Dissenting Opinions: What will Cooks serve up in Week 7?

Group-think can be an especially scary thing when it comes to fantasy football rankings. After all, the unpredictable nature of the NFL game is part of what makes fantasy football so popular, and why some people like to say that the NFL acronym stands for "No F****** Logic." But when one of our Yahoo fantasy football analysts veers particularly far away from the rankings consensus, our curious nature begs for an explanation. So, with that in mind, I've identified two players from our Week 7 rankings that our Yahoo analysts love/hate significantly more than the rest of us, and have asked them to explain their reasoning. I'll kick things off with a couple of my outliers:

[Join FanDuel's $500,000 Week 7 fantasy league: $10 to enter; top 10,102 teams paid]

Love him: Brandin Cooks, NO, WR - Funston WR rank No. 11 (Yahoo rank No. 25)

The Saints head to Detroit this week without the services of All-World tight end Jimmy Graham, who is dealing with a sore shoulder. No surprise, Graham was Drew Brees' favorite target, leading the Saints with 47 looks in the passing game. Rookie wideout Brandin Cooks is second among Brees' aerial options with 41 targets. No other player on the team really compares to the attention those two have received from Brees - Colston is third with 29 targets, and also trails Cooks in red zone targets (6 to 4). So, if anyone is going to step up significantly for the Saints with Graham gone, I expect it to be the guy that has clearly been Brees' No. 2 option. I expect Cooks to outperform his Week 1 numbers (95 YFS, 1 TD) as Brees looks his way early and often on Sunday.

Hate him: Pierre Garcon, Was, WR - Funston WR rank No. 35 (Yahoo No. 22)

It's back to Garcon for me, the same player I "hated" last week. A TD against Arizona in Week 6 ended up bailing Garcon out a bit, but the same concerns that I had last week still apply to Garcon this week. The yardage in a Kirk Cousins world have been terrible (31 yards or less in three straight) and the workload hasn't been like what we've become accustomed to seeing from Garcon, either (6 targets or less in three straight). And, although he scored last week, he's not what you would classify as a reliable touchdown guy (7 TDs in his past 26 games). Until I see his targets and yardage start to rebound, you're not going to see me ranking him in WR2 territory.

BRAD EVANS

Love him: Brian Hoyer, Cle, QB - Evans QB rank No. 11  (Yahoo No. 17)

Try hard not to laugh, but I feel Hoyer, off a game in which he completed just eight passes, has sound odds of penetrating the QB1 class this week. Why? He has the mother of all matchups facing the dreadful Jaguars on the road. Four quarterbacks have tallied multi-TD efforts against the Hello Kitties this year. Overall, the Jags have given up 8.29 yards per attempt and 313.8 passing yards per game. Isaiah Crowell and Ben Tate will be heavily featured, but I’m confident Hoyer eclipses 250 yards and logs his second two-plus TD performance of the year.

Hate him: Brandin Cooks, NO, WR - Evans WR rank No. 36 (Yahoo No. 25)

Look, I love the rookie like a son, but sometimes you have to put baby in a corner. Don’t automatically assume he'll shoulder a heavier workload with Jimmy Graham sidelined. He may see a slight uptick in targets, but Josh Hill and Ben Watson should fill the void. The offense won’t change much.
 
Against an outstanding coverage duo in Rashean Mathis and Darius Slay, who’ve combined to allow a 52.1 catch percentage and 64.2 QB rating to their assignments, they should contain the mighty mite. Cooks is still a viable WR3 in PPR settings, but without a TD since Week 1, he’s a benchable asset in standard leagues.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

Love him: Andre Holmes, Oak, WR - Pianowski WR rank No. 22  (Yahoo No. 43)

If we were presented with this case before the season, it's an open-and-shut decision: no way are you rolling out a raw Oakland receiver against an established Arizona defense. Ah, but things change fast in the fantasy landscape. Holmes has settled in as an Oakland regular and is coming off two dynamic weeks (9-195-3), having his way against the Miami and San Diego secondaries. He's showing excellent rapport with rookie quarterback David Carr, too.

Arizona's defense had a brand name to boast of in August, but it's been wiped clean through the opening third of the season. The Cardinals have zero pass rush (six sacks) and all sorts of problems covering on the back end (8.4 YPA allowed, 91.2 rating permitted). Patrick Peterson or not, this is not a group I'm afraid to oppose. Go run that Week 6 Raiders tape again, you'll be impressed by the moving pictures.

Hate him: Reggie Wayne, Ind, WR - Pianowski WR rank No. 43 (Yahoo No. 33)

I've been a Reggie Wayne fan for years, and I hope he makes it to Canton someday. But in 2014, he's just another ordinary veteran wideout with little upside. When Wayne catches a pass these days, he usually falls to the turf immediately. Forget any run after the catch, forget deep routes too. He's scored just one touchdown and he ranks a modest 35th in Yahoo WR scoring. When you add a tricky Cincinnati matchup to the Week 7 equation - the Bengals are the No. 6 defense when it comes to limiting WR production - I move away from Wayne. He's just a depth player, no longer someone you start with confidence.

[ Yahoo Sports Fantasy Hockey: It's time to join a league today! ]

ANDY BEHRENS

Love him: Jonathan Stewart, Car, RB – Behrens RB rank No. 26 (Yahoo No. 40)

My current rank for Stewart is based on three big assumptions: 1) J-Stew will be sufficiently recovered from his knee sprain and available to play this week, 2) the Panthers have not fallen head-over-heels for Fozzy Whittaker, and 3) the Green Bay Packers will continue to struggle defending the run. At the moment, Green Bay ranks dead-last in rush defense, allowing 154.5 yards per game and 4.6 per carry. If Stewart returns for Week 7, he has an excellent shot at outperforming my rank by a big margin.
 
Hate him: Larry Donnell, NYG, TE – Behrens TE rank No. 17 (Yahoo No. 9)

Over the past two weeks, Larry Donnell has seen two targets, catching one ball for six yards. What else needs to be said? Nothing. (I assume my colleagues are playing the fantasy-points-against game here, but I don't think Donnell belongs in the same class as some of the top-end tight ends faced by Dallas this season. He's not Vernon Davis, he's not Jimmy Graham, and he's not Delanie Walker. Instead, he's a guy with one catch for six yards in two games.)

DALTON DEL DON

Love him: Bishop Sankey, Ten, RB - Del Don RB rank No. 18 (Yahoo No. 27)

While Sankey's performance against a bad Jaguars defense was disappointing, he did get 19 touches, which is no joke when it comes to running backs these days. Washington has defended RBs well this season, but Sankey should only improve the more reps he gets and should once again act as Tennessee's lead back in Week 7.

Hate him: Jeremy Hill, Cin, RB - Del Don RB rank No. 36 (Yahoo No. 24)

He looked good while replacing an injured Giovani Bernard last week, but Hill has averaged 5.7 carries for 20.7 rushing yards over the past three games. Bernard is also expected to be fully healthy for Week 7. At least for now, Hill's fantasy value relies on him solely getting a goal-line score.