Fantasy Football Week 6: Underrated Players in PPR Leagues

Welcome back to Week 6’s edition of my article on underrated players.

To begin each week, I will recap the previous week’s performance as a way to measure my picks. I will break down the measurement into two pieces – win-loss and total +/-. Win-loss is pretty basic – the overall record of my picks opposed to the players I suggested to start them over, measured by each player’s points scored. This is more for the fun of it – the real measurement is the total +/-. This is calculated by summing the point differential for each player.

Example: Owen Daniels was one of my TE picks this week. I suggested he be started over Heath Miller and Travis Kelce:

• Daniels’ points: 12
• Miller’s points: 7.6
• Kelce’s points: 9.5

I take the point differential from each individual “match-up” and sum the total. In this case, Daniels was +4.4 against Miller and +2.5 against Kelce, coming to a total differential of +6.9 points. Pretty simple, right? As a side note, I do not include players who did not play in the game, as it would skew the totals. This is written on Wednesday, so anything that causes a player to sit out the game is hard to predict this early in the week. I trust that you all check the inactives before the game and adjust accordingly.

So, on to the breakdown of last week’s performance per position:

Best of the week: Arian Foster – Foster outscored the five (including Andre Ellington and Eddie Lacy, who had big games in their own right) by a combined 77 points.

Runner-up: Golden Tate – Tate outscored the 4 WRs by a combined 46.7 points.

Worst of the week: Markus Wheaton – Wheaton was outscored by a combined 36 points. Coming into the week, he had caught at least four balls in each game and averaged almost 11 points per game only to come up with one catch against the lowly Jags.

Runner-up: Bishop Sankey – Just when it looked like Sankey was starting to come into his own, he throws up a stinker, netting only 2.7 points and getting outscored by a combined 25.5.

Quarterbacks

Kirk Cousins – Washington Redskins
FantasyPros ECR – 19

Cousins has had an up-and-down season since taking over for RGIII a few weeks ago. But even in the awful performance against the Giants, he still scored 14 points. He played very well against Seattle, the 4th-best pass defense by efficiency, and has once again inspired my confidence in him. With the weapons he has around him and a pass-happy offense, Cousins is in a position to put up solid numbers weekly. Arizona is in the bottom half of pass efficiency and has given up the 5th-most points to QBs, granted Peyton Manning has a lot to with that. However, I think Washington will be able to move the ball, and given Arizona’s stiff run defense, that is likely to be via air.

Consider starting him over:

• Tony Romo – ECR 17
• Cam Newton – ECR 16
• Tom Brady – ECR 14
• Nick Foles – ECR 10

Joe Flacco – Baltimore Ravens
FantasyPros ECR – 15

Flacco struggled last week against the Colts, but despite the general consensus about the Colts D, their passing defense is quite good and they have a lock-down corner in Vontae Davis. Things change a little bit this week with a matchup against the Bucs, who are near the bottom of the barrel in essentially every pass defense category you can find. I expect Flacco and Steve Smith to get their connection going again, but I also think they will use this opportunity to get Torrey Smith on track. Harbaugh indicated as much this week. That could mean continued passing even if the game is in hand, as they won’t want to hamper their offense while the game is still in doubt.

Consider starting him over:

• Tom Brady – ECR 14
• Nick Foles – ECR 10

Running Backs
Ahmad Bradhsaw – Indianapolis Colts
FantasyPros ECR – 15

Bradshaw continues to be the better half of a timeshare, but his workload is unlikely to increase barring an injury to Richardson. However, he has been plenty productive in his role, especially as a receiver out of the backfield. Houston ranks 25th in run defense efficiency and is middle of the pack in fantasy points allowed. The key here is that this is a Thursday night game. These games have been atrocious to watch, but there has been a consistent trend – teams with a new head coach and new QB have been slaughtered by teams with established QBs and head coaches. This is likely due to the short week of preparation, which easily favors the more experienced tandem. Well, based on that paradigm, the Colts should keep that trend going. They certainly have the firepower on offense to do it. I expect an explosion from the Colts offensively, but perhaps more importantly for Bradshaw, a lot of running plays in the 2nd half to milk the clock.

Consider starting him over:

• Lamar Miller (IF Moreno plays) – ECR 14
• Frank Gore – ECR 13

Storm Johnson – Jacksonville Jaguars
FantasyPros ECR – 45

An unproven rookie on a bad team with nothing but a good matchup and the promise for more opportunities. Seems like I tried this last week with Sankey and that didn’t work out so well. Why would I try again? I guess you could say I’m stubborn, or stupid….your call.

Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson have done next to nothing and Johnson got his only carries of his career last week….a grand total of four, which he turned into 27 yards for a nice average of 6.8 yards per carry. Granted, that’s as small of a sample size as you can get, but it was a lot more than any other back on the Jags has been able to do. Tennessee is ranked 26th in run defense efficiency and is rock bottom in stopping “power” runs. Johnson is a power back and it is being reported that he is destined for more carries. The Jags OC has also stated he wants to get down to a 2 RB rotation as opposed to the 3-4 backs they have been using the past few weeks. Given the Jags have nothing to play for other than developing the future, Storm should begin getting some looks to evaluate exactly what they have in him.

This would definitely be in the “desperation play” category, but with the array of injuries and some good RBs on bye, there will be owners in desperation mode that should give Storm a shot.

Consider starting him over:

• Shonn Greene – ECR 37
• Jerick McKinnon – ECR 34

Wide Receivers

Roddy White – Atlanta Falcons
FantasyPros ECR – 23

The Falcons head back to the dome where they are considerably better than on the road. In White’s only home game this season (sat out Week 3 on a short week), he went for 6/72/1, which would be a solid 19 points in a PPR league. Chicago is ranked 27th in pass efficiency against WR2’s and 21st in points allowed to the WR position. This game has the makings of a shootout with two high-flying pass offenses against two terrible pass defenses. This game could easily reach 70 total points scored, and I like White’s chances of playing a large part in that.

Consider starting him over:

• Kelvin Benjamin – ECR 22
• DeAndre Hopkins – ECR 19
• Andre Johnson – ECR 15

Keenan Allen – San Diego Chargers
FantasyPros ECR – 28

Allen has been largely disappointing to this point in the season, having only one big game which came against the Jags. Well, the good news for Allen is the Raiders are on the docket this week, and they are even worse against the pass than Jags. Not only do they rank 29th in overall pass defense efficiency, they rank 28th against WR1s. While they are surprisingly decent in terms of fantasy points allowed, that is in large part due to the weak passing teams they have faced thus far. San Diego has the best passing offense in the league from an efficiency standpoint. If Allen doesn’t do it this week, it hard to see him breaking out of this slump anytime soon.

Consider starting him over:

• Reggie Wayne – ECR 27
• Pierre Garcon – ECR 25
• Kelvin Benjamin – ECR 22

Justin Hunter – Tennessee Titans
FantasyPros ECR – 35

Hunter finally had the breakout game we were expecting – kind of. Three catches for 99 yards and a TD, but most of that came on one play. Still, Hunter was plugged into the starting lineup for the first time last season and he responded with a solid performance. As mentioned previously, the Jags are awful against the pass. If Charlie Whitehurst ends up starting, this becomes questionable. But if Jake Locker is able to go, I expect another good outing from Hunter.

Consider starting him over:

• Larry Fitzgerald – ECR 33
• Michael Crabtree – ECR 34

Tight Ends
Dwayne Allen – Indianapolis Colts
FantasyPros ECR – 14

Allen has been getting more looks in the passing game and finally seems to be surpassing Coby Fleener for the primary TE role. In an explosive offense that spreads the ball around, that can be a lucrative position to be in. As I have already mentioned, I expect a big performance from the Colts this week, and Allen could very easily catch a TD, but should at the very least put up some yards on a handful of catches. Houston represents a tougher matchup for TEs, but the short week strongly favors the Colts.

Consider starting him over:

• Niles Paul – ECR 13
• Jason Witten – ECR 11

Jordan Reed – Washington Redskins
FantasyPros ECR – 18

Reed appears to be on track to play in Week 6, but I will caveat this by stating if he doesn’t appear to be close to 100 percent, ignore this recommendation. We all know Reed is an explosive athlete and can produce big numbers when healthy. So, why not play him when he is actually healthy? Cousins has shown a tendency to throw to the TE position and Arizona is 28th in points allowed to that position. Take advantage of Reed while he is able to play – lord only knows how long he will stay healthy.

Consider starting him over:

• Jared Cook – ECR 16
• Eric Ebron – ECR 15
• Zach Ertz – ECR 12

Note: The ECR listed above are based on PPR scoring, via FantasyPros and current when this article was written.

Follow me on Twitter (@rw11687) and good luck in Week 6!