Miami Dolphins fantasy football start and sit: week 6
Fantasy football week six is heading our way quickly and the question is do the Miami Dolphins have anyone worth starting on your fantasy football lineup?
It hasn’t been pretty for the Miami Dolphins offense in the past two weeks, to say the least. To be honest, outside of a few trick plays, it wasn’t very good against Oakland either. All of these terrible performances have come against some pretty weak defenses. Now, think how ugly it could get going against a really strong Chicago defense and then consider your fantasy football lineup.
The Dolphins have been unsuccessful in getting out of each week injury free, and it’s a scary thought of how bad it may be going up against the league’s best defender in Khalil Mack, and the rest of that Bears defense. For fantasy owners, it’s an ugly matchup on many levels. We’ll take a look at which players (if any), are worth starting in leagues this week.
Did you watch last week’s game? How about the week before? Tannehill was in great position to excel against New England and Cincinnati, but he was absolutely dreadful in both. The loss to the Bengals seems to be the last straw for many Dolphins fans, and it’s becoming more imminent that he will not be in Miami following this season.
Yes, the Dolphins offensive line is terrible, but Tannehill has done a poor job at protecting the football. There are also many other quarterbacks out there with terrible offensive lines that find a way to get the job done. Eventually, the excuses have to run out, and now into his 7th season, the excuses have definitely run their course for RT.
This game could get really bad, and if Laremy Tunsil is forced to miss it’s going to be even worse. It’s astonishing to see that Tannehill is actually owned in 12% of Yahoo leagues at this point. I have to assume that these are 2 QB leagues, which would make sense, but there are a few quarterbacks out there with less owner percentage that I like better. If you’re not in a 2 QB league, you’re much better off just cutting Tannehill altogether.
Running Backs
The Dolphins were very successful in rushing the football against Cincinnati, so naturally, they had to turn away from it. For whatever reason, Adam Gase just doesn’t like to run the football, and it’s really become frustrating for fantasy owners who drafted Kenyan Drake in the 3rd or 4th rounds. In the off-season, Gase had said that he wants to get Drake 15-20 carries a game, along with 6-8 targets. He has just 14 carries combined for the last three games.
Despite averaging 7.7 yards per carry against the Bengals, Drake finished the game with just six carries. He did have seven receptions, which included a 22-yard touchdown reception in the 2nd quarter that helped salvage his day. Based off of his ability in the passing game, I would recommend owners in PPR leagues to consider giving Drake a start as I predict there will be plenty of dump offs from Tannehill as he runs for his life.
Frank Gore doubled Drake’s amount of carries with 12 for a total of 63 yards. At over 5 yards per carry, you really have to wonder why Gase went away from the run game, especially with the lead in the second half. It’s a frustrating situation, and with the Bears leading the league against the run at 64.0 yards per game, it’s one I’d prefer to stay away from.
Kenyan Drake – Sit (Start in PPR)
Frank Gore – Sit
Wide Receivers
Ryan Tannehill threw for just 185 yards last week, and 100 the week before. Those types of numbers don’t make any Dolphins receiver trustworthy going forward. Against the Bears, I wouldn’t have any of them rated higher than a WR4. In fact, similar to last week, I predict that Kenyan Drake will finish this game as Miami’s leading receiver. Most of the Dolphins receivers don’t even belong on fantasy rosters, and those that do are an easy fade this week.
Sit All
Tight Ends
If there was one area of the Bears defense that could be exploited, it would have to be at the tight end position. Through four games, the Bears have given up three touchdowns to opposing tight ends. As a result, tight ends are averaging 12.4 fantasy points per game in PPR formats. The Dolphins may be getting back A.J. Derby this week, who has been practicing on a limited basis. The jury is still out on Mike Gesicki‘s production as a legitimate threat, and until he has that breakout performance that we’re all anticipating, he’s an easy fade, and should only be rostered in deeper leagues.
A.J. Derby – Sit
Mike Gesicki – Sit
Defense
If you were looking for a positive from last Sunday’s game, you wouldn’t have to look any further than Miami’s defense. In fact, it was easiest the best game they’ve played as a unit. The Bengals offense headed into Sunday averaging over 28 points per game, and although they were able to move the ball against Miami, the Dolphins did a great job of holding them. They only gave up 13 points to Cincinnati, and if it hadn’t been for a few bad calls by the refs, it would’ve been less.
Mitch Trubisky is coming off the best game of his career with his six-touchdown performance against Tampa Bay in week 4, but the Bears offense doesn’t intimidate me much, and I think it’s more of an indicator as to how bad the Bucs defense is. My projection is that this will be a low scoring game, and that the Dolphins defense will keep them in it throughout. Whether or not the offense can do enough to pull out the win remains to be seen, but this should be another successful week for Miami’s defense in the fantasy department.
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