This article will take a weekly look at players who are overvalued in a given week. Negative value is when a player offers more long-term value than he does for this week. The basis for this value will be the difference between the Top 200 forward, a look at the top 200 players with the whole season in mind, and the weekly rankings. Both of these are from the Footballguys.com subscriber content. An emphasis will be on the players with the largest differences between the season outlook and this week only. Also, a preference will be given to differences for the higher ranked players. Some of these differences will be due to injury, matchup of the week, or short-term situation. Now, let's take a look at this week's negative value players.
Quarterback
Top 200 ranking: 14
Weekly ranking: 21
Difference: -7
Bridgewater gets his first career start this week against the Atlanta Falcons. The Atlanta defense has been soft against the rush so we expect the Minnesota running game to gash the Falcons between the tackles. While we love the upside of the rookie, there will be much better matchups as the season progresses.
Top 200 ranking: 3
Weekly ranking: 11
Difference: -8
Rodgers is a star fantasy quarterback but this is a tough week to expect maximum fantasy production against the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field. The Bears defense is improving and this game between division rivals is always close, and usually lower scoring than most expect. We still are high on Rodgers for the season, as evidenced by his QB3 Top 200 ranking, yet this may not be a great week for fantasy owners.
Running Back
Top 200 ranking: 10
Weekly ranking: 18
Difference: -8
This weekly ranking would look much worse if there were not six teams on bye this week. We do not like the outlook for Bush against the stout New York Jets run defense. The Jets are susceptible against the pass, but very stiff against the run. In a game Detroit hopes to have the lead early, Joique Bell might see more touches than Bell.
Top 200 ranking: 8
Weekly ranking: 15
Difference: -7
Foster missed last week's game with a hamstring injury. This is the same hamstring that bothered him for most of the preseason. We are not convinced the talented runner is past this injury so expectations must be tempered when considering the fantasy outlook of Foster against the Buffalo Bills.
Top 200 ranking: 6
Weekly ranking: 10
Difference: -4
Charles looks to play this week after missing the game against the Miami Dolphins a week ago. Knile Davis played well in the contest, possibly well enough to earn regular touches moving forward. Making this even more difficult for fantasy owners is the matchup against the New England Patriots. If you have solid other options at the tailback position, this might be a good week to sit Charles and see if he is fully healed from the ankle injury.
Wide Receiver
Top 200 ranking: 13
Weekly ranking: 18
Difference: -5
Benjamin is coming off a big game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This week, the rookie will face the Baltimore Ravens defense that has been able to successfully defend opposing teams' top receivers. We like the long-term prospects for Benjamin, however this may not be the right week to expect a repeat performance to Sunday night's performance.
Top 200 ranking: 2
Weekly ranking: 4
Difference: -2
While the two-spot drop may not look large, Bryant is a tier below the top three this week. He had one big play versus the Rams last week or fantasy owners would have been screaming. Even though this matchup against the New Orleans Saints looks juicy, the Cowboys passing game has not looked good at all. We worry about the health of Tony Romo, and his ability to throw deep or outside of the hash marks with any zip on the ball.
Top 200 ranking: 8
Weekly ranking: 12
Difference: -4
Even with the solid matchup against the Green Bay Packers this week, the ankle injury worries us that Marshall may be far from full strength. In the Monday night game, he re-injured the ankle and only had one catch in the game. In addition, he did not practice on Wednesday. We would not suggest automatically benching the superstar pass catcher, but fantasy owners should watch the injury report pregame just in case.
Tight End
Top 200 ranking: 8
Weekly ranking: 14
Difference: -6
Ertz has not been able to break off big plays in quantity like fantasy owners hoped. The matchup against the San Francisco 49ers will be a tough one for the talented tight end. The 49ers do a solid job defending tight ends and may be able to limit Ertz.
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