As we enter Week 6, the waiver pool gets muddied a bit. With bye weeks starting, there is an extra bit of strategy regarding waivers. You may want to avoid adding players from the Lions, Texans, Raiders, and Titans, as they will all be on bye in Week 6. You should also pay special attention to other managers’ drops this week. They might drop good players from those teams for needed roster spots. There have been plenty of injuries to this point, and Week 5 took down some good players. That means the Week 6 Waiver Wire is one of the best we’ve seen this season.
There’s more than one way to improve your fantasy team. Check out Zach’s Trade Targets article!
Quick Note: All players listed are available in around 50% of ESPN leagues. While not everyone plays on ESPN, studies show most do. So, if they’re available there, they’re likely available on your platform. Pick ‘Em Up!
Week 6 Waiver Wire
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Quarterbacks
Geno Smith (67% Available)
The QB list will be short and sweet this week. Sweet might not even be the right word if you’re to the point that Geno Smith is on your radar. Jokes aside, Smith has been producing this season. He has eight touchdowns over his last three games and is the QB2 over that span. On the season, he is the QB6 and has a pretty favorable schedule all the way to his Week 10 bye. So if you’ve been streaming, Smith could be a port in the storm for the next month or so.
Zach Wilson (85% Available)
I’m unlikely to blow FAAB or a high waiver priority on Wilson, but I’m still intrigued. He’s scored 14+ in each of his two starts this season, and honestly, he hasn’t been all that great. He didn’t even throw a TD last week but was still the QB18. Nothing to write home about, but the Jets have weapons, and he should easily be throwing two or more TDs a game. He’s still more of a streaming option, but if your QB is on bye this week, throw a few FAAB dollars at Wilson.
Running Backs
Kenneth Walker (52% Available)
Let me start by saying that there has been A LOT of Twitter hate about analysts telling people to go sign Walker. The basic gist is that it’s too obvious, and he shouldn’t even be available. My standards for this article are 50% availability, and he meets that threshold. In theory, half of you reading this article have at least one league where Walker is available. We don’t all play in leagues with other fantasy analysts, and my friends in this industry seem to forget that fact. I’ll step off my soapbox now to tell you that you should throw every FAAB dollar you have at landing Walker. He is a league-winner with Rashaad Penny’s season now over.
Eno Benjamin (93% Available)
Benjamin continues to see a good amount of work complementing James Conner, and he continues to be on this list because you aren’t signing him. He has scored 4+ fantasy points in every game this season and would be a borderline RB2 if Conner were to go down. However, as Conner deals with a rib injury, Benjamin’s role will only grow. If you’re using the end of your bench on middling WRs instead of insurance RBs, it is going to bite you before long.
Dontrell Hilliard (91% Available)
Hilliard is in essentially the same situation as Benjamin. He is being used in the passing game enough to remain relevant from week to week but has massive upside if Derrick Henry gets hurt. He should be 100% rostered by every Henry manager at this point. Hilliard is on bye during Week 6, so you may want to prioritize others this week.
Rachaad White (75% Available)
Stop me when you’ve heard this: Great insurance back, being used enough to be an RB3, and tremendous upside if the starter gets hurt. Broken record or not, you will end up much happier using your bench on RBs instead of WRs. White has eight carries and nine targets over the last two games, which is excellent usage behind a bell-cow like Leonard Fournette.
Tyler Allgeier (55% Available)
Week 5 was always going to be bad for Allgeier. Tampa Bay shuts down RBs, and his 45 yards were more than expected. However, it’s far more important that Atlanta leaned on him for 13 carries in a game where he would struggle. Cordarrelle Patterson will miss at least three more games, and Allgeier has a chance to prove himself in Weeks 7 and 8. Week 6 might be another rough outing against San Francisco, but you should stash this kid.
If you missed our new Monday Hangxiety show, you missed a great time! Josh and Ryan gave their reactions to Sunday’s action to let you know whether you need to worry or Chill TF Out! We’ll be live every Monday at 11 AM EST. Check out last week’s episode now!
Wide Receivers
Devin Duvernay (75% Available)
Unpopular Opinion: Duvernay fits what Baltimore should be doing on offense better than Rashod Bateman. I love Bateman, and he is more talented than Duvernay, but a scheme that allows quick decisions by Lamar Jackson, as we saw on Sunday Night against the Bengals, is a recipe for success. Duvernay has scored 9+ fantasy points in every game this season and should be considered a safe WR3 with a lot of upside moving forward.
Alec Pierce (91% Available)
With 15 targets over his last two games, including nine in Week 5, Pierce appears to have established himself as the WR2 in this offense. He scored at least nine fantasy points in each of his last three games and is actually the overall WR25 over that span. If Matt Ryan were to actually get his life together, Pierce could be an every-week starter moving forward.
George Pickens (50% Available)
The Pickett-to-Pickens connection is heating up, and this is likely your last chance to get a hold of the rookie. Pickens has 12 catches and 185 yards in the previous two weeks, and Pickett is still learning to be a pro QB. There is a very good chance Pickens improves as the season moves along, and he has two pretty good matchups over the next two weeks.
Michael Gallup (50% Available)
Gallup is starting slow but steady. With eight targets over two weeks and already finding the endzone, it won’t be long before he is the Dallas WR2 we expected him to be before his injury. That growth will be accelerated with the return of Dak Prescott, which could be as early as this week.
Khalil Shakir (99% Available)
Shakir has been quiet to start the season, trapped behind Isaiah McKenzie and Jamison Crowder, but with both of them Out in Week 5, Shakir popped. Against the Steelers, Shakir reeled in three balls for 75 yards and scored his first career TD. Crowder is out for the season, so Shakir only needs to beat out McKenzie to secure the slot role. We always preach patience with rookie WRs, but as you can tell from this list, it looks like they are about to start performing!
Tight Ends
Taysom Hill (88% Available)
To this point, I have resisted naming Hill in my Waiver or Stream of the Week articles. I think it’s my fundamental disagreement with him and his whopping one target being called a tight end. But the fact is he is a weapon and a cheat code in fantasy football. Pessimists will tell you that his big weeks will be followed by bad weeks and that you’ll be disappointed. That is true…for Hill and every other fantasy tight end not named Kelce or Andrews. The upside he brings, with the ability to score four TDs, is also only matched by those great TEs. You have to start him every week, or you’ll miss the great ones, but the reward is worth far more than the risk at this point.
Hayden Hurst (74% Available)
If you’d rather stay traditional and boring with your TE, Hurst is your guy. With 28 targets through five games, he has shown he is a useful piece of this Bengals’ offense, and he has managed 7+ fantasy points in four of five games this season.
Evan Engram (79% Available)
Engram is hit-or-miss this season, but one of those hits was against his Week 6 opponent, the Indianapolis Colts. Back in Week 2, Engram caught seven balls for 46 yards against the Colts. In Week 5, he had his best game of the season, catching six for 69 yards. He might only be a one-week rental, but with TJ Hockenson and Darren Waller on bye this week, Engram is a great option.
If you’re looking for Week 6 Rankings, Ryan and Austin have you covered! We do our first upload early on Tuesday and update them throughout the week!