8 Big-Name Players You Just Can't Trust in Week 6

Andre Ellington, RB, Arizona Cardinals

I'm going to cheat a little bit and take some facts from my Regression Candidates article this week.

Fact 1: Andre Ellington is the 7th-ranked fantasy running back in average scoring.
Fact 2: He scored 26 points last week in standard scoring formats.
Fact 3: You should still bench him.

Ellington has produced highly on a few very fluky plays this season, which displays his explosive talent and propensity for the big play, but reveals him for what he is: an absolute boom-or-bust proposition. With a nagging foot injury, he only rushed for a 2.0 yards per carry mark the week after his team's bye (when we'd have expected he'd be a much more valuable player). His high rank in fantasy is largely carried by last week's performance, as he currently ranks just 25th in Total NEP and 36th in Rushing NEP on a per attempt basis among running backs.

With the potential for scattershot rookie Logan Thomas at the helm this Sunday, the Cardinals' offense will likely be extremely inefficient and ineffective. Washington's run defense is currently yielding little to fantasy rushers, and even in our Adjusted Defensive Rushing NEP metric, they rank in the top half of the league at defending the run. Ellington is too risky to start, even with guaranteed volume.