Game Previews: All Fantasy Relevant Players For Week 6

Photo by Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire

Each week, our staff here at QB List will be previewing all the fantasy-relevant things you should be on the lookout for in this week’s games. Today, we preview all the upcoming Week 6 action.

Buccaneers vs. Falcons

Buccaneers

Back on the Field

The flash in the pan is over with Ryan Fitzpatrick and coming off of a BYE, Jameis Winston is once again set to lead Tampa Bay’s offense. For as many the field issues as Winston has or his strength of character, he has also been an incredibly average quarterback. He has seen improvements year-to-year since he was drafted in 2015 and given what Fitzpatrick was able to do with this offense, Winston seems poised to take another step forward. Week Six against Atlanta is a tasty matchup and Winston should be universally streamed.

Fantasy Prediction

Jameis Winston: 24 points

Running back by Committee?

Week Four saw Ronald Jones finally make the active roster and play in an NFL game. The 2018 second round pick only mustered 2.9 YPC on 10 carries, which was only marginally better than Peyton Barber’s 3.4 YPC on seven carries. Notably, Jones got more carries despite Barber getting more snaps (20/31 snap split). Despite Atlanta’s weak run defense, neither Jones or Barber are a guaranteed start as their usage in Week Six is still a mystery.

Fantasy Prediction

Ronald Jones: 8

Peyton Barber: 5

Who will be Jameis Winston’s Third Wide Receiver

Mike Evans should remain the focal point of Tampa Bay’s offense and DeSean Jackson should continue to boom-or-bust. Still, under Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chris Godwin was a red zone threat that received a good piece of Tampa Bay’s target share. In Jameis Winston’s stint in Week Four, Adam Humphries seemed to have that edge with seven total targets. Week Six may be a bad week to make this determination as Winston should be throwing it all around given Atlanta’s porous defense – but his early looks should be a good indication of who to trust week-to-week as Tampa Bay has a system that can support three fantasy wide receivers.

Fantasy Prediction

Mike Evans: 20

DeSean Jackson: 10

Chris Godwin: 5

Adam Humphries: 5

To Trust a Tampa Bay Tight End?

O.J. Howard is still out in Week Six with an MCL sprain, meaning Cameron Brate should receive the bulk of the team’s tight end duties. To-date Tampa Bay has split 27 targets between Howard and Brate for an average of 3.3 targets-per-game. As above, this is subject to change with Jameis Winston at the helm and Brate asserted himself over the past two seasons as a go-to red zone target for Winston. Brate is still boom-or-bust until his target share goes up, but he makes for a solid streamer in Week Six against Atlanta.

Fantasy Prediction

Cameron Brate: 7

Does Tampa Bay Have a Defense?

No.

Fantasy Prediction

Tampa Bay D/ST: -2

The Picks

Boom Pick: Jameis Winston

Bust Pick: DeSean Jackson

Sleeper Pick: Cameron Brate

-Brennen Gorman

Falcons

With the Falcons back at home, do you expect QB Matt Ryan to rebound from his poor performance last week?

Ryan and the Falcons left a lot to be desired in Pittsburgh last week. Ryan was sacked six times and slumped in what should have been a juicy matchup. He has performed as one of the best QBs when at home this season and has a chance to do just that Sunday. The Bucs have allowed an average of 358 yards per game through the air, giving Matt Ryan the chance to be the number 1 QB this week.

With RB Devonta Freeman out, how do you think Tevin Coleman will perform? Does rookie RB Ito Smith provide any value?

In the games that Freeman has been out this season, Coleman has mostly been a letdown. He has every opportunity to be a top-five back, given the volume, but has not turned in that kind of day with other chances during the season. Much of this is due to game flow and the number of times the Falcons have to abandon the run game due to their poor defense. Ito Smith has been getting more involved as the season progresses and is taking away from some of Coleman’s value. Smith was the only back last week to secure a score and could sneak into some flex value this week. Given the volume and the matchup, fire Tevin Coleman up as an RB2, but temper expectations based on earlier games this season.

Is every Falcons WR worth a look this week, given the matchup?

With this matchup and Ryan expected to sling it plenty, I would suggest every piece of both offenses get a look this week. WR Julio Jones is your locked and loaded starter, but I would use WR Mohamed Sanu and WR Calvin Ridley as flexes at least. Each WR should give you a double-digit PPR performance. Hopefully, Julio will finally break his scoreless touchdown streak.

TE Austin Hooper performed well last week. Any chance you roll him out again?

Hooper was the third best TE last week in PPR and Tampa Bay is now the worst team against TEs in fantasy. As I said, all pieces of both offenses should get a look and given the state of the position, you could do a lot worse than Hooper.

Boom/Bust/Sleeper

Boom: QB Matt Ryan

Bust: NONE

Sleeper: RB Ito Smith

-Aaron Rader