So far this season, being a Will Fuller fantasy football owner has been a maddening experience. After bursting onto the NFL scene for 100 yards in back-to-back games to start the season, he dipped down to 31 against the Pats, then back up to 81 against Tennessee before bottoming out the last two weeks against Minnesota and Denver, where he’s had 26 yards combined. This is a week that should see Will Fuller back into your lineups, as he is set to feast against the Detroit Lions.[embedit snippet=”jeff-ads”]
Did you notice a trend in Fuller’s production? While New England is twentieth against the pass, we all remember the weird Thursday Night game that had them owning the ball way too much. Then there’s the #1 and #4 pass defenses in the league (Denver & Minnesota) that shut down Brock Osweiler. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Brock isn’t the answer for Houston, as bad matchups chew him up and spit him out, and this takes his receivers with him.
Fortunately for Will Fuller owners, the Lions aren’t close to being the type of defense that would be able to make use of Osweiler’s inability to run a competent offense under pressure, most likely because that would require a competent defense. So far this season, the Lions are yielding the tenth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, but the non-number one receivers have feasted against them. Donte Moncrief, Andre Johnson, Davante Adams, Eddie Royal, Josh Huff and Jamison Crowder have all gone for 100 yards or a score against this woeful Lions secondary.
This Lions secondary has been just okay due to the great play of Darius Slay so far this season buoying an otherwise terrible back four, and Slay is on track to miss Sunday’s game. This puts bad DBs on the field pretty much exclusively this weekend against the Texans, and even if Slay is on the field, a bad hammy will give him fits trying to keep up with Hopkins and Fuller.
It’s been difficult to pick the right spots for Will Fuller owners to start him this season, but a trend is emerging that Brock Osweiler can only take advantage of favorable matchups to make Fuller an excellent play. The Lions secondary creates an advantageous play this weekend, and doubly so given that they will be without their only competent DB if Darius Slay is unable to go. He’s worth a start in 3 WR leagues or as a flex, but given that Brock Osweiler can turn into a pumpkin at any time, he’s too risky to be anything higher than that.