Game Previews: All Fantasy Relevant Players For Week 6

Cardinals vs. Vikings

Cardinals

It may be an ugly showing for the Cardinals this week. Plain and simple, this team is not at the same level as the Vikings despite their defensive “woes” in comparison to what was expected. There continues to be a feeling out process for the new weapons in this offense while Mike McCoy plays heads or tails on whether or not to give the ball to his star running back, David Johnson.

Who will be Josh Rosen’s favorite target this week?

In short, who knows!? Josh Rosen has promised better real-football potential than fantasy due to the fact that he spreads the ball around fairly well. His two touchdowns have gone to Chad Williams and Christian Kirk. Many expect Kirk to continue moving into 1B position in this offense behind Larry Fitzgerald due to his big play ability. His strong performance last week came primarily on one 75-yard touchdown, hurting his outlook this week. Fitzgerald looks to finally be dropping off in production thanks to a hamstring injury. He is among the league leaders in target share, but he is simply not the player he’s been when healthy the past two seasons.

Inconsistent numbers and limited upside from Rosen against a high-talent defense limits pretty much everyone involved in the passing game. In desperate positions, the lucky receiver to find a touchdown will find FLEX value, but it’ll be difficult to sort out who that is prior to kickoff.

Is it time to say David Johnson is back?

No. Every week these previews cast doubt over Johnson’s performances because they are overly touchdown reliant. Players like Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley are utilizing touchdowns to push their way to the front of the pack after setting a scoring foundation with their yardage. Johnson is yet to run for 75 yards in a game, relying desperately on scores for startable numbers in fantasy. To Johnson’s (and begrudgingly McCoy’s) credit, he has scored five times in five weeks. On the other hand, Minnesota is yet to allow a rushing touchdown to opposing backs this year. Hardly an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, Johnson will again be needing to find his way into the end zone to play as an RB1 this week.

Miscellaneous Notes

Backup running back Chase Edmonds is questionable with a back injury. Otherwise, the Cardinals go into Minnesota with good health (everyone is banged up at this point) and options for Rosen in this offense. Rosen is starting his third game and finds himself in a position to prove his worth against a defense that has underperformed despite high expectations. This team was given three to four weeks to sort it out with Rosen at the helm, this could serve as a benchmark performance moving forward.

-Michael Collins

Vikings

The Vikings are coming off of a HUGE win against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, where we saw Linval Joseph rumbling down the field for a touchdown after scooping up a fumble. This week, the Vikings host the abysmally run Arizona Cardinals this week and I’ve got a Thielen that this one is going to go well for the Vikings. Let’s jump in.

Who will get their Madden rating changed this week?

This is great. News broke on Friday that Madden 19 changed Linval Joseph’s speed rating to 80 overall after clocking in at a max speed of 18 mph on his fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Pure. Awesomeness. This week, Dalvin Cook is trending up with being a full participant and removed from the injury report. It is my guess that he doesn’t get a ton of work on the ground, maybe 10-12 carries, but that he gets going in the passing game, raising his overall in the Madden receiving categories. If you can trade for Cook in your league, this may be your last week or two to do that on the cheap. Go out and make an offer to the weary owner of 2nd round flop Dalvin Cook.

Will Kirk Cousins go turnover-free or will he eat buttered popcorn before the game again?

I’m going buttered popcorn. He just hasn’t been able to hold on to the ball. I don’t know what it is, but thank God he can throw the ball with the best of them. And thank God for those guys running routes that seem to get open with ease. I expect this to be an easy game for the Vikings as a whole, and Cousins should put up another solid statline, albeit with a fumble and interception. He is still on pace to go well past 5,000 yards on the year and don’t doubt his ability to throw for 250+ and a couple end zone trips in this one.

Is Adam Thielen a Super Saiyan?

Yes, I believe so. How do you follow up 4 straight 100 yard games? That’s right, just another ho-hum 7/116/1. He now has 47/589/3. Now on pace for a ridiculous 150/1,885/10, he is a top 5 WR1 until further notice. Oh, how I wish I didn’t take LeSean McCoy over him in the third round. What a mistake that was. Adam Thielen will see a lot of Patrick Peterson, but Thielen doesn’t shudder for anybody. The modern-day Goku will rack up his 6th straight 100-yard game in this one and be well on his way to a truly historic season.

Who gets the touchdowns in this one and what is the final score?

I’m going to say that Kyle Rudolph is due a touchdown and that Stefon Diggs also finds his way into the end zone as well. I also think in Cook’s first game off the injury report he will fall into the end zone as well. I also wouldn’t put it past the Vikings defense to get into the end zone going against rookie QB Josh Rosen. My score prediction is 27-12 Vikings.

-Matt Dean