Fantasy Football Outlook: Diontae Johnson, Davante Adams, George Pickens, Jakobi Meyers

Fantasy football managers are facing a six-team bye week. Bye-mageddon has arrived.

Six-team bye weeks are challenging, arduous, headache-inducing … and kind of fun?

There are plenty of lineup nightmares in weeks where we have a half-dozen teams on bye at once. But you are really playing the game of fantasy football at a time like this.

I provide my fantasy football rankings and tiers for Week 7 to help you navigate your start/sit lineup questions. Below we dive into a few notable players for the week.

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Fantasy Football Outlook

Diontae Johnson is back from a hamstring injury that landed the Pittsburgh possession receiver on injured reserve. We’ve seen no indication that Johnson will be on any sort of snap count, and he’s told the media he’s good to go. Never mind that Johnson hasn’t scored a touchdown since 2021; in the bye-pocalypse, he’s a midrange WR3. And I have no fears that Johnson’s return will diminish the value of George Pickens. That genie is out of the bottle. Pickens averaged 4.9 targets per game last year, but he’s averaging 8.0 targets a game in 2023. Pickens is WR18 in fantasy points per game (0.5 PPR), and I’m ranking him WR16 even in a tricky matchup vs. a Rams defense that has allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to WRs.

It seems unlikely that Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo will play on Sunday after sustaining a Week 5 back injury that required a trip to the hospital. It’s not clear whether veteran Brian Hoyer or rookie Aidan O’Connell would get the start if Jimmy G is ruled out, but either would diminish the outlook for WRs Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers. Despite catching only six passes for 74 yards and no TDs over his last two games, Adams is a must-start no matter who’s playing quarterback. I can’t quite put Meyers in that category. Meyers and Garoppolo have had terrific chemistry, and Meyers is putting up stellar numbers. He has 30-335-4 receiving and is WR13 in fantasy points per game (0.5 PPR). It seems like a leap of faith to think Meyers can replicate that sort of success with Hoyer or O’Connell. I have Meyers ranked as a low-end WR3.

-Pat Fitzmaurice