Fantasy football: 5 changes ahead of Week 7 you need to know about

It would not be football if not for the dramatic changes we see from week to week. One could fill a scroll with the amount of changes from Sunday to Sunday. The game is truly always evolving, and changes happen not only on Sundays, but in real-time.
Of all the changes from Week 6, here are five that you need to know about.

Sam Darnold makes a huge difference
This is glaringly obvious post-game, but many people counted the Jets out and did not anticipate the return of Darnold to have such an impact. This team can run a competent offense and it is a bit of wonder how they were not able to in his absence.
This is a totally different team with him under center. Darnold looked in control and, more importantly, comfortable at the line. We saw the deep shot to Robby Anderson that took the top off the Dallas defense, a play that this offense thrives on. Le'Veon Bell looked even better with Darnold on the field. His presence, along with obvious talent, has made a huge difference for this team and they got themselves a huge win over the Cowboys on Sunday.

Missing time for a bout of mono could go down as one of, if not the most, bizarre reasons for missing time for any player this season.

The Cowboys have reverted to forcing the run
Anyone with a remote interest in football knows the Dallas Cowboys are a run-first team. It has been their identity dating back to the DeMarco Murray days. They opened the season with a much-hyped, new-look offense that saw Dak Prescott spreading the ball around and working with a lot of play-action.

This has since cooled and over the past three games, in which Dallas has lost, they are hammering the run. Here are Ezekiel Elliott's rushing numbers over those past three games:

• Week 4: 18 carries, 35 yards, 1.9 YPC

• Week 5: 12 carries, 62 yards, 5.2 YPC

• Week 6: 28 carries, 105 yards, 3.8 YPC

Dallas wisely abandoned the run in Week 5 against the Packers but would not give it up last week despite Elliott not being able to manage four yards per carry. Granted, Amari Cooper was lost on the first play of the game, but the run appears to be forced as of late.

We could see another scenario this week where, whether it is working or not, Dallas will force the ball to Elliott with Amari Cooper trending towards missing this game.

When you pay the man, you must play the man, it seems.

Juju Smith-Schuster is no longer a must-start
We are at the point in the Fantasy season where we are beyond "start your studs". In some cases, it just isn't working, and the most glaring case is Smith-Schuster. 

Juju has not had a single WR1 week this season. Here are his weekly finishes through six weeks:

• Week 1: WR37

• Week 2: WR34

• Week 3: WR21

• Week 4: WR64

• Week 5: WR13

• Week 6: WR89

You took him in the first round and unless you are incredibly deep at wide receiver, changes are you are still starting Juju every week. However, he is out of "set it and forget it" status as a lineup lock. You may have to play the matchups with him going forward. If he puts up a monster game before the trade deadline, you may want to look to move him. On the flip side, if you are in the "regression is imminent" camp, now is the time to buy Smith-Schuster for pennies on the dollar.

Melvin Gordon's return has been very Meh-lvin
In the two weeks since Gordon rejoined his team, he has had 20 total attempts for 49 yards, and has taken ten receptions for 37 yards. We anticipated him to be eased in, but through two weeks he looks like a total afterthought in this offense.

Austin Ekeler is playing lights out, but these two backs have co-existed just fine in the past. Where has that offense gone?

In Fantasy land, we love squeaky wheels because they get the grease. We just saw this recently with the Vikings wide receivers and Odell Beckham. When a player publicly asks for the ball, he tends to get it the following week.

Fortunately for us Gordon owners, he just dropped a relief of a nugget in stating that eight carries are just not enough to get a back going.

This week, the Chargers travel across the country to Tennessee to face the Titans. If they can get an early lead, we could see Gordon get the grease.

The Rams are all the way in
Sean McVay is in win-now mode and the Rams are looking like a dynasty Fantasy team. Forget the future picks (all five firsts over the next five years) and acquire all the talent for a run. 

The Rams are mortgaging the future and doing it with a somewhat average quarterback. They have surrounded Jared Goff with talent when they acquired Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods then drafted Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley. On the other side of the ball, they drafted Aaron Darnold who is one of the best defensive tackles in football. They've brought in guys like Aqib Talib, Eric Weddle, and Clay Matthews over the years. 

The Rams have drafted well, but they are even better about bringing in veteran talent.

Yesterday, they took this a step further. They shipped Marcus Peters to Baltimore for Kenny young and a 2020 pick. They did not stop there. Later in the day, they bet the house and flipped two firsts (2020 and 2021) as well as a 2021 fourth for Jalen Ramsey.
Superbowl or bust.