The Hot Sheet looks at which top players are excelling, and which ones are struggling on a week-to-week basis. Following the latest on-field trends can make our weekly lineup decisions easier while allowing dynasty players to always understand the current value of players around the league.
The value of the players mentioned on the Hot List is rising, thanks to their performance on the field. On the other hand, Cold List players are struggling and losing dynasty value as a result.
Hot List:
1) Saquon Barkley, RB NYG
Giants rookie RB Saquon Barkley could set up camp on the Hot List as he’s been one of the most consistent performers early in the season. Barkley’s worst weekly fantasy finish was RB13 in Week Four and the remainder of his games have all fallen inside the RB1 range. He was especially impressive against the Eagles last week when he came a yard short of accumulating at least 100 yards both as a runner and receiver. He still finished with 229 total yards and a touchdown. What Barkley is doing looks even better knowing how bad QB Eli Manning and the offensive line play has been. Barkley is in contention to be ranked and valued as the top overall player in dynasty leagues.
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: RB5
Week Four: RB13
Week Five: RB4
Week Six: RB1
2) Tarik Cohen, RB CHI
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Two: RB57
Week Three: RB34
Week Four: RB5
Week Six: RB6
After a slow start to the season as the Bears coaching staff was trying to force starting RB Jordan Howard into a pass-catching role, second-year RB Tarik Cohen has exploded the past two games with a pair of top 6 fantasy finishes. After a total of 21 touches through the first three games of the year, Cohen has averaged 16 opportunities per game in the past two contests and is producing. Of course, this is all coming at the expense of Howard, whose role has been limited.
3) Tre’Quan Smith, WR NO
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Two: WR99
Week Three: WR116
Week Four: WR115
Week Five: WR5
Veteran WR Ted Ginn was a late scratch for the Saints Week Five game, giving rookie WR Tre’Quan Smith a huge opportunity. He took advantage, catching all three balls thrown his way for 111 yards and two touchdowns. This week, the Saints placed Ginn on the injured reserve list with a knee injury, giving Smith a likely permanent role in the Saints high-powered offense. As a 22-year-old rookie playing in one of the league’s best situations, everything is going Smith’s way and his dynasty value will explode.
4) Carson Wentz, QB PHI
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: QB22
Week Four: QB15
Week Five: QB8
Week Six: QB8
There was some real concern about Eagles QB Carson Wentz after he was slow to return from last season’s ACL injury. Wentz missed the first two games of the season and looked a bit rusty in his Week Three return to the field. Wentz has improved each week and is coming off consecutive QB8 performances, easing the fears of dynasty owners. Wentz climbed all the way to the top of the dynasty QB ranks during his breakout 2017 season but has a lot of competition for that spot now. Regardless, he’s clearly a top five dynasty signal caller and is seemingly still getting better.
5) Andrew Luck, QB IND
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: QB20
Week Four: QB3
Week Five: QB4
Week Six: QB10
Speaking of concerns about an injured quarterback, it was fair to worry if Colts QB Andrew Luck would ever play again after missing more than a year with a shoulder injury. Not only is he playing but he leads the league in pass attempts and, at least for now, his arm is holding up well. Luck is on pace for 768 pass attempts, which would easily set the new record, currently held by Lions QB Matthew Stafford with 727. With three straight QB1 games, Luck appears to be back, although a lot of those fantasy numbers can be attributed to the passing volume. The good news is he’s doing this without his WR1 T.Y. Hilton, TE Jack Doyle and any real running game to speak of.
Other Players Considered: Marquise Goodwin, Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, C.J. Beathard, Aaron Rodgers, Zach Ertz, Alshon Jeffery, Adam Thielen, David Moore, Mitch Trubisky, Taylor Gabriel, Sam Darnold, Eric Ebron, Jameis Winston, Julio Jones, Austin Hooper, O.J. Howard, Ito Smith, Tyler Boyd, James Conner, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Antonio Brown, C.J. Uzomah, A.J. Green, Melvin Gordon, David Njoku, Robert Woods, Todd Gurley, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Sony Michel
Cold List:
1) Devonta Freeman, RB ATL
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: Injured
Week Four: Injured
Week Five: RB45
Week Six: Injured
Falcons RB Devonta Freeman has had a rough season. After suffering a knee injury in Week One, Freeman missed three games before returning in Week Five with an RB45 performance and only 41 total yards. Freeman suffered another injury and was forced to sit last week. Now, the Falcons have placed him on the injured reserve list and the best-case scenario is that he returns to the field for the fantasy playoffs. Freeman’s struggles and injuries have massively damaged his dynasty value as evidenced by a series of Twitter polls that showed respondents preferred nearly every relevant rookie RB over the veteran Freeman.
2) Aaron Jones, RB GB
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: RB48
Week Four: RB19
Week Five: RB36
Week Six: RB48
One of the players that continues to disappoint and confound dynasty players is second-year RB Aaron Jones of the Packers. He’s been paired and compared with fellow sophomore RB Jamaal Williams the past two seasons but neither has been able to separate. In Jones’ case, most seem to blame the Packers coaching staff and Jones’ usage. Regardless of the problem, it looks like it will continue. Jones flashed a pair of RB4 games early in the 2017 season but didn’t finish inside the top 40 weekly backs the rest of the season.
3) Derek Carr, QB OAK
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: QB21
Week Four: QB5
Week Five: QB23
Week Six: QB30
Things are close to hitting rock bottom in Oakland as the Raiders continue to struggle and trade rumors swirl around some of the team’s top players. Quarterback Derek Carr hasn’t been the same since he suffered a late-season injury during his near MVP season of 2016. Like his teammate WR Amari Cooper, Carr’s time in Oakland might be drawing to a close and that could prove to be a good thing. In the latest dynasty ADP, Carr ranked as the QB27 and that actually feels a little high right now.
4) Carlos Hyde, RB CLE
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: RB3
Week Four: RB20
Week Five: RB33
Week Six: RB52
The season started pretty well for Browns RB Carlos Hyde, culminating with his Week Three game in which he scored a pair of touchdowns and totaled over 100 yards on the same night his child was born. His season has gone downhill since. Hyde’s playing time is declining as he’s been out-snapped by RB Duke Johnson in each of the past two games. The Browns are always difficult to predict but it would make sense that they would transition to rookie RB Nick Chubb as their primary ball-carrier sometime soon, leaving Hyde without a significant role.
5) Corey Davis, WR TEN
Recent Weekly Fantasy Finishes:
Week Three: WR74
Week Four: WR4
Week Five: WR57
Week Six: WR82
Let’s get this out of the way first…all fantasy players seem to agree that Titans WR Corey Davis is a talented player and valuable dynasty asset and his struggles are related to the overall offense, coaching staff and/or play of his quarterback. Regardless of the exact reason for Davis’ pitiful numbers this season, the major concern is that those things won’t be changing anytime soon. This is the first year for this coaching staff and unlike a few other struggling offenses, they’ve kept their team competitive in most games. The talk about replacing QB Marcus Mariota has started but teams are typically so hesitant to replace their quarterback. If that’s true, we’ve all got another year with this exact same situation, leaving little hope for consistency for Davis.
Other Players Considered: Pierre Garcon, Amari Cooper, Alex Smith, Josh Doctson, DeVante Parker, Mike Gesicki, Jordan Howard, Jordan Wilkins, Quincy Enunwa, Tevin Coleman, Baker Mayfield, Antonio Callaway, Jarvis Landry, Lamar Miller, Will Fuller, Kelvin Benjamin, Josh Allen, Royce Freeman, Marcus Mariota
