Takeaways from Week 6 as told through
@MarcasG's tweets.
We've had the Full Jameis Experience over the past few weeks. He puts up huge numbers against the Giants and Rams then follows that up with a lackluster game versus the Saints. And then there was Sunday. Winston imploded in London with six turnovers (five interceptions). Having 400 yards and a touchdown helped him creep into double digits in most leagues. There was hope that the combination of Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich was helping him turn a corner. Our excitement (at least for now) was misplaced. The good news is that with a bye in Week 7 we won't have our Jamies dilemma. But with games against the Titans and Seahawks after the break, we'll be left to wonder if the matchups are worth it. I mean, if you haven't rage-dropped him already.
Before the season began, there was plenty of talk that a committee was coming to Kansas City. I'm not sure that we totally believed it. After all, Andy Reid had always been a one-back coach. Then again, he usually had a one running back that you could feel confident with giving a full workload. That wasn't the case with his group this year. The problem is that after adding LeSean McCoy and showcasing Darrel Williams, this has unexpectedly turned into a three-headed monster. While Damien Williams is nominally a starter, the Chiefs have shown that they're willing to use all three backs and ride the one who's having the best day. In Week 6, McCoy was K.C.'s snap leader after having a nearly equal share with Darrel Williams the week before. This has become a worst-case scneario for fantasy managers.
This isn't a news flash but part of succeeding in fantasy is finding defenses to target with your players. If you hadn't figured it out, the Eagles pass defense is one of those soft targets. They entered Week 6 having allowed the fifth-most points per game to receivers then promptly allowed the duo of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs to beat them for 224 yards and four touchdowns. Next up for Philly's beleaguered secondary are the Dallas Cowboys. You can go ahead and throw Amari Cooper(if he's healthy) and Michael Gallup into your lineups right now.
Then there's this part. When #MondayMoanin comes back around, I expect to see plenty of people saying they benched Stefon Diggs this week. And while I would have advised against it since, well ... Eagles defense, I also sort of get it. But when Diggs and Thielen complained about how the offense was working, they didn't really get anything wrong. No team can afford to be as consistently run heavy as the Vikings had been early in the season -- especially when they have a pair of ultra-talented wideouts. The only caveat to this new era of good feeling is that Kirk Cousins hasn't been quite as wide receiver-friendly in unfavorable matchups. Next week's game at Detroit might classify as such. As for Diggs, now's as good a time as any to see what you might be able to get for him in a trade. Things aren't going to get any better than this.
Full disclosure: I'm an embittered DeAndre Hopkins fantasy manager. As if you couldn't tell by the tweet. I'm trying to look at the game-high 12 targets as a positive because the nine receptions for 55 yards is certainly not. What's most disconcerting was how many of Nuk's targets were at or near the line of scrimmage. Most of the downfield throws were in the direction of Will Fuller, who, predictably, crashed back to earth this week. It's one thing to understand that Hopkins won't see the same target share he has in past years. It's another to think that his role in the offense might be downgraded to "chain mover". While we're here ... maybe we should stop automatically classifying the Chiefs defense as a "favorable" matchup. This group has been pretty tough on wide receivers and kept the Texans wideouts in check this week.
We've spent a lot of time in the past week or two talking about Christian McCaffrey and the Patriots defense as fantasy MVP candidates. While we're at it, let's not overlook the handsome gentleman lounging in the photo above. Wilson is the top scoring quarterback and second among all fantasy scorers through the first six weeks. The biggest reason? He's running again. Through six games, Wilson has run 36 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns. His 33.1 fantasy points as a rusher is already closing in on the 37.6 points he scored as a runner last season. This is a far cry from being the player that had fantasy analysts wondering if he would be a top 10 quarterback in 2019.
If there was ever a week for Kenyan Drake to really go off, this was it. Going against a bad Washington defense, it felt like a time for Miami to really showcase their lead back. But what if Drake isn't Miami's lead back? Mark Walton got the start for the Fins and Kalen Ballage took the goal line work. Drake's team-high 16 touches (for 70 yards) is encouraging but you'd think that when a guy is averaging more than four yards every time he touches the ball, you'd try giving it too him more. What do I know? I just write about fake football for a living.
It's mostly been a struggle for Devonta Freeman on the ground this year. His 88 rushing yards against the Cardinals in Week 6 matched a season-high and marked just the second time he'd topped 30 rushing yards in a game. But the bigger number was the three receptions -- two of them touchdowns -- to bring his total number of catches to 25 this season. At this pace, Freeman will set a new career mark with 79 catches. That's a big plus for a guy who was limited to just 36 receptions in his last full season and ends up being a much needed bonus for a player who has otherwise disappointed through the first month.
Wait...what?
- In two games against Tampa Bay, Christian McCaffrey had just 110 yards. He has 813 yards in all other games.
- The Bucs' leader in RB snaps this week? Dare Ogunbowale.
- Royce Freeman topped 65 scrimmage yards for the fourth time this season. He's clearly behind Phillip Lindsay but he's still getting touches.
And one for the road...
Marcas Grant is a fantasy analyst for NFL.com and a man who is just trying to find abaseline from which to operate. Send him your plans of attack or fantasy football questions via Twitter @MarcasG. If you read all of that, congrats. Follow him on Facebook, and Instagram.
