2015 Fantasy Football: Gold Mine, Week 6
And another one bites the dust. Of course we are talking about Jamaal Charles who, as you should know by now, has torn his ACL and will be missing the rest of the season, which would be the second time of his career missing a large chunk of time due to an injury like this.
But of course, Charles isn’t the only one as Tyrod Taylor is potentially going to miss time. Julio Jones is nursing a hamstring injury and at this time Alshon Jeffery may be out until 2019 – being facetious of course.
The 2015 season has most certainly been a volatile one, with more than five first round picks either injured, suspended or playing extremely poorly. Thankfully players like Chris Ivory, Devonta Freeman, Willie Snead and others have made it a bit easier to swallow.
However, there are still plenty of players who can hold true value for you and your fantasy rosters from here on out. As always we will examine the following players who are all owned in less than 35% of ESPN leagues. Don’t play in ESPN leagues? Don’t fret, check out each players ownership on Yahoo, NFL and their salary prices for Fanduel and DraftKings.
Antonio Andrews (TEN): ESPN: 31.9; Yahoo: 15; NFL: 5.3; FD: 5.4K; DK: 3.4K
I held off on talking about Antonio Andrews a few weeks back because he was heading into a bye that week and thought it would be better use of your time to understand the trends of players playing that week than to look towards the future. However, the future is here and now and you should be rostering Antonio Andrews as fast as you can. Bishop Sankey has clearly lost favor in Tennessee and has failed to reach more than 14 touches in a single game this season including just 15 touches total over the last two weeks combined. Andrews hasn’t been a touch machine in his own right only getting the ball 13 and 10 times respectively over the last two games but he is getting the ball in the red zone scoring twice and hitting double-digit fantasy points in both games. The Titans had a bit of a tough match up last week against the Bills but have a much better match up this week against the reeling 0 – 4 Dolphins who are coming off back – to – back 125+ yard games to running backs including a 173 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Jets two weeks ago. Andrews should see more touches as the season progresses to put himself into a perfect RB3 / Flex option for your club with RB2 upside.
Marvin Jones (CIN): ESPN: 29.5; Yahoo: 35; NFL: 6.8; FD: 5.3K; DK: 3.5K
Andy Dalton is on pace for a career year with more than 4,800 yards and 35 touchdowns. A lot of that has to do with him getting all of his weapons back when both Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert returned this year following season ending injuries in 2014. Marvin is becoming a huge contributor for Dalton and has now reeled in at least 45 yards receiving three times this season; five catches at least twice and has scored twice on the year. While Jones has certainly seen his fair share of ups and downs this year with more games of two catches or less than games of five or more this season Dalton is proving that he likes to use Jones to stretch the field at ample times throughout the game and trusts that he will go out and get the ball when he needs to. The Bengals are coming into Buffalo this week with a fairly decent match up as the Bills are ranked as the 27th team in the league against opposing WRs, giving up at least 200+ yards receiving to wide outs three times this season.
Theo Riddick (DET): ESPN: 25.6; Yahoo: 22; NFL: 2.2; FD: 5K; DK: 3.3K
There is no question that Theo Riddick has absolutely zero value for you in a non-ppr league as he has rushed the ball just twice all season. But with both Joique Bell (injury and failing to impress) and Ameer Abdullah (failing to impress) Riddick is quietly becoming one heck of a PPR monster recording numbers we wish would happen regularly from our WR2 spots and that’s a hell of a lot of value for a running back. Riddick has now secured at least five catches in four straight games with at least eight catches in two of them and has two receiving touchdowns on the year. Joique Bell is said to be returning this week but with his lack of performance on the field Theo Riddick still holds a ton of value specifically for a team that is struggling to move the ball offensively and needs to do whatever it can to extend drives. The Chicago Bears are coming to town this week and while they are ranked as the 11th best run defense they are pretty bad against the pass and are currently tied for the most receiving touchdowns given up to half backs. Look for Riddick to be used heavily in the passing game this week as Detroit tries to secure their first victory of the season.
Stefon Diggs (MIN): ESPN: 1.7; Yahoo: 3; NFL: 0.7; FD: 4.5K; DK: 3.5K
Stefon Diggs made quite the splash subbing in for the injured Charles Johnson two weeks ago against the toughest defense against the pass. In that game he reeled in six catches and tied the team in targets for that game while recording 87 yards. Charles Johnson is practicing, albeit in limited fashion; and that could have a negative impact on Diggs, but with the lack of performance coming from Johnson who was expected to be a top tier guy this season Diggs could still see plenty of targets and value this week against the Chiefs who boast the leagues worse passing defense averaging more than 52 points per game against opposing wide outs.
Honorable Mention: Javorius Allen (BAL): ESPN: 6; Yahoo: 13; NFL: 0.8; FD: 5.1K; DK: 4.3K
Buck Allen received a decent amount of hype prior to the start of the season despite running into some fumbling issues of his own during the pre season. Most of that hype led to many drafting the rookie running back in the later rounds of drafts to lock down his potential sleeper value. However, with Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro both leading the team in touches and opportunity Allen was relegated to the back end of the depth chart. This week may not be any different than weeks past however with Taliaferro hitting the injured reserve list and Justin Forsett nursing an injured ankle of his own Allen could get an extended set of opportunities in the Ravens week 6 match up against the 49ers. The 9ers are currently ranked as one of the worst against opposing HBs giving up more than 21 points per game to running backs this season. Of course rostering and potentially playing Allen will be a risky play and one contingent on Forsett’s status heading into the game but if on the field Allen will get plenty of opportunities to perform at a high level.