The big story of Week 6 should be replacing Jared Goff and Joe Burrow, who are on bye. We don't have Kyler Murray or Malik Willis either, but the only people who will miss them are those who play in leagues that allow you to start more than one quarterback. It wouldn't be quite as big of a deal to replace those guys if we didn't have to worry about the status of Lamar Jackson and Caleb Williams. Or if Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts were playing up to their preseason expectations. As of now, we are expecting Williams to return, and we're starting him. That doesn't change the fact that the QB position has been turned on its head.
Five of the top 12 QBs in my Week 6 projections were drafted outside of the top 12 in August. Well, that's not entirely true. Kirk Cousins wasn't drafted at all in most leagues. But he's thrown 12 touchdown passes already, and he's facing a Bills defense that has been terrible, so we're starting him. That is probably a bigger surprise than the fact that we're starting Jordan Love, but it may not be a bigger surprise than Love being projected as a top-3 QB this week.
Love has almost everything going for them. The Cowboys have allowed every QB they've faced besides Jalon Daniels to score at least 25 Fantasy points. The Packers cannot run the ball a lick, so Love is averaging 37 pass attempts per game. And he's not just throwing it a lot; he's mostly throwing it well. His 7.6 yards per attempt is well above average, and he has 10 touchdowns to three interceptions. Josh Allen and Brock Purdy are the only QBs I would start over him.
Let's get to the rest of the preview:
Week 6 QB Preview
Numbers to know
- 0.37 -- Brock Purdy leads the NFL at 0.35 EPA per dropback. He should be the MVP favorite.
- 7.6% -- Jordan Love has had 7.6% of his passes dropped, the highest mark in the league.
- 6.3% -- Justin Herbert has a 6.3% turnover-worthy throw rate. This season has been a disaster in every way imaginable.
- 10.4% -- C.J. Stroud has created an explosive play on 10.4% of his dropbacks.
- 201 -- Jayden Daniels leads all QBs with 201 yards scrambling despite missing two games.
- 7 -- Drake Maye has seven passing touchdowns in the past two weeks. A remarkable turnaround.
- 31 -- The Bills have already allowed three different QBs to score 31 or more Fantasy points against them.
Waiver Wire Targets
 
Kirk Cousins
QB
LV
Las Vegas
• #8
Age: 38 • Experience: 15 yrs.
Cousins gets a prime matchup against the Bills. The are the perfect combination of a great offense that keeps teams passing and a bad defense that doesn't provide much resistance. Cousins already has three games with 26 or more Fantasy points this season and could produce a fourth in Week 6. He's the perfect bye week replacement, but also I would start him over Jalen Hurts, Trevor Lawrence, Bo Nix, and Justin Herbert.
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CLE
Cleveland
• #4
Age: 31 • Experience: 10 yrs.
Watson was a letdown last week but he's still my second favorite streamer this week behind Kirk Cousins. The Browns running backs are all hurt, so we may get a few more pass attempts from Watson this week. He's second amongst all QBs with 37 rush attempts this year and is a better starting option in leagues that reward four points per pass touchdown.
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PIT
Pittsburgh
• #8
Age: 42 • Experience: 22 yrs.
There are four more quarterbacks on bye in Week 7. If you want to get ahead of it, Rodgers and the Steelers will face the Saints, who have allowed three QBs to score 20 points against them already despite playing a relatively weak schedule. This could be one of the most pass heavy games of the season as both Rodger and Tyler Shough are throwing the ball at a very high rate.
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DFS Plays
 
Tyler Shough
QB
NO
New Orleans
• #6
Age: 27 • Experience: 2 yrs.
Shough is coming off his worst start of the season, but I am going right back to him against the Giants. This is one of my favorite games to stack from a value perspective, and shouldn't be too chalky. The Saints run game is struggling right now, and I would expect Shough to get back closer to 40 pass attempts this week. Stack him up with Chris Olave and one of Devaughn Vele or Juwan Johnson, bring it back with Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely, or Cam Skattebo if you want to be contrarian.
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Jalen Hurts
QB
PHI
Philadelphia
• #1
Age: 28 • Experience: 7 yrs.
Hurts is overpriced and hasn't been playing well. That's why he's contrarian. But if you'll remember, then Panthers lost their top two corners before the bye and the Eagles may be down their top three running backs. This could set up for a pass heavy game against a bad pass defense, and Hurts still has the ability to go over the top and score Fantasy points in a hurry.
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Heath's projections
My full set of Week 6 Fantasy football projections for every position is here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 6. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available and will be updated throughout the week as I make changes.
