Fantasy Football Forum Week 7: Mahomes Panic

My lead for this week was going to be Michael Gallup and we’ll get to him in a minute, but let’s talk about Patrick Mahomes for just a second.

Mahomes appeared to dislocate his knee cap on a QB sneak in the Thursday Night Football game against the Broncos. Painful, indeed, and early reports by some Twitter doctors (surprisingly reliable) say best case scenario is that he’ll miss a few games, worst case is that it will be season ending - it all depends on the MRI. Looking at the Chiefs schedule, it would seem to be a wise course of action to hold him out the next four games before the bye week, giving him five plus weeks to heal up if the injury is something he can return from this season.

Looking at this purely through a fantasy perspective, here are some things to consider:

• Obviously, Mahomes is a hold unless and until we hear that he’s done for the season. Assuming he’s back after the bye, you want to hold onto him. Hopefully you have an injury slot (if not, have your league add one or two for next season) but even if you don’t, you have to keep him.
• I’m not sure I’d want to pick up Matt Moore as a replacement assuming there is something more attractive on waivers. However, assuming Moore makes a few starts, this is a high powered offense with great weapons and that can sometimes be enough in the right matchup. Because this injury happened on a Thursday night, as a Mahomes owner you can make a free agent claim now for a replacement QB next week. Beat the rush.
• This downgrades Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce off elite status in the near term, but not enough to do anything about it. I have two shares of Kelce and what am I going to do, sell him? He hasn’t had a great year to begin with and to be fair, a backup QB might lean on him in the passing game. You’ve got to roll both of these guys out.
• The rest of the WRs and the RBs I’m a little more concerned about. On the one hand, you expect Andy Reid to run the ball more, but that also means the Chiefs will face more stacked boxes. I think McCoy is the one guy I’d want in that backfield but I’m not sure I want to start any of the WRs not named Hill. I have Mecole Hardman in a few spots and I can’t imagine starting him without Mahomes.

Gallup

I had some poor planning in the WCG League of Champions as I drafted Mike Evans, DJ Moore, and Odell Beckham Jr. on the same team who are all on bye this week. Normally, I’d be scraping the free agent pool, but I’m fortunate enough to have drafted Will Fuller V and Michael Gallup while adding Hollywood Brown after Week 1.

Fuller is who I thought he’d be but Gallup has been a pleasant surprise. He’s missed two games to injury earlier in the year, but has been an important target for Dak Prescott when healthy, compiling a 24-387-1 line in four games. That workload should increase as it appears Amari Cooper might miss some time, moving Gallup into the lead role in this offense. What’s more, the Cowboys draw the Eagles this weekend who can’t cover anyone.

Long term, I think Gallup can be an every week starter on your fantasy team - someone who you can sit in the WR3 slot and be happy about. Unless the Eagles have miraculously fixed their secondary, he could win you the week.

WCG Daily

The leader board hasn’t changed much at all with BoomShakUrlacher holding onto the top position. I wasn’t able to check my team Sunday morning and started Hollywood Brown, who was out with an injury so took a zero there. Still, I managed to hold onto the 4th spot and within spitting distance of third. This is the week I make my move.

I’m taking a running back that is familiar to this page for a whole $13. Tarik Cohen has yet to have a big game but I have a feeling his services are going to be needed against the Saints. In my exchange with Canal Street Chronicles, Chris Dunnells called out Cohen specifically as a guy he fears will tear up Saints linebackers. In a week where I’m pushing more money at the WRs, I’ll happily roll out Chicken Salad on a discount.

What’s going on in your world? Bring your start/sit questions, trade offers, and general fake team needs to the comments below or hit us up on Twitter. Jeff can be found @gridironborn and Whiskey Ranger is found @whiskeyranger29.