The Market Report is your one-stop Monday shop for all the movement from a big weekend of NFL football.
These are the players who stood out for fantasy-relevant reasons — the good reasons, the bad reasons, and the in-between.
This column will be posted every Monday afternoon.
UPGRADES
Players about whom we’re feeling more optimistic based on recent play or news.
Quarterbacks
Deshaun Watson (Hou) — It’s no coincidence that Watson had his best game of the year the week that Texans HC/GM Bill O’Brien was fired. O’Brien’s offenses have been unimaginative over the last few years and have relied heavily on Watson making ridiculous plays to bail out his often lackluster gameplans. For some reason, O’Brien refused to use play-action to his advantage or throw deep in the first month of the season despite having world-class speed at receiver. That changed this week. Against the Jaguars, OC Tim Kelly used play-action on a season-high 29% of Watson’s dropbacks (per PFF) and layered that with more throws downfield. Watson’s 11.1 air yards per attempt was also a season-high. The scheme change resulted in Watson’s best game of the season as he ripped the Jags’ for 359 yards and 3 TDs and also culminated in one of the best games of Brandin Cooks’ career (8/161/1). Watson also threw two interceptions, but his first one was on a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. The second pick was on a deep play-action shot to Will Fuller. With O’Brien gone, hopefully the Texans continue to open up this passing attack. (Graham Barfield)
Kyler Murray (Ari) — Sure, everyone goes off against the Jets. But Kyler Murray’s 380-yard demolition was especially encouraging because we really haven’t seen the Cardinals air it out much this year. Coming into this game, Murray ranked just 20th in air yards per attempt (7.8). Murray dialed up a few more deep shots to DeAndre Hopkins this week, hitting him on two perfectly placed deep balls of 45 yards and a 37-yard touchdown. Murray’s legs have been carrying him in fantasy -- he already has 296 yards and 5 TDs on the ground -- but the lack of production threw the air has been slightly concerning. Consider this a slight upgrade for Murray ahead of two great matchups against the Cowboys and Seahawks in Week 6-7. (GB)
Carson Wentz (Phi) — It’s been a rough go for Wentz, who has been fighting a bad receiving corps, a bad offensive line, bad mechanics, and bad decision making, but he played his best game of the season in Week 5 against Pittsburgh. Wentz went 20/35 for 258 yards with 2 TD and 2 INT, though neither interception was his fault — the first came when TE Zach Ertz was knocked off his route (a penalty probably should have been called), and the second was just a prayer shot down the field on 4th down after the game was in hand for the Steelers. Wentz is doing this despite Ertz looking terrible, and his chemistry with new WR Travis Fulgham (10 catches, 152 yards, 1 TD) has Wentz looking more confident than he has all season. Wentz is an upgrade now, in that he’s actually usable for fantasy and could be getting some reinforcements (DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery) in the coming weeks. (Joe Dolan)
Running Backs
Kareem Hunt (Cle) — Hunt saw so much work in his first game as the team’s bell cow back that he cramped up in the fourth quarter of the team’s victory over the Colts in Week 5. He played on 70% of the snaps in his first game without Nick Chubb (knee, IR), and he turned those snaps into 20/72 rushing and 3/21/1 receiving on four targets. D’Earnest Johnson was a distant second option to Hunt with a 30% snap share. Half of Johnson’s eight carries came on the final four offensive plays for the Browns after Hunt cramped up and with Cleveland nursing the clock before their game-sealing field goal in the final minute. Hunt will have to play the next couple weeks without RG Wyatt Teller (calf strain), which is a bit of a blow since Teller has been one of the best guards in the league to open the season. Hunt will still remain a top-flight option this week against the Steelers with his heavy workload locked in. (Tom Brolley)
Ezekiel Elliott (Dal) — The Cowboys offense will take a step back with Dak Prescott (ankle) out for the rest of the season, but that doesn’t mean Zeke’s workload is going anywhere. In fact, we’re expecting Dallas to rely more on Elliott than ever. As crazy as it seems, Dallas is still a front-runner for the division title in the laughably bad NFC East even with Andy Dalton at the controls. The Cowboys were playing faster than any team in the league with Prescott and will likely revert back to their old ways and rely a little more heavily on the run game without Prescott under center. Elliott is currently averaging a career-low 17.8 carries per game as the Cowboys have gone way more pass-heavy. Look for that number to get back closer to his career average (20.8) without Prescott. (GB)
David Montgomery (Chi) — Montgomery ran into one of the league’s best run defenses in Week 5 going against the Buccaneers, and he survived with 18.9 FPG thanks to his heavy usage as the team’s newly-minted bell-cow back. He posted 10/29/1 rushing (2.9 YPC) and 7/30 receiving on eight targets (4.3 YPR), but on more than 80% of the snaps for the second straight week with Tarik Cohen (ACL, IR) done for the season. The Bears did appear to be working Cordarrelle Patterson into Cohen’s old role a little more in Week 5, but Montgomery is still soaking up most of the work in this backfield now. Montgomery has a chance to emerge as a low-end RB1 going forward since they’re using him as a bell-cow back, and he’ll be an elite option going against the Panthers run defense. (TB)
Myles Gaskin (Mia) — The Dolphins have clearly been down on Jordan Howard to start the season, and they finally made the decision to make him a healthy scratch before Week 5. Gaskin, who saw a 63% snap share, didn’t see an actual spike in playing time based on the move since OC Chan Gailey worked both Patrick Laird (15% share) and Lynn Bowden (15% share) into the mix. Matt Breida also saw season-highs in snap share (31%), touches (10), and scrimmage yard (59), but it was Gaskin who cashed in the lone goal-line carry in Week 5. Gaskin finished with 15/57/1 rushing and he caught all five of his targets for 34 yards against the 49ers for his first 20+ FP performance of the season. Gaskin had three carries inside the five-yard line compared to Howard’s eight goal-line carries in the first four weeks of the season before Gaskin converted on Miami’s lone carry at the goal line in Week 5. Gaskin suddenly has high-end RB2 potential going forward if he’s going to continue to see goal-line work because he’s already averaging 4.6 catches and 29.4 receiving yards per game as a receiver. (TB)
Raheem Mostert (SF) — HC Kyle Shanahan threw Mostert right back into the fire in Week 5 in Mostert’s first game back after spraining his MCL in Week 2 against the Jets. Mostert finished with 11/90 rushing and 3/29 receiving in San Francisco’s blowout loss to the Dolphins. Mostert also played on 48% of the snaps, which would’ve been higher if the 49ers were competitive for four quarters — Jeff Wilson saw a 23% snap share because of the nature of the game. Mostert has been way more involved in the passing game than anticipated this summer with 9/139/1 receiving in three games after he managed just 14/180/2 receiving in 16 games last season. The 49ers will be throwing the ball more than they did in 2019 because they’re playing in more negative and neutral game scripts. Mostert is once again leading all RBs in YPC average (7.0) this season after leading all back in 2019 (5.6), and he’s a set-and-forget RB1 with his passing game production spiking this season. (TB)
Devonta Freeman (NYG) — After a nice, long offseason, Freeman has looked spry in his two starts with the Giants. OC Jason Garrett barely used him in his Week 3 debut, but has since given him 15 and 19 touches over the last two games. Freeman is still splitting passing down work with Dion Lewis -- Freeman has seven targets on 34 routes over the last two weeks while Lewis has six targets on 31 routes -- but it’s clear that Freeman is the lead back for early-down carries. This Giants offense is painful to watch, but that type of volume will keep Freeman on the RB2 radar for the remainder of the season. (GB)
Wide Receivers
Allen Robinson (Chi) — Robinson has been absolutely rolling since Nick Foles stepped into the lineup against the Falcons in Week 3. He posted another 10/90 receiving on 16 targets against the Buccaneers in Week 3, which gives him three straight games with 10+ targets, 7+ catches, and 90+ receiving yards. A-Rob more than doubled up the closest receiver in Week 5 (Cordarrelle Patterson with 38 yards), and he saw a healthy 38% target share against Tampa. After a bit of a slow start to the season playing with Mitchell Trubisky, Robinson is locked in as a WR1 going forward with Foles force-feeding him the rock. (TB)
Marquise Brown (Bal) — The Ravens’ offense has been like pulling teeth this year, but it was pretty evident a big Hollywood game was coming. It didn’t happen in the way we wanted in Week 5 — we want those big, flashy plays — but we’ll take a 6/77/1 line on 10 targets, especially when Lamar Jackson really isn’t playing well at all. Brown’s volume has not been a problem at all. He’s been targeted at least 6 times in every game this year, with the 10 against the Bengals being a season-high. In fact, Brown’s been targeted 6 or more times this season (five) more than he was in 2019 as a rookie (four). The problem has been Jackson’s erratic play, especially on display a couple of weeks ago against Kansas City, when Brown could have had multiple big plays. The expectation here is that Lamar (who is dinged up) will get better, but the fact that Hollywood could produce a game like this when Lamar isn’t playing well is a good sign. (JD)
Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry (Cle) — The Browns changed their stripes a bit in their first game without Nick Chubb as they came out aggressive and threw the rock against the Colts in Week 5. Baker Mayfield had averaged 25.3 passes per game in victories in Week 2-4, but he attempted 37 passes against the Colts in another positive game script. Landry benefitted from the adjustment with 4/88 receiving on nine targets (23.6% share) while OBJ posted a solid 5/58 receiving on 10 targets (26.3%) against the Colts. Baker did pick up a rib injury in the fourth quarter, but he’s already colorfully said he’ll be playing in a pivotal matchup against the Steelers. The Browns will have to stay aggressive this week as four-point road underdogs against Pittsburgh, and OBJ and Landry will rosier outlooks for as long as Chubb is out of the lineup since more opportunities are going to be filtered their way. (TB)
Darius Slayton (NYG) — The Cowboys lousy defense is a get-right spot for everyone, but Slayton especially took advantage this past week. Once again, Slayton was the only Giants pass catcher that could get open deep downfield or do anything after the catch for Daniel Jones. Slayton posted 8/129 on the Cowboys and his day could have been even bigger if not for an OPI on a rub-route that negated a 31-yard touchdown in the third quarter. While Golden Tate has been held under 50 yards in all four games he’s played in this year and Evan Engram is a ghost, Slayton is the clear-cut No. 1 option in this offense right now. (GB)
Tight Ends
None of note.
DOWNGRADES
Players about whom we’re feeling less optimistic based on recent play or news.
Quarterbacks
Dak Prescott (Dal) — This one is painful to write. In the middle of what would have been a historic scoring season, Dak Prescott suffered a fluke ankle injury that will end his 2020 season. Prescott suffered a compound fracture/dislocation in his right ankle and was rushed to the hospital straight away Sunday night where he had surgery. Our Dr. Edwin Porras mentioned that he thinks Prescott has his work cut out for him to be 100% by next year’s training camp. Further complicating this situation is Prescott’s ongoing contract dispute with Dallas. After the two sides couldn’t come to a new extension this offseason, Prescott was playing under the franchise tag. The Cowboys should have paid Prescott what he’s worth this summer and will hopefully do right by him and pay him in 2021. Prescott will be 28 years old at the start of next season. (GB)
Lamar Jackson (Bal) — Disclaimer: no one is advising you to bench Lamar! But it’s pretty obvious you aren’t getting what you paid for at this point. The Ravens had an easy win against the Bengals in Week 5, but Lamar was not sharp. He went 19/37 for 180 yards with 2 TDs and a terrible interception. The biggest issue is he added just 3 yards rushing, perhaps owing to the fact that he came into the game with a knee injury that caused him to miss practice time this past week. The 3 yards rushing seems fluky — it’s the lowest of his career in a start, and he had topped 50 yards in every game so far this year. But he also needs that rushing production because he’s simply an average QB without it, and without rushing, he’d be below average for fantasy in a low-volume offense. Check out the injury report this coming week. You’d think Lamar and the Ravens will be able to scheme to exploit the Eagles’ terrible LB corps in Week 6, but will his legs allow it? (JD)
Matt Ryan (Atl) — Atlanta’s season has gone sideways after blowing consecutive huge fourth-quarter leads to the Cowboys and the Bears, which culminated in owner Arthur Blank firing both HC Dan Quinn and GM Thomas Dimitroff after their Week 5 loss to the Panthers. Ryan has really struggled the last three weeks with Julio Jones nursing a hamstring injury. He’s failed to throw for a touchdown in the last two games and he has one TD to two INTs over the last three weeks. In fact, Ryan has gone 11 quarters without throwing for a touchdown pass as his last score came in the first quarter of Week 3 against the Bears. Ryan completed 21/37 passes for 226 yards (6.1 YPA) and one INT in a loss to the Panthers in Week 5. Julio nearly played last week so there’s a good chance he’s back in the lineup this week to help out Ryan against the Vikings. Even with a healthy Julio back in the mix this week, Ryan is no longer a must-start option and he’s moved into the QB2 range for the time being. (TB)
Running Backs
Mark Ingram and JK Dobbins (Bal) — We’re frankly sick of writing about this backfield, because one of the biggest shocks for fantasy this year is that no one is producing here. We thought it’d maybe be Ingram early, ceding to Dobbins late, with some Gus Edwards sprinkled in. But it’s a nasty rotation that is allowing no one to be productive. Ingram has topped 6.0 FP in just two of five games. Dobbins has done it four times… but he’s been over 10.0 FP just once, when he scored 2 TD in an noncompetitive Week 1 game. Edwards has topped 5.0 FP only once. The Ravens do not have a single RB in the top 36 in total PPR fantasy points. We’ll keep you updated if something changes, but frankly, these guys are poor FLEX plays and mediocre bench stashes at this stage. (JD)
Jerick McKinnon (SF) — Raheem Mostert returned to the lineup in Week 5, which sent McKinnon back to his change-of-pace/passing-back role after becoming the bell-cow back during his absence. McKinnon managed just 2/5 receiving on four targets and he finished without any rushing yards on his one carry in their blowout loss to the Dolphins. McKinnon played on just 25% of the snaps while Mostert led the way with 48% of the snaps as Jeff Wilson saw a 23% snap share because of the nature of the game. McKinnon is still a strong handcuff option behind Mostert and he should still have standalone value most weeks as a flex option moving forward. The 49ers will be throwing the ball more than they did in 2019 because they’re playing in more negative and neutral game scripts, which is going to keep McKinnon relevant when the 49ers quarterbacks are competent unlike in Week 5. (TB)
Wide Receivers
Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb (Dal) — The loss of Dak Prescott for the rest of this season obviously hurts the Cowboys entire receiving corps. Amari Cooper had his worst game of the season yesterday (2/24 receiving) while Michael Gallup was largely an afterthought until he made two ridiculous sideline grabs of 19 and 38 yards to get the Cowboys in field goal position with under a minute left in regulation. CeeDee Lamb is off to one of the best starts we’ve ever seen from a rookie receiver, but you have to figure that Dallas will be more run-heavy with Andy Dalton now under center. We’ve seen Andy Dalton support multiple WR1 seasons with A.J. Green while Tyler Boyd was a top-25 receiver in 2018 and 2019, but if Dallas slows things down on offense and leans on Ezekiel Elliott a bit more, the loss of volume might be tough to swallow for these receivers. A big part of the reason all of these receivers have gone off nearly every week is because Prescott was throwing it 50 times per game. HC Mike McCarthy surely won’t want Andy Dalton throwing it that much. Cooper will move into the high-end WR2 range without Prescott while Lamb and Gallup are more volatile WR3 types. (GB)
Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster (Pit) — The story for Pittsburgh fans — and fantasy players — will be rookie Chase Claypool’s breakout 4-TD game against Philly’s hapless defense in Week 5, but it also marks a really concerning turn for Johnson and JuJu. Diontae left the action after suffering a back injury on a punt return, and while coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t believe the injury to be serious, this has the makings of one of those “snakebitten” type of years we see in the NFL every season. Meanwhile, JuJu couldn’t take advantage of Johnson’s absence, posting just 4/28 on 5 targets — he’s gone under 50 yards in his last three games. The Steelers are spreading the ball around, giving targets to Claypool, TE Eric Ebron, and even speedster Ray-Ray McCloud. It’s not the narrow passing tree we expected to see. (JD)
AJ Green (Cin) — We’ve used a lot of ink on Green’s 2020 season so far this year, probably more than has been needed. After AJG was targeted just once and didn’t catch a pass against Baltimore, then left with a hamstring injury, it’s time to pull the plug. Barring a significant update, we don’t need to write about him much more at all, fantasy players can drop him, and the Bengals can do what they’ve already been doing — playing the superior player Tee Higgins over him. It’s a sad denouement for an all-time great Bengal. (JD)
Sammy Watkins (KC) — You never want to see a player grab his hamstring in the middle of a play the way Watkins did in Week 5’s loss to the Chiefs. For someone with an issue of soft-tissue injuries, this isn’t a great sign, and we’d expect Watkins to miss at least one game, which will put Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson on the fantasy radar for the time being. (JD)
Tight Ends
Zach Ertz (Phi) — The Eagles dealing with crippling injuries to nearly every position on their team — especially offensively — is nothing new to Philly fans. It seems to happen every year. But the surprise this year is that despite Philly playing with a practice squad of WRs and being down TE Dallas Goedert (ankle), Ertz has been a ghost. Against the Steelers in Week 5, Ertz caught just 1 of 6 targets for 6 yards, despite QB Carson Wentz playing by far his best game of the year. Ertz was knocked off his route on one of Wentz’s interceptions, and frankly, he appears to be moving like molasses. Ertz has now gone under 20 receiving yards in three of five games this year, and he has just 5 catches for 15 yards on 11 targets the last two weeks (Wentz’s two best games of the year). Ertz hadn’t had fewer than 2 catches in a game since Wentz’s rookie season in 2016, and that was with a rookie QB on a team that had more weapons than it does now. This is just utterly perplexing, and you have to wonder if Ertz is fighting an injury. He’s terrible right now. (JD)
Hayden Hurst (Atl) — We thought Hurst would have a better chance of producing with Julio Jones nursing a hamstring in recent weeks since there would be more targets to go around. It certainly hasn’t worked out that way with Matt Ryan struggling to consistently move this offense through the air without his stud WR. Hurst managed just 2/8 receiving on six targets (16% share) against the Panthers in Week 5, which gives him just 7/60/1 receiving on 15 targets the last three weeks with Julio hobbled by his hamstring injury. Hurst has topped double-digit FP just once in five games to start the season so we won’t blame you if you decide to move on from Hurst this week. The bad news is that there’s absolute skank on the waiver wire at the tight end position this week. You might be better off just benching Hurst for a week to see if he can get back on track in what is still a high-volume passing offense. (TB)
Tyler Higbee (LAR) — As we wrote about all offseason, Higbee was never going to come close to repeating his stretch run of production over the final five games of last season. Now that Gerald Everett is back healthy, Higbee and Everett are splitting snaps. And the split is much closer than you might think. Over the last three weeks, Higbee has run 48 routes to Everett’s 34 while Higbee has 8 targets to Everett’s 6. Through five games, 55% of Higbee’s production came in his Week 2 demolition of the Eagles (5/54/3). Higbee has been held to 40 or fewer yards in his four other games. With Everett highly involved, Higbee is only a touchdown-or-bust TE2 the rest of the way. (GB)
WATCH LIST
Players whom we’re not ready to upgrade or downgrade, but their situations demand monitoring based on recent play, injuries, or news.
Quarterbacks
None of note.
Running Backs
Dalvin Cook (Min) — Cook left Week 5’s game with a Seahawks with a groin injury. It didn’t appear to be too serious, as he was on the sidelines in full uniform and even briefly returned to the game, but backup Alexander Mattison was extremely effective (over 100 yards rushing) and the Vikings didn’t need to push Cook. He’s having an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury, but coach Mike Zimmer doesn’t believe it to be serious. Nonetheless, Cook has to be considered in danger of missing Week 6’s tilt with Atlanta, so keep your eyes peeled. (JD)
Christian McCaffrey and Mike Davis (Car) — McCaffrey is eligible to be activated from the injured reserve this week after his three-week stay on the list for his high-ankle sprain. The organization could give CMC a little extra time to get back to full strength because of how well Davis has performed in his stead. Davis has been fantasy gold since jumping off the waiver wire and into fantasy lineups in Week 3. He’s posted three straight games with 22+ FP since taking over as the starter after posting 16/89 rushing and 9/60/1 receiving against the Falcons in Week 5. HC Matt Rhule said in an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio last week that McCaffrey is “probably a couple of weeks away” and that they’re not bringing him back until he’s 100% healthy. This franchise does have an eye toward the future after locking up McCaffrey to an extension this off-season, and Davis’ strong performances could lead the Panthers to be a little extra cautious with their franchise back. It looks like Davis has at least one more week as an RB1, but we’ll see if things change later this week with the Panthers suddenly in the thick of the NFC race with a big matchup with the Bears looming this week. (TB)
Todd Gurley (Atl) — Owner Arthur Blank finally pulled the ripcord and fired both HC Dan Quinn and GM Thomas Dimitroff as the Falcons have been on a slow descent to the bottom of the NFC since blowing their chance at a Super Bowl during the 2016 season. One of the questionable organizational decisions was bringing in Gurley on a one-year, $3.5 million deal this off-season. He’s actually off to a strong fantasy start this after scoring another touchdown in Week 5 as he posted 14/121/1 rushing and 4/29 receiving against the Panthers. Gurley now has five touchdowns in five games, but he hasn’t looked particularly explosive as a runner and he’s done next to nothing as a receiver until last week — he had just 4/9 receiving in the first four games. Gurley likely won’t have a place with the Falcons after this season as they start to rebuild the franchise so it wouldn’t be shocking to see Brian Hill and Ito Smith get longer looks in the near future now that Dimitroff and Quinn are gone. Now is the time to trade away Gurley while he’s at his peak value. (TB)
Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette (TB) — RoJo has inched ahead of Fournette in this backfield with consecutive 100+ yard rushing performances while Fournette nurses an ankle injury the last two weeks. Jones posted 17/106 rushing and 3/19 receiving on five targets against the Bears, and he got a bit unlucky when he was ruled down short of the goal line after a replay overturn. Jones is still making plenty of mistakes, especially as a receiver, but he’s making enough big plays as a runner to put himself in the low-end RB2 territory for now. Jones has had issues stringing together multiple good performances so Fournette certainly is dead, but he should be left on benches for the time being while Jones is playing well. (TB)
Kenyan Drake (Ari) — After falling completely flat in the best matchup going for running backs last week against Carolina, Drake turned in a solid 18/60/1 day against the Jets in Week 5. Chase Edmonds looks like the more explosive back and is taking virtually all of the passing down work, but for now, HC Kliff Kingsbury is continuing to use Drake as the early-down grinder. Drake’s snap rate has yet to dip below 65% this season. Drake will get another chance to hit a big ceiling next week when Arizona takes on Dallas’ terrible run defense. (GB)
Le’Veon Bell (NYJ) — In his first game back off injured reserve (hamstring), Bell turned in a decent day. He had 13/60 on the ground but somewhat surprisingly only saw one target that he turned into a 7 yard gain. Even with captain checkdown Joe Flacco at quarterback this past week, HC Adam Gase continued to be incapable of finding unique ways to get Bell the ball in the passing game. The good news is that Bell did out-snap Frank Gore 25 to 12 on passing downs. But, without the high volume receiving role, Bell will continue to be on the RB2/FLEX borderline every week on this sluggish, boring offense. (GB)
Darrell Henderson, Cam Akers, and Malcolm Brown (LAR) — The Rams backfield is a mess and it looks like it’s not going to get better any time soon. After HC Sean McVay randomly played Brown well ahead of Henderson last week against the Giants, and he gave Henderson a team-leading 18 touches this week. Henderson scored twice and had 68 scrimmage yards after basically everyone benched him. Of course. Still, with Cam Akers back after missing a few games with banged up ribs, Henderson (29) and Brown (26) continued to split snaps while Akers saw 9 carries on his 13 snaps. After the game, McVay said that he’s going to give Akers an increased workload next week. Akers is still the best long-term bet to be the lead back, but with the way Henderson is playing, McVay can’t justifiably take him off of the field. All three of these backs are completely boom-or-bust FLEX plays until someone breaks free. (GB)
Wide Receivers
Chris Godwin and Mike Evans (TB) — These Buccaneers WRs can certainly use the 10 days between games in Weeks 5 and 6. Evans clearly hasn’t played at 100% the last two weeks, but he still scored his sixth touchdown of the season against the Bears. He finished with 5/41/1 receiving on nine targets in Week 5, which gives him 45 or fewer yards in three games and 100+ yards in his other two games. Godwin will try to return to the lineup this week for the first time since he injured his hamstring in Week 3. He failed to practice last week but Tampa was in no rush to get him on the practice field since they had a short week of practices before their Thursday night game in Week 5. Evans will hopefully be close to 100% for his matchup with top CB Jaire Alexander, who held fantasy’s WR1 at the time, Calvin Ridley, without a catch in Week 4. (TB)
Tyler Lockett (Sea) — Lockett has now had two down games in a row after posting 4/44 on 5 targets in Week 5’s win over the Vikings, as DK Metcalf continues to go absolutely nuts. But just two weeks ago, Lockett scored 3 TD against Dallas. What we have here is a player with so much upside that it’s hard to sit him, and it isn’t like his role is shrinking — he played 96% of the snaps against Minnesota. He will have some big games going forward, but it’s also evident Metcalf is developing into an absolute superstar at WR. That could dampen how much Russell Wilson looks Lockett’s way. (JD)
D.J. Chark (Jax) — It’s been an injury-riddled start to Chark’s season. After missing Week 3 with chest/back injuries, Chark left the Jaguars Week 5 bout against the Texans early with an ankle injury after catching 3 balls for only 14 yards. It’s unknown if Chark will miss any time with this ankle injury but it’s notable that a sprained ankle is what ultimately derailed Chark’s season at the end of last year. If Chark misses time, we’ll see Keelan Cole and Laviska Shenault operate as the top two options while Chris Conley and Collin Johnson split snaps as the No. 3. (GB)
Terry McLaurin (Was) — We’re not overly concerned yet, but it’s at least notable that McLaurin had his worst game of the season the week after Dwayne Haskins was benched. Granted, the Rams pass defense has been very good so far, but McLaurin struggled to get going with Kyle Allen and Alex Smith under center as he caught a season-low three balls for 26 yards on Sunday. The good news is that McLaurin’s next six matchups are all soft with Washington facing the Giants twice, the Cowboys twice, and the Lions (Week 10) and Bengals (Week 11) sandwiched in between. (GB)
Tight Ends
None of note.
