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At drinkfive, we like to think that trends of at least three games or more are something that should be a reliable indicator of future performance. That’s all fine and good, but how about we actually predict if the trends will continue or not and put our money (or beer in this case) where our mouth is.

Here are the predictions we made on last week’s show:

Russell Wilson: Wk 7 @ STL - 37.12 pts, Wk 8 @ CAR - 14.46 pts, Wk 9 vs Oak - 10.26 pts

Wilson has been up and down all year, which way does he go?

Last week, Dave and I both stated that Wilson would resume his proper fantasy output and score over 18 points. He did just that, putting up 21.58 points in a rout of the Giants last week. His passing performance left much to be desired, but 107 yards rushing and a late score on the ground saved his fantasy day in a big way.

Emmanuel Sanders: Wk 7 vs SF - 10.10 pts, Wk 8 vs SD - 30.60 pts, Wk 9 @ NE - 15.10 pts

Sanders averaged 9.8 pts per game first 5 games, 18.6 per game in the last 3. Which one do we see going forward?

Dave and I both said he will continue to do well, scoring 15 points or more. In Week 10, Sanders had 8 rec for 67 yards and 2 TD, adding in a 5 yd rush, good for 19.20 points. Sanders now has 6 TD on the year and is clearly a perfect replacement for Eric Decker in the Denver offense. Sanders is officially a stud!

Kelvin Benjamin: Wk 7 @ GB - 12.10 pts, Wk 8 vs SEA - 9.40 pts, Wk 9 vs NO - 1.80 pts

Benjamin has the 16th most fantasy points this season, but will he rebound from this slump?

We also agreed that Benjamin would stay relevant and put up 8 or more points. Benjamin was having another terrible performance on Monday night football, with 1 catch for 13 yards going into the 4^th quarter, but then scored twice and put up a 3 for 70 with 2 TD line, good for 19.00 points. Is this comforting as a fantasy owner? No, but then again, why do you care how they score the points, as long as it’s before the clock hits 0:00.

Alfred Morris: Wk 7 vs TEN - 5.40 pts, Wk 8 @ DAL - 14.50 pts, Wk 9 @ MIN - 22.90

Morris averaged 10.1 pts per game, first 6 games, and 14.3 pts per game last 3. He had a really rough stretch against SEA, ARI and TEN in there.

Morris was on bye Week 10, so we will follow up on this next week, but we both say he will score a solid 14 points or more.

Branden Oliver: Wk 7 vs KC - 7.80 pts, Wk 8 @ DEN - 6.30 pts, Wk 9 @ MIA - 2.60 pts

Oliver scored just 16.7 pts in the last 3 weeks after putting up 48.6 points in the previous two weeks. With Mathews coming back off the bye, is Oliver relevant anymore?

Oliver was also on bye Week 10 and both Dave and I see him continuing to fall into obscurity, especially with Ryan Mathews expected to return to the lineup against Oakland on Sunday.

Zach Ertz: Wk 6 vs NYG - 10.70 pts, Wk 8 @ ARI - 4.80 pts, Wk 9 @ HOU - 0.40 pts

Ertz is a great red zone target that isn't utilized. Will this change with Sanchez in?

This was the one prediction that we split on last week. Dave said Ertz will stay under 5 points, and I said he’d go higher. Looks like I’m drinking for this one – Ertz finished the game with 1 catch for only 17 yards. Clearly, no, Sanchez doesn’t change anything as it appears that Celek is his preferred TE.

Now let’s change gears and look at some trends that we can see after week 10 and make some more predictions. Remember, for all the ones we get wrong, we will drink five on the podcast. For all the ones we get right, you guys drink!

Cam Newton: Wk 8 vs Sea – 6.24 pts, Wk 9 vs NO – 13.34 pts, Wk 10 @ PHI – 15.84 pts

Newton is really a test of this trend theory. Everyone sees his play as being awful, but he’s actually trending up from his season low of 6.24 against the Seahawks. Newton also gets a bye coming up in Week 12, so is he going to stumble, or put it together for the rest of the season?

Julio Jones: Wk 7 @ BAL – 5.60 pts, Wk 8 vs DET – 5.80 pts, Wk 10 @ TB – 11.90 pts

Jones has really struggled this year compared to where his draft position was, making him a top 5 WR (preseason). Jones is still serviceable this season, but has just as many single digit games as he does double digit, which means he’s probably not as reliable as you’d like. Is this a product of Matt Ryan or Julio, and will he return to greatness or be cursed to NFC South obscurity?

DeAndre Hopkins: Wk 7 @ PIT – 8.80 pts, Wk 8 @ TEN – 9.50 pts, Wk 9 vs PHI – 17.50 pts

Hopkins is stepping up (trying to anyway) as the number one guy in Houston. He’s trending up and has 3 100+ yard games under his belt this year and is averaging about 10 targets per game over the last 3 games. Will Hopkins continue his upward trend, or will the new QB in Houston ruin his party?

Le’Veon Bell: Wk 8 vs IND – 14.80 pts, Wk 9 vs Bal – 11.80 pts, Wk 10 @ NYJ – 6.90 pts

Bell has scored double digit points in every single week except for Week 10 now as the Steelers appear to have all but abandoned the run game. Now, these numbers aren’t disastrous, but he’s moved out of RB1 territory. Bell has only 21 carries over the last two weeks, after 24 the week before, two of those games being blowouts for the Steelers. With the passing game working so well lately, will Bell continue to be the odd man out on the Steelers?

Ahmad Bradshaw: Wk 7 vs CIN – 18.80 pts, Wk 8 @ PIT – 14.70 pts, Wk 9 @ NYG – 7.90 pts

Bradshaw is trending down, which was a surprise to me. He has 8 total TD’s this year, so he’s been putting up points and is clearly worth a start the rest of the year, right? With matchups against NE, Jax, Was, Cle, Hou and Dal to finish the year, it’s a mixture of good and bad run defenses. Bradshaw seems a bit too TD dependent, but can you really sit the top back on one of the best teams in the league?

Make sure to listen to our podcast to get our predictions and discussion of the trends into week 11 and we will recap the results next week.

The fantasy season is almost upon us, and every year we like to take the preseason to break down each position individually. We’ll be starting this year with the Quarterbacks. This article will focus on QB’s that have good draft value, and others that do not. Remember, this isn’t exactly who’s going to land in or out of the top 10 this year, but it’s who you can target, or avoid, in a draft to get yourself the best roster.

For a more in-depth discussion, check out our podcast from 8/18/15, The QB Show!

QB’s that have good value:

Can Palmer start all 16 games this season?

Carson Palmer - #11 on our rankings, Palmer is an excellent QB, when healthy. The Cardinals have a decent offense which was able to move the ball when Palmer was out last year. Their defense will make sure the offense gets plenty of possessions. Palmer has an ECR of 19, giving him the largest gap of any QB on our list. His ADP of 22 (153 overall) means that you can take him at the end of nearly every draft, and have a guy that we think should finish just outside the top 10.

Palmer Targets: Fitz!, Michael Floyd, Jaron & John Brown, Andre Ellington, CJ?K, Whoever starts at TE.

Relevant stats: Arizona threw the ball 35.1 times per game in 2014, right in the middle of the pack for the NFL. Palmer is on a 3-year trend upward (extrapolating last year's stats over 16 games). The Cardinals' window is closing fast, look for them to pull out all the stops to make a Super Bowl run this year.

Tom Brady - #8 on our rankings, he has an ECR of 14, mostly, I suspect, due to his looming suspension. If he plays all 16, I think he’ll go up a bit. Overall, I think we underestimate Tom every year, and every year he’s playing in January, so he must be doing something right. What we do know about Brady is that he has Gronk, and it doesn’t really matter who else is there.

Brady Targets: Edelman, Gronk!, Tyms, Amendola, Bolden/White/Blount/Gray, Reggie Wayne (New!), LaFell

Relevant stats: The Pats threw the ball 38.6 times per game last year, 7th most in the league. Brady has thrown over 30 TD's in 4 of the last 5 seasons, and usually keeps the INT's low. Don't be fooled by the lack of targets, it's never bothered Brady.

Tony Romo - #5 on our rankings, he has an ECR of 9 and an ADP of 8. Romo’s value is going up, he’s currently being drafted about 1 round higher than his overall ranking would put him, however we rank him even higher, so there is still value to be had here. Romo is a tough QB leading what is likely to be a top 5 offense in the NFL this season. Romo is the highest tier QB with a good value rating.

Romo Targets: Dez Bryant (over 135 targets each of the last 3 years), Witten, Williams, Beasley, Randle/Dunbar/McFadden

Relevant stats: Last year, Dallas threw the ball only 29.2 times per game, the second fewest in the league. Romo made the most of the times he did throw the ball, leading the league in completion % (69.9), TD % (7.8) and yards per pass attempt (8.5). He has been trending up in TD's and down in INT's over the last 3 years. Romo is playing better than he ever has and will need to pick up the slack after Demarco Murray's departure. Don't worry about his age either, he may be over 35, but he's only started 20 more games than Rodgers, so he has plenty of football left in him.

This guy got $65 million...

Philip Rivers - #10 on our rankings, his ECR is 13, so we’re not too far off there, but it’s a game of inches, isn’t it? Rivers just got a huge new contract, with something like $65 mil GUARANTEED. That means it’s his job to now go out and prove to the team that he deserves it. The Chargers’ ground game got a big upgrade this season, drafting Melvin Gordon #14 overall. This should take a bit of pressure off Rivers. Rivers had 31 TD’s, but also 18 INT’s. He’s generally not that errant of a passer, so if he can cut down on the picks, he will finish in the top 10 yet again.

Rivers Targets: Allen, Malcom Floyd, Jacoby Jones, Stevie Johnson (dave’s guy!), Gates/Green, Gordon/Woodhead/Oliver

Relevant stats: San Diego threw the ball 35.9 times per game last season, 14th in the league, but threw it 43 times per game in the last 3 games, two of which were against division opponents. Rivers has gone over 4000 yards in 6 of the last 7 seasons and over 30 TD's in 5 of them. He's wonderfully consistent and can be counted on to be in the top 12 every years. Pick him up when he's available late. Oh yea, the new contract doesn't hurt his outlook any.

QB’s that are overvalued:

Colin Kaepernick – Kaepernick is ranked 22 on our sheets and has an ECR of 15. He won’t be drafted as a starter in standard leagues anyways, but I wanted to just reiterate how much we do not like the 49ers offense this year. The rankings, thankfully, agree with us. His overall stats for the last 3 years have been underwhelming, so let someone else reach for him as their backup QB.

Kaepernick Targets: Boldin, Smith, Davis, Hyde/Bush – See why we aren’t hyped?

Relevant stats: the 49ers threw the ball only 30.4 times per game last year, good for 29th in the league. Kaepernick already only completes 60.1% of his passes through his career, so you need to rely on his feet to get you big points. The problem there is that his rushing TD's have gone from 5 to 4 to 1. Are you ready to bet it's going back up to 5? His Int's are the other alarming trend, going up each year that he's been in the league.

Cam's job got a lot harder with Benjamin going down.

Cam Newton – Newton has a rank of 13 on our sheet, but an ECR of 7. He’s clearly favored by pundits and fans alike, but our rankings sheet is not so high on him. Newton has slightly regressed in his stat line every year since he broke into the league back in 2011. Even though it may “feel” like Newton is due to rebound back to what he had his rookie year, his risk is not worth the price you have to pay. His ceiling is actually rather low, especially considering he will run less and less as he gets older. It’s not worth it, in my opinion, to draft a guy as the 7^th best QB when he really only has a shot at being #5 at the very highest.

Newton Targets: Benjamin, Ginn, Funchess, Cotchery, Corey Brown, Olsen, Stewart/Tolbert/Whittaker

Relevant stats: Carolina threw the ball 34.1 times per game last season, but Newton only has a career 59.5 completion %. Newton has also only thrown the ball about 31 times per game in his career, so I expect his pass attempts to stay flat, at best. Newton was only the 16th best fantasy QB last year, right above our buddy Kaepernick. At least he's above the Andy Dalton line.

Ryan Tannehill - #14 in our rankings, Tannehill is a guy who we have been pumping up all year, and it looks like we’re not the only ones. His ECR is 10, so the experts like him, and his ADP of 13 indicates that he hasn’t quite caught up to his ECR in the rest of the fantasy world. Here’s the thing though, Tannehill is the QB who is being hyped as the best value or biggest jump from last year. News like this spreads like wildfire and the draft season is now in full swing. Just this past weekend, I was in a draft where he was the 7th overall QB taken, late in the 6th round.

Tannehill Targets: Landry, Cameron, Jennings, Parker, Miller, Stills

Relevant stats: Miami was in the top half of the league, throwing the ball 37.2 times per game in 2014. Tannehill's stats have generally been trending up over his first three years in the league. They just got Jordan Cameron and drafted Devante Parker. Yes, things are looking up for Ryan Tannehill, but the secret's out. He's got a good shot at going too early in your draft. Give a silent nod and just move on. If he's available closer to his ADP of 13, then go for it.

We're a quarter of the way through the season and on the eve of Week 4, we're coming up on a Thursday night matchup that looks like it can be competitive (for a change). This week also features the return of London football. While I'm not a huge fan of making teams break up their routine with the shock of a trip across five time zones, I do like the fourth game slot on Sundays. So this week, don't forget that the Eagles and Packers are on bye (ouch!) and to check your lineup on Thursday night and early Sunday morning. For more advice for this week, check out this week's podcast, airing live every Tuesday night!

Listen to the Fantasy Football Podcast, 9/27/16: Week 4 Trends & Truths

Taking a look at the player trends over the past few weeks can reveal some surprising things - it's important, though, to temper expectations in some cases and realize that some great (and some awful) performances can be the product of gameflow as much as the talent and/or rising production of a player. But since each player can only be owned by one team at a time in most standard fantasy leagues, you've got to scoop them up before anyone else and make smart decisions as far as when to play a rising (or falling) star. What do you think about these scenarios? Will the players listed below live up to expectations based on recent weeks? Make sure to check out the podcast to find out which side we take on each player.

Quarterbacks

Russell Wilson (SEA)

Week 2 @ LA - 22/35, 254 yds, 0 TD, 11.56pts

Week 3 vs SF - 15/23, 243 yds, 1 TD, 14.02pts

Week 4 @ NYJ - 23/32, 309 yds, 3 TD, 23.86pts

Perhaps Russell Wilson is inhuman, after all. Ankle injuries, a knee injury, and who cares, he's still trending upward. With zero interceptions over these three games, he's playing efficient football, which is exactly when he and his team are at its best. Wilson is on bye week 5, so we'll delay our prediction on him by one week. He has upcoming matchups against Atlanta, Arizona and New Orleans, so you should be able to confidently start him from now on. We'll set the line and predict next week.

Cam Newton (CAR)

Week 2 vs SF - 24/40, 353 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT, 30.82pts

Week 3 vs MIN - 21/35, 262 yds, 0 TD, 3 INT, 16.08 pts

Week 4 @ ATL - 14/25, 165 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 15.60pts

Cam Newton exited the week 4 game with a concussion and is currently in the concussion protocol. We know that if he's healthy, he will play. Newton has struggled in recent weeks, though against Minnesota we'd expect that. Last week against Atlanta was more alarming, as the Panthers fell behind and struggled to keep up. Coming up are matchups against Tampa and then New Orleans, a couple of defenses that are giving up lots of points to opposing QB's. We'll start Cam's line at 21 points.

Wide Receivers

John Brown (ARI)

Week 2 vs TB - 1/3, 14 yds, 1.40pts

Week 3 @ BUF - 6/11, 70 yds, 7.00pts

Week 4 vs LA - 10/16, 144 yds, 14.40pts

John Brown exploded back into the fantasy scene this week with an awesome 16 targets. Though he hasn't reached the end zone yet, his re-introduction to the Cardinals offense was a relief for fantasy owners. Coming up are some tougher defenses, but first he gets a crack at the 49ers. Will he be able to remain in Palmer's crosshairs? We'll start his line at 7.5 points.

DeAndre Hopkins (HOU)

Week 2 vs KC - 7/11, 113 yds, 1 TD, 17.30pts

Week 3 @ NE - 4/8, 56 yds, 0 TD, 5.60pts

Week 4 vs TEN - 1/6, 4 yds, 0 TD, 0.40pts

Where oh where has our DeAndre Hopkins gone? Last week's 4 yard performance was really rough to take, especially against Will Fuller's 20 point performance. So, it's tough to tell right now, but is Osweiler favoring Fuller a lot more than anyone thought he might? Is Hopkins just going through a rough patch and will rebound? He has Minnesota and Denver in the next three weeks, so it's going to be tough to get back to where we expect him as a WR1. We'll start his line at 8 points.

Alshon Jeffery (CHI)

Week 2 vs PHI - 5/7, 96 yds, 9.60pts

Week 3 @ DAL - 5/7, 70 yds, 7.00pts

Week 4 vs DET - 3/5, 46yds, 4.60pts

With no touchdowns this season, Alshon Jeffery has his fantasy owners worried. He's declined in yardage each week this year, and it seems like he's not really a favorite target of Brian Hoyer, who seems like he may keep playing QB as long as he plays well. This week, the Bears play the receiver-friendly Colts, so he could be in good shape for a rebound week. We'll start our line for Jeffery at 7 points.

Running Backs

Jordan Howard (CHI)

Week 2 vs PHI - 3/22yds, 2/2 rec, 9 yds, 3.10pts

Week 3 @ DAL - 9/45yds, 6/4 rec, 47 yds, 9.20pts

Week 4 vs DET - 23/111yds, 4/3 rec, 21 yds, 13.20pts

Jordan Howard has confirmed that for now, he's the starting back for the Bears. While Langford is out, Howard is carrying the load all by himself. With Howard's 5.1 yards per carry, compared to Langford's 3.7 - they will be splitting carries once Langford comes back. This week, Howard faces the Colts, who have given up the second most points to opposing running backs. We'll start his line at 9 points.

Matt Forte

Week 2 @ BUF - 30/100yds, 3 TD, 3/2 rec, 9 yds, 28.90pts

Week 3 @ KC - 15/65yds, 0 TD, 4/2 rec, -1 yds, 6.40pts

Week 4 vs SEA - 14/27yds, 0 TD, 3/2 rec, 16 yds, 4.30pts

Matt Forte is the victim of a terrible Jets offense, and his numbers show it. The Jets have totally fallen apart the last two weeks, with 9 picks from Ryan Fitzpatrick over that time. No backs are going to put up good numbers when their offense turns over the ball that often. The bad matchups continue for the Jets, this week against Pitt and next week against Arizona, both on the road. Forte is a sit consideration for me, until the Jets get their offense back on track. We'll start Forte's line out at 11 points.

Tight Ends

Jimmy Graham

Week 2 @ LA – 3/4, 42 yds, 0 TD, 4.20pts

Week 3 vs SF – 6/9, 100 yds, 1 TD, 14.00pts

Week 4 @ NYJ, 6/8, 113 yds, 0 TD, 11.30pts

Jimmy Graham finally looks like the guy who left New Orleans all those years ago (fantasy football years are much longer than regular human years). He’s finally gotten into a good rhythm with Russell Wilson, and 17 targets in the last two weeks is a great sign. The 12 receptions is even better, but the yardage totals going up and up are best yet. Graham should wind up being the best red zone threat on the team, and ought to look very good going forward. With Graham on bye, we’ll set our line on him next week.

Jason Witten

Week 2 @ WAS – 3/4, 51 yds, 5.10pts

Week 3 vs CHI – 2/2, 25 yds, 2.50pts

Week 4 @ SF – 7/9, 47 yds, 4.70pts

To start the season, it looked like Jason Witten would have a huge role in the Cowboys’ offense, but as Dak Prescott has gotten more and more comfortable, he’s looked Witten’s way less. 14 targets in Week 1 have been followed up by just 15 targets across the last three games. Is Witten’s time of fantasy relevance at an end? Does he need Tony Romo to be worthy of starting? Witten plays the Bengals this week, we’ll start the line at 5 points.