4d Matt Bowen and Tristan H. Cockcroft

Fantasy playbook: NFL Week 7 Shadow Reports, lineup locks and projected scores

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Is Matthew Stafford a locked-in top-10 fantasy QB? (0:56)

Mike Clay Oct 22, 2026, 08:22 AM ET

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Mike Clay is a senior writer for fantasy football and the NFL at ESPN. Mike is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. His projections power the ESPN Fantasy Football game, and he also appears on "Fantasy Football Now" and the Fantasy Focus Football podcast.

Welcome to The Playbook for Week 7, which kicks off Thursday night with a game between the Patriots and Bears .

This column features score projections, over/unders, win probabilities, and of course, easily digestible fantasy advice for seasonlong leagues and DFS. This guide should help you with all sorts of decision-making, including sit/start advice, last-minute waiver adds and lineup choices.

Additionally, we have folded our Shadow Reports into the game-by-game breakdowns here.…