Week 6 Early Fantasy Football Rankings: Moving Up Drake Maye and Jacory Croskey-Merritt
Ian Hartitz released his early Week 6 fantasy football rankings, highlighting players like Drake Maye, A.J. Brown and Jacory Croskey-Merritt.
Hide your kids, hide your wife: Week 6 is here. It's time to win another fantasy matchup, people!
What follows are my abbreviated early PPR ranks along with some key questions and answers ahead of this week's slate of action. Check out our Fantasy Life Rankings for full ranks from our squad of alleged expert rankers–you can actually get a FREE FantasyLife+ subscription by following these instructions if you're into that kind of thing.
As always: It's a great day to be great.
Week 6 Early Fantasy Football Rankings
Quarterback
What quarterbacks are racking up the most production on the ground?
There are five QBs who have separated themselves as truly elite rushers of the football this season:
QB most fantasy points per game from rushing:
- Justin Fields (9.6)
- Jalen Hurts (8.4)
- Josh Allen (7.8)
- Patrick Mahomes (6.3, pre-MNF)
- Lamar Jackson (5.7)
This sort of floor can help overcome even the toughest of matchups—something that will be put to the test for Mr. Fields this Sunday against the Broncos in England.
Of course, plenty of other QBs are still offering a decent rushing floor alongside more passing upside than someone like the Jets QB1. The below chart denotes what percentage of every top-37 fantasy QB's fantasy points have come from passing vs. rushing.
A few takeaways:
- Lol, Matthew Stafford.
- We've consistently seen most of the league's top fantasy performers post a rushing percentage of at least 20% here. This is encouraging for the chances of guys like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Daniel Jones keeping up their respective hot starts in fantasy land.
- It'd be a lot easier to get behind buying low on Kyler Murray if he wasn't easily averaging career-worst marks in yards per attempt (6) and passing yards per game (192).
- A similar sentiment is true for Jaxson Dart (109 rushing yards), who has already matched the rushing production of guys like Williams (110) and Bo Nix (100) despite starting only two games. I'd LOVE to lean into his obvious dual-threat upside, but it's tough to expect too many fireworks through the air without Malik Nabers, meaning Dart's status as one of the least efficient QBs in the league (31st in EPA per dropback, 36th in yards per attempt) might be here to stay—especially in the next three weeks against the Eagles (x2) and Broncos.
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Who have been the best real life quarterbacks through five weeks?
We can get a decent idea of this based on every qualified QB's EPA per dropback and completion percentage over expected.
Well would you look at that: Sam Darnold is playing the position better than just about anyone at the moment. Nobody is averaging more raw yards per attempt (9.3), as the ex-Jets/Panthers/49ers/Vikings signal-caller is routinely proving capable of throwing dots all over the field.
Seriously: Darnold is even outperforming what we saw during his Pro Bowl campaign in Minnesota last season, and it's not even like he's surrounded by absurd high-end talent with the obvious exception of Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Additional shoutouts to guys like Daniel Jones and Drake Maye, who certainly weren't expected to be anywhere near the top-right corner of elite-ness. Their additional aforementioned rushing upside has both safely sitting as rest-of-season QB1s in fantasy land.
Best of the rest
QB13 Justin Herbert: I still have zero doubts about Herbert's standing as one of the league's best QBs, but it's tough to be too optimistic about the high-end upside here with half of his offensive line on the sideline. Of course, Herbert can scoot in his own right, helping the weekly floor, but even a smashable matchup against the Dolphins' sad excuse for a secondary might not represent a must-start spot considering the potential for the line of scrimmage to be dominated.
Herbert pressure rate and time to pressure (among 32 QBs):
- Weeks 1-3: 39% (20th), 2.52 seconds (18th)
- Weeks 4-5 with Joe Alt injured: 40% (25th), 2.31 seconds (26th)
QB15 Justin Fields: Fields' aforementioned rushing upside makes him a tough sit regardless of the matchup, but man, that will be tested ahead of Sunday morning's date with Pat Surtain and company. Note this Broncos defense actually did limit Fields to just 27 rushing yards when they met last season. While all fantasy points count the same regardless of when they occur, I am a bit worried about Fields maintaining his ability to play catchup against such a stiff test. Consider: Fields has averaged 11.8 fantasy points per game during the first-third quarters (QB15), but a whopping 9.9 fantasy points in the fourth quarter–good for the second-highest mark in the NFL behind only Josh Allen.
QB19 Bo Nix: Deserves credit for making some big-time throws to Courtland Sutton down the stretch of the Broncos' Week 5 upset win over the Eagles. Still, the QB20 in fantasy points per game has largely been one of the season's biggest disappointments relative to realistic preseason expectations—particularly in fantasy land. Here's to hoping Nix can build on consecutive solid performances ahead of a boom-worthy three-week stretch against the Jets (25th in fantasy points per game allowed to QBs), Giants (18th) and Cowboys (32nd).
QB29 Jake Browning: Single-handedly making me question my assertion that bad football is better than no football.
Running Back
What running backs are racking up all kinds of production as receivers?
The top-five RBs in PPR points from strictly receiving production are as follows:
- Christian McCaffrey (95.7)
- De'Von Achane (60.3)
- Bijan Robinson (51)
- Bucky Irving (50.3)
- Kyren Williams (45.8)
The CMC numbers really are wild: Fantasy's overall RB2 is just the RB30 when it comes to fantasy points from purely rushing production. Wild but true: The likes of Kenneth Gainwell, Rachaad White and Zach Charbonnet have scored more fantasy points than CM-f*cking-C on the ground through five weeks of action.
The below chart denotes what percentage of each RB's production has come through the air vs. on the ground (order is in terms of the RB's rank in PPR points per game).
A few takeaways:
- Aside from McCaffrey, Achane, Bucky and Jaylen Warren stand out as the next-most receiving-dependent RBs.
- Guys like J.K. Dobbins, David Montgomery, Kenneth Walker III, Bill Croskey-Merritt, Jordan Mason and Derrick Henry have been the league's most rushing-dependent RBs.
- It's good to see Kyren Williams and Ashton Jeanty prove capable of putting up some numbers on the receiving side of things; their recent enhanced roles in the pass game go a long way toward giving both more fantasy-friendly weekly floors.
- Would it kill the Bills to get James Cook more involved in the passing game? There have been some rough drops over the years, but the man is dynamic in space, and it would certainly help prevent Week 5 duds by making the fourth-year back less TD dependent.
Who was *this* close to having a much bigger Week 5?
The following players were tackled at the one-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive last week (pre-MNF):
- Rams RB Kyren Williams (x2, separate drives, lost a fumble on one)
- 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey
- Cowboys RB Javonte Williams
- Jets RB Breece Hall
- Browns RB Jerome Ford
- Chargers RB Kimani Vidal
- Cardinals RB Emari Demercado (dropped ball and lost fumble. Sheesh!)
- Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
- Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence (x2 same drive)
- Panthers QB Bryce Young
- Giants TE Daniel Bellinger
- Titans TE Gunnar Helm
The rich could have been even richer at the top, while we should probably cut Breece Hall just a bit of slack for the good-not-great performance that also featured a lost fumble. After all, the fourth-year talent is actively playing some of the best football of his career at the moment.
Breece Hall this season (among 33 qualified RBs):
- Yards per carry: 5.3 (5th)
- Yards after contact per carry: 3.5 (11th)
- Explosive run rate: 19.7% (1st)
- Yards per route run: 1.81 (7th)
- Yards per reception: 8.8 (10th)
The explosive run rate is especially awesome–we haven't seen Hall break big runs (12+ yards) at this rate since his injury-shortened rookie campaign (15%)! Here's to hoping Hall can eventually remove his name from the short list of having the most carries WITHOUT a rushing TD this season.
Is the Bill Croskey-Merritt takeover here?
Things are certainly looking up! The rookie RB turned 16 touches into 150 yards and a pair of scores during the Commanders' Week 5 win over the Chargers, continuing to demonstrate all sorts of burst and big-play ability.
Unfortunately, it's tough to skyrocket Bill TOO high up the ranks because despite the positive momentum, the Commanders continue to insist on keeping Chris Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols plenty involved as well.
That said: I'm firing up Bill ahead of inefficient volume-hogs/losers like D'Andre Swift and Chase Brown thanks to this week's pristine matchup against the Bears' league-worst defense in RB rush yards allowed before contact per carry.
Best of the rest
RB24 Michael Carter: Established himself as THE running back, y'all, even before Emari Demercado ruined the game and possibly the evening. This still does have the look of a three-back committee, but Carter is the leader and accordingly the preferred fantasy option of the group for however long Trey Benson (knee, IR) is sidelined.
RB26 Chase Brown: The NFL's worst RB in most efficiency metrics actually saw his snap rate hit a season-low 53% in Week 5 due to an extreme trailing game script that led to Samaje Perine seeing a ton of clear pass-down work. It's not all Brown's fault obviously in this dumpster fire of an offense, but then again, we shouldn't exactly expect things to get better in a meaningful way ahead of next week's matchup against *throws up in mouth* the Packers.
RB28 Jaylen Warren and RB31 Kenneth Gainwell: We'll see what the injury report looks like, but Warren is tentatively expected to suit up after missing Week 4 with a knee injury. Of course, Gainwell played so well in his absence that it's possible Warren's stranglehold on the backfield is lessened just a bit. Hell, maybe even Kaleb Johnson works his way out of the doghouse following the team's Week 5 bye (just kidding). For now, I'm treating both backs as meh RB3 options against the Browns' second-ranked defense in RB rush yards before contact per carry.
RB29 Rhamondre Stevenson and RB32 TreVeyon Henderson: The absence of Antonio Gibson (ACL, IR) condenses this committee to just two backs. Even then, things are tough to be overly optimistic about: Stevenson has fumbled a league-high 10 times dating back to Week 1 of last season (nobody else has more than 7), and we've actively seen the Patriots sit him on the bench for chunks of time after his 2025 miscues. As for Henderson, the explosive pass-catching back simply hasn't made much out of his opportunities, averaging meh marks in yards per carry (3.8) and yards per target (5.6) alike.
RB34 Kimani Vidal and RB35 Hassan Haskins: The Injury Gods really are the worst. Omarion Hampton (ankle, IR) will miss at least the next four weeks, leaving Vidal and Haskins as the next men up, but I would NOT be surprised in the slightest if old friend Gus Edwards finds his way back to Los Angeles. Ultimately, we're doing some guesswork trying to figure out who will emerge as the best option without the benefit of any sort of relevant sample size here, but it's probably not wise to expect any party involved to have the same sort of workhorse role as Hampton. After all, neither Vidal (53 career touches) nor Haskins (79) have exactly proven much at the NFL level. That said: The former back has more of the explosive/pass-catching skill set we look for in fantasy land inside an offense that ranks third in dropback rate over expected and hasn't been able to run the ball very well at all behind this banged-up offensive line. It would make sense if Harbaugh's Michigan Man Haskins is the preferred option around the goal line and perhaps on early downs—again, these two are right next to each other for a reason—but I'd be more concerned about that role being eaten into by a Gus-esque outside party. For now, give me Vidal, but I'll be answering the heavy majority of close start/sit questions involving either Charger RB with the other guy for Week 6 before we get a better read on the situation.
RB36 Kendre Miller: Weekly upside will continue to be capped as long as Alvin Kamara is healthy/a member of the Saints, but if that latter factor ever changes? Look out: Miller has legit been one of the game's best RBs this season when it comes to his ability to force missed tackles and pick up yards after contact. That's him all the way up in the top right corner of the below chart alongside Bijan Robinson!
RB51 Raheem Mostert: Is looking like the clear-cut handcuff to Ashton Jeanty for those in sicko/skank leagues.
Wide Receiver
Can we trust Stefon Diggs as a weekly fantasy starter again?
Things are looking up! The Patriots continue to be a bit wonky in terms of their WR usage on a per-route basis, but Drake Maye has zeroed in on his top target and fed Stefon Diggs a whopping 19 targets over the last two weeks—nobody else on the team has more than six!
To Diggs' credit: He's made the most out of his opportunities, specifically displaying some awesome YAC ability during the Patriots' Sunday night upset win over the Bills. Overall, Diggs has already been credited with four missed tackles forced this season—he had only three on 47 receptions with the Texans in 2024!
Up next is a Saints defense that has already surrendered some big games to the likes of Jaxon Smith-Njigba (5-96-1), Jauan Jennings (5-89-1), Marvin Harrison Jr. (5-71-1) and Khalil Shakir (5-69-1)—don't be surprised if Diggs is next, and if he removes his name from the short list of players with the most targets without a receiving TD sooner rather than later.
Is it time to buy low on A.J. Brown?
It's been a ROUGH start to the season for the longtime stud WR.
- Week 1: 1 reception-8 yards-0 TD (1 target), PPR WR99
- Week 2: 5-27-0 (8), WR67
- Week 3: 6-109-1 (10), WR5
- Week 4: 2-7-0 (9), WR91
- Week 5: 5-43-0 (8), WR43
Not great! And while some of the blame certainly deserves to be placed on the Eagles' play calling and at-times erratic passing from Jalen Hurts, there was nobody to point the finger at but the man in the mirror for Brown slowing down on what had the potential to be a long TD in Week 5.
All that said: I'm willing to buy low on the man who has been anyone's idea of a legit top-five real-life WR over the past half decade. We're still looking at a good-not-great 122-target pace here, and the Eagles' banged-up/underwhelming offensive line/defense has prevented them from building and maintaining their usual gaudy leads in recent weeks.
Every fantasy league is different, but some of these confirmed trades on Yahoo on Oct. 6 reflect the reality that the price point here is rapidly dropping. A few that I would certainly be fine with committing:
- Brown for DeVonta Smith
- Brown for Chuba Hubbard
- Brown for Alvin Kamara
- Brown for Jerry Jeudy/Kyle Pitts
- Brown for Keenan Allen/TreVeyon Henderson
Who left some serious meat on the bone in Week 5?
"Unrealized air yards" measure the total amount of air yards on incomplete targets. This helps identify players who had all sorts of fantasy-friendly downfield opportunities, but they simply couldn't come up with completions for one reason or another.
Anyway, 11 players had more than 75 unrealized air yards in Week 5 (pre-MNF):
- Giants WR Jalin Hyatt (113)
- Rams WR Davante Adams (102)
- Giants WR Darius Slayton (96)
- Titans WR Chimere Dike (93)
- Eagles TE Dallas Goedert (91)
- Chiefs WR Hollywood Brown (90)
- Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (83)
- Vikings WR Justin Jefferson (83)
- Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy (82)
- Rams WR Puka Nacua (80)
- Jets WR Garrett Wilson (78)
- Broncos WR Marvin Mims (78)
- Eagles WR Jahan Dotson (76)
The inclusion of two Giants in the top three reflects the reality that the deep ball hasn't quite come together yet for Jaxson Dart. Overall, the rookie has yet to complete a pass thrown 20-plus yards downfield on his nine-such attempts this season. Now, Slayton dropped one on Sunday, and Hyatt wasn't exactly wide open on his trio of downfield opportunities; just realize this Giants PASSING game has yet to overly click over the past two weeks outside of some pretty awesome opening drives.
The latter discrepancy in performance really is wild. Dart and the Giants have looked like world-beaters to open up the last two games (likely during the scripted portion of their attack), but things have gone south in a major way afterwards.
- Dart on drives 1-2: +0.62 EPA per dropback, 8.6 yards per attempt, 142.3 passer rating
- Dart on drives 3+: -0.38 EPA per dropback, 4.2 yards per attempt, 57.5 passer rating
Clearly the ability is there. Here's to hoping they figure things out, but in the near term it might simply be the Wan'Dale Robinson show with Slayton (hamstring) potentially joining Malik Nabers (knee, IR) on the sideline.
Best of the rest
WR28 Chris Godwin: Saw his target total go from 10 to just 4, but Godwin continues to play a near every-down role in a passing game we like. The main problem might be his lack of slot usage, as Godwin has lined up inside on just 36% after posting a 61% mark last season. The primary culprit has been Sterling Shepard (54% slot rate), so it might take the return of Mike Evans (hamstring) before we see Godwin return home and really get back to balling.
WR31 Jakobi Meyers: Unfortunately re-embracing the Patriots version of himself and trails only Tetairoa McMillan in most targets without a receiving TD this season (43, 39). That said: Geno Smith will have better days, and there aren't many better avenues to go with the football as long as Brock Bowers (knee) remains week-to-week.
WR32 Calvin Ridley: Racked up 131 yards in Week 5 after totaling 141 yards during the first four weeks of action. Yes, it was just one week against the Cardinals' banged-up secondary. Also yes, this passing game continues to lack additional high-end target competition, making Ridley a potential double-digit target earner on a weekly basis. Here's to hoping he can keep the momentum going in Week 6 against the Raiders' 29th-ranked defense in PPR points per game allowed to opposing WRs.
WR50 Josh Downs: Remains very good at football, but unfortunately Downs is usually the odd man out in two-WR sets even in situations like last Sunday when Alec Pierce (concussion) and Adonai Mitchell (doghouse) are out of the picture. Michael Pittman and Tyler Warren remain the only viable fantasy pass catchers in this Daniel Jones-led attack.
WR59 Ryan Flournoy: Shoutout to the 25-year-old talent/team captain of my 32-team-league fantasy squad for racking up 114 yards in his Week 5 explosion. The performance was truly impressive and came with nominal No. 3 WR Jalen Tolbert doing absolutely nothing. Obviously the eventual returns of CeeDee Lamb (ankle) and KaVontae Turpin (foot) will cramp Flournoy's style in future weeks, but I wouldn't bet against him unseating Tolbert as the offense's WR3. The man was balling out there!
WR61 Luther Burden: Has flashed with limited opportunities this season; I'd be trying to stash Burden this week if available on your waiver wire just in case Ben Johnson decides to give the second-round pick a post-bye rookie bump.
Tight End
Who is in our tight end circle of trust?
Tight end is probably the most frustrating position to figure out in fantasy football because there's usually not much consistency outside of the position's top handful of performers.
With this in mind: What TEs are both scoring fantasy points and demanding the sort of target shares to give us reason to believe the good times will continue?
How about TE1 Jake Ferguson! The man is balling and deserves legit top-three treatment alongside Trey McBride and Tyler Warren. I'm also inclined to give Tucker Kraft and Dalton Kincaid the benefit of the doubt in most close start/sit decisions. The likes of Sam LaPorta, Travis Kelce, Hunter Henry, Kyle Pitts and Dallas Goedert should also win out in battles among the low-end/borderline TE1 faithful.
We'll see what happens with Brock Bowers (knee), but I wouldn't count on him suiting up in Week 6 against the Titans. Hopefully the team at least has Michael Mayer (concussion) out there; otherwise it'll be the Albert Okwuegbunam "show" in Las Vegas.
I'm also a bit concerned that the clock has struck midnight on Juwan Johnson's fairytale start to the 2025 season. His target totals have fallen off in a major way in recent weeks (11, 9, 8, 3, 4), and it probably wasn't a coincidence that Week 5's season-low 85% snap rate (still good!) came with Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau making their season debuts. Johnson remains a top-15 option at the position, but I'd refrain from having too much faith in anyone involved with the Saints' (fairly crowded) 27th-ranked scoring offense.
Best of the rest
TE13 Jake Tonges: The TE7 in PPR points (!) had *zero* targets in 20 career games before this season. Madness. Tonges should have one more week with the job before George Kittle returns to (hopefully) save the day for fantasy managers. I'll probably bump the 26-year-old veteran up a spot or two if the 49ers' WR room remains so banged up ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Buccaneers.
TE16 Mason Taylor: Has emerged as the de facto No. 2 pass-game option on the Jets in recent weeks, which makes sense when you look at their hilariously sad excuse for a WR room (outside of Garrett Wilson, of course). Perhaps a matchup with Pat Surtain and the Broncos persuades Justin Fields to target his TE more than ever, although the Broncos are one of the league's eight defenses allowing under double-digit PPR points per game to opposing TEs this season.
TE17 Theo Johnson: From last week …
"Profiles as a likely top-four target in this Nabers-less offense the rest of the way. Reminder: Johnson is a FREAK athlete and joined (Brenton) Strange as partially responsible parties for holding back Tyler Warren's breakout at Penn State. It'd be cooler if Johnson's route rate was north of 80%, but desperate fantasy managers in need of a bye-week fill-in can't be too picky."
… and the sentiment holds true again following Johnson's 6-33-2 performance against the Saints!
TE27 Colston Loveland: Like with Luther Burden, I'm in no way recommending to start Loveland this week, but it's possible that Ben Johnson looks to get the team's talented rookie pass catchers more involved following the team's Week 5 bye. Loveland is a priority pickup for me this week if at all possible—he'll be on the cover of waiver wire articles across the industry this time next week if we do in fact see a spike in usage on Monday night against the Commanders.
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