Who should I start in Fantasy Football? NFL Week 6 roster recommendations by position

It’s tough out here for fantasy managers in the 2024 NFL season. It’s been an unpredictable season so far, with Week 5 seeing Kirk Cousins as the QB1 and Joe Flacco as the QB4. Rico Dowdle was one of the top three running backs! Charlie Kolar (who??) was one of the top five tight ends. It’s crazy out here right now.

We’re going to attempt to make some sense of all this and give you some recommendations on who to start as we head into Week 6.

But first, let’s consider the bye week and some noteworthy injuries.

NFL teams on bye week in Week 6: Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins

RELATED: List of every NFL team’s bye week

Notable Week 6 injuries:

Fantasy Football roster recommendations: NFL Week 6

Quarterback:

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has picked up in the last two weeks and has a favorable opponent in the Detroit Lions’ weak pass defense. Despite struggling against the Steelers defense in Week 5, he still managed to get 352 yards and two touchdowns. Rico Dowdle may be picking up too, but the Cowboys will still rely much more on the passing game, which is good for Prescott managers.

You should pretty much start any quarterback playing the Jacksonville Jaguars (who have allowed 23 fantasy points per game to QBs this season) and this week, that’s the Bears’ rookie QB Caleb Williams. Williams has put up 17+ fantasy points in two of his last two games and is improving each week. Last week’s game against the Carolina Panthers was his best yet with 304 yards and two touchdowns bringing him to 23.56 fantasy points.

After an incredibly underwhelming start to the season through four Games, Falcons QB Kirk Cousins had an explosive breakout Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, with 509 passing yards and four touchdowns, bringing his total fantasy points to 35.4, the most of any quarterback in Week 5. Will he do that every week? Unlikely. But a matchup against the Carolina Panthers defense is pretty damn favorable.

Running Back:

Despite his first three uneventful weeks, Bears RB D’Andre Swift has had two big Games in a row now, racking up 49.5 fantasy points over Weeks 4 and 5. Against the Jaguars’ vulnerable run defense, Swift is a must-start this week.

Jaguars RB Tank Bigsby also had an explosive week for the Jaguars, with 129 yards and two touchdowns (and 25.9 fantasy points) against the Indianapolis Colts in their first win of the season. While Travis Etienne is out with an injury, the Jaguars continue to rely on Bigsby on the ground.

While Breece Hall was the Jets’ running back to get before the season started, he’s been one of the worst this season so far, while Braelon Allen has been outperforming him. This week, he has an incredibly favorable matchup against the Buffalo Bills’ weak run defense who are allowing 5.2 yards per carry and the most fantasy points per game to RBs.

Wide Receiver:

Falcons WR Darnell Mooney made a statement in their win over the Bucs in Week 5. He’s become one of Kirk Cousins’ favorite targets, with 16 on Sunday for 105 yards and two touchdowns, good for 31.5 fantasy points. He’s up against the Panthers this week, who have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing receivers (allowing eight receiving touchdowns and giving up 35.52 points per game to opposing WRs).

CoMMAnders WR Terry McLaurin is the WR1 in Washington and is up against a struggling Ravens defense allowing the second-most fantasy points per Game to wide receivers. Against the Bengals last week, they gave up 392 yards and five touchdowns to quarterback Joe Burrow. Jayden Daniels is emerging as a strong MVP candidate and McLaurin is on the receiving end of that.

Ravens receiver Zay Flowers has been extremely inconsistent this season, so it’s been hard to know when to start him and when not. Against the Commanders’ defense, he’s more likely to have one of his big games. Though they’ve improved a bit in the last week, they are still allowing the fourth-most fantasy points per game to WRs.

Tight End:

Over the last two weeks, Packers TE Tucker Kraft has outscored all other tight ends and as long as Christian Watson is out, he should continue to play a big role. In Week 5, he had a career-high 88 receiving yards and two touchdowns. It’s been hard to know which TEs can be trusted week after week (Kraft had fewer than six points in each of his previous three games), but against the Panthers secondary, he should be trusted for at least another week.

Commanders TE Zach Ertz is valuable based on his volume, which he’s been seeing much more of and should continue to see more of in their game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6, and likely against the Panthers in Week 7 as well.

Bucs TE Cade Otton has seen an increase in production in his last three games with a 19.2% target share and 47.7 receiving yards per game. With slim pickings at the tight end position, Otton is one to take a gamble on against the New Orleans Saints, who have allowed the most yards per reception to tight ends.