Finding The Top Week 7 Fantasy Football Pickups With Predictive Analytics: Jordan Mason vs. Elijah Mitchell,

Top Predicted Week 7 Fantasy Football Adds

RB Jordan Mason vs. RB Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers

Jordan Mason is one of the top-ranked players in EWI this week, with a 32% mark that should only climb as we get the seemingly inevitable confirmation that Christian McCaffrey is going to miss time. Mitchell, however, who is rostered in just under 40% of leagues, is much lower, ranking in the 30s with a 13% EWI. In my opinion, those numbers should be switched. 

Yes, Mason did play ahead of Mitchell when CMC went down this week, playing more than twice as many snaps (15 to 7) and seeing five carries to Mitchell's two. But this was Mitchell's first week back from a neck injury, and he was likely being eased in. Mitchell has shone in the lead role in this offense before, averaging 87.5 rushing yards per game as a rookie. More importantly, he played ahead of Mason when both were healthy in Weeks 1 and 3, totaling 16 carries to just three for Mason, all of which came on the final drive of a blowout against the Giants.

If you don't believe me, trust Kyle Shanahan, who directly attributed Mason playing over Mitchell to the fact that Mitchell was returning from injury. 

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Regardless of who gets the nod, they will immediately be a must-start option. Shanahan likes to lean on one back, and this offense has been humming on all cylinders to start the season (except for this week's bump against an incredible Browns defense). Mason is also worth targeting, but I will be prioritizing Mitchell wherever he is available, and you should too.

WR Wan'Dale Robinson, New York Giants

Robinson ranks 14th on the list with a 24% EWI, but he is one of my favorite pickups this week, especially in Full PPR leagues. A 2022 second-rounder out of Kentucky, Robinson is one of many young small slot receivers currently emerging around the league. He missed the first two weeks of the season and hardly played in Week 3, but already ranks first among Giants' WRs with 22 receptions. He also easily ranks first on the team with 1.45 yards per route run, which is made even more impressive by the fact that he mostly plays in three-WR sets, meaning he has more competition for targets on any given route.

Of course, primarily playing in three-WR sets puts a cap on Robinson's fantasy value. The Giants play 11 personnel on 65% of their snaps, which is right around the snap share Robinson has seen over the past three weeks. However, Wan'Dale has shown that he can win outside, admittedly in a very small sample size. He has run just six routes from a traditional out-wide position, but caught his only target for 10 yards, again leading to a team-best 1.67 yards per route run. If he can add a handful of snaps outside each game while continuing to be a target hog from the slot, his upside will increase tremendously. 

Unfortunately, for now, Robinson is still essentially a slot-only receiver, but he still holds fantasy value. With at least five receptions and six targets in each of the last three weeks, he provides a safe floor in PPR leagues, something that can be hard to come by in bye-week and injury season. Don't get too excited about him given his current role, but he is clearly more exciting than the other Giants receivers and someone who is worth adding if you need WR help. 

TE Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders

Mayer, who ranks eighth with a 26% EWI, is in a similar situation to Robinson, unfortuantely at a less valuable position. He is an exciting young talent coming off a big week, but his current usage isn't particularly confidence-inspiring. Following the Raiders' Week 5 bye, the rookie outproduced the entire rest of his career to date on Sunday, catching five of six targets for 75 yards. This wasn't just a fluke either, as he also easily set new career highs in snap share (81%) and route participation (67%).

However, his role hasn't quite expanded enough to expect consistent production going forward. That 67% route participation number would rank just 20th on the season at the tight end position. And while it was a huge improvement from previous weeks, 35.7% of his Week 6 routes coming from in-line, which tends to be much less valuable for fantasy production, isn't an ideal number. Putting those two numbers together, we can see that Mayer ran a route from either in the slot or out wide on just 31.7% of the Raiders' passing plays. 

Don't get me wrong, this week was a hugely positive sign, and Mayer may be worth stashing if you are desperate for TE help in a deep league. It is notoriously difficult to adapt to the NFL as a rookie tight end, and his role could continue to expand as the season goes on. Plus, we all know how much Jimmy Garoppolo loves throwing to tight ends. But don't expect Mayer to produce TE1 numbers right away, or even at all this season without an injury or trade for one of Jakobi Meyers or Davante Adams. Twitter's resident TE guru, Andrew Cooper, sums up Mayer's current situation nicely:

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