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John's fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 7 of 2025. His fantasy outlooks for Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson, Matthew Golden.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a pair of wide receivers a bit deeper on the depth chart than you'd expect to support fantasy relevance, Tez Johnson and Kameron Johnson, that many fantasy managers are considering starting as fill-ins for injured players and those on bye.
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden is a bit higher up on the depth chart normally, but he plays in a diffuse passing offense that spreads the ball around generously to his pass-catchers.
The situations of all three of these players limit their upside, but all three should have at least slightly increased opportunities due to injuries to other pass-catchers on their teams. But which should you start for fantasy football in Week 7?
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Tez Johnson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 6 stats: three targets, one reception, 45 receiving yards, one touchdown, 11.5 PPR fantasy points
Despite Buccaneers breakout star rookie Emeka Egbuka (hamstring) leaving the Buccaneers' Week 6 game early, and injuries to WRs Mike Evans (hamstring) and Chris Godwin (fibula) holding them out of the contest entirely, the rookie Johnson was targeted just three times.
His one reception was a big one though -- he broke through the defense vertically and scored a touchdown on the one catch he did make. But the volume isn't exactly encouraging. And it looks like Evans might be set to return to play this week, though we don't have final confirmation yet.
Surprising news at Bucs practice: rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka is practicing, a quick return from his hamstring injury. Mike Evans practicing as well. pic.twitter.com/cMEJVa6kMR
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 18, 2025
Evans missed three weeks due to his hamstring injury. More surprisingly, Egbuka was seen at practice, though it remains to be seen in what capacity he actually practiced. A return from his hamstring injury after just a week off still seems unlikely.
If both play, it's hard to trust Johnson , who will have much more competition for targets, in your starting slots. The Buccaneers do have one of the league's best pass offenses, and QB Baker Mayfield is playing at an MVP level right now, but Johnson is still a seventh-round rookie draft pick from this year's draft.
I wouldn't feel very comfortable with him in starting lineups outside of deeper leagues, but in those leagues, he's a risky speculative start with some upside.
Kameron Johnson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 6 stats: four targets, four receptions, 64 yards, one receiving touchdown, 16.4 PPR fantasy points
This Johnson (we'll call him KJ here to avoid confusion) caught all four of his targets for 64 yards and another of Mayfield's touchdown passes in Week 6. He's a second-year pro, having played in six contests in 2024. Despite this, he was only targeted once, and didn't record a single catch.
KJ played just under 50 percent of his team's offensive snaps, and though he out-produced TJ (we're using this to refer to Tez Johnson now), TJ had an edge in offensive snaps, with 72 percent, according to Sleeper. It appears that the rookie is the preferred player to have in the rotation.
.@49ers @buccaneers the 49ers seemed to know as much about Kameron Johnson as I did; since they paid no attention to him on his first NFL reception for a 34 yd TD. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/YN7sUjGrOJ
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 13, 2025
KJ's touchdown came on a terribly busted coverage by the 49ers defense in last week's contest. I don't know if this production will repeat itself, and there's so little production history for KJ that it's hard to project how he'll do. But with Evans returning, he might get pushed out of the lineup.
Being unsure if a player you're starting in fantasy leagues will even get playing time isn't a position you want to be in. That said, the Bucs will face the Detroit Lions, who have struggled against out-wide receivers this season, so if he does get playing time, he could do something. Maybe.
Still, I don't want to start him anywhere other than in extremely deep dynasty leagues.
Matthew Golden, WR, Green Bay Packers
Week 6 stats: five targets, three receptions, 86 yards, 13.2 PPR fantasy points
We saw what Golden could do against an awful defense with two of the team's key receivers still out with injury -- namely Jayden Reed (clavicle, foot) and Christian Watson (knee). It amounted to only five targets. The Packers LOVE to spread the ball around.
Even in an elite matchup for TE Tucker Kraft, he only had two total targets. For all of 2024 and 2025 so far, no Packers WR has consistently been targeted heavily. Golden was a first-round pick, but you'd really expect more of a workload in games where other receivers are out with injuries.
Matthew Golden needs to get the ball no fewer than 5 times a game pic.twitter.com/gSazYfUiUg
— Jacob Nierob (@JNierob) October 13, 2025
The Packers are a constant nightmare at receiver for fantasy football. While their receivers often have boom games, they don't tend to happen to the same guy more than a few times in a season. It's been Romeo Doubs that's clearly outproduced Golden so far this year.
The Packers are still incredibly run-heavy, too. They're an efficient, yet low-volume passing offense. This could have to do with quarterback Jordan Love's inaccuracy -- despite his good surface-level stats, his highly accurate throw rate and catchable pass rate easily rank in the bottom half of the league.
Jordan Love this season:
+18.4% Off Target Rate (8th-worst)
+73.5% Catchable Throw Rate (12th-worst)
+53.7% Highly Accurate Throw Rate (8th-worst)Love misses a lot of throws. Packers run the ball 2nd-most in the NFL (49.68%). Highly diffuse passing offense. Sucks for fantasy
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) October 18, 2025
In the offense they run, you're basically hoping for a game script that calls for a lot of passing, a couple of deep downfield shots for Golden, a lucky break on a touchdown, or some combination of the three. Against the Arizona Cardinals, who will be starting a backup quarterback again, it might not be pretty.
Golden is still a very risky flex play. That's fine in deeper leagues.
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 7 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson, Matthew Golden. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 7. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 7 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson, Matthew Golden.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, players news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do, is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 7 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 7 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 7 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 7 for Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson, Matthew Golden:
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