Sneaky Starts: Week 6

Oct 10, 2014

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough -- a waiver wire or bench player who is 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.

How did our Sneaky Starts fare last week? There are always a few (or several) duds, but Austin Davis (QB3), Justin Forsett (RB10), Khiry Robinson (RB11), Andre Williams (RB13), Jeremy Hill (RB35), Darrin Reaves (RB38), Brian Quick (WR4), Terrance Williams (WR13), Mohamed Sanu (WR14), Louis Murphy (WR21), Rueben Randle (WR24), Anquan Boldin (WR32), Malcom Floyd (WR33) and Owen Daniels (TE9) all offered up starter- or flex-caliber numbers in Week 5.

Throughout the article I’ll refer to our main strength of schedule metric: Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA). Click here for more detail. Also, be sure to check out our Defense Knowledgeseeker Report to see how teams have fared against specific players.

Let’s take a look at the Sneaky Starts for Week 6:

Quarterbacks

Joe Flacco, Ravens (@ TB)
Flacco didn’t have a good game against the Colts, but he threw for seven touchdowns in his first four games. The Bucs have given up an average of 322 yards and 2.0 TD in their last four games (facing Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan and Austin Davis).

Kirk Cousins, Redskins (@ ARI)
Cousins bounced back from a brutal, four-INT Week 4 to post a very solid 283 yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks. The Cardinals also have a good defense, but Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick and Eli Manning have averaged 334 yards and 2.3 TD in the last three games.

Brian Hoyer, Browns (vs. PIT)
Hoyer isn’t going to set the world on fire, but he is averaging 254 yards and 1.5 TD on the season. Blake Bortles didn’t do much against the Steelers in Week 5, but Mike Glennon, Cam Newton and Joe Flacco averaged 239 yards and 1.7 TD from Week 2 to Week 4.