Blue Rated Wideouts Week 7 2023

The volatile scoring nature of the wide receiver position may cause more start-sit headaches for fantasy managers than any other position, but when things go well wide receivers can post point totals capable of winning fantasy games.

How does one know which wide receivers are capable of posting those game-winning point totals? My player grading system (a full version of which can be found at TheFootballScientist.com) aims to identify these players via an overall/upside/downside approach. A player's overall grade measures his likely performance, the downside the grade indicates how a player is apt to fare if things go poorly for him that week, and the upside grade measures the scoring ceiling of a player if things go well in a given contest.

This grading system also uses five color-coded categories: blue (indicating someone who can post elite point totals), green (a strong starter), yellow (a solid backup or a potential starter in bye weeks or deep leagues), orange (a desperation play), and red (someone who should not be started).

This means fantasy managers who are looking for big scoring potential at wide receiver should aim for someone who has a blue-rated upside grade (which is 90-100 in my system). This weekly article series will identify all the blue-rated upside wideouts in a given week and then provide details on a few of the unexpected candidates on this board. It will also detail the strength of the matchup each of these receivers is facing via a matchup points total of 1-100, with 100 being most favorable.

Week 7 wide receivers with blue-rated upside

 

Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco

Fantasy managers may be hesitant to start Aiyuk because he's not been scoring points at his typical pace over the past two weeks, but before considering benching him, note that Aiyuk is likely to face Minnesota cornerback Akayleb Evans in coverage. Evans has allowed an 83.3 percent completion rate and 14.4 PPR PPG over the Vikings last four games (per Stathead), so he is a coverage liability and should return Aiyuk to his usual impact point ways.

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

Game two with Nacua and Cooper Kupp in the lineup didn't turn out so well for Nacua, as he posted only 6.6 PPR points in the Week 6 matchup against Arizona. That doesn't seem to bode well in a matchup against Pittsburgh, but the Steelers top two cornerbacks, Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson, have allowed 18.1 and 13.3 PPR PPG, respectively, since Week 3. Sean McVay will target these matchups to the tune of enough passes to get Nacua back into the starter's tier.

Chris Olave, New Orleans

Olave has been hit-or-miss of late and is due to play in a Thursday Night Football game, so fantasy managers in shallow leagues may be looking at other wide receiver options. Before doing so, know that Olave is apt to square off against Darious Williams in coverage, which is a plus given that Williams has allowed 16.4 PPR PPG since Week 3. The Jaguars also won't have much of an option to move Olave away from Williams, as starting cornerback Tyson Campbell has been ruled out of this game, so be sure to put Olave in lineups this week.