Reading the Defense: Week 6

Week 6 marks the completion point of one-third of the NFL season. Bye weeks and injuries are depleting fantasy rosters. Gamers are forced to turn from early picks due either to availability or performance.

Most fantasy gamers draft players they think will lead them to 4-0 starts. There can be no other explanation for gamers who select defensive backs before filling out their LB corps. Every fantasy roster should starkly differ from its original composition by December. Those gamers who navigate three months of injuries, bye weeks, and busts will make the fantasy playoffs.

“Start Your Stars.”

Most fantasy gamers start the first players they drafted at each position throughout September. This is a defensible approach based on evidence from Footballguy Adam Harstad about preseason expectations. Gamers should wait four weeks (on offensive players, at least), before concluding that a sleeper’s early-season performance merits starting him over an early pick that looks like a bust.

Through Week 5, 15 linebackers are averaging 13 or more fantasy points per game. Most of these 15 are playing full-time loads and should be recognized as LB1s for as long as they remain healthy. Gamers should monitor the workloads of Dorian Williams, E.J. Speed, and Troy Andersen but start them unless their circumstances change significantly.

Early picks Bobby Okereke, Patrick Queen, and Kyzir White are averaging fewer than 10 fantasy points per game. They remain full-time players and should not be dropped; however, fantasy gamers have likely already adjusted expectations downward. They’re not the stars they were in 2023.