Keys to a fantasy football victory in Week 6

Fantasy football analyst Sal Vetri highlights his keys to a Week 6 victory.

Best spot of the week: DeAndre Hopkins vs. IND

Hopkins is coming out of his bye week, and this should only benefit him. He’s been dealing with a knee injury this season which has limited him to just 52% of the Titans’ routes run the past three games. But despite being limited, Hopkins has led the Titans in targets each of the past two games and now could see more playing time if he’s healthier coming out of the bye.

In Week 6, Hopkins has the perfect matchup against the Colts. They’ve allowed three straight 100-yard games to outside receivers. Last week, Brian Thomas caught five balls for over 120 yards and 1 touchdown. Overall, this season Indy has allowed 105 yards per game to No. 1 outside WRs and Hopkins fits this description for Week 6.

Bounce back of the week: Dontayvion Wicks

Wicks was a popular waiver wire add last week who many fantasy managers started. Christian Watson was out, and Romeo Doubs was suspended one game by the Packers. It was the perfect setup for Wicks to have a big day. But he didn’t.

Wicks posted just two catches for 20 yards on seven targets. Once again, he had two drops in this game and was just missed by Love deep on two more targets. The box score looks bad, but we were a few inches away from a big day here. Most importantly, Wicks was open often in this game.

In Week 6, Wicks will have another strong matchup against the Cardinals who are allowing the fifth-most receiving yards per play this season. Start Wicks again in Week 6.

Pick-up-and-play of the week: Jalen Tolbert vs. DET

Tolbert is a must-add in all fantasy leagues. Brandin Cooks is expected to miss at least three more games for the Cowboys. In Week 5, Dallas played their first game without Cooks this season. In this game, Tolbert led the Cowboys with 10 targets and turned that strong volume into seven catches for 87 yards and one touchdown.

Tolbert is a pick-up-and-play option this week against Detroit, a matchup which has the highest projected point total on the week at 52.5. It’s the perfect spot for fantasy production against a Lions defense that allows the sixth most passing yards per game. Tolbert should benefit from defenses focusing their game plans around stopping CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson. Pick up and start Tolbert in Week 6.

Must start: Chase Brown vs. Giants

Brown’s role has expanded over the past two weeks. Over his first three games this season, Brown played on just 20% of the Bengals snaps and earned only 14 total carries. Over the last two games, however, Brown has played 40% of the snaps and handled 27 total carries. He’s turned this usage into performances of 22.2 and 12.9 fantasy points.

Heading into Week 6, Brown and his backfield running mate Zack Moss have been been dealing with injuries, but both are expected to play according to the team. Even with Moss suiting up, Brown is a start this week. He’s a favorite in a good matchup against the Giants. New York allows the third-most rushing yards per play according to NFL Pro.

Trending up RB: Kenneth Walker III

Walker is arguably a top-three running back for the rest of the fantasy season. He’s coming off a week where he ran just for 32 yards on 14 attempts. Not great. But it was his newfound receiving game role and a score that saved his Week 6.

Walker has now run 30 routes for the third straight game. This is important because Walker had only run 30 routes in a game one time in 30 games prior to this season. This receiving game usage has led to strong production. Walker has earned 16 targets in the past two weeks — including Week 6 where he caught all eight of his targets for 37 receiving yards, helping save his fantasy day despite an inefficient day on the ground.

Since returning from injury, Walker has handled 65.2% of the backfield snaps and 31 of 40 RB carries. He’s shown no signs of his injury holding him back. Trade for Walker if you can; I’d be willing to part with Chris Godwin or Garrett Wilson for him.

Something to watch: Blake Corum’s usage

Corum entered this season with some hype as a third-round rookie. He was one of the best running backs in college football the past three seasons and landed on a quality NFL offense with a great coach in Sean McVay. But through the first four games of the season, Corum saw snaps in just one contest. This was in Week 2, where Corum played eight snaps and earned eight carries — each of which came in garbage time during a blowout when the Rams pulled their starters.

This means entering Week 5, Corum had earned zero meaningful snaps on the year. He was behind both Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers on the Rams depth chart. But in Week 5, Corum saw an expanded role. He played a season-high 11 snaps and earned six opportunities against the Packers. He turned this usage into six touches for 33 yards, averaging a solid 5.5 yards per touch. Corum’s usage is something to monitor moving forward as he appears to now be the RB2 behind Kyren Williams for the Rams.

Trending down: Travis Etienne Jr.

Etienne’s worries hit an all-time high in Week 5. He played a season-low 40% of the snaps and earned just six carries. Teammate Tank Bigsby led the way with 42% of the snaps and 13 carries. Bigsby continued to produce at a high level, turning 14 total touches into 129 yards and two touchdowns in Week 5. Bigsby was the RB1 on the week and has now out-gained Etienne in all three of his healthy games this season.

Etienne reportedly took a big hit in Week 5, and this is why his touches were limited. This is important context to add, but it doesn’t fully explain his poor play through five games. It’s difficult to see Etienne regaining this backfield at a high level because Bigbsy has quite literally been the most efficient RB in the NFL.

Bigsby leads the league in true yards per carry and explosive run rate according to Player Profiler. He’s averaging 8.6 yards per touch, which is 83% more than Etienne. This now looks like a split backfield, with Bigsby at the head of it. It’s a bad time to be an Etienne fantasy manager, he’s trending down in a major way.

Buy low of the week: De’Von Achane

Achane is at an absolute floor right now for his fantasy value. He left in Week 5 with a concussion and did not return. Achane has now failed to top 10 fantasy points in three straight games and has seen his production drop each of the last four weeks. To make matters worse, both Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Wright saw success in Week 5 with Achane out.

It’s a frustrating time to be a De’Von Achane fantasy manager, which makes it a good time to send a buy-low offer. Achane heads into his bye week so he should be good to return from his concussion after the bye in Week 7. While on his bye, you may be able to get him at a discount as he won’t be usable for his current managers.

But the real reason you want to buy low on Achane is because Tua Tagovailoa is trending to return in Week 8. In the two games that Tagovailoa has started this season, Achane averaged 22.8 fantasy points per game. He ranks fourth in yards created and sixth in yards per route run this year. Buy low on Achane while he enters his bye week. Try to trade away Mike Evans or DJ Moore for Achane if you can.

Sell high of the week: Nick Chubb

Chubb began practicing for the Browns last week. He was able to practice in a limited fashion all three days, which is an encouraging sign. Chubb is coming back from a brutal knee injury that can take up to two years to fully recover from. But he’s already back on the practice field just 13 months after sustaining the injury in Week 2 of 2023.

This is great to see and reports suggest Chubb should return in Week 7. But according to Deepak Chona, a return for Chubb wouldn’t mean he’s instantly back to his former self. It could take weeks for the Browns to ramp him back up to a fantasy-relevant workload. But even if he gets to this point, there’s still a big question about how the injury will have affected his abilities. We also have concerns around this Browns offense and their banged-up offensive line that currently ranks 31st in run blocking grade, according to PFF. Try to trade Chubb for someone like Rashid Shaheed or George Pickens if you can.