NFL Week 7 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Sunday's games

Jaylen Warren shines for the Pittsburgh Steelers: While Rico Dowdle is still receiving plenty of playing time, Warren remains a must-start option with how many touches he’s garnering and how well he’s playing with those touches.

Alvin Kamara temporarily takes over as the New Orleans Saints‘ every-down back: The health of Kamara, mixed with an injury to CJ Donaldson, led Kamara to be the lead back on every down, but that might not be the case after the Saints' bye week.

Juwan Johnson’s role declines: The Saints have rotated out Johnson more as the season has progressed. He caught one pass for seven yards in thai game.

Jump to a game:

Pittsburgh Steelers @ New Orleans Saints

Monitor CJ Donaldson’s health: The Saints third-down back left after the first drive with a shoulder injury and was ruled out at halftime.

Donaldson had been the one constant in the Saints' running back rotation, playing the first six weeks as a traditional third-down back. He was limited in practice on Wednesday with a shoulder injury. He practiced in full the rest of the week and played his normal role on the first drive. The injury is presumably to the same shoulder which led him to be ruled questionable.

The Saints' other running backs have been hurting, as Travis Etienne Jr. remains on injured reserve. Alvin Kamara has been limited or out for each of the Saints' last nine practices. The good news is that he wasn’t given a game designation after being listed as questionable each of the previous two weeks.

Kamara started the game, playing more on early downs than last week, while also taking over third-down duties from Donaldson. Neither running back was able to get much going against the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ run defense.

The Saints have their bye week next week, and Etienne will be eligible to return from injured reserve at that point. That will ideally also give Kamara and Donaldson more time to heal. It’s fine to drop Kendre Miller in some leagues at this point. Even if these are the same two backs in Week 9, he can’t be in fantasy starting lineups, and he will potentially be a healthy scratch once all four backs are available.

Juwan Johnson’s role continues to decline: The Saints have a three-man rotation at tight end, hurting the fantasy value of all three players.

Johnson played 70% of the Saints' offensive snaps over the first five weeks, including 62% of 11 personnel snaps on early downs, 91% on third downs and 60% in 12 personnel. Veteran free-agent addition Noah Fant was cutting into Johnson’s snaps in 11 personnel more than Saints backups last season, while rookie Oscar Delp affected Johnson’s playing time in 12 personnel.

Last week was a red flag for Johnson, as Fant was near-even with Johnson on third downs, while Delp started playing a majority of 12 personnel snaps. This week showed the third-down usage was not just a one-time thing, with some obvious third-and-long situations where Fant was on the field instead of Johnson. Delp was also more consistently playing in place of Johnson this week.

While Johnson has been able to maintain decent route participation rates in the past despite inconsistent snap totals, we’ve seen Johnson’s route participation rates fall below 60% each of the last two weeks.

The Saints have their bye week next week, and Jordyn Tyson could be back after the bye, further deprioritizing the tight ends in the New Orleans passing game. Johnson can be dropped in most leagues.

Jaylen Warren leads, but doesn’t dominate, Steelers' backfield: While Warren was dominant whenever he touched the football, Rico Dowdle was still rotated in significantly.

Warren played 37% of snaps in Week 1 with Dowdle as the lead back. Dowdle suffered a toe injury in Week 2, prompting Warren to play 92% of snaps over the next three weeks. Dowdle returned last week, causing Warren to play 75% of snaps to 25% by Dowdle. This week, Dowdle was limited in practice all week, this time with a knee injury, and was listed as questionable.

Warren generally started drives and would rotate out after a few plays. This was in part because Warren was frequently breaking longer plays, leading him to need a rest. The Steelers have also started using more plays with both running backs on the field, often with Dowdle lining up in the slot. Dowdle often touched the ball when he was on the field, so their touch total was closer than their snap total.

Even though Dowdle was questionable for this game, it’s safe to assume the snap rate between the two running backs should remain similar even when Dowdle is 100%, just because of how well Warren is playing. Warren remains a must-start option, while Dowdle will be a very risky option going forward, particularly when the Steelers have more difficult matchups.

Miscellaneous Notes

The Saints' fourth wide receiver, Barion Brown, was rotated in a bit more than earlier in the season, similar to last week. However, Jordyn Tyson could be back for New Orleans' next game in Week 9, which could push Brown further down the depth chart.

The Saints activated wide receiver Cedric Tillman from the practice squad on Saturday.

New Orleans tight end Treyton Welch was a healthy scratch after playing in the team's last game.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Ben Skowronek didn't practice all week with a calf injury and was ruled out on Friday, his second straight absence. Similar to last week, Brandon Smith was activated off the practice squad to be the Steelers' third receiver behind DK Metcalf and Germie Bernard, while Brandon Johnson was elevated off the practice squad as the Steelers' fourth option.

The Steelers signed wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling to the practice squad on Tuesday, but didn’t elevate him for this game. He was part of the Steelers' wide receiver rotation during the second half of last season.

Pittsburgh ran some plays with a sixth offensive lineman for the first time this season. He would join Darnell Washington on the field with a running back and two wide receivers, so this mostly hurt the playing time of Pat Freiermuth.

NFL Week 7 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Sunday's games

Jump to a game:

Pittsburgh Steelers @ New Orleans Saints

San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Carolina Panthers

New York Giants @ Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts @ Minnesota Vikings

Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets

Cleveland Browns @ Tennessee Titans

Denver Broncos @ Arizona Cardinals

Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Rams @ Las Vegas Raiders

Kansas City Chiefs @ Seattle Seahawks