Week 6, moving into Week 7, is the midway point of the fantasy regular season. 

At least, it is for everyone who started playing before 2021. 

It is a perfect time to take stock of the league and set the board moving into the second half of the season. 

With full credit to BarstoolBigCat for creating the Tiermaker website, the best tool online for making a Power Poll, it's time for the Midway-ish Point Power Rankings!

Thank you, Nathan Jahnke. 

And now, The Roundup.

Blind Resume

Last week's theme was the return of the passing game. That continued in Week 6. Can you place this production?

Deep League Waiver Watch List

“Waivers of the Future,” released after this column, provides in-depth coverage of waivers. Below is a light introduction to players to watch on your waivers this week, emphasizing Superflex and deep leagues. 

• RB Sean Tucker, Tampa Bay (29% Sleeper rostered) 
• RB Kimani Vidal, Los Angeles Chargers (82% Sleeper rostered)
• RB Nick Chubb, Cleveland (99% Sleeper rostered) 
• RB Isaac Guerendo, San Francisco (69% Sleeper rostered) 
• RB D'Ernest Johnson, Jacksonville (7% Sleeper rostered) 
• RB Emari Demercado, Arizona (27% Sleeper rostered) 
• RB Julius Chestnut, Tennessee (2% Sleeper rostered) 
• WR Bub Means, New Orleans (22% Sleeper rostered) 
• TE Grant Calcaterra, Philadelphia (2% Sleeper rostered) 

Stats Of The Week

• 92 rushing yards / 4 receptions - RB Chuba Hubbard, Carolina - The yardage threshold dropped slightly from last week's 97, but Hubbard is now the eighth running back since 1970 to rush for 92+ yards and catch at least four passes in four consecutive games.  Le'Veon Bell is the only back to do it in five straight games. 

• 47-9 - Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys - The Cowboys suffered their fifth-worst loss in team history, the worst loss in AT&T Stadium history, and their worst loss since 2010. A 44-point margin to the Bears in 1985 is their franchise-worst. 

• 83rd Birthday - Jerry Jones - Happy Birthday Jerry!

• 0 catches, 8 targets - WR Calvin Ridley, Tennessee - Stathead.com's data (fantastic tool) pulls back to 1992 for targets. There are 13 games with eight targets or more without a reception. The last was Tee Higgins in Week 1, 2023. Who was Higgins' offensive coordinator in 2023? Titans head coach Brian Callahan.

95 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns / 105 rushing yards, 1 touchdown - RB Bijan Robinson, RB Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta - Robinson and Allgeier became the 90th teammates and first in Falcons team history to hit 95+ rush yards with a touchdown each. The last pair was Justin Fields and Khalil Herbert for the Bears in Week 16, 2023.

Backfield Hierarchy

Splitting backfields into key categories based upon snaps and opportunities (rushes plus targets). While carries may be similar, backfields that fall into a Committee with a Lead over a straight Committee saw wide disparities in snap counts.

Bellcows

Committee With A Lead

True Committees

The Target Report

I view target trees as “clean” or “dirty.” Clean trees distill targets to their top options and give standout fantasy performances. Dirty trees are, well, a mess and rely on unpredictable possibilities. The chart below splits these offenses into categories.

Offenses with Top 2 Options > 60% Target Share

The Giants were the only team to qualify in the top category, and they did so without Malik Nabers. They struggled to generate much downfield or in the run game, and the Bengals getting a week of prep for the Nabers-less offense of Week 5 forced a short passing game that was high on volume. 

Offenses with Top 2 Options > 50% and Top 3 > 70% Target Share

Offenses with Top 1 Option > 25% and Top 3 < 70% Target Share

Offenses Under All Thresholds

The Landmine Lineup

We often focus on “Spike Weeks” in fantasy football. Explosive 30+ point per game performances that win weeks almost single-handedly. Dud lineups that ruin your week are the opposite end of that spectrum. Every week, I will highlight the hypothetical Landmine Lineup. If you have started this lineup, message me, and I will feature your misfortune, and we will find a way to brighten your week!

• QB: Dak Prescott - 5.2 points
• RB: Tank Bigsby - 2.4 points
• RB: Javonte Williams - 3.1 points
• WR: Calvin Ridley - 0.9 points
• WR: DJ Moore - 4 points
• WR: Brian Thomas Jr. - 4.2 points
• Flex: Mike Evans  - 4.4 points
• TE:  Jake Ferguson - 2.6 points

Fantasy managers could be forgiven for being excited for most all of these plays in Week 6. They combined for 26.8 points. 

The entire lineup could have been devoted to the Dallas Cowboys, but somewhere, someone is happy with the 7 PPR points they got from KaVontae Turpin. Prescott and Ferguson combining for 7.8 points in a stack is brutal. 

Bigsby was a big topic on social media this week, so he followed up the tradition of “guys we were excited for and laid an egg.” Thomas, Evans, and Moore entered the week as WR9, WR11, and WR19. Given their ADPs, if someone had all three, they were likely sitting on top of the standings. Anything can happen in any given week, and when it magnifies on Small Sample Size Theater, opinions get loony. 

Players who beat it: Caleb Williams, Baker Mayfield, and Sean Tucker. All three have been considered dead by fantasy to varying degrees. Evans' teammates of Mayfield, Tucker, and Chris Godwin combined for 84.6 points. 

If you started this lineup, send me a message at Bell@Footballguys.com!

Revenge! (Not sponsored by Immaculate Grid, but it could be!)

Week 6

• RB Cordarrelle Patterson, Pittsburgh vs. Las Vegas, Won 32-13, ruled Out
• RB Ty Johnson, Buffalo vs. NY Jets, Monday
• QB Tyrod Taylor, NY Jets vs. Buffalo, Monday
• TE Tanner Hudson, Cincinnati vs. NY Giants, Won 17-7, no targets
• QB Josh Johnson, Baltimore vs. Washington, Won 30-23, DNP

Week 7

• RB Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia vs. NY Giants
• TE T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota vs. Detroit
• WR Brandon Powell, Minnesota vs Detroit
• WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Denver vs. New Orleans
• TE Adam Trautman, Denver vs. New Orleans
• QB Jacoby Brissett, New England vs. Miami
• WR Chris Conley, San Francisco vs. Kansas City 

Prospects Of The Week

• QB Quinn Ewers, Texas - 78/108, 890 yards, 9 TDs, 3 Ints
• WR Isaiah Bond, Texas - 21 receptions, 309 yards, 3 TDs
• TE Gunner Helm, Texas - 21 receptions, 311 yards, 2 TDs

#5 Georgia  vs. #1 Texas, 7:30, ABC

Bond is watching an injury for this massive matchup after taking a hit in the back and not returning in the second half against Oklahoma last week. 

The Longhorns have earned their number one ranking by acing two tests, beating Oklahoma and Michigan by a combined 65-15 margin. After this game, they only have one remaining ranked team, ending the season against #15 rival Texas A&M. Georgia is 1-1 in their two big games, beating Clemson in Week 1 but losing to Alabama to end September. The Bulldogs still have Tennessee and Ole Miss. In an SEC that eliminated divisions and has nine teams with one loss or better on their conference record, a Georgia loss will put them in danger of missing the conference title game, with a loss to Tennessee or Ole Miss putting them on the CFP bubble. 

Ewers made his comeback from injury last week against Oklahoma. He struggled to connect on the deep ball, a persistent problem in 2023. He will need to dial in against the Bulldogs. Georgia has taken a step back from its historic defensive dominance; it ranks 70th in passing yards allowed per game, aided by a 374-yard game from Alabama's Jalen Milroe.

Bond is from Buford, Georgia, less than an hour from Georgia's campus. He initially committed to Florida out of high school before flipping to Alabama after the Gators fired Dan Mullen. He became a contributor in his two seasons in Alabama but hit the portal after Nick Saban's retirement. Georgia pushed much harder for Bond the second time around. He brings explosive speed in a slight frame. 

Helm rounds out the trio. He played behind the Panther's Ja'Tavion Sanders in 2023 before getting a chance in his senior season. He has come up big in the Longhorns' two biggest games, totaling 12 receptions, 189 yards, and two touchdowns. He is a solid receiver with ideal size, though he lacks the high-end athleticism that pushes tight ends up the draft board. 

Blind Resume Answer

Tight ends are back! 

The average score of the Top 8 tight end scorers in Week 1 was 10.5 points in half PPR. Weeks 2-4 that ticked up to 12.4 / 12.9 / 12. In Week 5, it jumped to 15.3 and was 14.7 in Week 6. Why is Week 6 more notable than Week 5? First, there were no shocking performances from players like Charlie Kolar, who represented the Top 8. Second, Travis Kelce was on a bye, and Dalton Kincaid has yet to play. The season has been rough for fantasy managers who invested early picks on the tight end position, but even Mark Andrews scored a touchdown in Week 6, so hope is coming for those 2-4 squads! 

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Deep Players To Watch On Monday Night Football

RB Ty Johnson, Buffalo

Johnson had one touch in his Bills' career before 2023's Week 11 game against his former team. In Joe Brady's first game as OC, Johnson totaled six touches for 58 scrimmage yards and a receiving touchdown. 

Johnson established himself over Brady's tenure as a change of pace to James Cook, totaling 272 scrimmage yards over his final eight games of 2023 after two with his first ten weeks on the team. That stretch included three games above 58 yards and the Jets touchdown. 

Cook looks like he will be active against the Jets after a limited week of practice with a toe injury. But it has been Johnson, not the expected Ray Davis, who has emerged as the regular change of pace back, outsnapping Davis by 71 to 44. Much of Davis's work has come late in games in mop-up duty. Johnson is readily available in deep leagues and could be a “break glass in case of emergency” play if Cook's toe results in a lighter role.