Seahawks vs. Texans Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 7

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 7 matchup between the Seahawks and Texans on Monday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 7 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Sam Darnold: Darnold has been hyper-efficient over the past five weeks, throwing for at least 8.9 yards per pass attempt in each of his past five games.

He has thrown multiple passing scores in four of those five games.

He leads the NFL in yards per attempt (9.6 Y/A) and yards per completion (13.5).

Both of those rates become significantly higher when using play action.

On play action passes, Darnold is averaging 15.2 yards per attempt and 23.0 yards per completion (not a typo).

This has the attention of DeMeco Ryans…

This is a great strength-on-strength matchup.

The Texans are allowing 6.3 yards per pass attempt (5th) and a 58.8% completion rate (3rd).

On play-action passes, they have allowed a league-best rating, with a 55.9% completion rate (3rd), 7.2 yards per attempt (12th), and a 2.9% touchdown rate (10th), along with 2 interceptions.

Houston is fifth in the league in pressure rate (42.4%).

When they have gotten pressure, they have allowed a 37% completion rate (2nd).

Houston has not allowed a QB1 scoring week on the season yet.

They opened the season facing Matthew Stafford and Baker Mayfield, but have since faced Trevor Lawrence, Cam Ward, and Cooper Rush.

Darnold’s QB1 scoring weeks have come against the Saints, Bucs, and Jaguars, while he was in the back half of weekly scoring against the 49ers, Steelers, and Cardinals.

I do buy that this Houston defense is the most significant test Darnold has faced so far.

The implied game total is putting respect on both defenses here.

I prefer to use Darnold as a QB2 in this spot, and he is not someone I would aggressively look to stream.

C.J. Stroud: Stroud played his best football before the bye, posting QB14 (18.4 points) and QB1 (28.8 points) weeks.

Houston has incorporated more pre-snap motion and play-action passing into the offense.

Stoud’s motion rates have been 35.3%, 30%, 47.6%, 50%, and 60% of dropbacks.

His play-action rates have been 11.1%, 12.5%, 18.4%, 21.4%, and 48.1%.

Stroud’s pressure rates per week have been 41.2%, 40%, 33.3%, 37.5%, and 20%.

Houston has patched some of their early issues, but those past two games were also against the Titans and a depleted Baltimore defense.

This is a more challenging task where we can put some of those fresher concepts Houston has used to the test.

The Seahawks showed that they can still rush the passer last week.

Trevor Lawrence was the least pressured quarterback coming into Week 6, and Seattle pressured him on 51% of his dropbacks with 7 sacks.

While Stroud has played well in the past two games, we have Houston as road underdogs with a team total below 20 points.

That alone is enough to give some pause for Stroud as a QB2, but Seattle does still have moving parts in their secondary that could allow wiggle room for a viable line in 2QB formats.

They still allowed a QB12 (19.2 points) scoring week to Lawrence.

Seattle has allowed multiple passing touchdowns in each of the past three games.

The Seahawks were down three cornerbacks last week with Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, and Nehemiah Pritchett.

They were also missing safety Julian Love.

Witherspoon, who has missed the past two games, is not expected to play on Monday due to a knee injury.

Woolen could return from concussion protocol, while Pritchett is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Love has not played in either of the past two games but is trending towards a return.

Getting a few of those pieces back can make an impact, but the loss of Witherspoon is still a void.

Running Back

Seahawks RBs: Kenneth Walker played a season-low 34.5% of the offensive snaps in Week 6.

He handled 11 touches for 37 yards.

In turn, Zach Charbonnet played a season-high 60% of the snaps, but he only managed 37 yards on his 13 touches.

This has been a nightmare split for gamers in the weeks both have played.

Walker has flashed at moments in terms of explosive runs, but he has one top-24 scoring week in a game both backs have played.

Walker has not had any short-scoring opportunities.

In their games played together, Charbonnet has outtouched Walker 9-3 inside the 10-yard line and 6-0 inside the five-yard line.

Charbonnet has 2.9 yards per touch, the lowest rate for any player with as many opportunities as he has this season.

If he does not fall into the end zone, then he has not been fantasy relevant (and barely even when he has scored).

Charbonnet has failed to gain yardage on 31.7% of his runs, the highest rate in the league among 36 backs with 50 or more rushes.

On top of everything, neither back has done anything in the passing game.

Darnold has targeted running backs on a league-low 9.3% of his passes.

For the time being, both of these backs are RB3/FLEX options, with Walker being a boom-or-bust option that needs explosive runs and Charbonnet being a touchdown-dependent option.

Houston is allowing 3.8 yards per carry to running backs (9th) with 0.84 yards before contact on those runs (9th).

Texans RBs: From one backfield split to another.

It was looking as if Woody Marks was going to pull ahead in this backfield after 119 yards and 2 touchdowns on 21 touches in Week 4.

He then handled 7 touches for 24 yards in the blowout win before the bye, while Nick Chubb handled 11 touches for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Chubb has outtouched Marks 3-1 inside the five-yard line so far.

We will see what the usage is out of the bye.

Chubb's only RB2 or better scoring weeks have come in weeks with a touchdown, so he remains a touchdown-dependent FLEX.

Marks has had too much of an inconsistent role to be used as more than a FLEX, but his skill set does lend itself more to this matchup.

Seattle has been stout against the run, allowing a league-best 3.1 YPC to running backs.

They are allowing 8.2 rushing points per game to backfields, the fewest in the league.

Where they have been vulnerable is in the receiving game, allowing a league-high 13.9 receiving points per game to running backs.

Wide Receiver

Jaxon Smith-Njigba: Smith-Njigba kept up his torrid start to the season on Sunday, catching 8 of 13 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown, his second straight week with a score and his third in four games.

Through six weeks, Smith-Njigba leads all players with 4.49 yards per route run.

He leads the league in target share (36.4%) and share of air yards (50.5%).

On those play-action passes we talked about with Darnold, Smith-Njigba is averaging a hilarious 7.92 yards per route run, catching 11 of 13 targets for 309 yards (103 more than the next closest player) with 2 touchdowns.

Nobody is running away from Smith-Njigba as a WR1, and this is another part of the strength-versus-strength of this matchup.

The Texans are sixth in points allowed per game to opposing WR1 targets (11.0).

They have allowed a 57.1% completion rate (2nd) to outside wide receivers, where Smith-Njigba has played 81% of his snaps.

Nico Collins (TRUST): Collins has posted only one WR1 scoring week so far through five games.

He has had more than 4 receptions in just one game.

He has 24.8% of the targets (WR16) and 37.3% of the air yards (WR18).

He does still have a touchdown in three of his past four games.

Houston has played in a couple of one-sided games before the bye, which have limited his runout.

In tight games in Week 2 and Week 3, Collins had 39.1% and 30.6% of the targets.

We expect this to be a game where Houston is pressed and competitive, which should put an emphasis back on running this passing game through Collins and give him a runway for WR1 usage.

With the state of the Seattle secondary, there is plenty of upside here.

The Seahawks are 29th in points allowed to opposing WR1 targets (18.7).

Over the past three weeks, they have allowed strong outings to Marvin Harrison Jr. (6-66-1), Emeka Egbuka (7-163-1), and Brian Thomas (8-90-1).

Cooper Kupp: Kupp caught 2 of 3 targets for 40 yards and his first touchdown with Seattle on Sunday.

Kupp has had more than 4 catches in just two games so far, as Smith-Njigba has dominated this low-volume passing game.

He is stuck as a WR4/FLEX, but if you believe Houston can give Smith-Njigba a tougher matchup and this running game still struggles, there is a path for Kupp to be viable here.

Kupp has been on the field for 86.1% of the dropbacks and leads the team with 44% of his snaps in the slot.

Going back to last season, Houston has been excellent against outside receivers but softer against interior receivers.

They are allowing 7.4 yards per target to slot receivers (19th) to open this season.

Christian Kirk: Since returning to action, Kirk has had games of 3-25-0, 3-20-0, and 4-64-0.

He has seen 22.2%, 14.3%, and 12.9% of the targets in his appearances, running a route on 78.6%, 62.5%, and 57.1% of the dropbacks.

We need more top-down usage coming out of the bye for Kirk to handle him as more than a deeper-end FLEX option.

Tory Horton: Horton does not have more than 3 receptions or 4 targets in a game this season.

Seattle is 31st in the use of 11 personnel (34.1%), with Horton on the field for 57.2% of their passing plays.

He is a touchdown-or-bust best used in single-game DFS.

Texans WRs: Neither Xavier Hutchinson nor Jayden Higgins is more than a dart throw here, but we are looking to see if Higgins gets a larger role coming out of the bye.

Going into the bye, Hutchinson was still running ahead of Higgins.

Despite running 63 more routes and having 3 more receptions than the rookie, Hutchinson has had fewer yards (110) than Higgins (121).

Tight End

A.J. Barner: Barner caught 3 passes for 71 yards on Sunday, anchored by a 61-yard reception.

Barner only has 12.3% of the Seattle targets (TE25), with all three of his TE1 scoring weeks coming in games with a touchdown.

He is still sharing snaps with Elijah Arroyo, playing on 64.7% of the passing plays (TE23).

If you are chasing Barner as a touchdown-dependent TE2, he does have a red zone role.

Barner may not have a massive slice of the overall targets, but he does have 29.4% of Seattle's red zone targets (TE5).

Houston has allowed 5.8 yards per target (7th) and a 3.3% touchdown rate (4th) to tight ends.

Dalton Schultz: Schultz has not had a TE1 scoring week this season.

Schultz does have 18.6% of the team targets (TE7) but is averaging 4.2 receptions for 37.2 yards per game.

If you are chasing him in single-game DFS, Seattle has allowed 6.3 receptions per game to tight ends (27th) with 3 touchdowns.

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