Week 6 Fantasy Football Recap: Top 10 Takeaways

The NFL regular season is already a third of the way through. For fantasy football, it’s even worse, as most leagues begin playoffs in Week 14 or Week 15 and end in Week 17. We only get so many weeks of action to analyze, so we have to make them all count. 

Top 10 Fantasy Football Takeaways Week 6

Rico Dowdle’s Second Massive Day 

Last week, my top takeaway was all about Rico Dowdle’s 30-point, 200-scrimmage-yard explosion against the Dolphins. Somehow, Dowdle followed up that ridiculous outing with another one, dominating his former team en route to a second straight RB1 overall finish.

At this point, we have to assume that Rico will remain the Panthers’ RB1 even when Chuba Hubbard returns from injury. Yes, these two games came against arguably the two worst defenses in the league, but this level of production is still absurdly impressive. He won’t score 30 points every week, but Dowdle is a weekly starter until proven otherwise at this point.  

Kimani Vidal is the Chargers’ RB1

With Omarion Hampton on IR (and reportedly set to miss more than the minimum four weeks), one of the biggest questions of Week 6 was who would be the Chargers’ RB1 in his absence. The answer was clear: Kimani Vidal. The 2024 sixth-rounder led LA’s backfield with 18 carries and four targets on a 67% snap share. He turned that workload into 21.3 half-PPR points, racking up over 100 yards on the ground and adding a receiving TD. 

Going forward, Vidal can be treated as a fantasy RB2. The Chargers’ offense is one of the best in the league, and his usage in Week 6 was incredibly favorable. If he’s still available in your league, now is the time to spend your FAAB.

Baker Mayfield’s New WR1

The Buccaneers simply can’t catch a break with wide receiver injuries. Mike Evans is on IR, Chris Godwin failed to suit up with a fibula injury, and rookie Emeka Egbuka exited early with a hamstring issue. Going forward, Godwin has already been ruled out for Week 7, and Egbuka is also expected to miss at least one week. Evans could return this week, but it’s far from a guarantee.

That means that, for now, the Buccaneers’ WR1 spot is up for grabs. With Baker Mayfield absolutely cooking, that role is incredibly valuable. The most popular waiver option seems to be Sterling Shepard, a veteran NFL receiver and Mayfield’s former college teammate. However, it was actually seventh-round rookie Tez Johnson who led Tampa Bay in routes on Sunday. If you have to add only one Tampa receiver, he would be my pick. But, especially if Evans is out another week, Shepard and 2024 UDFA Kameron Johnson are both also worth considering.

Darren Waller’s Role Grows

Three weeks into his career as a Miami Dolphin, Darren Waller leads all tight ends with 13.6 half-PPR points per game. Of course, this is largely thanks to his four TDs in those three games. But his usage also continues to improve as he gets back to full health.

Waller posted just a 37% route participation rate in his Week 4 debut, a number low enough that it would have precluded him from having any fantasy value. But that number jumped to 65% in Week 5, then grew again to a team-leading 75% on Sunday. While he actually saw a season-low three targets this week, he has averaged a 13% target share in these three games, which isn’t bad given how limited his usage was to start. At this point, Waller is a weekly TE1, with upside to be an elite option if his targets grow to match his increased routes. 

Arizona’s Backfield Shifts Again 

No team has seen more changes in their backfield this season than the Arizona Cardinals. The team’s three active RBs in Week 1 were James Conner, Trey Benson, and Emari Demercado. Conner is done for the year, Benson is out for the foreseeable future, and Demercado played just three snaps on Sunday before exiting with an ankle injury.

Even putting those three names aside, this backfield is shifting. Michael Carter was the clear RB1 in Week 5, with 18 of 25 carries on a 59% snap share. In Week 6, Carter shifted into more of a passing-down role, while Bam Knight was the team’s primary ball-carrier. Knight was by no means dominant, as he saw just two more carries than Carter (11 to nine) and played less than 50% of the team’s total snaps. But he is now the top fantasy option in this backfield, giving him flex value in all formats.

Hope for Travis Hunter

As a massive believer in Travis Hunter coming into this season, I have been very disappointed by the second-overall pick’s initial results. He has seen thoroughly mediocre usage en route to a worse-than-mediocre 5.0 half-PPR points per game on average. 

But things took a turn for the positive this week. Hunter led the Jaguars’ offense with an 86% route participation rate, by far his highest mark of the season. He did this while also playing 40% of Jacksonville’s defensive snaps, above his previous average. 

Unsurprisingly, being on the field led to more targets, as he beat his season averages with a 17% target share and an 18% air yards share. Those numbers still aren’t great (nor was his final stat line), but at this point, I’ll take what I can get. Although it may be tempting, I wouldn’t drop the Heisman winner just yet.

Do the Lions Have a New RB1?

The Lions were handily beaten by the Chiefs on Sunday night football. Along the way, David Montgomery saw just four carries on a 30% snap share. Jahmyr Gibbs, meanwhile, saw 17 on a 70% snap share. Montgomery’s 19% share of the team’s total RB rushes was by far his lowest in a healthy game over the last three years. Even if we filter to just since 2024 and don’t exclude games left early due to injury, he has averaged a 46% share. 

Dan Campbell did say after the game that he would like to get Montgomery more involved going forward. But actions speak louder than words; this week’s usage was a clear indication that the Lions’ coaching staff prefers to lean on Gibbs when the going gets tough, at least in trailing situations. Montgomery will likely still have big games in which he racks up carries in Detroit wins, but both his floor and ceiling are lower going forward. 

Justin Fields is Bad

If you didn’t get up early to watch the Jets face the Broncos in London, I’m honestly jealous of you. That game was disgusting, and Justin Fields’ performance was the rotten cherry on top of a curdled sundae. He held the ball too long, racking up nine sacks. When he did attempt a pass, he was consistently inaccurate, throwing behind Garrett Wilson on what felt like a dozen occasions. 

So far this season, Fields’ real-life struggles haven’t always correlated to bad fantasy outings — he played terribly against the Cowboys but salvaged a quality fantasy score in garbage time. That wasn’t the case this week, as he finished with just 4.9 fantasy points. Along with Week 2 against the Bills (which he did exit early in the fourth quarter, to be fair), this makes two of five starts in which Fields has failed to score even 5.0 fantasy points.

Thanks to his elite athleticism, Fields’ upside is still tempting. He scored at least 25 points in all three of his other outings. A lot of those points were in garbage time and/or against truly horrendous defenses, but they still count just the same. 

However, I don’t think that tempting ceiling is enough to make up for Fields’ abysmal floor. There are plenty of viable fantasy quarterbacks in the league right now, and they are all far less likely to lose you your week with a performance that is an affront to the fantasy and football gods. Especially with Wilson set to miss time with a knee injury, Fields is not a startable fantasy option at this point … he might not start for the Jets much longer, either. 

Wan’Dale Robinson Deserves More Respect

With a huge primetime win over the Eagles on Thursday night, Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo became household names. But they weren’t the only Giants to have big fantasy performances. Wan’Dale Robinson finished with 17.4 points, catching six of his seven targets for 84 yards and a touchdown. 

With Malik Nabers out, Robinson is the undisputed WR1 for a Giants offense that suddenly appears to have life. Yet he is still rostered in just under 50% of leagues. It is true that Robinson has always been a bit of a PPR scam merchant for fantasy, racking up targets on minuscule ADOTs. That briefly changed with Russell Wilson under center, but he has fallen back to a 4.6-yard ADOT across Dart’s three starts. 

Still, targets are targets, and Robinson’s big performance against Philadelphia proves that he can turn those short looks into solid fantasy numbers. In three games without Nabers, he has averaged a 22% target share on an elite 91% route participation rate. If you’re looking for a reliable flex or WR3 option in any sort of PPR format, look no further. 

Can Isaiah Likely Be Relevant?

I’m a long-time Isaiah Likely hater. It’s essentially unheard of for two tight ends from the same offense to be fantasy relevant, and Likely has always been the clear second fiddle to Mark Andrews in Baltimore’s offense. In his first two games this season, that trend continued: Likely was below a 50% route participation rate in both Week 4 and Week 5, catching just one pass on one target for 12 yards. Andrews’ own route rates weren’t much better, but he at least was earning targets. 

However, things changed in Week 6. Likely jumped up to an 80% route participation rate, an impressive number for any TE and second on the team behind Zay Flowers. Interestingly, Andrews’ participation rate also grew: His 70% mark was lower than Likely’s, but his personal highest since Week 3. This was thanks to a clear shift in scheme for the Ravens. In Weeks 1-5, 38% of their dropbacks came with at least two TEs on the field. In Week 6, that number shot up to 78%. 

With Cooper Rush under center, this change didn’t result in much fantasy production for either tight end. But Lamar Jackson will be back sooner rather than later. If this shift in personnel usage continues — there’s a chance it was just an attempt to make things easier on Rush — we could be in for the rare scenario where both Likely and Andrews can have fantasy relevance.