Welcome back, my friends, to another week of fantasy football!
This past week has been a complete roller coaster in the fantasy world. We saw some really fun games and amazing fantasy performances from DJ Moore and Ja’Marr Chase in Week 5 on the good end, but in the last two days, fantasy managers have taken some gigantic gut punches to their hopes of winning a fantasy title with the injury to No. 1 overall pick Justin Jefferson and mid-round breakout star De’Von Achane, both to IR. This is obviously the part of our hobby that stinks (PG) the most — and takes the fun out of our Sundays — but we have to remember it’s a part of the game and part of the challenge of winning a fantasy title. It happens to every manager in every league at some point during the season — but the best managers can navigate their way around these bumps in the road and overcome them; they are usually the ones standing in the end. As for Jefferson, Achane, and even James Conner managers? Let’s remember these are not season ending injuries and you just have to navigate the next four weeks of the season a little more intensely. So work the wire a little harder, or maybe swing a trade for a player with a bye in Week 13 or 14 for some of your guys with an upcoming bye week, so you aren’t even more shorthanded in the coming weeks. This year is no different than any other — players go down on a weekly basis. We’ll get through this together!
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Like I said up top, it was a fun Week 5 for Chase and Moore GMs, as you watched your fantasy players deliver dream games and most likely lead your team to a win and big point total. But I want to talk about another stud wide receiver who I loved watching do his thing once again this past week… Cooper Kupp is backkkkkkkkk!!! Wow, did he look great — and in an offense led by a healthy Matthew Stafford alongside a reliable No. 2 receiver in Puka Nacua, who defenses have to account for? I’m already set to put Kupp back into his original Top 5 wide receiver rest of season status. If you took the chance on him that final week of drafts after he was hurt and g ot the discount — well, you’re about to reap the rewards of an absolute draft day steal. So congrats to you.
Zack Moss continued to shine in his lead back role and looks like an angry kid running around with a toy he refuses to give back to his parent. The parent in this scenario, of course, is Jonathon Taylor — who was eased back into the mix …and that’s putting it lightly. I got a lot of texts and questions from friends this week asking for my thoughts on the situation and it’s pretty clear. Moss has earned a role in this offense — even once Taylor is back up to speed and takes his lead role back in the coming weeks. Now, has Moss maybe closed the gap from what the team probably envisioned it being — a 90/10 split with a healthy Taylor, to possibly a 65/35 split? I think that sounds about right, but as a Moss manager, I have been trying to convince the Taylor team to swing a trade to acquire my Moss for his piece of mind of owning the whole backfield — or swinging a trade the other way and sending me his Taylor. Now is the time to try and move Moss: before this week’s game.
Week 5 was also known as Tight End Revival Week, as some of our favorite top tight ends rose from the fantasy graveyard to show us they still had some life in them, and give us some hope moving forward.
George Kittle, Kyle Pitts, Darren Waller and Dallas Goedert all had 15+ PPR points and saved our tight end position from the death pit they had been making us live in. Start of a trend or a one week blip on the radar? Time will tell. I’m not sold yet. We are starting to have some back end tight ends possibly become trustworthy starters, though, in Logan Thomas and the Texans’ Dalton Schultz. In the summer I thought Schultz had a nice chance to find success in this offense but he got off to a terribly slow start and a lot of managers dropped him. If you need help on the wire consider picking him up. When a player heads to a new team he can get off to a slow start, but once he gets acclimated to the playbook he can turn his season around. Maybe that’s the case here. Tank Dell is also looking as if he might miss this week’s game for the Texans so even more targets can be headed Schultz’s way.
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That Detroit Lions offense is sure fun to watch, isn’t it? Never thought I’d see the day where they are one of my favorite teams to watch every week but here we are. Last week they put up 42 points without Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs in the lineup! This team is going to cruise to a division title and that Lions home playoff game sure is going to be a long time coming and fun to watch. Jared Goff is a borderline QB1 going forward and let’s keep our fingers crossed that St. Brown is back healthy this week (and all season) because he and LaPorta are so much fun to have rostered this year. This team is a year away from being Super Bowl contenders.
I have to tell you the Week 6 schedule is not one of the better ones and there really aren’t any matchups that are must watch games this Sunday, so just enjoy rooting for your players — but I will say they saved the most fun game for last this week in the Monday night matchup with the Cowboys (fresh off their annihilation at the hands of the 49ers) staying on the west coast to face the fresh-off-the-bye Chargers and Justin Herbert … and Keenan Allen (man I missed you two last week!). This game hopefully turns into the track meet Vegas expects it to be, with a total over 50 points, and you have to think Kellen Moore has some payback on his mind as he faces his former team. Dak Prescott also has a chance here vs. a struggling secondary to bounce back from last week’s nightmare. And don’t be too surprised if we finally see the breakout CeeDee Lamb game with all of the negative attention he’s been getting the last few days on TV and social media. This game should also mark the return of the PPR king, Austin Ekeler, so get excited fantasy managers — your first round pick is back and your RB woes are solved!
Week 6 perfect fantasy lineup
QB1: Justin Fields (let’s go for three in a row, why don’t we? Riding the heater vs. a bad defense)
RB1: Joe Mixon (The volume king finally finds the end zone this week …multiple times)
RB2: Raheem Mostert (14 point favorites at home and Achane on the sidelines. Plus Wilson may not be ready for a lot of touches)
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WR1: CeeDee Lamb (SEE ABOVE. Catching heat everywhere this week, high total and squeaky wheel getting the grease. Lamb 8/140/TD — let’s get it!)
WR2: Chris Godwin (second time making his appearance here and we hit on him for his 8/114 breakout game a few weeks ago. He gets the Lions at home and I don’t think we see Mike Evans this week so Godwin is a clear target monster)
WR3: DeVonta Smith (OK hear me out… A.J. Brown is on a heater lately and Dallas Goedert had his fun last week. Smith has been silent for weeks and I expect Sauce Gardner to be on “A.J. Brown slow down” assignment. So this all = DeVonta Smith back to life game)
TE1: Darren Waller (Giants will be playing down 7 or 8 touchdowns by halftime and Waller should see a ton of targets in this one. With Matt Milano out for the year and the Bills’ defense trying to overcome some injuries, I think Waller puts together a second straight solid game)
Survivor Week 6
As always I leave you with my….
10 Fantasy Thoughts for Week 6
- How quickly did the fantasy season turn for the drafters who wanted to be different and took Ja’Marr Chase over Jefferson at No. 1 overall?
- How fun are Sundays with Tyreek Hill on your fantasy team? Love it.
- Speaking of Miami receivers, the Jaylen Waddle blow up game is coming. Enough time to shake off the rust of preseason injury and then concussion…. It’s coming, people!
- Another London game this Sunday. An extra shot of espresso to watch the Titans is a must.
- If I were Saquon Barkley looking at this O-line the Giants are putting out there right now I’d be like, “it’s okay, I need a few more weeks.”
- I’d rather go pumpkin picking on a Sunday instead of watching a Patriots game this year.
- Good to have you back, Joe Burrow, we missed you…
- Sucks to lose exciting new players in fantasyland like Anthony Richardson and De’Von Achane. They were must see TV every week. Get back healthy soon!
- Jakobi Meyers fresh off another 20 PPR performance gets his banged up old team this week. Guy is just a solid NFL wide receiver.
- If I’m Lamar Jackson this week I’m making all my receivers hit the jugs machine after practice. Never saw so many drops in a game in my life. Do better.
Good luck to everyone in Week 6!
(Top photo: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports; gif via GIPHY)