Week 5 was good eatin’. Last week we said Matthew Stafford was a good play, and while he only posted 180 yards, his 3 TDs really buoyed his value and illustrated how having zero "true" running backs can affect things. Matt Ryan also got slipped below Brian Hoyer, Dak Prescott and Jameis Winston, which was the correct call on all three counts. Sam Bradford was a QB1 worthy of his bump. Todd Gurley didn’t dazzle (barely over 3 YPC). Eddie Lacy didn’t find the end zone (though he looked good before getting hurt). Randall Cobb had a nice game. Brice Butler had a TD nullified by an illegal shift penalty (sigh). Rob Gronkowski did well, but my Martellus Bennett bump was righteously justified. Overall, the calls really hit.

Now it’s time to review my rankings for Week 6 and look at how they stack up against the Expert Consensus among my peers at FantasyPros, commenting on any standouts or points of contention. Assume standard rankings when I say that a player is X spots ahead or below consensus.

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Week 6 Quarterbacks - Rankings Analysis

Awful lot of chalk at the top, but I really can’t disagree with how things look in the top-10 after the dust had settled. There are some truly fantastic plays out there, with a rested Drew Brees at home against the soft Panthers secondary (the Bucs did not do a good job attacking them in Week 5) being the top play.

So we scroll a bit to find our first real point of contention and it comes in the form of Eli Manning. He has now put together two consecutive clunkers in primetime games, and honestly he deserves a lot of the blame. While Bob McAdoo had some horrific playcalling gaffes against a second-string GB secondary (seriously, just dink-and-dunk if you need to), Eli Manning missed many throws.

However, I still like him as a candidate to post low-end QB1 numbers (#12 vs. #16 consensus) as the Giants cannot keep on trying to run Orleans Darkwa into walls and leave Manning holding the ball for five seconds on throws while Ereck Flowers gets wrecked. I expect quick throws that allow him to gain confidence and stay off of his back, and potentially getting Rashad Jennings back would also be huge.

On the other side of the ball, Joe Flacco (#20 vs. #24 consensus) should be able to have success over the middle of the field – and perhaps on a deep ball – against this Giants secondary. NYG played admirably against Jordy Nelson, but Randall Cobb and Davante Adams whipped them. Mike Wallace could break a big one, but mostly it boils down to Dennis Pitta having a field day against the Giants LBs. I want Flacco over Philip Rivers against Denver, and I actually would take Brock Osweiler (#21 vs. #26 consensus, he’s facing IND at home) over Rivers too.

 

Week 6 Running Backs - Rankings Analysis

Le’Veon Bell may actually require something higher than #1 for this week. Miami just is not good.

I’ll be taking the same approach with Jamaal Charles that I did with Gronk, show me first before I really prop you up (#24 vs. #17 consensus). I know, Oakland is a juicy matchup and this is in no way me saying that you bench him, as #24 is still the cusp of RB2 value, but I’m not feeling froggy here. In Week 4 Spencer Ware played on 72% of the snaps, with Charles chipping in 13%. I don’t think it’ll all of a sudden turn to Charles getting 65% or anything, but as we said Oakland is an A-grade matchup anyway.

Meanwhile I’ve got Devontae Booker up at #34 against a #47 consensus rank, as Denver really showed their confidence in the rookie in Week 5 with a 41% snap count and 12 touches (C.J. Anderson had 51% and 15 touches). While I don’t expect this to necessarily be a full-blown timeshare or anything, I do think that Booker has shown himself to be an effective runner that allows Anderson to stay fresh while alleviating some pressure off of what will likely be a less than 100% Trevor Siemian under center.

 

Week 6 Wide Receivers - Rankings Analysis

Willie Snead (#22 vs. #27 consensus) gets vaulted into the WR2 tier for me, for all of the aforementioned reasons supporting Drew Brees as the #1 QB play. While it’d be silly to expect the exact same results, the only home game Snead played in this season was Week 1 against Oakland, when he posted a 9-172-1 line. That’d just be silly to expect, right? Right? Carolina’s slot CB Robert McClain (PFF Grade: 50.1) and free safety Kurt Coleman (PFF Grade: 50.8) are just bad.

Cameron Meredith (#35 vs. #42 consensus) deserves more love, he really does. This is not a fluky guy who fell into one good game. This is a guy who Chicago is actively involving as their flanker and who actually out-snapped (and doubled the targets of) Alshon Jeffery in Week 5.

He clearly has a good thing going with Brian Hoyer thus far, and now he likely draws the horrible coverage of Davon House (PPF Grade: 35.5) or backup Josh Johnson, since House didn’t actually play on the majority of snaps for the first time all season in Jacksonville’s Week 4 game against the Colts. T.Y. Hilton and Philip Dorsett both found the end zone anyway though. Jacksonville has surrendered seven TDs to opposing WRs in only four games, and the usage patterns point to Meredith as the big benefactor here.

 

Week 6 Tight Ends - Rankings Analysis

Remember how we talked about Dennis Pitta (#10 vs. #14 consensus) in connection to Joe Flacco’s bump earlier? Well let’s explore that a bit more. Interestingly enough, the Giants have actually clamped down on tight ends compared to last season’s narrative, but they’ve really only faced and limited one above-average TE (Jordan Reed’s Week 3: 4-56-0). Yes, Crockett Gillmore saw a lot more work in Week 5 to the tune of seven targets and a 4-28-1 line, but Pitta still led with eight targets and had a 7-59-0 line. Gillmore may get his, but that may have been an outlier and regardless it’s still Pitta’s show for sure.

If you read my Week 6 Waiver Wire piece, then you saw that I recognize C.J. Fiedorowicz’s (#23 vs. #28 consensus) opportunity here. Ryan Griffin is in the concussion protocol and it really looks like Fiedorowicz should be in line for heavy utilization in Week 6 against a Colts defense that just let Zach Miller collect a 7-73 line. The only other big TE they’ve faced is Eric Ebron, who got a 5-46-1 line in Week 1 against them. This game has a nice 46 point total according to most of the Vegas books, so getting a sneaky little-known piece in Fiedorowicz as a TE2 stream makes for a savvy move.

I’d rather talk more about the skill positions than include kicker or defense, as they are far less interesting to me. Feel free to send me a vitriolic message should you want them back, I’ll listen I swear.

 

Check out all of RotoBaller's fantasy football rankings. Staff rankings are updated regularly for all positions and include standard formats, PPR scoring, tiered rankings and dynasty leagues.