cousins
Look, we all entered this season skeptical of Fernando Mendoza’s seat filler. But Kirk Cousins has proved that was a mistake.
He doesn’t make it pretty. The man sits 14th among QBs in fantasy points per game despite checking in just 23rd in expected points per game.
Does that mean he’s playing so well that he’s outscoring his opportunity? Not really. Cousins ranks just 27th in adjusted completion rate among 37 qualifiers, but he sits just …
- 0.9 percentage points behind Bryce Young
- 1.3 points behind Trevor Lawrence
- and 1.7 ahead of Jordan Love
All those guys are faring pretty well, right?
More importantly, Cousins has just kept getting there for us in fantasy. He’s got four top-10 finishes among his six outings. And here are the weeks he didn’t get there:
- Week 1: QB18 on 160 yards, 3 TD passes, and 2 INTs
- Week 5: QB20 on 19-of-28 passing, 243 yards, 1 TD
Three TDs in one of them; his second-best completion rate in the other. Cousins has tossed 2+ TD passes in five of six contests. And he has thrown more than 40 passes in two of his past three games.
That last fact is key for me, because I expect plenty more volume against the Rams this Sunday. L.A. heads to Vegas as a 4.5-point favorite with injuries all over the place, including lead CB Trent McDuffie (groin). Even with McDuffie around for five of the first six games, the Rams sit a mere 13th in pass-defense DVOA, 21st in adjusted fantasy points allowed to QBs, and 17th in actual points allowed.
The defense sits a little above average, but not scary. And that’s why I ain’t scared to say Cousins belongs among the top 15 QBs this week. I’d start him this week over Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Tyler Shough, and Kyler Murray.
Check out Ian’s Week 7 start-sit article for the anti-Cousins case.
