Steezy A’s Week 6 DFS Fades (FanDuel)
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m really starting to believe that a few of my weekly readers include the very players I write about.
They say to treat your wins like your losses - it’s all temporary! Now let’s forge ahead and fade ‘em up - Steezy A style (all salaries courtesy of FanDuel).
QB: C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans ($6,900, QB13 at cost)
Anytime a rookie QB is missing one of his more explosive playmakers (Tank Dell is out with a concussion) against one of best defenses in the NFL, you question whether or not he’ll be able to put up the requisite numbers necessary to make a dent in fantasy lineups.
In week 6, the rookie sensation is set to go up against a defense that ranks fifth in the NFL with the fewest points allowed, at 15.2 and rank in the top 5/10 in a bunch of other categories.
While Stroud is well ahead of schedule in his development, it won’t look that way against the Saints, who have made every QB that they have played against this season look below average (with the exception of Baker Mayfield).
One more thing to note: the Saints defense has only allowed one team to score north of 20 points this season, which means that Texans fans and players alike are going to be in for a really long Sunday.
Fade Stroud this week, but don’t expect to see him in this column a lot moving forward.
RB: Zack Moss, Indianapolis Colts ($7,400, RB11 at cost)
Zack Moss has been on a TEAR ever since entering the lineup in Week 2, but will that continue the more Jonathan Taylor gets acclimated with each passing day?
Not to mention, while the Jaguars defense hasn’t been a world-beater this season, they do rank fifth in the NFL with the fewest rushing yards allowed per game, at 81.6.
While Moss has surprised us with his contributions in the pass game, expect Taylor to soak up some of those targets as he’s an underrated pass catcher in his own right.
At RB11, that’s too high of a cost for a guy who's expected to split more of the workload with his backfield mate.
Moss can still have a solid fantasy day, but finishing as a borderline RB1 play?
I don’t see it.
WR: Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals ($7,000, WR18 at cost)
Statistically speaking, the Seahawks defense against the pass hasn’t been pretty this season.
- WR Re-Rank: Some Guys Are Moving Way Up (sportstopia.io)
- RB Rankings: This Is the Jacobs We Know (sportstopia.io)
- QB Rankings: Can C.J. Prove Them Wrong? (sportstopia.io)
- TE Re-Rank: Check Out Who's Moved (sportstopia.io)
- Saints Will Slow Down This Rookie (sportstopia.io)
- Best and Worst of Broncos at Chiefs (sportstopia.io)
- Open Your Eyes to Our 'Close Your Eyes Special' (sportstopia.io)
However, once you sprinkle in a little bit of context, you begin to understand why the pass defense statistics look as bad as they do.
Now, by no means am I arguing that the Seahawks secondary is elite, but they have yet to operate any game this season at full health. Against Cincinnati, the secondary will be the healthiest it's been all season long with safety Jamal Adams and CB Tre Brown both set to make their returns from concussions.
Not only that, but reports are that Higgins could be dealing with his rib injury for the rest of the season, which could mean that Cincinnati could look to lessen his workload just a little bit (remember, he’s looking to get PAID so I have a hard time believing that’ll he jeopardize his ability to do just that throughout the course of this season).
In what could be a potential shootout for the Seahawks, you are taking a risk with fading Higgins here. At the same time, he’s a game-time decision himself so there’s a chance he doesn’t even play. As we’ve seen in the past, Higgins has been active for games in which he barely even saw the field, which could also play a factor here in Week 6.
Given all of that uncertainty, you’re better off starting someone else at WR this week.
TE: George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers ($5,900, TE5 at cost)
As tough as it is to fade a player who just scored nearly 30 points in fantasy last week (on three receptions, mind you), we operate off of logic and not emotions here in this column.
That 27.7 point-performance aside, George Kittle only has one other double-digit performance in fantasy this season, and that came against a horrid Giants defense.
On the season (out of 5 games played so far), Kittle has three games with four or less targets and three games with 30 or less receiving yards.
That’s just the reality of the team that he plays for, which is in no way a knock on Kittle at all.
The 30-year-old is one of the very best the NFL has to offer at TE, but he’s one of those guys who’s a much better REAL-LIFE player than he is a fantasy player. He’ll have his weeks (he just did last week after all) but given the dearth of options in San Francisco’s arsenal on top of their propensity to run the football and keep him in-line, he’s not a set-it and forget-it starter at TE like his real-life status might suggest.
As for the cherry on top, the Cleveland Browns defense is a top 10 unit as far as least number of points allowed to TE’s, and weather could also potentially impact each team’s ability to move the football down the field via the pass. That said, Kittle is an easy fade for me this week.
FLEX: Jerome Ford, Cleveland Browns ($6,400, RB18 at cost)
To add insult to injury, Jerome Ford’s Browns will now be operating WITHOUT starting QB Deshaun Watson, who was just recently ruled out vs the 49ers.
That alone already makes a middling offense that much more difficult to trust when it comes to being able to move the football against one of the most formidable (if not the most formidable) defense in the National Football League in the San Francisco 49ers.
While potentially inclement weather on Sunday in Cleveland could mean more opportunities for Ford to run the football, a negative game script is more likely to dampen his statistical output more than anything.
And do we trust P.J. Walker to take command and operate Kevin Stefanski’s offense?
There are plenty of RB’s OUTSIDE of the top 20 (at cost) that would make more compelling plays in DFS, such as James Cook (RB22) - who I outlined as a bargain in my Week 6 ‘Bargain Bin’ column.
Be sure to check out our website at sportstopia.io for that article as well as all of our other articles from all of our analysts!
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