4 FanDuel NFL Studs to Target in Week 6

Spending your available salary in any DFS lineup on a stud can make or break your lineup. These high-salaried players will take up the majority of your budget, so it’s critical to carefully consider which ones you’ll want for each slate. Whether it’s trying to capture a safe floor in a cash game or chasing a huge game to help you win a tournament, nailing the expensive players is one of the keys to making winning NFL lineups on FanDuel.

Week 6 sees the first bye weeks of the season, and there are only 10 games on the main slate. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few stars that we can roster, so let’s see which ones stand out.

Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

FanDuel Salary: $9,000
Projected Points: 25.3

The Kansas City Chiefs have not gotten off to the start they would have wanted to this season. They’ve already lost more games than they did in 2020.

Patrick Mahomes has not been his flawless self, either, with six interceptions, including at least one in each of his last four games. He’s coming off a poor performance on Sunday Night Football, as it was his first game with fewer than three touchdowns and he also threw two interceptions.

That’s not to say Mahomes hasn’t been good for fantasy, as he still ranks as the QB1 overall and leads the league with 17 total touchdowns. We’ve also seen him add fantasy points with his legs, as he’s scored at least 4.5 fantasy points on the ground in three of five games this season.

Mahomes and the Chiefs have a great chance of getting back on track this week. They’ll face the Washington Football Team, whose defense was supposed to be a strength, but so far it’s been anything but. Washington has allowed 0.51 adjusted fantasy points per drop back, the sixth-worst mark in the league.

Kansas City has not been as pass-happy as we saw from them at times last season, as their adjusted pass rate is right in line with the league average. However, they might lean more towards the pass now with Clyde Edwards-Helaire on injured reserve. Washington has also been better against the run this season, so letting Mahomes do his magic is by far the best option for the Chiefs’ offense.

Kansas City has the only implied team total above 30 points on the main slate this week. Mahomes tops our projections at all positions by two points, and he’s a great play in tournaments to chase a high ceiling in a game where he could go off.

Ezekiel Elliot, RB, Dallas Cowboys

FanDuel Salary: $8,300
Projected Points: 17.3

Rumors of Ezekiel Elliott’s demise were greatly exaggerated.

After a poor Week 1 performance and backup Tony Pollard seeing more volume than expected, many people wrote Zeke off. Well, now at full health and behind a strong offensive line, Elliott has been running wild. He's up to the RB3 in half-PPR scoring this season and has a chance to keep it up in Week 6.

Elliott has seen at least 20 touches in three straight games, and he has been making the most of those touches. He also has been getting the important carries, with 15 red zone carries and 5 inside the 5-yard line. With the Dallas Cowboys ranking first in seconds per play but 21st in adjusted pass rate, there are a ton of opportunities for Zeke to get fed.

The Cowboys are on the road against the New England Patriots this week. This isn't exactly as scary of a matchup as it sounds at first. The Patriots are 0-3 at home, and their only two wins this season are against the lowly Houston Texans and New York Jets. New England has not been good at stopping the run this season, ranking 29th in numberFire's schedule-adjusted rush defense metric.

Dallas is favored by four points against the Patriots this week and have the third-highest implied team total at 28 points. With Dallas showing a much heavier emphasis on the run game than we anticipated heading into the season, Elliott will certainly be a big part of that team total. He's a rock-solid play who can be used in cash games this week.

Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers

FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Projected Points: 17.6

In fantasy football, one of the rules of thumb is to chase opportunity.

Well, there's no better way to chase opportunity at the wide receiver position than rostering Davante Adams. We saw his ridiculous role last season in which Aaron Rodgers looked for him nearly all the time, including in the red zone. Adams had five more red-zone targets than any other player in the league despite missing two games. These targets resulted in 14 of his 18 touchdowns last year. He hasn't been finding pay dirt as much this season, but the opportunity remains fantastic.

Some people thought Adams' volume from last season might be unsustainable. Well, through five games, he's seeing the ball even more. His target share has increased from 29.9% to 37.0% and his air yards share has gone from 33.1% to 45.1%. These numbers are elite among wide receivers in the league, and seeing this opportunity from a quarterback as good as Rodgers only enhances his value.

The Green Bay Packers face their arch-rival Chicago Bears in Week 6. The Bears' defense has been solid but not unbeatable. We saw Matthew Stafford hit some deep passes against them in Week 1, and then the schedule really softened up in terms of passing offenses. This matchup with the Packers will be their toughest test since that Week 1 game, and it remains to be seen how the Bears will be able to match up against a player like Adams.

Adams is projected for the most points at the wide receiver position this week. With the kind of volume he is seeing, he has a chance to erupt in every game he plays, making him a great option every week.

Mark Andrews, TE, Baltimore Ravens

FanDuel Salary: $6,300
Projected Points: 12.2

While Travis Kelce is always a top option at tight end on any slate he's on, Mark Andrews deserves to be highlighted. Especially after a performance for the ages on Monday Night Football in Week 5. His 11 catches for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns was one of the best tight end performances since the year 2000.

This game elevated Andrews all the way to the TE2 in half-PPR scoring. He's seeing a great role, with his percentage of team targets and team air yards both in the 90th percentile among players at his position. He's third in overall targets at tight end, which is what we have to look for when rostering a stud tight end because the majority of the other options are reliant on touchdowns to make them fantasy viable.

His quarterback, Lamar Jackson, has been the best we've seen him from a passing perspective, and he's looking for Andrews often. Jackson is second among starting quarterbacks in Passing Net Expected Points per drop back this season, something that people may not have anticipated coming into the season.

The Baltimore Ravens are at home against the surging Los Angeles Chargers in one of the most interesting matchups of the week. The Chargers have generally been good on defense but have struggled to defend the tight end position. They are tied for 28th in adjusted fantasy points allowed to tight ends, having allowed big games to Kelce, Darren Waller, and even David Njoku.

Baltimore's implied team total is a healthy 27.25 points, the fourth-highest on the slate. Andrews is projecting worse than Kelce and Waller, but comes at a significant discount from those two players. With the role and the matchup, it wouldn't be too surprising if Andrews finished as the best tight end on the week, and he should be considered all formats.

Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.