So far this year, quarterback situations – who’s starting for who – have remained fairly stable compared to past years. In 2022 it felt like every week there were half a dozen teams with new injuries or benchings or whatever. This week there are only two teams with similar updates – the Giants and Browns both have uncertain starting QBs this week, due to injuries to Daniel Jones and Deshaun Watson. Both teams are great defense matchups even if they don’t have to turn to their backups.
I’m going to continue my pattern of offering a few viable stashes each week before getting to my actual Week 6 rankings. These are teams that I think could be worth picking up now, if you have the roster space, in anticipation of their schedules the next few weeks.
- Indianapolis (@JAC this week, then vs CLE, vs NO, @ CAR, @ NE). The Colts’ defense has had a tough schedule so far, and it’s tough again visiting the Jags this week. But then they get a nice string of matchups in Weeks 7-10 before their Week 11 bye.
- Las Vegas (vs NE this week, then @ CHI, @ DET, vs NYG, vs NYJ). The Raiders are a good pickup to face the struggling Patriots this week, and then they have more good matchups in 3 of the next 4 weeks (I wouldn’t start them against Detroit), before they become droppable again with a tough schedule for Week 11 onwards.
- New York Giants (@BUF this week, then vs WAS, vs NYJ). The Giants are absolutely not usable this week against Buffalo, but then they get two home games against two of the most fantasy defense-friendly offenses in the league.
- Washington (@ATL this week, then @NYG, vs PHI, @ NE). The Commanders are a risky start this week after they got upset by the Bears last week. But if they can bounce back, I’ll feel good about starting them Week 7 against the Giants and Week 9 against the Patriots.
Week 6 D/ST Projections
This is a relatively good week for streaming, with only two teams on bye (GB and PIT), and three mid-tier defenses in good matchups that are rostered in less than 10% of leagues. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Twitter.
| Rank | Team | Vs. | Vs. QB | PA | Sacks | Turnovers | FPTS | Rost% |
| The Start Them With Confidence Tier | ||||||||
| 1 | BUF | NYG | Tyrod Taylor | 15.25 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 8.00 | 98% |
| 2 | SF | @CLE | Deshaun Watson | 16.5 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 7.79 | 99% |
| 3 | MIA | CAR | Bryce Young | 17.5 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 7.56 | 85% |
| 4 | PHI | @NYJ | Zach Wilson | 17.75 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 7.48 | 97% |
| 5 | BAL | @TEN | Ryan Tannehill | 18.25 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 7.11 | 94% |
| The Still a Fine Choice Tier | ||||||||
| 6 | ATL | WAS | Sam Howell | 19.75 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 7.07 | 9% |
| 7 | MIN | @CHI | Justin Fields | 21 | 3.3 | 1.2 | 6.90 | 5% |
| 8 | KC | DEN | Russell Wilson | 18.75 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 6.89 | 64% |
| 9 | LV | NE | Mac Jones | 19.25 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 6.45 | 2% |
| 10 | WAS | @ATL | Desmond Ridder | 22.25 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 6.34 | 70% |
| The Surely You Can Find Something Better Tier | ||||||||
| 11 | JAC | IND | Gardner Minshew II | 21.25 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 6.15 | 16% |
| 12 | DET | @TB | Baker Mayfield | 20.25 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 6.01 | 87% |
| 13 | SEA | @CIN | Joe Burrow | 24.5 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 5.98 | 16% |
| 14 | CIN | SEA | Geno Smith | 21.5 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 5.98 | 39% |
| 15 | TEN | BAL | Lamar Jackson | 21.75 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 5.83 | 4% |
| 16 | NO | @HOU | C.J. Stroud | 20 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 5.72 | 75% |
| 17 | HOU | NO | Derek Carr | 21.5 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 5.61 | 28% |
| 18 | CLE | SF | Brock Purdy | 21.5 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 5.54 | 29% |
| 19 | NE | @LV | Jimmy Garoppolo | 22.25 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 5.51 | 67% |
| 20 | CHI | MIN | Kirk Cousins | 23.5 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 5.38 | 1% |
| 21 | DAL | @LAC | Justin Herbert | 24.5 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 5.22 | 99% |
| 22 | ARI | @LAR | Matthew Stafford | 27.5 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 5.22 | 2% |
| 23 | LAR | ARI | Joshua Dobbs | 21 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 5.21 | 2% |
| 24 | NYJ | PHI | Jalen Hurts | 24.25 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 5.04 | 71% |
| 25 | TB | DET | Jared Goff | 23.25 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 5.00 | 27% |
| 26 | IND | @JAC | Trevor Lawrence | 25.25 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 4.89 | 14% |
| 27 | LAC | DAL | Dak Prescott | 26.5 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 4.65 | 7% |
| 28 | NYG | @BUF | Josh Allen | 29.25 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 4.32 | 2% |
| 29 | DEN | @KC | Patrick Mahomes II | 29.25 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 3.61 | 36% |
| 30 | CAR | @MIA | Tua Tagovailoa | 31 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 3.35 | 6% |
Matchups
- BUF vs NYG: Daniel Jones is questionable to play this week with a neck injury. I’m operating under the assumption that the backup Tyrod Taylor will play. In reality, this is a great matchup either way for the Bills. The only downside is that this game is Sunday rather than Monday night, so we won’t get to watch Eli lose his mind on the ManningCast as the Giants get clobbered in primetime yet again.
- SF @ CLE: Deshaun Watson is also questionable to play this week. He sat out in Week 4 before the bye last week. In his three starts this season Watson had one game I would call good, but not to a degree that should scare the 49ers defense. If Watson sits we’ll see backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson again. He is a fifth-round rookie out of UCLA, and was pretty terrible in his one start this season, wherein he threw as many interceptions as the browns scored points (3) against the Ravens.
- MIA vs CAR: The Bryce Young-let Panthers are still looking for their first win of the season, and the aren’t going to find it in Miami this week. Not only does Miami have an all-timer of an offense, but their defense has shown they can be a fantasy asset in good matchups, scoring 8+ points against the Patriots, Broncos and Giants so far.
- PHI @ NYJ: One of the best defenses in the league against Zach Wilson? Why are you even reading this? If you have the Eagles, you’re starting them.
- BAL @ TEN: The Ravens are in the category of teams that are rostered in most leagues, and are worth starting against all but the best offenses. The Titans might not be a great matchup, but they are a good one – Derrick Henry by himself does not constitute an NFL offense.
- ATL vs WAS: Sam Howell leads the league in sacks taken, with 29 through just five games for an incredible 5.8 per game. For context, a per game rate of 3.0 or higher is great matchup territory. The Falcons aren’t the most exciting defense but they aren’t the liability they were last year, and are very likely to be available in your league.
- MIN @ CHI: Justin Fields has now had back-to-back great games, in a narrow loss to the Broncos and a big upset victory over the Commanders. He’s still maintained a high sack rate and if the Vegas projection of 21 points for the bears holds up, that’s a good fantasy day for Minnesota. If you think Fields can keep it rolling and want to fade the Vikings, I won’t argue. But at 5% rostership, if you need a defense, you can do worse than betting that we’ll get back to the horrible Bears offense we’ve come to know and love.
- KC vs DEN: If you’ve been paying attention, you might have noticed that Russell Wilson has played pretty well this year, especially compared to the disaster that was the 2022 broncos. But the team as a whole is still dysfunctional and no match for the Chiefs. Wilson still has the potential to take a lot of sacks – Washington got to him 7 times in Week 2. But it’s not every game, so Kansas City’s fantasy week is likely to be dependent on turnovers.
- LV vs NE: Bill Belichick is cooked and Mac Jones is the symbolic lack of seasoning. Every Patriots point total has been worse than the previous one, bottoming out with a big fat zero against the Saints last week. Meanwhile we just saw the Raiders defense put the hurt on an actually OK Packers offense on Monday Night football. The only thing keeping Vegas out of my top tier is the fact that Mac Jones isn’t as much of a sack magnet as other bad quarterbacks, and his recent ball security troubles are indeed recent – I’m not expecting 3 turnovers every single game. So while Jones and the Patriots are awful in real NFL terms, their style of awfulness doesn’t quite align with Fantasy defense scoring.
- WAS @ ATL: If your idea of the Washington defense and Atlanta offense is based on the whole season so far, this seems like a very good play. The complication is that last week the Commanders got absolutely embarrassed by the allegedly terrible Bears, while Desmond Ridder played well for Atlanta, even if it only amounted to 21 points. If you think both teams can return to form then you can do worse than the Commanders Defense this week, but you can probably also do better.
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