We are projecting Diontae Johnson and Pat Freiermuth to return from injury for the Pittsburgh Steelers which makes them one of the most fascinating teams to watch in terms of target share in Week 7.
Specifically, I'm wondering what happens with George Pickens. He had more targets than Johnson in Week 1 also, but Johnson only played 43% of the snaps. Pickens' production spiked while Johnson was on IR. Since Week 2 he is the No. 15 wide receiver in Fantasy on a per-game basis, producing week-winning results in Weeks 2 and 5.
The other complicating factor is the question of Jaylen Warren's role in the passing game; he's earned five targets per game and works the same type of short-area targets that Johnson and Freiermuth thrive on.
For now, I'm projecting a small step back for Pickens, but he's still a high-upside WR3. He's actually the only Steeler I have projected as a starter against the Rams. But they do have a handful of roster-worthy players as we await the new reality in Pittsburgh now that Pickens has emerged and they are back to full strength.
Downs looks like a legitimate WR3 rest of the season, but a terrible matchup in Week 7 makes him slightly less appealing as a one-week fill-in. He has at least six targets and at least 13 PPR Fantasy points in three of his past four games.
Bourne is a WR3 if JuJu Smith-Schuster and Demario Douglas are out, and a good flex if they return. He has three games this season with nine or more targets, and last week was his second game with at least 19.3 PPR Fantasy points.
Hyatt flashed in Week 6 and his speed gives the Giants a downfield element they are desperately missing. You can't start him with any confidence until he becomes a full-time player, but that's the logical next step with the way the Giants season is going.
Yes, I know about the narrative of Bill Belichick taking away the other team's WR1, it hasn't mattered to Diggs. In six regular season meetings since he joined the Bills, Diggs has scored 41.5, 23.4, 22.2, 19.5, 15.2, and 9.1 Fantasy points against the Patriots. No one is playing better football than Diggs right now, and he'll keep it going this week.
Nacua just missed a touchdown last week and Matthew Stafford threw a season-low 24 times, and that's the reason for the Week 6 flop. I'm going right back to the rookie and expecting big things against Pittsburgh. Hopefully few do.
WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 7 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 7. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
