Five to Thrive Five to Dive - NFL Week 6

Welcome into 5 to Thrive, 5 to Dive. In this weekly write-up, I’ll try to predict which players will outperform their weekly FantasyPros rank (Thrives) and those who will underperform (Dives). This isn’t a start-sit piece. It’s simply telling you who has a chance to do what this week. Week 5 had some big misses (Cooper, Jacobs and McCoy – SORREY) but I finished 4-5-1. I’m shooting for 5 wins a week so a little off. It’s hard to believe that we’re 5 weeks in already. Hopefully, Week 6 brings us more success than last. Let’s get to it and enjoy. ​

Thrives

Kyler Murray, QB Arizona Cardinals
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 7)

The number 1 overall pick is already flying high heading into Week 6 with a ranking of 7, so he’s going to need to go bonkers for me to look right on this. Luckily for me, he’s facing the Falcons at home in Week 6. Just in case you missed last week, Atlanta got absolutely skullfucked by Deshaun Watson to the tune of 426 yards and 5 touchdowns. Yikes. Their defense #sucksbutts and I’m partially convinced that they want Dan Quinn to get fired. Obviously, Murray isn’t on the level of my dear Watson, but it’s not hard to see the crazy upside Kyler brings this week. The Falcons have allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to QBs and have been getting torched for the last few weeks. Not only does the former Sooner QB have an opportunity to dominate through the air, we should see him continue to use his legs. The last two weeks has seen Murray finally start running (120 yards and 2 touchdowns) and the Cards have been more successful because of it. With Larry Fitzgerald and the possible return of Christian Kirk, I’m predicting Murray finishes in the Top 5 of QBs this week.

Kerryon Johnson, RB Detroit Lions
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 14)

What do you want me to do to my Johnson? Carry it on where? On who? Oh, you’re talking about the football player, Kerryon Johnson. Gotcha. Sorry, I’m a child. Who doesn’t like talking about Johnsons though? After this week, my bet is the Packers aren’t going to. After having a week off, the Lions will take on Green Bay on Monday Night Football where we’ll have to listen to Joe and Booger scream about God knows what. Watch that shit muted. Kerryon has a favorable matchup as the Packers have allowed over 138 yards/game on the ground and have given up the 3rd most fantasy points to the position. All of this is great for the 2nd year back from Auburn, but what’s even better is this: In the two games since the Lions cut CJ Anderson’s corpse, Johnson has seen 20 carries and 26 carries respectively. We’ll take that volume all day and then some. Kerryon finishes as an RB1 this week and potentially Top 10.

Adrian Peterson, RB Washington Redskins
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 31)

Hold on one second, I have to go puke….
Ok, I’m good. Sorry about that. But yeah, here we are. I’m going to recommend Adrian Peterson as a Thrive this week despite his old balls. This call is really all about the matchup. The Washington R-Words will travel to noted old person’s home Miami this week to take on the tanking Dolphins. On the season, Miami has allowed over 175 yards rushing/game (most in the league) and the most fantasy points/game to RBs. If Peterson and Washington can’t run here, they’ll never be able to. Interim head coach and cousin to Tom Callahan, Bill Callahan is an Oline coach and will look to run early and often because of course they will. Their quarterbacks are Case Keenum, Colt McCoy and Dwayne Haskins. Would you want to pass if those were your QBs? Fuck no. This game is so gross and this call is as well, but Peterson could crawl into RB2 range this week.

Stefon Diggs, WR Minnesota Vikings
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 22)
After Adam Thielen bitched and moaned about not getting the ball, the Vikings and Kirk Cousins rewarded him with 8 targets last week and over 100 yards receiving against the Giants non-existent secondary. Could Minnesota decide to appease their other star receiver this week? Let’s fuckin’ hope so because I’m sure we’re all getting tired of waiting for Diggs’ breakout game (yeah, I know he had over 100 yards against the Bears but he wasn’t universally started in that matchup). I know that Minnesota’s head coach and famous pirate Mike Zimmer want to pound the ball on the ground, but that gameplan might not be ideal this week against an Eagles defense that has allowed the fewest rushing yards in the league. What the Eagles have struggled to do is cover the pass, giving up over 270 yards/game and the 5th most fantasy points to WRs. Diggs is too talented to continue to not produce. Let’s hope Captain Kirk can get him the ball and we’ll be digging this dude all week.

DJ Moore, WR Carolina Panthers
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 34)
Calling on a Panthers’ player to be productive when white LaDainian Tomlinson, Christian McCaffrey is there, is a bold move. I’m all about DJ Moore this week though. Moore, the 2nd year WR from Maryland currently owns a 23% target share even with CMC stealing more targets. He’s going to continue to get looks against a Bucs’ secondary that had Teddy Two Gloves and Michael Thomas just eviscerate them in New Orleans. After that performance, Tampa Bay has given up the 4th most fantasy points to WRs and the most passing yards. DJ Moore isn’t Michael Thomas, but he’s definitely talented enough to take advantage of Tampa Bay like he did in Week 2 (14 targets, 9 receptions). Kyle Allen is competent enough to allow Moore to shine in London. Wake up early and watch DJ rack up more and more yards. See what I did there? Yeah, I’m fuckin’ clever.

Dives

Carson Wentz, QB Philadelphia Eagles
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 10)
​
Carson Wentz is one of my favorite quarterbacks in the league. He’s incredibly tough and makes ballsy throws regularly. I just don’t love him this week. The Eagles will travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings on Sunday who have allowed the 6th fewest yards and the 8th fewest fantasy points to the QB. Despite not having DeSean Jackson for much of the season and being without Alshon Jeffrey for stretches of play, Wentz sits at QB9 on the season and that just speaks to his incredible ability. I personally own him in a lot of different places and I’m almost hoping I’m wrong on this one. Minnesota plays incredible defense though and should continue that trend this week. City of Philly looking at me like:

Dalvin Cook, RB Minnesota Vikings
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 4)
​
I swear I’m not only picking dudes from the Eagles-Vikings game but here’s another one. This game reminds me of Cook’s setup a few weeks back against the Bears, an excellent front 7 who excels against the run but can be beaten through the air from time to time. The Eagles can definitely be beat through the air but as I mentioned above (see Diggs, Stefon) they’ve allowed the fewest rushing yards out of all 32 NFL franchises. Cook has been excellent this year, coming in 2nd in the league in rushing, but he’s going to need their Oline to really step up and have Kirk Cousins be competent for the 2nd week in a row. I don’t think Cook finishes inside the Top 10 this week.

Nick Chubb, RB Cleveland Browns
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 6)

I do not hate Nick Chubb. He’s a terrific running back who grinds out hard yards even with a shoddy offensive line. This will be the 3rd week in a row that Mr. Chubb has appeared on the Dives list. The first week, he nuked me and the Ravens, last week I was right in the Browns’ brutal Monday Night performance in San Francisco. This Sunday, the Browns play host to the Seahawks and their rush defense which has allowed only 80 yards/game on the ground. With Baker Mayfield slowly morphing into a shitty quarterback and a sober Johnny Manziel, Seattle should look to key on Chubb and make things hard for him. I’m sorry for saying Chubb and hard so much near each other but again, I’m a child. The Browns’ offensive line looks absolutely brutal and the Seahawks could shut Hot Chubb Time Machine down.

Mike Evans, WR Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 11)

This might just be a vindictive call. How in the fuck-knuckles do you get a 0 as a big-time WR? Seriously. Even WRs like Stanley Morgan, who I was convinced was a porn star until I looked him up, had a catch last week. This week, it might not get much better. Evans has the constant struggle of having Jameis Winston as his quarterback which if you aren’t a Chris Godwin owner, is a total fucking nightmare. If he wasn’t an Uber gropin, crab stealin’, gun slingin’ QB, it’d actually be funny. But that dude just sucks way too often. Not only is he inconsistent, the Panthers have a dang good secondary led by James Bradberry. The Panthers have given up the 4th fewest passing yards on the season and kept Evans in check in their Week 2 matchup. What hurts Evans the most though is Carolina’s pass rush. The Panthers are second in the league in sacks. This impacts Evans greatly as he is primarily a downfield threat. Those routes take a long time to develop and if Winston doesn’t have time, the super tatted, skyscraper of a WR suffers. He’s more than likely going to suffer again this week.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR Pittsburgh Steelers
(FantasyPros Week 6 Rank: 19)

I love this player and I’m tired of writing too many negative things about him and having him as a Dive. But what can I say? He has a tough matchup against the Chargers secondary and has struggled so far this season in large part due to QB play. As of this writing it’s unclear whether or not Mason Rudolph will be back after getting knocked out on Sunday. That was scary as shit. I honestly thought he was dead. The fact that he might return to play this week is astonishing. If it’s not Rudolph under center, it’ll be Devlin “Duck” Hodges, an undrafted free agent from Samford. So yeah, not exactly feeling the WR2 status for Smith-Schuster this week. I’m sorry, JuJu. I still love you. Forgive me.

Author

Hank Mardukus is the Fantasy expert for Blitzed Football. You can yell at him on Twitter here.