Week 7 QB Rankings: Aaron Rodgers Enters The Streamer Conversation

It's Week 7.

We're almost halfway through the fantasy football regular season.

Gone are the illusions and adrenaline. The pretense and potential.

Hope.

All that's left is the present, the future, the mirror, and your roster.

In the words of Jim Morrison: "The soft parade has now begun."

Let's get into the Week 7 QB edition of Freedman's Favorites, where I highlight guys I'm upgrading because of …

Favorable betting factors and situational spots
Advantageous defensive matchups (perhaps aided by injury)
Increased usage expectations (again, maybe aided by injury)

For process notes regarding this series, my Week 7 fantasy football rankings, and my weekly projections, see the end of this piece. Also, check out the rest of my favorite Week 7 fantasy football plays.

Access our full rankings and projections with a FREE FantasyLife+ subscription when you download and install Comet, an awesome AI-powered web browser via Perplexity. Get Comet AND FantasyLife+ for free. Win. Win. Win.

Week 7 Quarterback Rankings

RANK	QB	Team	Opponent
1	Jayden Daniels	WAS	DAL
2	Patrick Mahomes	KC	KV
3	Dak Prescott	DAL	WAS
4	Drake Maye	NE	TEN
5	Jalen Hurts	PHI	MIN
6	Jared Goff	DET	TB
7	Baker Mayfield	TB	DET
8	Caleb Williams	CHI	NO
9	Justin Herbert	LAC	IND
10	Justin Fields	NYJ	CAR
11	Brock Purdy (QUES)	SF	ATL
12	Jordan Love	GB	ARI

Jayden Daniels to Ride Village Bicycle in Week 7

I don't mention Jayden Daniels often in this piece, because you don't need to be a fantasy football genius to know you should start him all the time.

But he warrants inclusion this week for a few reasons.

First, the Bills and Ravens are on bye. With Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson unavailable, Daniels is a strong candidate to be the No. 1 QB on the slate.

Second, there's the matchup: This week, Daniels gets to ride the proverbial village bicycle that is the Cowboys defense.

As I say almost every week, this year the Cowboys have made bad QBs look good, good QBs look great, and great QBs look elite (per our Fantasy Life Scoring Matrix).

Jalen Hurts (Week 1): 24.3 points | 152 yards passing | 14-62-2 rushing
Russell Wilson (Week 2): 31.3 points | 450 yards, 3 TDs passing | 3-23-0 rushing
Caleb Williams (Week 3): 29.1 points | 298 yards, 4 TDs passing | 5-12-0 rushing
Jordan Love (Week 4): 26.3 points | 337 yards, 3 TDs passing | 3-28-0 rushing
Justin Fields (Week 5): 25.9 points | 282 yards, 2 TDs passing | 7-26-0 rushing
Bryce Young (Week 6): 19.5 points | 199 yards, 3 TDs passing | 3-5-0 rushing

In total, they're No. 1 in most fantasy points allowed to QBs (25.7).

In his one full game against the Cowboys last year (in his OROY campaign), Daniels threw two INTs in a 34-26 home loss. Disappointing … and yet he still finished as the No. 1 QB in fantasy with 32.4 points, 275 yards and two TDs passing, and 7-74-1 rushing.

The Cowboys are bad, and Daniels is more than capable of exploiting them.

Daniels missed Weeks 3-4 with a knee injury, but in the two games since his Week 5 return he has looked very much like himself with 442 yards and four TDs passing (9.2 AY/A) and 18-91-0 rushing on a position-best 16% scramble rate (per our Fantasy Life Utilization Report).

Even if WRs Terry McLaurin (quadriceps) and Noah Brown (groin) remain out, I still expect Daniels and the Commanders offense to go off.

Aaron Rodgers Upgrades to Week 7 Streamer

In Week 1, Aaron Rodgers impressed in his Steelers debut with 244 yards and four TDs passing on a 73.3% completion rate and 10.8 AY/A.

Since then, though, his production has been more modest: 777 yards and six TDs passing to three INTs in four games with a 67.6% completion rate and 7.1 AY/A.

But he looked great last game off the Week 5 bye (235 yards, two TDs on 70% completion rate, 9.2 AY/A), and this week he faces the Bengals, who are No. 29 in defensive dropback SR (53.4%, per RBs Don't Matter).

On top of that, the Bengals might be without EDGEs Trey Hendrickson (back) and Shemar Stewart (ankle).

The Steelers are notable favorites to win the AFC North (-180, Caesars), and their offense hasn't looked this good in over half a decade.

The Dropback

Jared Goff (Lions) vs. Buccaneers: Even without former OC Ben Johnson, Goff is No. 1 in the league with a 75.9% completion rate and 14 TDs passing, and he has a career-best 9.1 AY/A. The Lions have a slate-high 28.75-point implied team total, the Bucs are No. 4 in largest fantasy boost to QBs (+3.9), and CBs Zyon McCollum (thumb) and Benjamin Morrison (hamstring) are uncertain.

C.J. Stroud (Texans) at Seahawks: Stroud has seemingly returned to his 2023 form over the past two games (81.8% completion rate, 10.9 AY/A), and he should be rested and prepared coming off the Week 6 bye. For the Seahawks, CBs Devon Witherspoon (knee) and Tariq Woolen (concussion) and FS Julian Love (hamstring) are all dealing with injuries. While the consensus total for this game is 40.5, I have the over as a five-star bet in our Fantasy Life NFL Game Model.

Bryce Young (Panthers) at Jets: Over his past two games, Young is 2-0 with 397 yards and five TDs passing on a 65.5% completion rate and 7.4 AY/A. On the one hand, those games were against subpar Dolphins and Cowboys defenses. On the other hand, the Panthers are 1.5-point favorites, the Jets could be tired coming back from London, and they're No. 30 in defensive pass DVOA (38.0%, per FTN). Young is a streamable waiver option.

Spencer Rattler (Saints) at Bears: Rattler this year has respectable production on the ground (143 yards rushing), and he has improved steadily as a passer (5.1 AY/A last year, 6.4 this year, 8.3 past two weeks). The Bears have a one-day rest disadvantage off Monday Night Football, they're No. 31 in defensive dropback SR (53.8%), and No. 1 CB Jaylon Johnson (groin, IR) is out. Honestly … I might even be willing to use Rattler this week in Guillotine Leagues™.

Notes

Byes: This week, the Bills and Ravens are on bye.

Injuries: Since I write Freedman's Favorites on Tuesday, I have incomplete injury information. After I submit this article, any updated thoughts I have regarding injuries will manifest in my rankings and projections. For our quick fantasy thoughts every day, subscribe to the Fantasy Life newsletter.

Schedule: This season, I have the following rankings and projections schedule.

Tue AM: Publish rankings and projections
Thu AM: Refresh rankings and projections
Thu PM: Make necessary TNF rankings changes
Sat PM: Update rankings and projections
Sun AM: Revise rankings
Sun PM: Finalize rankings based on news prior to 1 pm ET kickoff

Accuracy: I'm a six-time top-20 ranker in accuracy and a long-time profitable player prop better.

Scoring: All fantasy points are half-PPR scoring unless otherwise stated.

Cohesion: My positional breakdowns are published separately, but I think of them as comprising one whole, so check out the rest of my favorite Week 7 fantasy football plays (via my Fantasy Life author page).

Abbreviations: Here are some abbreviations I might have used in the piece.

Fantasy Points per Game (FPPG)
Against the Spread (ATS)
Over/Under (O/U)
Team Total (TT)
Moneyline (ML)
Return on Investment (ROI)
Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AY/A)
Expected Points Added (EPA)
Success Rate (SR)
Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE)
Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA)
AirYAC (Air Yards + Yards After Catch)
Weighted Opportunity Rating (WOPR)
Average Depth of Target (aDOT)
Short Down and Distance (SDD)
Long Down and Distance (LDD)

Players Mentioned in this Article

JaydenDanielsO
QBWAS
PPG
18.93
AaronRodgers
QBPIT
PPG
16.81
Proj
14.41