The Monday NFL Roundup: Week 6

Through five weeks of the 2023 season, CeeDee Lamb was the WR16. Amon-Ra St. Brown was WR21. Rashee Rice was WR50. Breece Hall was RB20. Jahmyr Gibbs was RB32. Dak Prescott was QB21. David Njoku was TE24.

That team would have won your league. It likely would not have been close. 

From Week 6 through 17, Prescott was the QB1. Hall and Gibbs were RB3 and RB4. Lamb was WR1, St. Brown was WR2, and Njoku was TE1. 

Rice was WR13. It took Rice until Week 12 to pick up, but you would probably have been fine. 

After sifting through training camp reports to find sleepers in August. Drafting rosters. Over a month of "Seven Hours Of Commercial Free Football." By Week 5, we have consumed a lot.

We are just getting started. 

The best fantasy managers look for opportunities where a consensus opinion has formed but is wrong. 

Following Week 5 in 2023, you likely could have traded Patrick Mahomes II, Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, Bijan Robinson, De'Von Achane, and Mark Andrews straight up for our rebound team. It would have elicited trade veto demands and been mocked relentlessly in league chats. 

That team might not have won another game.

Look for shifting tides. 

• Did the league figure out Sam Darnold again after he was QB4 over the first quarter of the season?
• Is Kirk Cousins feeling healthy, comfortable, and ready for a run?
• Is Rico Dowdle ready to run as Dallas's top back?
• Did Tank Bigsby flip the Jacksonville backfield?
• Is Khalil Shakir the capstone to Buffalo's offensive attack?

After more than two months of endless football content, it can be easy to think we have all the answers.

The best players have just started to ask the questions.

Thank you, Nathan Jahnke. 

And now, The Roundup.

Blind Resume

Guess what's back? Passing is back! A quartet of players who went at the top of the last five years of draft classes all delivered 300+ passing yard days. Can you place this production?

Deep League Waiver Watch List

This space is changing. My in-depth coverage of waivers will move to "Waivers of the Future," which will be released after this column but will be linked later. Instead, this will be a light introduction to players to watch on your waivers this week, emphasizing Superflex and deep leagues. 

• QB Jameis Winston, Cleveland (37% Sleeper rostered) - The clock is ticking on Deshaun Watson. Winston feels like a "when," not "if."

• QB Aidan O'Connell, Las Vegas (47% Sleeper rostered) - The Raiders won in Week 4, so there was no need for postgame quarterback comments. They were losing in Week 5, so Gardner Minshew II was benched. C'est la vie.

• QB Tyrod Taylor, New York Jets (16% Sleeper rostered) - Aaron Rodgers came out of Week 5 with an ankle injury. He said he should be fine. The Jets play on Monday night, so if you rely on Rodgers, proactively cover yourself. 

• QB Mitchell Trubisky, Buffalo (10% Sleeper rostered)—The Jets opponent on Monday night also had a quarterback injury. Though he had returned, Josh Allen looked to have suffered a head injury. He played like he had a head injury when he returned. The chances of someone relying on Allen are much higher than Rodgers's. Trubisky will likely need to be added unless the Jets' quarterback situation is accessible or we have news that Allen is ruled out before Sunday. 

• RB Ty Chandler, Minnesota (86% Sleeper rostered): The Vikings have a Week 6 bye. Aaron Jones's hip injury is a high-priority injury watch. The week off comes at the right time. 

• RB Dare Ogunbowale, Houston (24% Sleeper rostered)—Ogunbowale looked to have taken the job from Cam Akers. Dameon Pierce returned to practice before the game but did not return to active status. Pierce is the priority target if available, but Ogunowale is a deep league option as long as Joe Mixon is out.

• RB Kendre Miller, New Orleans (85% Sleeper rostered) - Dennis Allen said something nice about Miller, who is returning to practice after an injury. That is newsworthy. 

• RB Kendall Milton, Cincinnati (4% Sleeper rostered) - Zack Moss had an ankle injury late in the game, and Chase Brown took over on the last two drives. Treyveon Williams is in Year 6 with Cincinnati, and most of his career work has come in Week 18 games, which means little. Milton is a potential power compliment to Brown.

• WR Jonathan Mingo (66% Sleeper rostered) and Jalen Coker, Carolina (18% Sleeper rostered) - Xavier Legette picked up a shoulder injury and missed the second half. Mingo was an every-snap player in his absence, with Coker as the WR3. The Panthers are the type of team who could let their youth see heavy work down the stretch.

• WR Darius Slayton, NY Giants (53% Sleeper rostered) - A fantasy zombie, Slayton has been a big part of the Giants revival. Slayton has finished between 724 and 770 receiving yards in four of the last five seasons. 

• WR Malik Heath, Green Bay (4% Sleeper rostered) - Heath played the same snap number as Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks. He looks like the stand-in for Romeo Doubs. There was little production, but some play in leagues that roster any player who gets a snap. Heath got snaps. 

• TE Ja'Tavion Sanders, Carolina (82% Sleeper rostered) - Tommy Tremble left after a scary head injury. Sanders is nearly an every-down player without him unless Ian Thomas can make it back into the lineup. He saw five targets in the blowout loss. 

• TE Charlie Kolar, Baltimore (2% Sleeper rostered) - Every fantasy manager lept with joy when they saw a Baltimore tight end making a play downfield. Then they realized it was Kolar, not Mark Andrews. Isaiah Likely, not Andrews, has led Ravens tight ends in snaps the last three weeks and scored two touchdowns. 

Stats Of The Week

• 100 career touchdowns - WR Mike Evans, Tampa Bay

• 100 career touchdowns - RB Derrick Henry, Baltimore - Evans, and Henry are the active leaders in touchdowns scored, each hitting 100 career touchdowns in Week 5. The total ties them with Frank Gore Jr., Curtis Martin, and Franco Harris for the 23rd most in NFL history. Steve Largent (101), Don Hutson (103), and Tim Brown (105) are the names they will look to pass next. They are four touchdowns from halfway to Jerry Rice's NFL record of 208. 

• 509 passing yards, four passing touchdowns—QB Kirk Cousins, Atlanta—Cousins posted the first 500-yard passing day since Joe Burrow in 2021 and the 25th in NFL history. His 509 yards were a career-high and a Falcons franchise record. 

• 22 targets, 13 receptions, 101 yards, and one touchdown - WR Garrett Wilson, NY Jets - Per our Dave Kluge, Wilson's targets were the most by an Aaron Rodgers receiver. With Davante Adams trade rumors thick in the air, did Rodgers send a message about target opportunity to his former teammate? Perhaps they just finally unlocked Wilson. For the hand-wringing about Wilson's start, he is now on pace for 112 receptions and seven touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb was WR16 through five weeks in 2023 before going on a tear and finishing as the overall WR1. 

• 97 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, four receptions, -2 receiving yards - RB Chuba Hubbard, Carolina - Hubbard became the first back since Ezekiel Elliott in 2018 to record 97+ rushing yards and 4+ receptions in three consecutive games. Multiple players have streaks of four consecutive games. No player has hit the marks in five straight. 

• 348 passing yards, 26/42, four passing touchdowns, 55 rushing yards - QB Lamar Jackson, Baltimore - Jackson recorded the 33rd game with 340+ passing yards and 50+ rushing yards in NFL history. He became the sixth player to add four passing touchdowns to those numbers. He is the only player in NFL history with two career 340-4-50 games, hitting the numbers in Week 5 of 2021 against Indianapolis. 

• 396 receiving yards and five touchdowns - WR Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati - Since 1970, 51 players have posted 396 receiving yards and 5+ touchdowns over a three-game span. D.J. Moore was the last in 2023 off the back of a 230-3 game in Week 5. Chase joined the list with 193 yards, the third-highest total in his career. He started slow, WR40 through the first two games. He is now up to WR1 on the season. His 17-game production pace over the last three is 2,244 yards and 28 touchdowns. 

• 8 receptions, 97 yards, one touchdown - TE Brock Bowers, Las Vegas - The NFL has 25 games of 8+ receptions and 97+ yards by a rookie tight end. Brock Bowers has two of the 25. He has played five games. Players have yet to hit those numbers three times. 

Backfield Hierarchy

Splitting backfields into key categories based upon snaps and opportunities (rushes plus targets). While carries may be similar, backfields that fall into a Committee with a Lead over a straight Committee saw wide disparities in snap counts.

Bellcows

• It was a question Sunday Morning Live. For the record, Trey Benson can not be in your fantasy lineup. The Cardinals have had the weirdest game scripts. They blew out the Rams, and then Washington flipped that script. They fell behind by two touchdowns in the first half against the Lions and 49ers before shutting both out in the second half. Benson has played in some of the lopsided games. He did not get a snap in a tight game against San Francisco. Conner is the only Cardinals back that can hit lineups. 

• Cook continued as the lead back in Buffalo. Ty Johnson is ahead of Ray Davis. Every indication is that if Cook were to miss time, Johnson would be ahead. Davis is widely considered the cuff to hold, while Johnson is available in many deep leagues. That could be backward. 

• Hubbard has been the Panthers' brightest spot since Week 2. He is legitimately a good running back for the National Football League. The Panthers are 1-4 and a legitimately lousy football team. At some point with this production, Dynasty managers must monitor an extension, and Hubbard could cement himself as a thorn in Jonathon Brooks' value beyond 2024. 

• Swift has looked explosive in back-to-back games after being declared dead. I am concerned fantasy managers have miscategorized Johnson as a startable asset. He has had no passing game involvement for two weeks. Red zone touchdowns have bailed out anyone who took a chance on him on otherwise inefficient run days. Swift may continue to get tackled on the 1-yard line, and maybe Johnson will continue to be a vulture. And we may not get a better chance to flip Johnson than now. Meanwhile, Khalil Herbert is the best running back in the world who does not step foot on a field weekly.   

• Dowdle is the lead back in Dallas. His snap share still hovers at 50%, but he is an offensive focal point in ways that Elliott is not. Week 5 represents a breakthrough: he totaled 114 scrimmage yards and scored for the second straight week. Dowdle showcased on an island game half the world slept through. He is a buy.

• Emanuel Wilson. Not a thing. The Packers have played two "normal" games, Week 1 against Philadelphia and Week 5. In both, Jacobs was the dominant Bellcow. With Jordan Love back in the lineup and normalcy returned Wilson's role in Weeks 3 and 4 had more to do with the Packers looking for opportunities to lighten Jacobs's load when possible. 

• Just when I point out Ronnie Rivers is under-rostered relative to his potential upside, he gets benched, and Corum is the complement. This split makes more sense and looks closer to what we expect. Corum bag holders get a slight sigh of relief.

• Jones left the Vikings' win early with a hip injury. Chandler took over in a Bellcow role. The trip back from London means a Week 6 bye. Jones had emerged as the lead. Chandler would be a Bellcow and a weekly start without Jones. If Jones is limited, the work share could get muddied. A healthy Jones is still the guy.

• A Giants back has not rushed for 129 yards since Saquon Barkley in Week 10, 2022. Tracy Jr. hit it in his first start. He has worked as a complement to Devin Singletary, but this performance makes teams rethink their backfield rotations. A touchdown or the 50 receiving yards that went to Gray would have been a lovely topper, but anyone forced to play Tracy is happy. 

• Running backs have exploited the Dallas defense. Harris dominated touches in an offense built around power football in a bad-weather game. He scored 9.7 full PPR points—the essential Najee Harris experience. 

• Mason posted his worst fantasy day of the season and lost a critical fumble deep in the red zone with the 49ers up two. Guerendo has five carries in two of the last three games, but Mason has been too good to let one play shift his usage dramatically. 

• The Giants came into this match with the 31st-ranked run defense, giving up 5.1 yards per attempt. Ryan Grubb decided to call just five runs for Walker and two for Charbonnet. The Seahawks lost. New jobs have learning curves.