Here are my fantasy football rankings, tiers and outlook for notable players Week 6.
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Fantasy Football Rankings, Tiers & Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Week 6
Quarterbacks Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Quarterbacks
Dak Prescott has been terrific in his last two games. He had 319 passing yards and three TD passes against the vaunted Green Bay defense in Week 4, then had 237 passing yards and four TD passes against the Jets in Week 5. This week, Prescott gets a road game against the Panthers, who have allowed the 10th-fewest fantasy points to QBs. The Carolina pass defense certainly isn’t a fearsome matchup despite that top-10 ranking, and Prescott has been terrific. But he’s still playing without CeeDee Lamb and a couple of starting offensive linemen. I just don’t know how many more of these ceiling games Dak Prescott can give us without Lamb. I have Prescott ranked as a low-end QB1 rather than as a slam-dunk, must-start quarterback.
Over his last three games, Daniel Jones has scored 15.8, 12.4 and 16.7 fantasy points. He’s QB27 in fantasy points per game over the last three weeks. (In fairness, the Colts had a 21-point win and a 34-point win over that stretch, and Jones threw fewer than 30 passes in each of those games.) Jones had three touchdown runs in his first two games. He has none over his last three games. I don’t dislike Jones’ Week 6 outlook. He’s playing at home, and the Arizona secondary is pretty banged up. I’m ranking Jones as a low-end QB1.
Sam Darnold has been excellent this year. He’s averaging a league-best 9.3 yards per pass attempt and has nine TD passes. But Darnold is only QB14 in fantasy scoring because the Seahawks have been so run-heavy. Darnold is averaging 26.8 pass attempts per game, and the Seahawks are running the ball on 50% of its offensive snaps, making the Seahawks the run-heaviest team in the league. Consider Darnold a midrange QB2 this week in a road game against the Jaguars.
I’m starting to wonder if Bryce Young is destined to be a backup quarterback. He’s averaging just 5.5 yards per pass attempt this season – an awful number. In fairness, Tetairoa McMillan has been Young’s only credible pass catcher. Slot receiver Jalen Coker is on the verge or returning from an early-season IR stint, which will help. But I can’t rank Young as anything more than a midrange QB2 even in an ultra-favorable matchup against a Dallas defense that’s giving up a league-high 27.3 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.
Running Backs Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Running Backs
De’Von Achane is currently RB6 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring and averaging 17 touches a game. He’s one of the most dangerous dual run-catch threats in the league, and yet the former Texas A&M track star hasn’t had a run or catch go for 30 or more yards this season. Just wait until the big plays start coming.
Javonte Williams is RB3 in half-point POPER fantasy points per game. He’s averaging 5.7 yards per carry and chipping in as a pass catcher. Williams leads all NFL running backs with 25 runs for first downs. His matchup against the Panthers is a good one, but it’s worth noting that the Carolina run defense hasn’t been the pushover it’s been the last couple of years. The Panthers have given up the 14th-fewest fantasy points to RBs, and their run defense ranks 14th in DVOA.
Revenge game! Rico Dowdle faces his 2024 employer this week on the heels of his 20-yard rushing game in Week 5. The Dallas defense ranks 23rd in DVOA against the run, and the Cowboys have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to RBs. The Cowboys have also given up a league-high 299 receiving yards to RBs, and Dowdle contributes as a pass catcher. He had three catches for 28 yards last week, and he had 39 catches with the Cowboys last year. Consider Dowdle a high-end RB2 and a must-start this week.
Michael Carter had 18-51-1 rushing and 5-22-0 receiving last week. He had a 57.4% snap share and was fed 23 touches while starting for the Cardinals in place of the injured Trey Benson. It seems unlikely that Carter loses workload to Emari Demercado after Demercado’s costly and buffoonish fumble last week. Start Carter against a middle-of-the-road Indianapolis run defense that ranks 16th in DVOA.
D’Andre Swift is averaging -0.39 rushing yards over expected per carry, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. That’s ninth-worst among qualifying running backs. Swift was dead last in rushing yards over expected per carry last season at -0.69 yards per carry. Swift is currently RB27 in fantasy points per game. He’s averaging 3.3 yards per carry and 4.7 yards per target. As ineffective as the Chicago running game has been, I wonder if we might see a little more of rookie RB Kyle Monangai with the Bears coming out of their bye week. I don’t especially want to play Swift this week against a good Washington run defense and am ranking him as a high-end RB3.
The Bengals rank last in the league in the adjusted line yards run-blocking metric, and PFF gives the Bengals the worst run-blocking grade in the league. Chase Brown is averaging 2.5 yards per carry and has a nasty matchup against a Packers defense that has allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points to running backs. Keep Brown on the bench if you can.
Full disclosure: I have no idea what the Chargers’ RB situation is going to look like when they face the Dolphins this week. With Omarion Hampton IR, the Chargers might roll out an unwieldy committee at running back. Hassan Haskins is in the mix. Kimani Vidal is in the mix. The Chargers have also brought in Nyheim Hines and Amar Johnson. I do think Haskins is the safest bet to offer at least a small degree of fantasy value. He’s the only Chargers running back left who was on the opening-day roster. Haskins had 1,327 rushing yards and 20 TD runs in his final college season at Michigan while playing for Jim Harbaugh. Haskins is a plodder without much pass-catching potential, but he’ll almost certainly be the Chargers’ goal-line back. And if Haskins gets a heavy workload against a weak Miami run defense, he could be in for a pretty good day.
Rhamondre Stevenson is the top option in the New England backfield at the moment, with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and his staff curiously unwilling to expand the role of rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson. Stevenson scored a pair of touchdowns last week, and he’s on a 44-catch pace. But Stevenson also lost a fumble last week, and he’s lost three in his last three games. If you’re a Stevenson stakeholder, it’s worrisome that he might be one fumble away from a drastic workload reduction. Maybe the season-ending injury to Antonio Gibson gives Stevenson slightly more leash. But with the fumbling issue, I can’t rank Stevenson as anything more than a midrange RB3 even in a favorable matchup against the Saints.
Wide Receivers Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Wide Receivers
I’ve been reluctant to say it as a longtime D.J. Moore truther, but Rome Odunze has become the Bears’ alpha receiver in the Bears’ offense. Before the season, it was hard to tell how things were going to look with the Odunze/Moore combination. Well, Odunze is the main man. He has a 25.5% target share and a 42% air yards share through the Bears’ first four games. Only seven receivers have a higher air yards share. Odunze is probably going to see a lot of rookie CB Trey Amos when the Bears visit the Commanders on Monday night. Amos has played well thus far, but I like Odunze in this matchup.
In the two games since his return from a shoulder injury, Xavier Worthy had had 11-125-0 receiving on 17 targets and 3-47-0 rushing. This week, Worthy faces the Lions, who will be without injured starting CBs Terrion Arnold and D.J. Reed. The return of Rashee Rice from suspension next week will complicate Worthy’s fantasy outlook, but there are no complications this week. Start Worthy with confidence.
In his first game since Tyreek Hill‘s season-ending knee injury, Jaylen Waddle caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. The target outlook is obviously better for Waddle with Hill out, but Waddles’s matchup against the Chargers this week isn’t especially friendly. The Chargers have allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. It’s also concerning that Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with a thumb injury on his throwing hand.
Quentin Johnston has to share targets with Ladd McConkey and Keenan Allen, so we’re going to get unpredictable weekly results from the Chargers’ top three receivers. In his first four games, Johnston averaged nine targets a game and had at least seven in each of those games. In Week 5, Johnston only had four targets, Allen had nine and McConkey had seven. The Chargers’ passing game might not be as effective while offensive tackle Joe Alt is out with an injury – and the guess here is that Alt doesn’t make it back for Week 6. With Alt sidelined last week, Herbert was under heavy duress and had 166 passing yards and averaged 5.7 yards per pass attempt against the Giants The emergence of Johnston is real, but the big-picture view of QJ’s fantasy value has to factor in the target competition – and for this week it should factor in the Chargers’ offensive line problems, too. Regard Johnston as a midrange WR2 this week.
I’m below consensus on Michael Pittman this week, ranking him as a low-end WR2 in his matchup vs. the Cardinals. I think Pittman should probably be a fantasy starter in most cases. Just realize that his value so far has been largely TD-driven. Pittman ranks 25th in receiving yards among wide receivers. He has four touchdowns in five games, but he’s managed to do that despite only four red-zone targets. Whenever I’m assessing receiver I always consider target counts, reception counts and receiving yardage to be a little more “real” than touchdown counts. Pittman’s target counts are just OK. He’s averaging seven targets a game.
Chris Olave is the walking definition of a high-floor, low-ceiling receiver. He’s scored between 8.4 and 10.7 half-point PPR fantasy points in every game this season. Olave is averaging 10.8 targets a game, but he’s averaging just 4.5 yards per target. That’s where this New Orleans passing game is at with Spencer Rattler at quarterback. Olave still hasn’t had 60 receiving yards in any game – although he’s had between 54 and 59 yards in four of his five games so far. Consider him a high-end WR3 this week vs. the Patriots.
Jameson Williams is averaging just 4.2 targets a game. But one of the things we like about Williams is that his big-play ability means he doesn’t have to be a high-volume receiver to pay off. He’s averaging 17.2 yards per catch and 9.9 yards per target for his career, and 11.7% of his receptions during his time with the Lions have gone for touchdowns. Jamo is a swing-for-the-fences guy who sometimes strikes out, but I want to keep swinging away with Jameson Williams.
After a disappointing, drop-prone start to his season, Calvin Ridley had a 131-yard game against the Cardinals last week. Ridley had 30 or fewer receiving yards in three of his first four games with a 41.6% catch rate over that stretch. But after the bounce-back game last week, Ridley now gets a soft Week 6 matchup against a Raiders defense that’s given up the third-most receiving yards and fourth-most fantasy points to wide receivers.
I’ll obviously move up Zay Flowers in the WR rankings if we get word that Lamar Jackson is going to play this week, but with the Ravens going on bye in Week 7, maybe the Ravens will sit Jackson again and let him come back as healthy as possible in Week 8. I’m concerned about what the Ravens’ offense is going to look like with Cooper Rush at quarterback. Can the Ravens move the ball well enough to get Flowers more than the five targets he saw last week? To his credit, Flowers caught all five of those targets for 72 yards, giving us a “floor game.” The odds of getting a Flowers ceiling game with Cooper Rush at quarterback don’t seem great.
I’m not chasing the three-touchdown game that Romeo Doubs had against Dallas in Week 4. The target distribution in Green Bay is unpredictable, and there’s a good chance the Packers get a run-friendly game script as 14.5-point home favorites against the Bengals. I’m ranking Doubs as a high-end WR4.
We got an unexpected smash game out of Kendrick Bourne in Week 5. The former Patriot had 10-142-0 on 11 targets against the Rams. Bourne became the 49ers’ default WR1 with WRs Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall both out. If Jennings and Pearsall are both out again, Bourne is playable this week against the pass-funnel Buccaneers defense. If one of Jennings and Pearsall plays, consider Bourne a flex option. If both Jennings and Pearsall are back, Bourne won’t be a fantasy option.
Matthew Golden had his best game of the season (5-58-0 on six targets) in the Packers’ Week 4 tie against the Cowboys right before Green Bay’s bye. But Golden played only 59% of the Packers’ offensive snaps in that game. He’s only had one game this season when he’s been above a 60% snap share. It’s still too soon to welcome Golden into the circle of trust.
Tight Ends Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Tight Ends
Mason Taylor has 14 catches and 19 targets over the last two weeks. He has become the No. 2 pass-catching option in the Jets’ offense behind Garrett Wilson. The issue is that the targets are coming from Justin Fields. … Taylor is averaging 6.3 yards per target and 8.8 yards per catch. He also has a tough matchup this week against a Denver defense that has allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points to TEs. Despite the recent target surge for Taylor, consider him a high-end TE2 this week.
David Njoku had his best game of the season last week in rookie QB Dillon Gabriel‘s first start for the Browns, with 6-67-1 on nine targets. Gabriel targeted his tight ends 13 times while targeting his wide receivers only 10 times. It’s hard to tell if the increased Njoku usage sticks, but it’s encouraging that Gabriel saw Njoku as a security blanket. I’m ranking Njoku as a low-end TE1.
Zach Ertz was targeted only once and was held without a catch last week in the Commanders’ 27-10 win over the Chargers. It was a curiously quiet game for Ertz, who had clicked so well with Daniels down the stretch last season. I still think Ertz is a decent TE option this week with Commanders WR Terry McLaurin still not ready to return from a quad injury. Admittedly, though, it’s concerning that Ertz has had snap shares under 60% in two of his last three games.
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