Tyreek Hill [1296x729]
Tyreek Hill [1296x729] (Credit: AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Reranked Who is the MVP for the top Premier League clubs

Fantasy football managers overthink just about everything. They often need a calm, measured voice of reason to remind them of what makes sense. Take a deep breath. It is fantasy football. Make practical decisions on lineups, trades and foods for the tailgating party and things will work out. Try to enjoy the ride. You would not believe the things fantasy managers overthink. Well, you are (presumably) a fantasy manager. OK, so perhaps you would.

Don't give up on CeeDee Lamb or Tyreek Hill

Fantasy managers tend to overreact when their early draft picks -- or their very first one -- underperform, especially when the future looks statistically bleak. Then those fantasy managers say things such as "I should just bench this guy for the rest of the season." Nothing good can come from that. Look, the draft was long ago. You have Lamb or Hill. You can't get a WR1 in trade for them. They probably aren't top-10 WRs from here on, but that doesn't mean you decide in mid-November that you will sit them indefinitely. They have value. It always, always, depends on the entirety of your options for that given week. Much will change by Week 15.

With Lamb, there is no more Dak Prescott, and backup QB Cooper Rush isn't remotely of the same caliber. A young, strong Eagles secondary held Lamb to 21 receiving yards on his 10 targets. The targets are the key. Lamb should continue to get plenty of them. That is the positive. Also, when Rush quarterbacked the Cowboys during his five starts in 2022 -- Weeks 2 through 6 -- Lamb had a little to modest drop in production. He caught 31 of 49 targets in that stretch, at 76 receiving yards per game, with two touchdowns. Rush doesn't have to be good to keep Lamb a relevant WR2 choice, and there's nothing wrong with a relevant WR2 option.

Hill, finally reunited with his starting quarterback, is dealing with a torn ligament in his left wrist that will naturally affect production. The Dolphins have adjusted their offensive approach so that QB Tua Tagovailoa releases the football quicker to avoid the pass rush, and he is completing 77% of his passes. This is good, but not so compatible with Hill's strength of getting open downfield. Hill has 18 targets in the three games with Tagovailoa back, three of his 13 receptions going for more than 20 yards along with a short 1-yard TD, but this isn't the same Hill who topped 1,700 receiving yards the past two seasons. This is, again, a relevant WR2 option now. Hey, it could be worse.

My advice to fantasy managers is to avoid exaggerated thoughts/statements about three, four and five weeks from now, etc. Deal with this week only. Make trades thinking of December's playoffs, of course, but with lineups, it is all about this week. Lamb faces a Texans defense that has permitted 21 TD passes, one off the league lead. Hill faces the Raiders, and certainly they aren't good. If you want to sit Lamb or Hill this week for the likes of the Browns' Cedric Tillman, Broncos' Courtland Sutton or Falcons' Darnell Mooney, well, it is sensible and understandable since those players have been productive, and it might continue. I might not do it, but these are your teams. Just don't get too down on Lamb, Hill and others who aren't as valuable as they once were, and don't make lineups too far in advance.

Do assume the Calvin Ridley resurgence continues

Ridley has finished among the top 25 fantasy scorers at his position in each of his four full NFL seasons (excluding 2021 and 2022, when he played five games total). Even today, with double-digit PPR points in only four of his nine games, he is on pace to do so again. Incredibly, Ridley entered Week 8 with only 45.2 fantasy points, averaging 7.5 per game, and he sure let people know he was unhappy with a profanity-laced rant to reporters. The low point came in Week 6, right after the bye week, when his eight targets led to nary a reception. That is hard to do.

Ridley enters this week's game against the Vikings having scored a cool 60.3 points in the past three games, hauling in 20 of 32 targets (still not ideal) in that span, scoring two touchdowns. It isn't a great rate of catches per target, but it is enough targets, and the Titans have clearly adjusted their offense to feature the most dangerous performer. Ridley ranks an underwhelming 36th this season -- tied with the Giants' Darius Slayton -- in catchable passes, but when a Titans QB throws, it tends to go to Ridley. He ranks eighth in percentage of team targets. He just needed more on target.

Young QB Will Levis returned in Week 10 from his three-game absence because of a shoulder problem to find Ridley for a 41-yard touchdown on the first series. The second TD came in the closing seconds, pure garbage time, but it all counts. Levis was accurate against the Chargers, hitting 78% of his throws (though throwing only 23 times), but at least the Titans have showed a reasonable passing attack the past few weeks, and a commitment to their best player. The Vikings permit the third-most PPR points to wide receivers this season. Levis doesn't have to be Joe Montana to provide Ridley with another 20-point fantasy outing.

Don't forget about Ravens RB Keaton Mitchell

QB Lamar Jackson leads a dominant Ravens offense that averages a league-leading 440.2 yards and 31.8 points, but a potentially key piece might add even more production. Mitchell averaged 8.4 yards per rush as a rookie last season. He is certainly not big (5-foot-8, 190 pounds) and he wasn't drafted out of East Carolina, but Mitchell sure is fast and elusive, and now that he has recovered from his ACL injury sustained last December, fantasy managers must pay attention. Mitchell made his season debut against the Bengals in Week 10. He should have a more special, sizable role this week against the Steelers.

Mitchell averaged 7.2 yards per rush his sophomore season (2022) in college, scoring 15 total touchdowns, and fantasy managers first noticed him as a pro in Week 9, when the speedy rookie turned nine rushing attempts into 138 yards in a 37-3 rout of the Seahawks, with a 60-yard jaunt and a 40-yard touchdown scamper among them. Gus Edwards (now a Charger) and Justice Hill combined for 18 touches that game, and Mitchell still mattered. He earned roughly 10 touches per game in his final four contests, at nearly 10 PPR points per game, before injuring his knee.

Derrick Henry leads the league in rushing attempts, and one would think the Ravens are quite aware of this and want to keep the 30-year-old healthy for January. No, don't assume Henry's volume drops precipitously, but do assume Mitchell gets involved. Hill, with 24 rushing yards the past five games, isn't doing much. Perhaps you shouldn't consider Mitchell in a standard league, but in a deeper one remember that four teams are on bye this week, and six teams are off in Week 12. Mitchell might matter then.