It’s hard to believe that it’s already week six, and we are one-third of the way through the 2026 NFL season. We have four teams on bye and a litany of injuries, so we are definitely in the “desperately needing one-week sleepers” territory of the fantasy football season. Never fear, we have one-week quarterbacks, sneaky tight ends, and sleeper running backs and wide receivers to help you patch those roster holes, at least for this week. As always, at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues have two players per position available, with at least 90% having one player at each spot available.
QUARTERBACKS
Jacoby Brissett at L.A. Rams (49% rostered)
The Tank Commander is in full force in Arizona, with Brissett continuing to make it look good in the box score while the Cardinals continue to Be Piss for Chambliss (shout out to Mina Kimes for that one). Brissett has every advanced metric you want for fantasy points from a drop-back passer: he’s fourth in dropbacks per game, fifth in end zone targets per game, and fourth in catchable pass rate. He’s doing everything right to create fantasy points, including scrambling just enough to kick in some points there (league-average 3.4 carries per game). Because of this, he currently has nine passing touchdowns, including seven in the last three games, and 280+ passing yards in two out of the last three. The Rams are going to put him to the test, but a Rams test isn’t as hard as we thought it would be; Jameis Winston is the only quarterback to not drop multiple touchdowns on their head, and that includes Bo Nix.
Kirk Cousins versus Buffalo (41% rostered)
Cousins’ streak of four straight games with multiple passing touchdowns broke last week, but that had more to do with the Patriots’ secondary than anything else. Cousins knows where his bread is buttered, giving Brock Bowers 35 targets in his three healthy games, which has Bowers scoring a touchdown per game and keeping the chains moving. The Bills give up the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year, with the sixth-highest quarterback rating allowed and the fifth-highest EPA/DB. So that is to say: quarterbacks are dominating them. The position is also mostly scoring fantasy points through the air against Buffalo, too, as they’ve allowed 111.2 passing fantasy points, compared to just 6.2 through quarterback rushing. That’s a match made in heaven for statuesque Kirko Chainz to bounce back after last weekend’s down fantasy performance.
Deep Dive: Tyler Huntley at Cleveland (3% rostered)
Lamar Jackson reportedly “has a real chance” of playing at Cleveland, so this could all be for nothing, but Huntley is a fun quarterback whenever he spot starts for Lamar. Think of him as Lamar Jackson, but if he was only about 60-70% as good as Lamar at any given skill. He can throw a bit, and run around well enough, and he can put together a good week by hook or by crook, as evidenced by his two passing and one rushing touchdown last week against the Falcons. Cleveland is a middle-of-the-road defense in terms of fantasy points per dropback, ranking smack dead league average at 0.45 FP/DB. They haven’t given up a lot of rushing fantasy points to quarterbacks yet this season, but that is because they’ve only played one rushing quarterback (Drake Maye), and he finished with eight carries for 54 yards. He’s a good deep league or 2QB spot start, but I wouldn’t go crazy on him in twelve-team leagues, especially since Lamar might be back.
Huntley alternative if Lamar Jackson plays: Jameis Winston versus New Orleans (9% rostered). He has 576 passing yards and six touchdowns in his last two games against Arizona and Washington, but New Orleans provides a stiffer test for him.
RUNNING BACKS
Tyjae Spears at Indianapolis (23% rostered)
The PPR Scam was in full effect last week, as Spears finished with nine catches on nine targets, posting 9.8 fantasy points without gaining a single rushing yard. The Colts are going to be an interesting matchup for the Titans because neither team is very good, so Tennessee won’t be chasing points, but the Colts are one of the best PPR scam matchups in the league. They allow the fourth-most receiving fantasy points per game to running backs (10.9) and the highest yards per target to running backs (9.78).
Dameon Pierce versus Carolina (20% rostered)
Pierce isn’t the best running back in the league, but his long speed that makes him a good returner gives him a shot to score a long touchdown in this one. Either way, the erstwhile Texan is the last man standing in the Eagles’ backfield that is reeling from a possible Saquon Barkley multi-week injury, a Tank Bigsby IR stint, and a Will Shipley multi-week injury. With Pierce as the last man standing, he is primed to have a decent week that could become a good week if he scores a touchdown. He had a fruitless sixteen opportunities against Jacksonville, but they’re one of the best teams in the league at stopping running back (30th in fantasy points per game allowed to the position). The Panthers provide no such defense, as they allow the fifth-most fantasy points per game to running backs, and the third-highest fantasy points per opportunity (0.99). That’s a match for about 15 PPR points, if everything goes how it has been for Carolina and Pierce so far.
Deep Dive: Ty Johnson at Las Vegas (2% rostered)
Ty Johnson is emerging as the preferred change of pace back in Buffalo, and he has responded with four catches for 50+ yards in two of the last three games. He is a PPR play only, as his receiving points and explosive potential are the thesis behind the Johnson play. He caught two long passes against the Rams, but both were catch-and-run affairs. This is because Ty Johnson and Josh Allen have a great mind meld, where Johnson knows exactly where Allen needs him to be when the defense panics and thinks Allen is about to run. The Raiders are a good matchup to maximize touches, as they all the ninth-ighest fantasy points per opportunity so far this season, while allowing the twelfth-most fantasy points overall.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Germie Bernard at Tampa Bay (22% rostered)
On the surface, Germie has just 19 targets across five games, and hasn’t done much. In reality, he has been stuck behind Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson. So yeah, he hasn’t done anything, but I am going to make excuses for him really quick. He doesn’t make it onto the field all the time (two games over 43% route share) but when he does, he’s one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets (in two games over 43% route share, he has 16 targets and a 0.26 target per route run. This culminated in his best game as a pro last week, where he caught six-of-eight targets for 80 yards. Tampa Bay is a middling matchup for wide receivers; they allow just the thirteenth-fewest fantasy points to the position, but have already allowed Denzel Boston, Jordan Addison and George Pickens huge days against them.
Kendrick Bourne at L.A. Rams (11% rostered)
Bourne seems to be a major beneficiary of the Marvin Harrison Jr. Trade, as his seven targets, 70 receiving yards, and 5% target share represented his highest in all those stats since week one. The Cardinals get the Rams this week, who despite overhauling their defense, allow the twelfth-most fantasy points and the third-most touchdowns out of the slot, where Bourne runs over 70% of his routes. He is almost a desperation play, and I would prefer to add him and watch what happens, but he could be a one-week fill-in play.
Brandin Cooks versus Washington (2% rostered)
Brandon Aiyuk is crazy, Ricky Pearsall re-injured his knee, Deebo Samuel is nursing a hamstring injury, Jacob Cowing rolled his ankle something fierce last week, and Mike Evans has a ribs issue (though you wouldn’t know it by watching the Seahawks-49ers game). That leaves one healthy wide receiver in this room: newcomer Brandin Cooks. Cooks hasn’t run enough routes to qualify, but he would be in the 80th percentile in both separation score and win rate early in this season. The Commanders allow the fourth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, and the tenth-most fantasy points per opportunity. They’re also starting to circle the drain, headed across the country, and playing in the bright lights of Monday Night Football. This is the ultimate desperation play, but so is the 49ers playing him.
TIGHT ENDS
Brenton Strange versus Houston (45% rostered)
Strange doesn’t have a particularly good matchup, but the Jaguars’ offense is figuring out exactly how to use Strange to keep the chains moving. I guess that’s what you have to do when your offensive guru head coach has two dead-weight first-round wide receivers in the offense. Strange has five or more targets in three-straight games and back-to-back games with eight targets a pop, finishing with 7/95 two weeks ago, and 7/68 last Sunday. The Texans are a stymying tight end defense on paper, but in reality, they just haven’t faced a lot of good tight ends yet this year. Dalton Kincaid doused them in gasoline and lit a match in week one, hauling in five catches for 130 yards. Tyler Warren caught nine-of-ten passes in week three, and they haven’t seen a tight end get more than four targets in any other contest. Strange is set for a nice weekend, and you can slide him onto your roster for free.
Pat Freiermuth at Tampa Bay (33% rostered)
Nobody quite buys the Pat Freiermuth scam yet, but he has back-to-back games with double-digit PPR points, and four touchdowns in the first five weeks of the season. He is one of ten tight ends with at least four games of five targets so far this season, making him one of the more consistently targeted tight ends in the league. The Steelers are getting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will be without Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson, giving Freiermuth more room to operate in the Steelers’ offense. The Bucs make for a great matchup given his opportunity, as three tight ends have more than four targets against them, and all of them produced double-digit PPR days.
Deep Dive: Tyler Higbee versus Arizona (9% rostered)
Higbee is emerging as a frequently-targeted tight end for the Rams, and the preseason preconceived notions that it would be a time split in Los Angeles have people being slow on the uptake. However, in the last three weeks, he has 23 targets, which ranks fifth at the position. He is TE6 during that span, as he has produced a ton with Matthew Stafford concentrating all his tight end targets into HCH. He’s also producing extremely well with those targets, as he ranks sixth in yards per target over the last three weeks. The Cardinals are a defensive sieve against tight ends, allowing the sixth-most fantasy points, and second-most fantasy points per route run to tight ends.
