Week 6 Fantasy Football Risers and Fallers: As the fantasy football season continues to roll on, player value will fluctuate week to week. Based on recent production, here are some running backs and wide receivers who are trending up and some heading in the other direction.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Risers: Running Backs
Darrell Henderson (LAR)
Darrell Henderson has become an extremely steady contributor for fantasy rosters so far this season and he doesn’t look like he is going to slow down any time soon. There were concerns prior to the season that Sony Michel was going to take over this lead-back role on the Rams but that doesn’t seem to be a likely scenario.
Sean McVay likes to favor a workhorse back from what we have seen in years past and Henderson has that role locked up from what we have witnessed in the early season. As Henderson’s production continues, he should keep moving into the low-end RB1 conversation.
Kareem Hunt (CLE)
Despite being the 1B to Nick Chubb’s 1A, Kareem Hunt has provided great fantasy value for teams that have him so far.
Hunt is a major piece for fantasy rosters as he provides nice rushing upside, high touchdown upside, and high receiving upside as he leads the Browns in total touchdowns and receptions. He is also second to David Njoku in receiving yards for the season but would be first had Njoku not showed out in a monster game on Sunday.
Going forward, Hunt should provide great value for fantasy rosters based on where players got him in drafts.
Ezekiel Elliott (DAL)
The Dallas Cowboys backfield looked like more of a committee the first few weeks of the season as Tony Pollard continued to make a name for himself with good rushing totals next to Zeke. Since then Zeke has been on a tear with 6 total touchdowns over the past four weeks while rushing for 71, 95, 143, and 110.
Zeke has pushed himself firmly back into the high-end RB1 discussion and he should be valued as such if this level of production continues.
Leonard Fournette (TB)
Fournette has put together two straight weeks of nice value for fantasy rosters. This Tampa Bay backfield has been a complete mess in the past with Ronald Jones, Leonard Fournette, and Gio Bernard all having productive games. Now, it looks like we might have some sort of grasp on their current situation with Fournette dominating Jones in touches while Gio is used more often in the passing game.
With Fournette pushing himself ahead of Jones as the Bucs leading rusher, he should be seeing his value take off as he continues to be productive.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Fallers: Running Backs
Saquon Barkley (NYG)
Barkley has become productive throughout the past few games but the aspect of his game that worries people showed its head on Sunday.
Saquon was a victim of a wrong place, wrong time situation as he stepped on an opposing player’s foot in passing and injured his ankle. It looked like a pretty serious ankle injury as the area was heavily swelling while he sat on the bench. Reports have said that this injury should keep him out for around 2-4 weeks.
This moves Devontae Booker forward as the Giants lead back for a period of time while Saquon hopes to recover from his injury soon.
Chris Carson (SEA)
Chris Carson is dealing with a neck injury and was inactive for the Seahawks matchup against the Rams but he could be back to action as early as next week. Pete Carroll said that his status for next week is still “too early to tell” but he’s had a long week to recover.
The concerning thing with Carson is the neck injury itself and how that will impact his season-long outlook. Injuries to the neck are no joke and Carson’s injury seems to have been a chronic issue according to Pete Carroll. With a history of having recurring injuries, this should be worrisome for Carson owners.
Miles Sanders (PHI)
The Eagles have continued to disappoint with the opportunities they give Miles Sanders. Sanders has had flashes of greatness in the past but this team just doesn’t use him to his full potential.
This new Eagles team strongly relies on the rushing prowess of Jalen Hurts which consistently takes value away from Sanders as a fantasy asset. He is also heavily underutilized as he has only received 20 total carries over the past 3 games. Something needs to change quickly for Sanders or he might be taking up space on benches for the time being.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (KC)
Clyde Edwards-Helaire suffered an unfortunate injury during the Chiefs’ Sunday night matchup against Buffalo. It looked very bad for Clyde in the moment but he ended up having an MCL sprain which is way better than what it could’ve been.
CEH is projected to be out for a few weeks which should boost the value of Darryl Williams for a little while. Until he comes back to action, Clyde’s value will continue to fall.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Risers: Wide Receivers
Robert Woods (LAR)
Robert Woods came alive during the Rams’ matchup against the Seahawks on Thursday Night Football. After being a relatively disappointing asset for fantasy rosters, Woods conquered that disappointment with 12 receptions for 150 yards.
Prior to their Week 5 matchup, Sean McVay emphasized that he wanted the target distribution to be a little more even between Cooper Kupp and Woods, and that was seen heavily as both managed to have productive days.
Going forward, it looks like it might be in the best interest of the Rams to include Robert Woods in the passing game more often as funneling targets to one player can only do so much.
Ja’Marr Chase (CIN)
The Burrow to Chase connection has made its way to Cincinnati. With drops being a preseason concern for Chase, he has shaken the doubters off by looking like the WR1 on this Bengals offense as a rookie.
Chase has massive big-play upside and he absolutely carved up the Packers defense in Week 5. The Packers were missing their stud corner, Jaire Alexander, but that shouldn’t take away from Chase’s early dominance.
With his continued success, Chase should push himself into high-end WR2 to low-end WR1 discussion.
Kadarius Toney (NYG)
He did end up getting kicked out of the game for punching a Cowboys defender who had a helmet on, but that shouldn’t take away from the great day that Kadarius Toney had. With many Giants receivers missing in action, Toney stepped up for a massive total of 10 receptions for 189 yards in what could’ve been a breakout game for the first-round wide receiver.
If Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton continue to miss time, then Toney could have a massive target share as Kenny Golladay also injured himself during this game.
Justin Jefferson (MIN)
Kirk Cousins is starting to favor Justin Jefferson more and more as the early season rolls on. In their Week 5 matchup against the Lions, the Vikings looked to be funneling opportunities to Jefferson as he caught 7 out of his 8 targets.
This Minnesota offense should continue to progress as the season goes on since they have disappointed in the past couple of weeks. That should spell even better outcomes for Jefferson who has been phenomenal already.
Fantasy Football Fallers: Wide Receivers
DK Metcalf / Tyler Lockett (SEA)
The Seahawks receivers have both been productive so far this season. D.K. Metcalf managed to have the better game on Thursday against the Rams but Lockett could’ve had a monster day if it weren’t for some unfortunate circumstances.
The aspect of their team that has them trending downward is the finger injury to Russell Wilson that is supposed to keep him out for at least a month. Without Wilson manning the helm, Metcalf and Lockett are going to have to rely on Geno Smith to get them the ball for a little while. Geno looked pretty good in the time that he played on Thursday but replacing Russell Wilson with him is like replacing a Ferrari with a Toyota Corrola.
Hopefully, this Seahawks offense doesn’t lose their step too much without Wilson, but it will be hard to trust Geno as a reliable passer for both of these stud receivers.
Adam Thielen (MIN)
With Justin Jefferson’s role in this Vikings offense evolving game by game, Adam Thielen is becoming even more touchdown reliant by the day. Thielen hasn’t really impressed in his yardage totals as his best game came in Week 1 when he had 92 receiving yards. Outside of that total, his next best receiving game was when he had 50 receiving yards against the Seahawks.
The fear with Thielen being very touchdown dependant is becoming realized as he only has 5 receptions in his past 2 games with no touchdowns in either. Going forward, we might be seeing him lose the steady fantasy value he provided in the past as Justin Jefferson continues to take off.
Calvin Ridley (ATL)
Once again, Calvin Ridley is seeing his fantasy value fall. Ridley decided to not play in the Falcons Week 5 London matchup against the Jets due to a personal matter. His value isn’t necessarily falling because of that even though it was disappointing for managers. Ridley is falling in value because Matt Ryan has clearly taken a large step backward. In a game where they should have been moving effectively, the Falcons had a tough time moving the ball down the field against a helpless Jets team.
Add in the fact that Cordarrelle Patterson is becoming the major focal point of this offense and we see that Calvin Ridley is losing the potential he showed to be a top 5 fantasy receiver this season.
George Kittle (SF)
Yes, George Kittle is a tight end, but it would be lazy to not include him as a faller. Kittle was recently put on IR with hopes that his calf strain would heal completely by the time his 3 game absence is up. Even with the injury, Kittle was not being used in this 49ers offense in ways that were previously expected. He is looking more like an effective blocker for the run game than the great receiver we saw in the past.
Maybe the 49ers are still working through their offensive identity with Jimmy Garoppolo consistently being injured and Trey Lance finding his footing in the NFL. Hopefully, that is the case but if this is the kind of usage Kittle is going to receive for the rest of the season, he will plummet out of that top-tier tight-end conversation.
