Game Info
Kickoff: Sunday, October 17th, at 1:00 PM ET
Location: FedExField, Landover, Maryland
Betting Odds: WAS +7, 55.5 over/under total via Oddsshark
Network: CBS
Washington Football Team
Quarterback
Taylor Heinicke (Start, QB2)
Taylor Heinicke comes into week 6 looking to get back to his touchdown throwing ways. In week 5 he was held off the scoreboard and added 2 interceptions. In the previous 4 games, he had 8 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He gets a good get-right matchup in the Chiefs. According to CBS, the Chiefs are 31st in giving up points to the quarterback position. The biggest issue for Heinicke is his weapons. He is lacking the good 3rd and 4th options so it can be easy to take away his first read and make him throw to wide-outs who don’t have the skills. I do like Heinicke’s rushing ability. He’s not the top end like Josh Allen but has 40+ in the past two games and has 1 score on the season. Those sneaky rushing points will be enough to get him close to the QB1 spot. With 4 teams on byes and injuries, I think Heinicke is an okay start this week.
Running Backs
Antonio Gibson (Start, RB1), J.D. McKissic (Sit, Flex) Jaret Patterson (Sit)
The Washington backfield has been confusing this season. Most of that revolves around J.D. McKissic. He has been so hit or miss every week that it makes it hard to start him. He gets most of his fantasy points in the passing game but has been up and down in his production. Week 5 was a down week for McKissic. So will McKissic continue his trend and have a good fantasy day in week 6? I’m going to say no. What we saw in week 5 was a heavy workload for Antonio Gibson. He had 20 carries which he hasn’t seen anywhere close to since week 1. This was coming after reports of him having a shin injury that he was going to play through. He wasn’t super efficient on those carries but it showed they wanted to feed him. We also saw rookie Jaret Patterson get involved. He has 4 carries for 13 yards. That’s two more carries the McKissic. I think Gibson is an RB1 against a bad rushing defense in the Chiefs. He probably won’t get the huge volume like he saw in week 5 but should be more efficient in his carries. The game script and vegas line seem to indicate that the Football Team will be playing from behind so McKissic could get some passing work and is a low-end flex play if you need it with a bye but I’m looking for another option. Patterson is someone I’m stashing where I can. It does appear that if Gibson were to miss time he would get a huge increase in touches. He also had a red zone rush which could lead to future scoring opportunities.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Terry McLaurin (Start, WR1), DeAndre Carter (Sit, Flex), Curtis Samuel (Sit), Adam Humphries (Sit), Rickey Seals-Jones (Start, TE2)
Despite a non-scoring week 5 for the Washington passing offense Terry McLaurin saw 11 targets. He only caught 4 of them which isn’t great for the stat line. The volume is still there for Scary Terry which makes him a high-end WR1 against the Chiefs who have been torched this season by wide receivers. DeAndre Carter saw 8 targets in week 5. He seemed to be the number two option for Heinicke and benefitting from Logan Thomas going down with an injury in week 3. Curtis Samuel had another disappointing game in week 5. He was only targeted once and failed to catch that pass. Samuel went down with a groin injury and is listed as week to week so he probably won’t play this week. Adam Humphries is also there and is actually listed as the other starter across from McLaurin but hasn’t done much this season besides catching some longer throws. He cant be trusted. Ricky Seals-Jones could be an interesting start in week 6. The Chiefs just got burnt by Dawson Knox. Seals-Jones has taken most of the Logan Thomas targets and is second on the team in red-zone targets with 4.
Kansas City Chiefs
Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes (Start, QB1)
What is there to say about Patrick Mahomes other than start him. He is still uber talented. The interceptions this season have not been great. He already has 6 which is the same number he put up all of last season. His first year as a starter he had 12. So unless something changes he will surpass that number. Even with those interceptions, he has 16 touchdowns and 1490 yards. What makes Mahomes one of the top fantasy quarterbacks is that he can easily have an amazing game. Much like he did in week 4 where he threw for 5 touchdowns. Not many quarterbacks have that possibility every week. The matchup is great with the worst defense for giving points to the quarterback and a game script that looks to be a high-scoring affair.
Running Backs
Darrel Williams (Start, RB2), Jerick McKinnon (Sit, low-end Flex)
With Clyde Edwards-Helaire going down with a knee injury Darrel Williams looks to take over the KC backfield. Williams was already getting worked into the running game for KC so he should continue his attempts upswing. In relief of CEH in week 5 he had 5 rushes for 27 yards. Not exactly setting the world on fire with those stats but his 5.40 yards per attempt is promising. It was also a game where KC was trailing the Buffalo Bills and needed to throw the ball more. Even more promising was that Williams fits into the KC passing offense where he saw 5 targets. What’s not great is his lack of use in the red zone. He lost that work to Jerick McKinnon. McKinnon saw the only running back target in the RedZone in week 5 after CEH went down. For the whole season, Edwards-Helaire only has 8 red zone rushing attempts. One would hope that on short-yardage Williams would get some carries but it hasn’t panned out that way yet. It limits his upside if he doesn’t get touchdowns. I think Williams is a solid Rb2 for week 6 and going forward until CEH is back. McKinnon is nothing more than a long shot flex play which you might need during bye weeks.
Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends
Tyreek Hill (Start, WR1), Mecole Hardman (Sit), Travis Kelce (Start), Byron Pringle (Sit), Josh Gordon (Sit)
The KC passing offense has been good but not great this year. We haven’t seen the team that can go 70+ yards on 2 plays and score. Personally, that’s better for fantasy, especially in PPR leagues. Tyreek Hill hasn’t been himself lately outside of week 4. Teams have been playing 2 high safeties which haven’t allowed Hill to use his speed and get past defenders for long bombs. He is still a WR1 due to him being one of the main targets on the team and his ability on one play to get your 70 yards and a score. This week 6 game against the Washington Football Team looks to be a high-scoring one. Hill got 13 targets in the loss to Buffalo in week 5. He should get 10+ this week as well. He is dealing with a minor knee injury but nothing that will keep him from playing. Travis Kelce is the second option in the passing game. He is showing why he is the top tight end in the league. For fantasy, he has only been disappointing one week. He has scored every week except 2 and one of the weeks he did not score he put up 7 catches for 104 yards. Hill and Kelce make up for 15 of the team’s 31 red-zone targets. After Hill and Kelce it looks like Mecole Hardman has taken the wide receiver 2 spot with Sammy Watkins going to the ravens. Hardman hasn’t done much in this role. He has only scored once and has only 2 games over 50 yards. He did see 12 targets in week 5 in a shoot-out-style game. I’m not sure that is predictable enough to make him startable. He is also losing targets to Byron Pringle. Pringle has been very reliable on his targets catching 9 of his 14. It’s not enough volume to make him a fantasy-relevant player but enough to hurt the value of players like Hardman and Josh Gordon.
– Dustin Ludke (Dunit13dl on Reddit)