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Should I start Elic Ayomanor, Zay Flowers, DK Metcalf for Week 6? Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks and recommendations for the 2025 NFL season.
Inconsistency at the wide receiver position often makes it difficult to know when to start certain players on your rosters. While Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf has scored double-digit PPR points in all his contests, Titans WR Elic Ayomanor and Ravens wideout Zay Flowers have not.
Flowers and Ayomanor both have games with under four PPR fantasy points, though the Titans' rookie has three such outings while Flowers has had just one. Both have (reasonably) been much better scorers when they've caught touchdowns.
In Flowers' case, he's more involved with his offense in general and isn't struggling with one of the worst passing games in the NFL. Tennessee's air attack hasn't been very impressive. So let's break down all three and make start or sit recommendations for each!
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Should I Start DK Metcalf for Fantasy Football?
Metcalf is the clear Steelers WR1, and doesn't have a lot of target competition. While offensive coordinator Arthur Smith loves spreading the ball around, it makes sense to get the ball in the hands of a WR that's making around $30 million per year.
He's only had 22 targets in four contests, though. That's simply not sufficient, and it would make sense to get him the ball more. Just for the money he's earning, he should probably be getting eight or more. The problem is that though he's put up nice fantasy scores, he's not separating well. At all.
Among all WRs and TEs (yes including TEs) in the NFL that have run 50 or more routes, DK Metcalf is last in Average Separation Score of -0.135. Second-worst is Pat Freiermuth (lol) with a score of -0.056 (lol)
Foot off the gas now that he has such a big contract?
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) October 9, 2025
His lack of ability to get away from coverage could be a big reason he's not getting the ball as much as one would expect. It's not like he can't play football, but he hasn't been getting a lot of deep downfield targets, and instead has become more of a yards-after-catch threat.
To add to this, Metcalf has never been a physical contested catch threat, despite being 6-foot-4 and weighing nearly 230 pounds. Speed and length are his best attributes. Still, you can't really bench him right now, but he's not a top-12 WR at the moment.
Should I Start Elic Ayomanor for Fantasy Football?
Ayomanor seemed to have snagged the WR1 job from Calvin Ridley, his fellow Titans wideout, after the first few games of the season. But in Week 5, the rookie caught just two passes for 18 yards while playing a season low ratio of offensive snaps. Ridley, meanwhile, racked up 18.1 PPR fantasy points.
The aging veteran caught five passes for 131 yards and was crucial to Tennessee's upset win over the Arizona Cardinals. He looked like a genuine deep threat in that game, and was the Titans' best player throughout the game (except for Peter Skoronski, an offensive lineman).
Calvin Ridley had a BREAKOUT performance against the Cardinals.
But his impact goes way past just the catches and targets.
Calvin’s speed creates GRAVITY and opens up things for his teammates! pic.twitter.com/3H5KCAK0qL
— TicTacTitans (@TicTacTitans) October 8, 2025
The Cardinals do not have a good football team or good defense, but the fact that Ayomanor was overshadowed so much by Ridley isn't a good thing. Even as the Titans are the worst passing offense in the NFL, they seemed to at least be supporting one fringe-relevant wideout.
That might not be the case anymore. It's hard to trust Ayomanor in starting lineups. He's still a rookie, but so is quarterback Cam Ward, who's played like the worst signal-caller in the NFL so far.
Should I Start Zay Flowers for Fantasy Football?
Flowers lost his starting quarterback, Lamar Jackson (hamstring), in Week 4 due to a hamstring injury. Right now, it doesn't look like the former NFL MVP is set to return until Week 8, after the team's Week 7 bye, at the earliest, meaning Flowers will catch passes from backup QB Cooper Rush yet again.
In Week 5, Flowers was targeted five times, catching all his passes for 72 yards. Though he hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 1, he's one of the NFL's best separators, and should continue to have a nice role as the top receiver in his offense.
56-yard completion to Zay Flowers!
📺: CBS + @paramountplus. pic.twitter.com/UKJNpTrhjQ
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 5, 2025
Most of that production came on a 56-yard catch, but he was tackled just short of the end zone. It's probably fine to keep him in your flex spot moving forward, and he's still a must-start in deep leagues. The matchup with the Los Angeles Rams isn't particularly difficult.
L.A. lacks talent in the secondary, and could struggle against one of the league's better route-runners. I'm comfortable keeping him in starting lineups.
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 6 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like DK Metcalf, Elic Ayomanor, Zay Flowers. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 6. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 6 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - DK Metcalf, Elic Ayomanor, Zay Flowers. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 6.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed, our Who Should I Start? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, enhanced search results with data to compare, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 6 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 6 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 6 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 6 searches and comparisons from our 'Who To Start' tool for DK Metcalf, Elic Ayomanor, Zay Flowers compared to others:
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