Welcome to the sixth week of the NFL season and the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship.
And for the sixth week, we will be without both New Orleans and Detroit who are on bye weeks. New Orleans will especially be missed.
Also, this might be the first of the rest of the season where the term: 'Game Time Decision' will be in effect. There are three just off the top of my head in Jets RB Isaiah Crowell, Bucs TE O.J. Howard and Colts TE Eric Ebron among many others. The key time for the actives and inactives is 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
In terms of the RotoWire FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship, it is straightforward. We're running a $10 contest in each of the first 10 weeks of the season, where the top 150 users double their cash. You'll compete against fellow RotoWire readers as well as three experts: Kevin Payne, Jeff Erickson and Derek Van Riper. Beat all three experts in one week and you'll earn entry to Week 11's Free Play championship round. The top 120 players in that round will win a prize, with the first-place contestant coming home with $1,000 and a two-year subscription to RotoWire. You can sign up for this week's competition here.
Meanwhile, the rest of the experts here at RotoWire will be competing in a parallel contest. Last year, Mike Doria claimed the title, with Tate McIntyre grabbing the silver and Hunter Van Asten coming home with the bronze.
For Week 5 there was a tie for first place between Peter Merrill (black26) and Eric Caturia (etcat30). And both had the same lineup that finished with 158.70 points. Both had seven players in double digits and four with 22.2 points or more led by Rams RB Todd Gurley II with 31.3 while Steelers WR Antonio Brown got back to helping fantasy teams with 25.1 FanDuel points.
Despite being out of the top 20, Joshua Fathollahi (jashfath) maintained his lead in the overall standings for the first five weeks at 745.42, almost 13 points ahead of Scott Jenstad (oaktownsj) at 723.78.
You can check out the full expert leaderboard here, but here's the current top 10:
1. Joshua Fathollahi (jashfath) 735.42
2. Scott Jenstad (oaktownsj) 723.78
3. Ken Crites (kencrw) 707.32
4. Eric Caturia (etcat30) 697.70
5. Benjamin Donabedian (jd0505) 696.06
6. Andrew Laird (kingmorland) 695.26
7. Joel Bartilotta (joelbartilotta) 694.98
8. Jake Letarski (rotojakeski) 693.04
9. Herb Ilk (joecomma) 689.50
10. Andrew Parr (aparr013) 682.58
While the prime-time expected shootout of the Chiefs-Pats is not on this slate, there are plenty of games expected to be high scoring including the Bucs-Falcons, Steelers-Bengals, and Rams-Broncos all have at least an over/under of 51 points.
Value
QB Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Bucs at Atlanta Falcons
FanDuel Price: $7,400
The tastiest matchup on the board the Bucs-Falcons matchup has almost a 58 point over/under. Winston will need to keep pace with Falcons' QB Matt Ryan. In addition, Winston will add points with his feet when he is under pressure. The Falcons defense has allowed a dozen touchdown passes in five games while the Bucs have allowed 13 touchdowns in four games. No matter, Winston is going to have to throw to keep up with the Falcons scores and the Tampa Bay running game is basically non-existent.
QB Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
FanDuel Price: $7,500
Dalton has played better at home and the Steelers defense has given up the fourth most passing yards in the NFL with 296 yards per contest as well as 13 passing touchdowns in five games.
QB Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts at New York Jets
FanDuel Price: $7,800
After a slow start and shaking off the rust, Luck has averaged more than 30 FanDuel points per game in the last two weeks. In addition, the Jets' secondary is all banged up and the Colts have shown that will just throw the ball with a mediocre running game.
RB Bilal Powell, New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts
FanDuel Price: $5,800
Part of this is you must look for the injury update on fellow Jets back Isaiah Crowell who is nursing an ankle injury. If Crowell has been ruled out (another game-time decision), Powell will be getting the bulk of the carries and since the Jets are still trying to nurse rookie quarterback Sam Darnold into the pro game that will rely on the running game for a few more weeks.
RB Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers at Cleveland Browns
FanDuel Price: $6,200
Ekeler is 20th on the list of running backs based on dollar price. If you want to spend a little more money on your wide receiver or your flex, Ekeler is not a bad way to go and he has been consistently giving you almost 13 FanDuel points each week.
RB Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears at Miami Dolphins
FanDuel Price: $5,900
New head coach Matt Nagy has shown that he is giving the ball to Tarik Cohen in the backfield instead of fellow RB Jordan Howard ($6,200) and Miami is notorious in allowing RBs to catch the ball out of the backfield. Cohen is a spark plug and a catch or a runaway for going long distance for a touchdown.
RB Marshawn Lynch, Oakland Raiders vs Seattle Seahawks (London)
FanDuel Price: $6,500
If you are into revenge games, this might be up there on the list. Can't you see Lynch screaming: "Give me the damn ball." There is no doubt that the former Seahawk circled this game on the calendar. In addition, the Seahawks have given up the fourth most rushing yards per game (129).
WR Chester Rogers, Indianapolis Colts at New York Jets
FanDuel Price: $5,700
The Colts have been throwing the ball constantly especially after the first two weeks when QB Andrew Luck was rusty after coming off his injury. The Colts' top WR TY Hilton is expected to miss another game so Rogers should have another big week. Rogers has averaged 13 FanDuel points the last two weeks so you can use the money you saved on Rogers to spend on bigger names.
TE Cameron Brate, Tampa Bucs at Atlanta Falcons
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Brate will be a great pickup if teammate TE O.J. Howard ($5,500) does not play. Howard was expected to be out 2-to-4 weeks after suffering an MCL sprain on Oct. 1 so he would be beating that timetable, but he has practiced this week making him a game-time decision. Brate is a great value in an underwhelming tight end field.
High Risk/High Reward
RB Todd Gurley II, Los Angeles Rams at Denver Broncos
FanDuel Price: $9,500
Gurley has been one of the most reliable players this season as he continues his success from last season. One of the top backs in the game has averaged 26 FanDuel points per game. In addition, it is a nice spot for Gurley against a Denver defense that has allowed the third-most running yards per game at almost 140 yards.
QB Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Bucs
FanDuel Price: $8,300
The other side of the big game of the slate should be a shootout, especially against a poor Tampa Bay defensive secondary. All you have to do is look at how Chicago QP Mitchell Trubisky (who I still consider as a rookie) collected 43.5 points two weeks ago in a blowout.
WR Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings vs. Arizona Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $8,600
Thielen has been as consistent as you can get in a wide receiver. He has averaged around the 20 point mark in the first four games of the Vikings schedule. Arizona's pass defense is better than its run defense, but the Cardinals defense as a whole has taken a turn for the worse this year compared to previous seasons. In addition, new Vikings QB Case Keenum has connected well with Thielen in the first quarter of the season.
WR Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Bucs
FanDuel Price: $8,500
Last call for Julio Jones. If the highly paid Falcons receiver can't score a touchdown against Tampa Bay, you might as well forget it this season. Jones has 10 career touchdowns against the Bucs, and the Tampa Bay secondary is one of the worst in the NFL.
Steer Clear
WR Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers at Cleveland Browns
FanDuel Price: $8,100
One of the biggest disappointments who has been healthy has been Allen and I know since I have him in a couple of season-long leagues. Allen has only averaged 11.5 points per game this season and the Browns defense is becoming a little stingier against the pass.