Fantasy Football Must Starts Week 6

By James Collier

The last week or so has been a brutal one when it comes to NFL teams and fantasy managers losing players through injury. The league’s best wide receiver, Justin Jefferson, leads a long list of players with significant fantasy relevance that have been placed on IR over the last few days. As usual it is the running back position that has taken the biggest hit, congratulations to anyone who hasn’t had to scramble to pick up the likes of Emari Demercado and Chuba Hubbard as spot starts this week. 

Hopefully Week 6 brings with it some better luck but if you’d rather not leave it to chance, look no further than our selection of Must Start players this week.

Last Week's Picks

The highlight of our picks last week was Tom’s selection of Breece Hall. Hall doubled his fantasy total for the season with a 28.4 point outing against the Broncos. That was the best fantasy performance of his career and was enough to see him finish as the RB3 on the week. 

  • James Collier: Matthew Stafford (ECR Rank 16, Actual 14)
  • Tom Strachan: Breece Hall (19, 3)
  • Rob Ward: Rashee Rice (44, 23)
  • Rhys Knott: Romeo Doubs (28, 100)
  • TFFC: Garrett Wilson (14, 46)

James Cook vs New York Giants

Cook disappointed in both real life and fantasy in London last week with just five PPR points and -4 yards on the ground. The Bills leant on Josh Allen as much as they possibly could in their comeback attempt against Jacksonville. This offense had been looking nicely balanced to start the season but it’s clear that when things aren’t going all their way, they are going to abandon the run just as they have in recent years. 

But this week is a perfect bounce back opportunity for Cook against the banged up Giants. The Bills are 15 point favourites and should have no problem getting out to a comfortable lead, allowing Cook to see 15+ opportunities against a defense giving up the fifth most fantasy points to the position.

Jordan Addison @ Chicago Bears (Tom Strachan)

While Justin Jefferson’s boots will be impossible to fill for the Vikings and our fantasy teams, the Fantasy Sanctuary’s Tom Strachan (@NFL_TStrack) thinks we’ll see a big week from rookie receiver Jordan Addison. 

“With the sad news that Justin Jefferson is headed to injured reserve for at least the next four games, the reality is for fantasy managers that we have to look ahead to what is left behind. Jordan Addison had been slowly working his way into the first-team offense, setting a season-high target share of 19.1% in Week 5, and turning it into his biggest fantasy output to date (18.4 points). Addison was an excellent prospect coming out of college and well-worthy of the first-round draft capital that the Vikings invested in him, now Addison will have to prove that he can deal with WR1-level coverage from opposing defenses. Fortunately for Addison, it starts with a game against the Bears who allow the sixth-highest yards per reception to wide receivers (14.1).”

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Josh Downs @ Jacksonville Jaguars (Rob Ward)

Rob (@robwardrw) is also looking at a rookie wide receiver on a team suffering from the loss of a key player. But this time he thinks that the loss of quarterback Anthony Richardson will be good news for Josh Downs. 

“I love a narrative. And the return of Minshew Mania in Duuuuval is just too juicy to turn down – or should that be Downs? – this week. In the 2 games that the mustachioed prince has taken the reins from Anthony Richardson, Downs has 14 receptions & 154 yards. He has been Minshew’s number one target. I like Downs to keep that streak going against the Jags in Week 5.”

Derius Davis vs Dallas Cowboys (Rhys Knott)

Up next we have yet another rookie receiver as Rhys (@wrhys_writes) delves a little, no, a lot deeper with his pick of Derius Davis – wide receiver for the Chargers. 

“That Cowboys pass defense is really missing Diggs and Herbert’s completing 71% of his passes this season. (Davis has run the ball a couple of times this season too, but I’m not sure they’ll use him out of the backfield against Parsons).”

Brock Purdy @ Cleveland Browns and Rhamondre Stevenson @ Las Vegas Raiders (The Fantasy Football Combine)

The Fantasy Football Combine (@TheFFCombine) guys are split this week so we have two players from them. First up is divisive quarterback Brock Purdy from Tom. 

“Purdy got his first taste of a strong D in Week 5 against the Cowboys and torched them in a statement performance. The argument continues, is he actually good or not? However for fantasy that argument is irrelevant when he has an offense with this much talent in it. Wherever you stand on Purdy, he is clearly in the right place at the right time. Although the Browns is a tough matchup, only six quarterbacks have scored more through the first five weeks of the season and so his ECR rank of QB18 feels too low.”

For Matt, it’s running back Rhamondre Stevenson. 

“It’s clear to everyone that the Patriots can’t continue to run their offense through quarterback Mac Jones. They’ve scored just 18 points in their last three games and if they want to improve on that they are going to have to lean on the most talented player on their offense and that’s Stevenson. The Raiders are a soft matchup and have just let AJ Dillon have his best performance of the season (76 yards and a touchdown).”

DJ Moore vs Minnesota Vikings (Ali Cook)

Rounding us off from the Fantasy Wildcard and @WildcardDFS is Ali (@FFDynastyGrill). He’s looking for Bears receiver DJ Moore to continue his hot streak against the Vikings. 

“Nobody has come close to DJ Moore in fantasy the past 2 weeks averaging an astonishing 38.1 PPR points per game. Justin Fields increasing his passing output recently has been to the benefit of DJ Moore and that’s set to continue in a great matchup with division rivals Minnesota Vikings coming to town. Chicago may have difficulty running the ball with the injuries and the matchup so Fields will ultimately have to rely on his arm to move the ball, play DJ Moore with confidence in week 6.”

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and as always, thanks to everyone for their choices!

Feature image credit: Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

JAMES COLLIER

Lead Fantasy Football Analyst

A Washington fan since the early 2010’s, James had no choice but to turn to fantasy football in search of happiness – and it wasn’t long until it became an obsession. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesc294.

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