October is the month when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest.
And so it is in fantasy football. The 5-0 teams aren’t locks to make the playoffs, and the 0-5 teams aren’t dead yet.
The most important weeks of the season lay ahead. Keep grinding, friends.
Here are the 10 most intriguing players of Week 6.
The 10 Most Intriguing Fantasy Football Players of Week 6
The Chicago Bears are licking their wounds after a humiliating 31-7 defeat at the hands of their archrivals, the Green Bay Packers.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson had been rather uncharitable to his northern rivals last season after beating them in overtime in Week 16 and then knocking them out of the playoffs in a stunning come-from-behind victory.
Not only did Johnson get a comeuppance in Green Bay, but it came as Chicago fans were still mourning the death of one of the most beloved Bears of all time, former tight end and head coach Mike Ditka.
Not to make too much out of a single loss, but the Bears could really use a morale boost this week. It appears they might be getting one with QB Caleb Williams’ return from a hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since Week 2.
The Bears crushed the Panthers in Week 1, 59-37, and it seemed as if their offense might be unstoppable. But then Williams was hurt late in a 9-3 loss to a windy day in Chicago. Williams left the field on a cart, and it was feared he’d been lost for the season.
But Williams is expected back for the Bears’ Week 6 game against the Falcons, who have been playing well after an 0-2 start.
Atlanta has a pass-funnel defense. The Falcons have faced a league-low 21.2 rushing attempts per game. The Falcons’ opponents have thrown the ball on 67.6% of their offensive plays – the highest rate in the league. Atlanta is tough to run on and not so tough to throw on.
How thick a layer of rust has Williams accumulated while his hamstring healed? And after running for 65 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers in Week 1, will Williams proactively run so soon after returning from the injury?
Fantasy gamers who invested in TE Colston Loveland and WRs Luther Burden and Rome Odunze hope Williams can rehabilitate those sagging assets. Loveland’s average draft position in half-point PPR leagues was TE3. He is currently TE40 in half-point PPR fantasy points per game. Burden and Odunze had average draft positions of WR23 and WR27, respectively. Burden is WR30 in half-point PPR fantasy points per game. Odunze is WR60.
They call Chicago the City of Big Shoulders. Williams has a lot on his shoulders this week.
The Steelers’ backfield was perceived to be a timeshare between Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren, with Dowdle ostensibly the preferred option on early downs.
Warren has changed those plans.
The proverbial genie who refuses to return to his bottle, Warren was given a larger role after Dowdle endured a double toe dislocation in Week 2. Over the last three weeks, Warren has rolled up 321 rushing yards, 169 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson and Kyren Williams are the only RBs to have scored more half-point PPR fantasy points than Warren since Week 3.
Dowdle has been practicing this week and could return for the Steelers’ road game against the Buccaneers, but there is no pretense of Dowdle getting his early-season role back. Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has made it clear that Warren is now Pittsburgh’s lead back.
Long one of the most efficient RBs in the league, Warren is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Among RBs with at least 20 carries, Warren ranks third in rushing success rate, fifth in rushing yards over expected per carry, seventh in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 10th in yards after contact per attempt, per Fantasy Points Data. In the passing game, Warren is averaging 8.8 yards per target – a freakishly high number for a running back
The genie in the Pittsburgh backfield will try to grant more of his investors’ wishes on Sunday when the Steelers visit the Buccaneers.
It seems as if the mood of Ashton Jeanty stakeholders is melancholy these days.
Please allow me to make the case for Jeanty optimism.
Jeanty is banged up. He came into the season with an ankle injury. You may recall the “War of the Worlds”-type panic that ensued when Jeanty crumpled to the turf during an Aug. 23 practice. Now, Jeanty has plantar fasciitis.
In Week 1, Jeanty had 23 carries for 102 yards against the Dolphins and added six catches for 45 yards and two touchdowns. Those who invested in Jeanty despite the injury concerns rejoiced.
Since then, things haven’t been as bountiful. Jeanty hasn’t scored a touchdown or reached 60 rushing yards in any of his last four games.
And yet, Jeanty is still RB16 in PPR points per game over the last four weeks because of the work he’s doing as a pass catcher. He is on pace for 102 targets, 75 catches and 731 receiving yards.
And this week, as hobbled as Jeanty may be, he gets a friendly matchup with the Bills. The Buffalo run defense continues to be mediocre vs. the run, ranking 19th in DVOA. Buffalo is likely to be without disruptive DT Ed Oliver, who missed Week 5 with a knee injury.
Based on his workload, Jeanty is averaging 20.37 expected fantasy points per game, according to Fantasy Points Data. He trails only Jahmyr Gibbs and Kenneth Walker in expected fantasy points per game.
Jeanty is practicing in full this week, and Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak (who has the Raiders’ offense looking sharp, by the way) said this week that Jeanty’s foot and ankle are starting to feel better.
Fret not, Jeanty enthusiasts. The former Boise State star should be fine.
After manhandling the Bears last week, what might Christian Watson do Sunday night against a wretched Cowboys pass defense?
Watson is having a banner season. Through five weeks, he has 26 catches for 476 yards and six touchdowns to rank WR2 in fantasy scoring behind only Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Watson is averaging 18.2 yards per catch, 12.8 yards per target and 3.10 yards per route run – sterling efficiency numbers.
Last week against the Bears, Watson had six catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns on eight targets. Early in the third quarter, Packers QB Jordan Love appeared to have connected with undrafted rookie free agent J. Michael Sturdivant on a 46-yard completion that would have put the Packers at the Bears’ 1-yard line, but Sturdivant was called for offensive pass interference. On the next play, Love hit Watson for a 53-yard touchdown.
Watson has to be licking his chops at the prospect of facing a Dallas defense that ranks last in the league in DVOA, EPA per pass and opponent passer rating. Watson’s fantasy stakeholders are pretty excited, too.
Is there anything Aaron Rodgers dislikes more than rookie receivers? (Well, other than vaccines?)
Rodgers has been known to freeze out young receivers who were unable to get themselves into particular spots on the field at the exact time the quarterback wanted them to be there.
The Steelers have an injury crisis at wide receiver that is going to push second-round rookie Germie Bernard into an expanded role. Michael Pittman is on IR with a foot injury. Roman Wilson is out with a hand injury. Ben Skowronek is out with a calf injury. Pittsburgh has Bernard, DK Metcalf and little else at receiver for its road game vs. Tampa Bay this Sunday.
Bernard might be the rare rookie who can avoid Rodgers’ wrath. Steelers beat writer Nick Farabaugh reported last week that Rodgers quizzed Bernard about the Colts’ preferred coverages in different situations ahead of last week’s Steelers-Colts game, and Bernard apparently passed the test.
During his college career at Alabama, Bernard was reportedly well-liked by teammates and was praised for his work ethic.
Let’s see if the rookie and the 42-year-old quarterback can click in Week 6. It’s possible Rodgers becomes smitten with his diligent young receiver. It’s also possible Rodgers blows his top and freezes out Bernard when the young receiver is three blades of grass away from where he’s supposed to be while running a 10-yard dig route.
Malik Nabers was said to be banged up going into the Giants’ Week 5 game against the Commanders. He finished with 11 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown on 20 (!) targets.
Jameis Winston threw a season-high 54 passes in the 27-27 tie between the Giants and Commanders, the details of which were largely overshadowed by the bizarre ending to that game, with the Commanders inexplicably failing to get off a game-winning field goal attempt at the end of overtime.
Winston had thrown 22 and 29 passes in his other two starts for the Giants this season. If the Giants’ coaching staff lets Winston go into full YOLO mode, Nabers could put up obscene numbers this season.
Of course, Winston could also throw a bunch of interceptions and force the Giants to bench him, in which case Nabers would work with former Vikings QB JJ McCarthy.
Ask Justin Jefferson how much he enjoyed having McCarthy as his quarterback.
Nabers and Winston are must-see television. In Week 6, they’ll face a Saints pass defense that ranks 27th in DVOA.
Last we saw Tetairoa McMillan, he was gleefully destroying the Detroit Lions’ secondary, catching 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina’s 32-26 win over Detroit.
The Panthers now emerge from a Week 5 bye to face the downtrodden Eagles in Philadelphia.
Poor kickoff coverage cost the Eagles a win against the Jaguars in London last week. Philadelphia’s defense has underachieved, its offensive line is in tatters, and its skill players had already been besieged by injury problems even before the news that Jalen Hurts would be sidelined in Week 6 by a blood clot in his calf.
The eighth overall pick of the 2025 draft, McMillan had 70 catches for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie even though Panthers QB Bryce Young wasn’t particularly good last season.
Young seems to have turned a corner in 2026, so it will be fun to see what McMillan can do over the rest of the season with improved QB play.
McMillan figures to get some face time with Quinyon Mitchell, the Eagles’ outstanding cornerback, on Sunday. That should be an entertaining matchup.
Have we been rug-pulled on Dalton Kincaid?
It seemed as if Kincaid was on the verge of a breakthrough season. Over his first two games, Kincaid had 12 catches for 225 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets. Over his last three games, Kincaid has had four catches for 52 yards on seven targets.
There have been no discernible changes in Kincaid’s snap shares or route participation from the salad days of Weeks 1-2 to the fallow period of Weeks 3-5. Bills QB Josh Allen simply isn’t looking Kincaid’s way very often.
We can probably write off Kincaid’s two-target, one-catch performance last week as an anomaly. Allen only threw 19 passes in that game, so no one other than RB Ty Johnson (four targets) had satisfying target volume.
Kincaid has become a dilemma for his fantasy investors. Do they keep starting Kincaid and risk another dud performance against the Raiders in Week 6? Or do they bench Kincaid and risk missing out on the sort of explosive performances he had in the first two weeks?
David Montgomery is out for Week 6 with a groin injury, leaving Woody Marks as the sole proprietor of the Texans’ backfield. The question is whether Marks will be able to conduct any meaningful business against one of the league’s top run defenses.
Marks and the Texans travel overseas to face the Jaguars in the second week of their two-week London residency. The Jaguars rank No. 1 in DVOA against the run. Jacksonville is giving up a league-low 42 rushing yards per game and 2.5 yards per carry to running backs.
One encouraging matchup note: Since the start of the 2025 season, Marks’ 63-yard rushing day against the Jaguars in Week 10 of last season was the third-best individual rushing performance against Jacksonville. The other two belong to the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, who had 74 and 70 rushing yards against the Jaguars. But Taylor had 21 carries in both of those games. Marks needed only 13 carries to get those 64 rushing yards against the Jags. (Hat tip to my buddy Jake Ciely of The Athletic for that nugget.)
Fantasy managers generally chase projected touch volume when making start/sit decisions at running backs. Marks is a good bet for a dozen or more touches this week, but will they amount to much of anything against the Jaguars?
What should fantasy gamers make of Blake Corum?
In Week 4, Corum played a season-low 13 snaps and only had five carries, one catch and 21 yards from scrimmage. Last week, Corum had 53 receiving yards, scored his first touchdown of the season and finished RB13 in PPR scoring for the week.
In the Rams’ first two games of the season, Corum had 10 touches and 13 touches. In the three games since, he’s had eight, six and eight touches. The games in which Corum had double-digit touches were lopsided affairs – a blowout loss to the 49ers in Week 1, and a blowout win over the Giants in Week 2. This week, the Rams are 12.5-point favorites vs. the Cardinals.
The uptick in passing-game usage bodes well for Corum. In 17 games last season, he had 14 targets and eight catches. Through five games this season, he has 11 targets and eight catches.
Corum probably isn’t going to overtake Williams as the Rams’ lead back anytime soon. The question is whether Corum can offer stand-alone fantasy value. We might get more clues about that in Week 6.
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