Here are our suggested fantasy football Week 6 waiver wire pickups. Or, if you already know the players you’re after, skip straight to the initial release of our model’s complete Week 6 projections and rankings.
The statement that fantasy football championships are never won at your draft is ringing more true this season than perhaps ever before. While you may have felt confident with your roster walking away from your draft, injuries and lackluster performances have left fantasy managers in a constant state of turmoil this year.
This means that the waiver wire has been needed constantly in an effort to keep teams competitive, which is why we’re here with the top names to target going into Week 6. How aggressive should you be for some of the top available options? Let’s find out.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Advice
Running Backs
Tank Bigsby, Jacksonville Jaguars
Tank Bigsby was one of my favorite targets in fantasy drafts coming into the season. After being hyped up due to his talent level coming into last year, and wildly underperforming, the majority of fantasy managers were completely out on the explosive RB.
However, the drum beat for Bigsby was solid over the course of the summer from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching staff and he appeared to have simply needed some time to adjust to the speed of the NFL game. As a result, we’re now seeing what the Jaguars were seeing all summer long: a big-time playmaker at the RB position.
This isn’t the first time Bigsby made an appearance on one of our waiver wire articles, so if you scooped him up then, you’re going to be able to allocate a lot of your free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) or waiver priority to other players! After a top-five fantasy finish like he had in Week 5, if he’s still out there in your league, you’re going to have to pay up.
Bigsby was dominant against the Indianapolis Colts this past week as he turned 13 carries into 101 yards, while also adding 28 yards through the air, for two total touchdowns. However, the deeper stats tell us just how productive Bigsby was in this matchup.
The second-year player out of Auburn led all RBs in Week 5 in yards after contact with 6.54. He forced four missed tackles, had a 7.77 YPC average, and did all of this while still facing a 81.8% bad box rate. He was spectacular and now there are conversations of a backfield controversy beginning to brew in Jacksonville.
As discussed earlier this season, Bigsby needed to be picked up everywhere at the time due to what he was showing on tape. Now, he needs to be the top priority if you have a need for a solid RB, but you’re going to need to be aggressive. Bigsby’s worth a 15-20% FAAB valuation, in my opinion.
Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York Giants
We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to see out of the New York Giants backfield in Week 5 with Devin Singletary sidelined, but Tyrone Tracy Jr. emerged as a very promising fantasy asset moving forward.
A popular deep sleeper target going into this season, Tracy handled 18 carries in a solid win for the Giants over the Seattle Seahawks and he turned that opportunity into 129 yards. He was incredibly efficient and looked the part of a NFL RB.
The most interesting part is that the Giants barely tapped into Tracy’s skillset as a receiving threat out of the backfield, as he saw just two targets the whole game. A former college football WR, Tracy has incredibly smooth and reliable hands that could allow him to be a more pivotal part of this backfield even after Singletary returns to the lineup.
Tracy should be viewed as a solid RB2 play while Singletary is out, but he’s worth scooping up and stashing for the possibility that he sees more of an increased role after this solid showing. He can be valued in the 8-10% FAAB range.
Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears
Rewind to just a couple of weeks ago and the Chicago Bears had a non-existent running game. They could not generate any movement up front with their offensive line and D’Andre Swift – and the rest of the Chicago RBs – were quite simply not getting the job done.
That story completely flipped after Week 4 and it continued in Week 5 with another dominant performance by the Bears offense, which has put Roschon Johnson on the map for fantasy managers that are in desperate need of a RB that comes with touchdown upside.
Over the last two games, Johnson has found the end zone three times. While he certainly has not been lighting the stat sheet up from a rushing yardage standpoint – just 51 yards over that time frame – his involvement in the red zone is worth monitoring.
As we move into bye weeks, fantasy managers are going to need to turn to the waiver wire to find a player they can start that will hopefully provide some upside. Johnson’s providing that lately and that looks to be a trend that will continue. He’s worth a 5% FAAB bid.
Wide Receivers
Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons
Darnell Mooney is another player that was previously mentioned in our waiver wire articles this season, but he was more of an intriguing add versus a high-priority target. That’s no longer the case after an eye-catching performance in Week 5 on Thursday Night Football.
Mooney saw the second-most targets at the WR position on the week with 16 and he turned that into nine receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautiful contested grab at the goal line.
He’s showing the speed and explosiveness that we saw at points in Chicago – as evidenced by his 2.5 burn yards per target – and Kirk Cousins is looking his way routinely throughout each and every game. He’s now moved into the must-start category as a low-end WR2/high-end WR3 each week that comes with plenty of upside. If he is still available in your league, you need to be aggressive in adding him.
Juju Smith-Schuster, Kansas City Chiefs
There were massive questions for the Kansas City Chiefs coming into this week as to how they were going to replace Rashee Rice’s production now that he’s most likely done for the season. Well, we may have gotten our answer on Monday Night Football.
Juju Smith-Schuster – who was a member of the New England Patriots just back in August – exploded back onto the scene with seven receptions for 130 yards. Xavier Worthy will continue to be a part of this offense moving forward, but his role is much more of a gadget player than true target machine.
Juju has familiarity with this offense and the chemistry with Patrick Mahomes appears to be right back to what it was when he caught 78 receptions in a season as a member of this team just a few years ago.
It seems crazy to say, but Juju is absolutely worth adding and targeting on the waiver wire here in Week 6. You may just have the WR1 for Patrick Mahomes for the remainder of the year.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts
After starting out the season on the bench injured, plus a slow start once he came back into the lineup, Josh Downs has emerged over the past two weeks as a target machine with Joe Flacco at QB for the Indianapolis Colts.
Over that time frame, Downs has seen 21 targets and reeled in 17 of them for 151 yards and one touchdown. While that’s certainly plenty encouraging moving forward, it is worth noting that Anthony Richardson should be set to return to the lineup here soon and that will dramatically lower Downs’ ceiling due to the offensive philosophy shift.
The Colts will lean more on the ground game with Richardson versus Flacco at this stage of his career, which limits the overall volume that Downs will see when Richardson’s leading this unit. He should certainly be picked up and stashed away to see how things shake out, but he’s far from a sure-fire starter moving forward.
Jalen Tolbert, Dallas Cowboys
Jalen Tolbert has popped up on a couple of occasions already this season, but consistency has evaded him as this Dallas Cowboys offense has not been potent enough to support numerous playmakers from a fantasy football standpoint.
With Brandin Cooks landing on injured reserve this past week though, the target share opened up a bit for Tolbert and he was able to turn in a solid outing against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
He saw a 27% team target share and turned those 10 targets into seven receptions for 87 yards and a key touchdown. With Cooks sidelined for at least the next three weeks, the Cowboys desperately need someone else to step up into the WR2 role in this offense and Tolbert appears to be the next man up. He can be added and played as a Flex option as early as Week 6.
Tight Ends
Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders
It seems odd to recommend a player that just reeled in two receptions for 10 yards the week prior, but the TE position in fantasy football is all about identifying players that have opportunity in their respective offenses, and Ertz’s target totals certainly indicate that.
While he did reel in just two receptions, Ertz saw eight targets this past week and he’s been a fairly consistent fantasy asset before last week. That type of opportunity isn’t easy to find at the position and the Washington Commanders offense is looking more and more powerful as each week passes by.
If you’re looking for any level of consistency at the TE position, you’re probably not going to find it, but Ertz seems to be the next best available option.
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