Fantasy Football Studs and Stinkers of Week 6
Every Monday, The Fantasy Footballers release the Studs & Stinkers podcast episode. Andy, Mike, and Jason discuss the high highs and low lows from the weekend. In this Studs & Stinkers article series, you can find the full list of Studs & Stinkers from the weekend and my favorite names from Monday Pun-day. I also provide commentary on a handful of notable studs and stinkers worth highlighting. To get the full breakdown, don’t miss Week 6 Studs + Stinkers.
Monday Pun-day Power Ranking
- Two-lio Jones
- Juju Whiff-Schuster
- Alexander Should-Have-Sat-isson
- Blooper Kupp
- Derrick Hen-WEEEEEE
- Mike Goose-icki
- Alexander Sad-isson
- Error Rodgers
- Odell Rectum
- D‘Andre Gift
- Slay Burton
What’s your favorite Monday Pun-day? You can find us on Twitter: The Fantasy Footballers (@TheFFBallers) and me (@TheFantasyEng).
Biggest Studs
Derrick Henry
Week 6 vs HOU: 22 carries for 212 yards & 2 TD | 2 receptions on 5 targets for 52 yards
Upcoming Schedule: PIT, @CIN, CHI
All hail King Henry! This dude is unstoppable. Last week it was the stiff-arm that sent the defender into space. This week, Henry racked up over 250 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. The Titans look incredible this year, and they plan on riding King Henry into the playoffs.
D’Andre Swift
Week 6 at JAX: 14 rushes for 116 yards & 2 TD | 3 receptions on 4 targets for 7 yards
Upcoming Schedule: @ATL, IND, @MIN
D’Andre Swift looked electric this weekend! He was graded as the top running back prospect entering the 2020 NFL draft but fantasy analysts bumped him down the rookie ranks after landing on the Lions. Over the past three weeks, Swift has 18 carries for 138 yards. By comparison, Adrian Peterson has 48 carries for 151 rushing yards. The only thing standing in the way of Swift becoming an RB1 is his coaching staff. Granted, Swift had a huge touchdown drop in Week 1 – so maybe there was good reason to limit his touches early on in the season. However, I think it’s clear that he is the most talented running back on the team – BY FAR! Will the Lions start to give him more carries? Will HC Matt Patricia be fired and replaced with someone who can boost Swift’s value? Time will tell…If nothing else, Swift has exciting upside.
Julio “Touchdown” Jones
Week 6 at MIN: 8 receptions on 10 targets for 137 yards & 2 TD
Upcoming Schedule: Bye, @GB, DET, @CHI
Those who roster Julio can breathe a sigh of relief. There was cause for concern after a poor fantasy start to the season and a lingering hamstring injury. However, Julio returned to form this past week. Through six games, he’s missed two weeks to injury, scored fewer than 6 fantasy points twice, and scored more than 21 fantasy points twice. What a strange season so far. Julio remains a weekly must-start until we see otherwise.
Biggest Stinkers
Alexander Mattison (RB | Vikings)
Week 6 vs ATL: 10 rushes for 26 yards | 1 reception on 2 targets for 4 yards
Upcoming Schedule: BYE, @GB, DET, @CHI
Mattison was a consensus top-7 ranked RB for pretty much every platform. With Dalvin Cook out, the easiest decision in the world was to auto-start Mattison. What happened? Game script worked against Mattison in a 23-40 blowout versus the Falcons, but we still expected a lot more out of Mattison. He was great last week but failed to produce much with his limited workload (11 touches). This offseason, Mattison appeared to be one of the few backup running backs that was worth drafting in single-digit rounds as an insurance policy. Those of us who drafted Mattison were punished this week with a terrible performance after clogging your bench for the first five weeks. Is Mattison worth a roster spot moving forward? Honestly, I’m not sure…I would drop him for an upside player on waivers unless you’re in a deep league. Realistically, you’re going to be hesitant to start him again if Cook were to miss another game – so what’s the point? He would still be a valuable fantasy piece if Cook were to miss multiple games, but it appears Cook is on pace to return for the Vikings Week 8 matchup after the bye.
Other Studs
QB
Deshaun Watson @TEN — 28/37 for 335/4/0 — 4/26/0 rushing
- GB, BYE, @JAX, @CLE
Matt Ryan @MIN — 30/40 for 371/4/0 — 4/8/0 rushing
- DET, @CAR, DEN, BYE
Carson Wentz vs BAL — 21/40 for 213/2/0 — 5/49/0 rushing
- NYG, DAL, BYE, @NYG
Ryan Tannehill vs HOU — 30/41 for 364/4/1
- PIT, @CIN, CHI
Lamar Jackson @PHI — 16/27 for 186/1/0 — 9/108/1
- BYE, PIT, @IND, @NE
Philip Rivers vs CIN — 29/44 for 371/3/1
- BYE, @DET, BAL, @TEN
Kirk Cousins vs ATL – 24/36 for 343/3/3
- BYE, @GB, DET, @CHI
Jimmy Garoppolo vs LAR — 23/33 for 268/3/0 — 4/8/0
- @NE, @SEA, GB
RB
Ronald Jones vs GB — 23/113/2 — 2 targets for 2/8/0
- @LV, @NYG, NO
James Conner vs CLE — 20/101/1 — 1 target for 1/1/0
- @TEN, @BAL, @DAL
WR
Justin Jefferson vs ATL — 11 targets for 9/166/2
- BYE, @GB, DET, @CHI
Will Fuller V @TEN – 11 targets for 6/123/1
- GB, BYE, @JAX, @CLE
A.J. Brown vs HOU — 7 targets for 5/56/2
- PIT, @CIN, CHI
**Honorable Mentions at WR
Keelan Cole vs DET — 9 targets for 6/143/0
- @LAC, BYE, HOU, @GB
Brandin Cooks @TEN — 9 targets for 9/68/1
- GB, BYE, @JAX, @CLE
Travis Fulgham vs BAL — 10 targets for 6/75/1
- NYG, DAL, BYE, @NYG
Chase Claypool vs CLE — 4 targets for 4/74/0 — 2/7/1 rushing
- @TEN, @BAL, @DAL
TE
Jonnu Smith Anthony Firkser vs HOU — 9 targets for 8/113/1
- PIT, @CIN, CHI
George Kittle vs LAR — 10 targets for 7/109/1
- @NE, @SEA, GB
Trey Burton vs CIN — 5 targets for 4/58/1 — 1/1/1 rushing
- BYE, @DET, BAL, @TEN
**Honorable Mentions** at TE
Darren Fells @TEN — 7 targets for 6/85/1
- GB, BYE, @JAX, @CLE
Rob Gronkowski vs GB — 8 targets for 5/78/1
- @LV, @NYG, NO
Other Stinkers
QB
Aaron Rodgers @TB — 16/35 for 160/0/2 — 2/14/0
- @HOU, MIN, @SF
Teddy Bridgewater vs CHI — 16/29 for 216/0/2 — 8/48/0
- @NO, ATL, @KC
**Honorable Mentions at QB
Ben Roethlisberger vs CLE — passing stats — rushing stats
- @TEN, @BAL, @DA
Matthew Stafford @JAX — passing stats — rushing stats
- @ATL, IND, @MIN
RB
Kareem Hunt @PIT — 13/40/0 — 3 targets for 2/17/0
- @CIN, LV, BYE, HOU
Todd Gurley @MIN — 20/47/0 — 4 targets for 3/20/0
- DET, @CAR, DEN, BYE
Antonio Gibson @NYG — 9/30/0 — 5 targets for 4/25/0
- DAL, BYE, NYG, @DET
Damien Harris vs DEN — 6/19/0 — 1 target for 1/14/0
- SF, @BUF, @NYJ
**Honorable Mentions at RB
Cam Akers @SF — zero touches
- CHI, @MIA, BYE, SEA
WR
Cooper Kupp @SF — 9 targets for 3/11/0
- CHI, @MIA, BYE, SEA
Mike Evans vs GB — 2 targets for 1/10/0
Chris Godwin vs GB — 7 targets for for 5/48/0
- @LV, @NYG, NO
Allen Robinson @CAR — 9 targets for 5/53/0
- @LAR, NO, @TEN
D.J. Chark vs DET — 14 targets for 7/45/0
- @LAC, BYE, HOU, @GB
Odell Beckham @PIT — 4 targets for 2/25/0
- @CIN, LV, BYE, HOU
JuJu Smith-Schuster vs CLE — 4 targets for 2/6/0
- @TEN, @BAL, @DAL
DeVante Parker vs NYJ — 8 targets for 3/35/0
- BYE, LAR, @ARI
Marquise Brown — 6 targets for 4/57/0
- BYE, PIT, @IND, @NE
Julian Edelman vs DEN — 6 targets for 2/8/0 — 2/2 for 38 passing yards
- SF, @BUF, @NYJ
TE
Mark Andrews @PHI — 4 targets for 2/21/0
- BYE, PIT, @IND, @NE
Mike Gesicki vs NYJ — 2 targets, zero receptions
- BYE, LAR, @ARI, LAC
Robert Tonyan @TB — 4 targets for 3/25/0
- @HOU, MIN, @SF
Evan Engram vs WAS — 3 targets for 2/30/0
- @PHI, TB, @WSH
Jimmy Graham @CAR — 8 targets for 5/34/0
- @LAR, NO, @TEN
Eric Ebron vs CLE — 4 targets for 2/9/0
- @TEN, @BAL, @DAL
Cheat Sheat (2019 Baseline)
Whether this is your first fantasy football season or you’re a veteran, it’s helpful to place fantasy football production in context. Before we look at both the huge performances and huge disappointments from Week 2, let’s look at what happened in 2019. Last season, there were only 11 total fantasy performances of 40+ points from quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. To put that into perspective, there were 79 such instances of 30+ points and 423 such instances of 20+ points. What does that tell us? A 40+ point game is legendary. 30+ games are great, and we should expect five or so players to reach this mark every week. And finally, we should expect about 25 players every week to eclipse the 20+ point mark. The table below summarizes the fantasy football stud games among QB, RB, WR, and TE in 2019.
