NFL

Fantasy Football Mailbag: Tuesday 12/6/16

Can you trust Kirk Cousins over Eli Manning and Philip Rivers this week? And is Ladarius Green a plug-and-play option at tight end?

Fantasy football research never stops, and roles change drastically from one week to the next. That's where our fantasy football mailbag comes into play.

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Now, let's answer some questions.


Let's start with our projections here.

This week, Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers face the Carolina Panthers on the road. We project him to finish as the QB22 this week based on our default scoring (don't worry, we'll sort that part out in a second). He's projected for 16.06 points with a range from 10.30 to 21.82. That's a pretty low floor and a low ceiling, too.

Eli Manning is a bit better off against the Dallas Cowboys at home -- but not much. He's our QB17, projected for 17.49 points with a range from 10.76 to 24.22. The floor isn't much higher than what our algorithm sees for Rivers, but the ceiling is nicer.

Then we have Kirk Cousins, who draws the Philadelphia Eagles on the road. We project him for 19.46 points with a range from 11.42- to 27.50.

That gives Cousins -- projected for a full 1.03 picks compared to 0.82 or fewer for the other two quarterbacks -- the clear edge. Even after getting dinged for an interception,which doesn't impact your scoring, Cousins looks like the best bet of the three this week.


So, the main question here is whether Ladarius Green is worth adding. In a vacuum, he is worth adding. He hasn't topped 48% of snaps for the Pittsburgh Steelers yet, but he managed to draw 11 targets regardless last week in his 35 snaps.

His remaining schedule: at the Buffalo Bills (15th against tight ends, per our DFS tools), at the Cincinnati Bengals (28th), and home against the Baltimore Ravens (5th). That's a mixed bag.

So, what about dropping Cameron Brate? Well, Brate has played 60% or more of snaps every game except for one since Week 3. He gets the New Orleans Saints (19th against tight ends) twice and Cowboys (27th) once. That's not bad, and Green's matchup against the Ravens looks pretty iffy. I think you can't go wrong here, especially if you think you can scoop Brate back up for a potential Week 16 championship game.

As for Zach Ertz, he has played 75% or more of his team's snaps in each active game and faces Washington (21st), Baltimore (5th), and the New York Giants (23rd).

Basically, all have good spots, but Green and Ertz face a tough Baltimore defense, too.

I'd try to drop Brate for Green and go back to Brate for Week 16, if possible, and lean toward Green over Ertz until Week 16, too.

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