In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Robinhood:

Well, that was an eventful day across the league.

Yesterday morning, the worst-kept secret in the NFL—Davante Adams to the Jets—became a reality.

Then hours later, the Browns shipped off Amari Cooper to the Bills.

And as if that wasn’t enough chaos for one day, the Steelers are threatening to start Russell Wilson over Justin Fields!

Let’s quickly pick up the pieces …

Adams & Aaron Rodgers reunited. The Jets acquired Rodgers’ ‘ol bestie from the Raiders for a conditional third-round pick that could become a second under certain conditions.

The winners/losers here are pretty straightforward. Rodgers/Adams will cook—as will Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers—while all of the other Jets pass catchers will take a hit (one of whom could get traded). If you are specifically wondering about Garrett Wilson’s outlook, check out our crew’s trade fallout piece that goes deeper into the situation:

Davante Adams trade fallout

Josh Allen to Amari Cooper. Not to be outdone, the Browns got in on the trade action and sent Cooper to the Bills in exchange for a third-round pick as part of a pick swap deal. Amari gets a huge upgrade with this change of scenery while the existing Bills pass catchers (specifically Khalil Shakir) take a hit. I like the idea of stashing Browns pieces like Cedric Tillman in case the team ever comes to its senses and turns to Jameis Winston.

Wait, the Steelers are doing what? Pittsburgh is 4-2, Justin Fields has a 5-1 TD-to-INT ratio and has rushed for 5 TDs, and yet the Steelers are trying to make fetch happen with Wilson.

Despite the report, Mike Tomlin wouldn’t definitively commit to naming Wilson the starter. This story isn’t over yet, but it would be smart to make contingency plans if you’ve been relying on Fields.

What else is in today’s newsletter?

  1. Freedman’s Favorite Plays for Week 7 of Fantasy Football
  2. Watercooler: Week 7 Rankings are live
  3. Ian’s Manifesto: The Bills get their WR1

Freedman’s Favorites for Week 7

Here are a couple of Matthew Freedman's favorite fantasy plays for Week 7. Check out his full articles and rankings for more.

Kirk Cousins (Falcons) vs. Seahawks

  • Falcons: -3
  • O/U: 51.5
  • TT: 27.25

Cousins wasn't electric last week against the Panthers (225 yards, one TD passing), but he was efficient (8.2 AY/A), and in the five games since his Week 1 dud (3.3 AY/A)---which I think is fair to discount since it was his first start since his 2023 season-ending Achilles injury and his first start in a new offense with a new team—Cousins has been one of the league's best pure pocket passers (8.1 AY/A). 

And now he has an underappreciated matchup against the Seahawks, who might be far worse than some of their statistics suggest.

While the Seahawks are No. 10 in defensive dropback SR (42.9%), they're No. 2 in largest fantasy boost allowed to QBs (+3.7). Their overall numbers are respectable because of the QBs they faced in Weeks 1-3 (Bo Nix, Jacoby Brissett, Skylar Thompson), but almost every QB they've played has outperformed his seasonal averages, and over the past three weeks they've been exploited.

  • Jared Goff (Week 4): 100% completion rate | 292 PaYds, 2 PaTDs
     
  • Daniel Jones (Week 5): 67.6% completion rate | 257 PaYds, 2 PaTDs | 38 RuYds
     
  • Brock Purdy (Week 6): 64.3% completion rate | 255 PaYds, 3 PaTDs | 19 RuYds 

To make matters worse for the Seahawks, this week they could be without starting perimeter CBs TaRiq Woolen (ankle) and Tre Brown (ankle) and experienced backup CB Artie Burns (foot).

Facing an overvalued and wounded defense traveling across the country for an early 1 pm ET game, Cousins could crush.

DeMario Douglas (Patriots) vs. Jaguars (in London)

  • Patriots: +5.5
  • O/U: 42.5
  • TT: 18.5

In Weeks 1-2, the slot-bound Douglas was minimally utilized in the offense (2-12-0 receiving, 3 targets), but in the month since then he has emerged as the team's No. 1 pass catcher, leveraging his 75% route rate, 32% target rate, and 30% target share into a livable 22-233-1 receiving (with a nine-yard rush).

And last week, with the insertion of rookie QB Drake Maye into the starting lineup, Douglas had his best game of the season with 6-92-1 receiving on nine targets.

This week could be even better: The Jags are No. 1 in largest fantasy boost allowed to WRs (+9.8), and they might be without starting slot CB Darnell Savage (concussion), who exited last week early and did not return.

In Savage's absence, rookie CB Jarrian Jones has manned the slot, but he has done so with little success, as evidenced by his 54.7 PFF coverage grade and 9.8 yards per target allowed. 

Where available, Douglas is a priority target on waivers.

More of Freedman’s Favorite WRs for Week 7

MORE OF FREEDMAN’S FAVORITES:

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The latest analysis and insights from our merry band of football nerds:

📈 Set your lineup early. Fantasy Football rankings for Week 7.

👀 Instant reaction on the Davante Adams trade to the Jets from Dwain and Ian.

🦬 Ian and Dwain got in a double shot of trade talk after Amari Cooper was dealt to the Bills.

⚡️A RB flippening in Cincy. It’s happening.

✈️ Davante Adams and Rodgers in the flesh. That was quick.

💪 Joe Mixon sounds off. He’s really like that.

🔌📻️ Jerry Jones gets heated in radio interview. Stay for the end lol.

😆 This is a great joke. I’ll allow it.

Ian’s Week 7 Manifesto

By Ian Hartitz

And just like that: Week 7 is upon us. Let's break down some ball!

Every week I will be going through 10 key storylines ahead of all the NFL action, focusing on key fantasy-related trends, the week's biggest mismatches, my personal rankings of every game, bold predictions, and much more.

This week we'll actually have 11 storylines because Tuesday was absolute madness and I already had 10 written before the Browns decided to trade Amari Cooper to the Bills. Cool? Cool.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Amari Cooper is a Buffalo Bill. Now what?

The Browns are getting a 3rd-rounder and a late-round pick swap, the Bills get the 30-year-old veteran with seven 1,000-plus yard seasons to his name.

It wasn't that long ago that Cooper was putting up some serious numbers on the gridiron. In fact, he gained a career-high 1,250 yards literally last season, notably going absolutely bonkers (11-265-2!) in his final regular-season game of the year.

Of course, 2024 hasn't been nearly as kind to the ex-Raider/Cowboy/Brown. Pick any efficiency or counting stat and you'll find a career-low mark for the longtime No. 1 WR. Overall, Cooper sits as just the WR46 in PPR points per game through six weeks of action.

That said: Deshaun Watson is most people's idea of the NFL's worst starting QB at the moment, and accordingly Cooper hasn't exactly received a steady dose of catchable passes. He actually leads the NFL in unrealized air yards at the moment (many of which have been of the uncatchable variety). Watching the ol’ film has also shown a player who doesn't appear overly thrilled to be on the football field (can't exactly blame him), which has likely contributed to him dropping 6 passes already–tied for the most in the league. Overall, ESPN Analytics' advanced receiver ratings have Cooper ranked as the NFL's single-worst WR after six weeks of action.

Age and on-field evidence tell us that the Bills probably aren't getting the best version of Cooper, but maybe the massive QB upgrade will be enough to outweigh that. After all, Josh Allen (deservingly) is on pretty much anyone's short list of the very best signal-callers in the NFL, and we certainly saw what Stefon Diggs was able to do as his No. 1 WR over the years.

Here's the big question: Is the current edition of this Joe Brady-led Bills offense even interested in overly enabling a high-end fantasy WR? Diggs' second half of last season was memorably brutal as far as production was concerned, and this year hasn't been much better for the involved parties (Khalil Shakir as the WR40 in PPR points per game leads the way). It's not a stretch to now call Cooper easily the best WR on the Bills roster, but this is still an offense with a 49.3% pass-play rate on the season–the fifth-lowest mark in the NFL ahead of only the Packers (skewed by Malik Willis starts), Chargers, Steelers, and Ravens.

Speaking of longtime baller WRs being tradeD …