With Bye Weeks and injuries becoming more and more of an issue each week, it can pay off to be extra focused at this time of year and make sure the players you’re starting actually deserve to be started. Here are all of the safest and riskiest starts of the week. Below we dive into a few notable players.
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Fantasy Football Outlook
Cooper Kupp (WR – LAR)
Sure, winning the lottery is cool, but have you ever logged onto your fantasy platform of choice and moved Cooper Kupp off of IR and into your active roster? It felt pretty good to do that for a number of teams, and then even better when Kupp saw 12 targets and turned them into 19.8 PPR points. On Matthew Stafford‘s first drive of the game, Kupp was targeted on six of Stafford’s ten pass attempts, and of those six, Kupp caught five for 56 yards. With Puka Nacua‘s emergence over the opening four weeks, it was fair to question what this offense might look like with Kupp back, but after one game we can be assured that Kupp is Stafford and Sean McVay’s wide receiver one.
David Montgomery (RB – DET)
Since David Montgomery returned from missing Week 3, he leads all running backs in total touches with 55. Montgomery is also second in total yardage among running backs in that spell with 270, trailing only Devon Achane. Week 5’s blowout against the Panthers led to Montgomery only seeing 21 touches, despite Jahmyr Gibbs being inactive, but the last time the two backs were healthy Montgomery saw a whopping 34. The Lions are dedicated to running play action at one of the highest rates across the league and because of this they need a back who can pass protect and play on all three downs, right now that description fits Montgomery better than Gibbs. In Week 6 Montgomery and the Lions face a Buccaneers defense allowing 4.9 yards per carry, which should allow Montgomery another excellent week.
Adam Thielen (WR – CAR)
There weren’t too many people expecting Adam Thielen to be as relevant as he has been this year, but his move from an outside receiver to become a slot receiver on the Panthers has rejuvenated his fantasy relevancy, resulting in two top-five wide receiver weekly finishes in the last three weeks. The Panthers are a bad team and will likely continue to be in pass-heavy scripts all season, including this week’s game against the Miami Dolphins who rack up points with little sympathy for the defenses they victimize. Fortunately for Thielen, the Dolphins allow the fifth-highest catch rate to opposing wide receivers and Thielen should be able to continue his fine form for fantasy.
Jordan Addison (WR – MIN)
With the sad news that Justin Jefferson is headed to injured reserve for at least the next four games, the reality is for fantasy managers that we have to look ahead to what is left behind. Jordan Addison had been slowly working his way into the first-team offense, setting a season-high target share of 19.1% in Week 5, and turning it into his biggest fantasy output to date (18.4 points). Addison was an excellent prospect coming out of college and well-worthy of the first-round draft capital that the Vikings invested in him, now Addison will have to prove that he can deal with WR1-level coverage from opposing defenses. Fortunately for Addison, it starts with a game against the Bears who allow the sixth-highest yards per reception to wide receivers (14.1).
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