Sneaky Starts: Week 6

Oct 13, 2016

All but the luckiest fantasy owners need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough at some point – a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Dak Prescott, Brian Hoyer, Sammie Coates, Tyrell Williams, Cameron Meredith, Terrance West, Jalen Richard and Jay Ajayi were several of the standout Sneaky Starts from last week.

Let’s take a look at Week 6.

Note: As of Week 4, our Hot Spots (Strength of Schedule) Reports are now updated with 2016 data, so I’ll refer to adjusted fantasy points allowed as aFPA.

Quarterbacks

Dak Prescott, Cowboys (@ GB)
Over the past four weeks, Prescott has finished Q16, QB6, QB9 and QB12, so he seems to have a pretty high floor. The Packers’ banged-up pass defense played well against a struggling Eli Manning, but Green Bay yielded 671 combined yards and five combined touchdowns to Matthew Stafford and Sam Bradford in Week 2 and Week 3.

Marcus Mariota, Titans (vs. CLE)
Mariota has been up and down this year, posting QB15, QB18, QB30 and QB30 finishes before being the top quarterback of Week 5. But it’s the matchup this week that makes Mariota intriguing – Cleveland has yielded 11 passing touchdowns in the last four weeks, and has given up 300-plus passing yards to Tom Brady, Ryan Tannehill and Joe Flacco in that span.

Tyrod Taylor, Bills (vs. SF)
Taylor is only averaging 163 yards passing since his 297-yard, three-touchdown effort in Week 2. But he’s getting it done one way or another, whether it’s the two touchdowns against the Rams last week or the 76 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown against the Cardinals in Week 3. It’s not necessarily going to be pretty, but Taylor should produce against the 49ers, who are #19 in QB aFPA.

Brian Hoyer, Bears (vs. JAX)
Hoyer has cleared 302 passing yards and tossed two touchdowns in three straight games. The Jaguars represent the toughest matchup of the stretch, but the Jaguars yielded two touchdowns to Andrew Luck in Week 4 after giving up four touchdowns to Philip Rivers back in Week 2.

Alex Smith, Chiefs (@ OAK)
Smith is averaging 42.0 pass attempts this year after averaging just 31.3 attempts in his first three seasons with the Chiefs. This has resulted in an increase in passing yardage, from 218 per game from 2013-2015 to 268 per game this year. He’s coming off of a bye week and has a favorable matchup with the Raiders, who have given up an average of 317 yards and 2.0 touchdowns per game to Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota and Matt Ryan.

Trevor Siemian, Broncos (@ SD)
Siemian was on his way to a big fantasy day in Week 4 before leaving with a shoulder injury. On just seven pass attempts, he had already gained 68 yards and thrown a touchdown. Thursday games are always a little dicey, but the banged-up Chargers’ secondary just gave up 317 yards and two touchdowns to Derek Carr.