Keoni's 2022 Week 6 Best Fantasy Football Starts and Sits
As each week goes along, we get closer and closer to the ultimate goal of fantasy football: the playoffs and ultimately the championship. Now, while that is a far ways away at this point, teams are still separating themselves from the rest of the pack and setting themselves up for a road to the illustrious playoffs. I'm here to help you get on that road, whether you are in desperate need of some wins or if you're on the right path already. Knowing key players to start and sit each week can make the difference between a devastating loss and another surefire win, so as another week begins in this spookiest of months, I just say, “you're going to need a bigger article!”
Starts of the week
QB
Geno Smith: SEA Seahawks vs ARI Cardinals
Geno Smith is the man right now, and he faces a great matchup in the Arizona Cardinals. He’s gonna make baby legs/small hands Murray (as Ryan calls him) and his team look like a fool in this divisional matchup seeing as the Cardinals give up nearly 4 more fantasy points per game to QBs. They let up a 300 yard performance early in the season, and that could happen again. Smith has had 2 so far in 2022, and he has a 75% completion rate which is the highest by 5% among QBs with over 100 attempts. He is accurate and throws dimes to the endzone with 9 TDs through the air, 1 on the ground and an Aaron Rodgers-esque 2 interceptions, with his last coming in week three. Since then he has a +6 turnover differential. Geno Smith is the guy right now, and it's a Cinderella story where I am riding that pumpkin carriage all the way until it rots. For now, Geno’s rocking some glass slippers all the way to the fantasy royal halls.
RB
Melvin Gordon III: DEN Broncos vs LAC Chargers
Hear me out; I know he has fumble trouble, but he is the definitive lead back on this team. Russell Wilson just ain’t cooking either. They are going against the Chargers which are last vs the run, allowing nearly 9.5 more fantasy points per week than the league avg. to the position. They have also given up over 130 yards in each of the last three games and 5 touchdowns on the ground in that span. Gordon will be getting the ball a bunch as well most likely, seeing as the 2 games he’s performed well in, he had 17 and 18 touches respectively. He also had over 100 total yards last week. I think he can do all of that again while finding the endzone as well.
WR
Jakobi Meyers: NE Patriots vs CLE Browns
This is a potentially risky pick, but the numbers should back me up on this. He is the wide receiver 10 over the three games he has played, getting an average of 87 yards per game, nearly 7 catches per game and just over 17 fantasy points in full PPR (Points per reception). He is the go to receiver on this team, and going against the Cleveland Browns offense that has one of the best runners in the game in Nick Chubb, they’ll be pressed to put up points. While Rhamondre Stevenson is likely to get a large amount of carries, I don’t see the Patriots getting a far enough lead to where they abandon the passing game, despite Bailey Zappe being the QB. Bill Belichick has designed this offense to help Zappe not make mistakes, and a key component of that is the reliability of Meyers this season. You can confidently start him if he is healthy and plays in this game.
TE
Zach Ertz: ARI Cardinals vs SEA Seahawks
Zach Ertz is a major factor in the Cardinals offense. He doesn’t really get YAC (yards after the catch) but he does get a good number of targets and has had at least 6 catches in the past four games. He is 4th overall among tight ends with 41 total targets. They face Seattle which has a terrible defense ranking last vs the position. They have been blown up by T.J. Hockenson and Taysom Hill the last two weeks and that can easily happen again with Zach Ertz. He might not get a 100 yard game, but he has TD potential in each game. The Cardinals are going to be forced to rely on him, and he is a great, consistent player which is essential at tight end.
Sits of the Week
QB
Russel Wilson: DEN Broncos vs LAC Chargers
I know I have a lot of people from this game in this article but it’s just the perfect storm of matchups, good or bad and Russel Wilson is the most logical QB to sit for this week. All the guys with bad matchups statistically are guys you have to start, and the others are guys you wouldn’t play otherwise, leaving weird, DangerRuss Wilson left on the chopping block. However, he deserves to be here regardless. He should probably be here for the rest of the season for his creepy Subway commercial alone, like seriously stop reading this and go watch that terrifying piece of marketing from the most unself-aware man in football right now.
Ok, are you back? Wild, right? Like who let this happen, and I have so many questions I’m not sure I want the answers to, but back to the actual reason he is on this list. Russel Wilson has been bad this year and outside of his game vs the Raiders, he has 3 interceptions and only 2 touchdown passes. He has a bad completion % of just under 60% and in the majority of games this year, he has under 12 fantasy points (depending on your scoring). He faces a vulnerable Chargers defense but he and the coaching staff can’t facilitate drives for an entire 4 quarters. They barely get a few each game and he is dealing with a lat injury which might affect his ability to make clutch throws. All of these spells SIT HIM for this week.
RB
Najee Harris: PIT Steelers vs TB Buccaneers
Listen, you probably drafted this guy in the first round but the Steelers offense has to be one of the worst in the league. They only scored 3 points last week to the Buffalo Bills 38. This week, going against the intimidating pass rush of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Steelers will likely have to abandon the run early.
While Harris can certainly catch dump off passes from his quarterback, he hasn’t been utilized as the receiving back like he was last year. He only has one game over 3 receptions and that came before Pickett was starting. He does get a large amount of carries with at least 10 in each game, but this team is not able to produce big opportunities for him. The combination of the terrifying Bucs run defense and terrible Steelers offense makes me want to stay away from Harris for this week.
WR
Devin Duvernay: BAL Ravens vs NYG Giants
Devin Duvernay has been a pleasant surprise this year, being the WR 24 on the season. However, if you look at his numbers, they are not as impressive as they may seem on the surface. Two of his games were boosted by touchdowns which helps tremendously in fantasy. Otherwise, he has no game over 54 receiving yards. He did have 24 on the ground last week for a total of 78 scrimmage yards but how often is that going to happen? While Lamar is better than previous years when it comes to the pass game, he can also be inaccurate having 2 big opportunities for open guys that he just overthrew. That is not what you want for fantasy players. It is also slightly concerning that 5 catches in a game is the most Duvernay has had this season with a split between 4 and 2 catches each in the other games.
Baltimore also faces a surprisingly stout Giants defense that is 2nd versus the position. They are a bend don’t break defense allowing only three receiving touchdowns this year and averaging nearly 6.5 fewer fantasy points to receivers each week. Based on the matchup alone, I’d sit Duvernay this week.
TE
Gerald Everett: LAC Chargers vs DEN Broncos
Gerald Everett is a good tight end, but he can be unreliable at times. He is coming off a week where he had 3 targets and 1 catch for 2 yards. That is awful and practically inexcusable when it comes to having him in your fantasy lineup. He has had bounce back weeks, but there might not be enough to go around for him with Keenan Allen likely coming back this week, finally. If Allen plays, that definitely limits the number of targets going to other players. Mike Williams is still a lock but everyone else besides Allen, Williams and Austin Ekeler might be left in the dust resulting in a bust on the week.
On top of that, Denver has only allowed more than 34 yards to the position once this season and that was in game 1. They are shutting down tight ends and have not allowed a touchdown to them since that first game. In this crucial divisional matchup, Denver is going to come to play on defense and that involves shutting down Everett.
That does it for another week of starts and sits. I hope this helps and I hope it really was a big enough article for you, but if not, you might have to ride some yellow barrels to the fantasy shore. Good luck and stay dreamin’!
