12 instant fantasy football takeaways from Week 6

Week 6 in the NFL has come and gone, and what a week it was! We saw some wild games across the league, with plenty of scoring, overtime, upsets- you name it! But what were the biggest fantasy football storylines to come from all that?

Caleb Williams is back! And back in a big way for the Bears, going 305/1/0 on 30 of 36 passes, in a win over the Atlanta Falcons. It also appears that Williams has reinvigorated the fantasy potential of Luther Burden and Colston Loveland, who were both off to mixed starts this season. It’s also somewhat good to see that their defense is still terrible, which will only further boost Williams’ production. They’ll be forced into higher-scoring games, which is great for fantasy production.

So many of us want to believe that Kyle Pitts will be an elite tight end, but the lack of consistent production makes it tough to put him in our lineups every week. He’s looked good over the last two weeks, but that’s been bolstered by some touchdowns. Drake London still leads the team in target share, but if Michael Penix is willing to look to Pitts in the red zone, the touchdown upside will be there for him. I continue to think that Pitts is a low-end TE1 on most weeks, given the overall offensive potential of the Falcons.

While it was only his second game this season, Omar Cooper Jr. looked great for the Jets. A big 103 yards on 6 receptions and one touchdown pushed him to the top of the box score against the Patriots. It’s also nice to see him do this while Garrett Wilson was also playing for the Jets. However, the question becomes: is this sustainable? Once Breece Hall gets back to the Jets offense, their overall dynamic might change, but Cooper Jr. has a role right now.

Is Noel the key to the Texans offense? The run game certainly isn’t great; we know how good Nico Collins is, but they are missing another element, and Noel is shaping up to be that answer. Coming into this week, he led the Texans with 17.5 yards per reception and 13.35 yards per target. He brought this into the matchup versus the Jaguars and ended with 4/107/1, which is certainly his ceiling outcome, but this is the third straight week he’s had either 80-plus receiving yards or a touchdown.

Hubbard was billed as a strong option coming into Week 6, but man, this was some performance. A total of 28 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown pushed him to RB1 status for the week. I always like to point out that there was no real competition for running back carries in the Panthers‘ backfield. Only Trevor Etienne saw a single carry for the Panthers, meaning 28 of the 29 running back carries went to Hubbard. With Jonathan Brooks still on IR, Hubbard is the guy for the Panthers, and there’s no one there to challenge him.

Despite the loss, TLaw was awesome for the Jaguars, and has their offense rolling. Lawrence finished with 306/4/1 on 24 of 41 passes, all against one of the best defenses in the league in Houston. His second straight game with more than 300 passing yards, and his fourth game this season with multiple passing touchdowns. The offense under Liam Coen is firing on all cylinders, right as they hit a nice part of their schedule after a bye next week.

I wrote about Bernard last week, and I’ll continue to write about him with this new role. Another huge game, and his first career touchdown! A total of 12 targets for 11 catches, 87 yards, and that touchdown vaults him to 25-plus PPR fantasy points. As long as Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson are on IR, Bernard will be playing in two wide receiver sets for the Steelers, giving him a shot at a solid floor of points.

While the Giants fell a bit short in their comeback, Nabers is looking like the elite talent he was drafted as. A third straight 100-plus yard game, even with the Giants changing quarterbacks during the game. A total of 12/165/0 for Nabers against the Saints puts him in elite territory. Could there be some growing pains and ups-and-downs if the Giants fully move to J.J. McCarthy at quarterback? Sure, but you gotta get the ball to your best player, and that’s Nabers for the Giants.

Coming into Week 6, the Cleveland Browns had allowed 117.4 rushing yards per game, which was 15th in the NFL. League average. That’s what their defense has been to this point, yet Henry – with no Lamar Jackson – finished with only 58 yards on 17 carries. Maybe it was play-calling, maybe it was designed, but regardless, Henry should’ve been the focal point of the offense in a lower-scoring divisional matchup, and he could get it done.

Bo Nix is terrible. There’s really no other way to put it. No matter where you look for stats or information, you’ll see plenty about Nix and how bad some of his metrics are. Air yards per attempt, yards per play – you name it, he’s been terrible. He himself lacks fantasy potential, and he’s dragging down the rest of his teammates with him. I would need to see a significant turnaround from him for multiple weeks in a row before I considered starting or even having him on my roster.

Cam Skattebo is in the doghouse with John Harbaugh. You and I, both reading this, had the same number of carries as Skattebo did in the game against the Saints: 0. There were reports pregame that the Giants were going to change things up due to Skattebo’s fumbling issues, but to see him get 0 is a bit drastic. Tyrone Tracy Jr., Devin Singletary and Najee Harris all saw work in the backfield for the Giants. I have to assume Skattebo will be back in the offense going forward, but I’m not going to be shocked if it’s in a diminished role.

32.4 ppg. Thirty-two point four. That’s what the Arizona Cardinals defense had allowed going into Week 6, and it was good for the worst in the NFL. Coming off a loss, the Rams were set up for a perfect bounce-back spot to get the team back on track, and they fell flat. An unmitigated disaster is really the only way to put it, for what should’ve been an offensive outburst for the Rams. Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams. Blame anyone you want, but the team just didn’t show up in an extremely favorable matchup.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 12 instant fantasy football takeaways from Week 6