On The Rise

Brandon Lloyd, WR, Rams
Week 7 stats: 6 rec, 74 yards, 12 Targets
"He provided me the right environment to thrive in." -Lloyd on Josh McDaniels. Talk about a system player. There is no better buy-low candidate than Lloyd. Think about it. If he could be the #1 fantasy WR with Kyle Orton as his QB, just imagine what he will do with Sam Bradford. 

DeMarco Murray, RB, Cowboys
Week 7 stats: 25 carries, 253 yards, 1 TD
Murray is the reason why so many experts said to wait on running backs in your fantasy drafts. Every year guys like Murray, Montario Hardesty and Ryan Torain are given long looks at the #1 starting running back position due to injuries. More often than not these running backs excel in their new roles, especially against weaker run defenses. Murray should see starter's carries at least for one more week with Felix Jones injured and possibly for a couple more weeks after that. His week 8 matchup is against Philadelphia, who give up more fantasy points to running backs than any other team outside of St. Louis.

Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers
Week 7 stats: 7 rec, 102 yards, 9 Targets
Hines Ward, the man who never seems to leave us alone even when he's injured, will most likely be able to play on Sunday. The good news is that he likely won't be able to stay on the field too long, which bodes well for Brown's and Emmanuel Sanders' fantasy prospects.
Greg Little, WR, Browns
Week 7 stats: 5 rec, 31 yards, 7 Targets
Little led the Browns in targets for the second straight game, but in a way that's like being the skinniest kid at fat camp. Until Colt McCoy improves, Little's value is reserved for PPR leagues. 

DeMaryius Thomas, WR, Broncos
Week 7 stats: 3 rec, 27 yards, 10 Targets, 1 TD
Tim Tebow's throwing mechanics may keep Merrill Hoge up at night, but nevertheless he is here to stay. Coming into last Sunday's game, Thomas was expected to be the #2 wide receiver behind Eric Decker. It was his first game back and he still had a plate and a few screws in his left hand, yet to nearly everybody's surprise, Tebow looked Thomas' way a team high 10 times, six times more than the next closest Broncos receiver. If you are skeptical of Thomas because of Tebow, don't be. In my weekly pickup column, I recalled how Brandon Lloyd's statistics weren't hurt at all when Tebow started the last three games of the 2010 season.

Marion Barber, RB, Bears 
Week 7 stats: 6 carries, 39 yards, 1 TD
Barber has scored three touchdowns in the last four weeks and this trend likely won't stop anytime soon. Matt Forte, as elusive as he is in the open field, is ineffective when it comes to short yardage situations. Lovie Smith understands this which is why Barber will continue to vulture touchdowns from Forte the rest of the year.

Don't Believe It:

Michael Jenkins, WR, Vikings
Week 6 stats: 4 rec, 45 yards, 6 Targets
Week 7 stats: 3 rec, 111 yards, 8 Targets, 1 TD
Many a fantasy expert has analyzed Jenkins last game and have come to the conclusion that Jenkins is worth a possible pickup. Really? Much of his production came after Percy Harvin left the game with a rib injury. In week six, when Harvin was healthy, Jenkins was the fourth highest targeted Minnesota receiver. 

Plaxico Burress, WR, Jets
Week 7 stats: 4 rec, 25 yards, 8 Targets, 3 TDs
Odds are Burress won't have another multi-touchdown game this year. In fact, he hasn't surpassed 72 yards once this season. He is about as hit and miss as they come, even more now that Rex Ryan has rededicated the team to the run game.

Underperforming

Shonn Greene, RB, Jets 
Week 7 stats: 20 carries, 112 yards, 1 rec, 5 yards
Greene may have had his best game of the season, yet after garnering 117 total yards he still wasn't able to find the end-zone. Even more troubling is the fact that the Jets preferred to throw it up to Plaxico Burress near the goal-line rather than run it in with Greene. For being the #1 RB on a run heavy team, Greene has disappointed his owners with only two touchdowns on the year. 

Vincent Jackson, WR, Chargers
Week 6 stats: 3 rec, 34 yards, 6 Targets
Week 7 stats: 1 rec, 15 yards, 8 Targets
Philip Rivers has denied the rumors that he is injured, insisting that he is perfectly healthy. Frankly, that's even worse news for Jackson as the two haven't been able to connect the last couple of games. With the emergence of Ryan Mathews in the run game, the Chargers aren't feeling any pressure to re-establish the Rivers-Jackson connection, which is bad news for Jackson owners

Jermichael Finley, TE, Packers
Week 7 stats: 2 rec, 13 yards, 2 Targets, 1 TD
Finley owners have been severely disappointed with him this year and and unfortunately, not much should be expected out of Finley the rest of the year. Here is a guy who was drafted with the expectations that he would garner at least 8-10 targets a game from Aaron Rodgers, but so far has had only one game with 8 targets and it's not his fault at all. There are simply way too many viable options in the Green Bay passing game to expect Finley to be a top option on a week-to-week basis.

Mark Ingram, RB, Saints
Week 7 stats: 14 carries, 91 yards, 1 rec, 6 yards
The Saints have force-fed the ball to Ingram and all he has done is disappoint. Ingram is averaging 3.9 yards per carry on the season, which is far below Pierre Thomas' average of 4.4 and much lower than Darren Sproles' 7.4. Even if Ingram was completely healthy heading into week 8 (which he isn't) he likely would begin to lose carries.

He's Back

Antonio Gates, TE, Chargers
Week 7 stats: 5 rec, 54 yards, 7 Targets, 1 TD
Gates is relatively healthy and he suffer any setbacks against the Jets. When Gates is healthy he is the best fantasy tight end in the game. Period. 

Follow @FFChamps on Twitter

The views and content in this article are not necessarily the opinion of Fantasy Football Champs, www.FFChamps.com, and its in-house experts.