Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season is in the books. And, as is customary, most of the usual suspects from the standpoint of fantasy football did their thing. Though it came in a losing effort, Deshaun Watson, owned by 99 percent of players in Yahoo leagues, led all quarterbacks in fantasy points. Julio Jones had a 100 percent ownership rate and finished with the second-best points total among wide receivers as the Atlanta Falcons registered their first win of the season. But you know that there are players with low ownership rates who come out of nowhere every week. And here’s a look at those 2020 Week 6 fantasy football surprises.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Surprise Sensations
Philip Rivers
The Indianapolis Colts were certainly thrown a curveball when Andrew Luck suddenly retired prior to the start of last season. And despite Jacoby Brissett‘s best efforts, Indy finished 7-9 in 2019 after qualifying for the playoffs the previous season and defeating the Houston Texans in the wild-card round. That prompted the Colts to sign Rivers in the hope that the grizzled veteran could conjure up a bit of late-career magic after spending the previous 16 seasons with the Chargers organization. Prior to Week 6, he wasn’t exactly the mark of consistency from a fantasy standpoint. That was confirmed a week earlier when he managed just 7.62 points in a 32-23 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
But Rivers exploded on Sunday. He threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns in a massive 31-27 comeback win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Early in the second quarter, the Colts actually trailed 21-0. The win puts Indy at a very quiet 4-2 and hints at another phenomenal coaching job being done by Frank Reich in his third year with the Colts. Of the eight quarterbacks who managed at least 25 fantasy points in Week 6, Rivers’ 19 percent ownership rate in Yahoo leagues was, by far, the lowest. Don’t expect that number to climb, though, with the Colts on bye this coming weekend.
Travis Fulgham
The Philadelphia Eagles are just a few years removed from an epic season that culminated in their first Super Bowl win. But that accomplishment came with Nick Foles at quarterback, not Carson Wentz. Foles is now with the Chicago Bears and he has them leading the NFC North. Meanwhile, Philly stands at 1-4-1. And though such a record isn’t much to write home about, it’s good enough for second-best in the putrid NFC East. That, in and of itself, might be the saving grace for Wentz and head coach Doug Pederson. Because with the Dallas Cowboys having lost Dak Prescott for the season and the New York Giants and Washington Football Team looking like dumpster fires, this division is there for the taking.
It appears that Fulgham will play a role in any success for the Eagles passing game moving forward. Last week, he caught 10 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown in a 38-29 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The schedule gauntlet continued in Week 6 as they faced another AFC North juggernaut in the Baltimore Ravens. Though they fell behind 24-6 at one point, they did make a game of it down the stretch and ultimately lost by a 30-28 scoreline. Fulgham played a part in the late-game comeback as he caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. He’s managed double-digit fantasy points in each of the last three games. His ownership rate in Yahoo leagues in Week 6 was a measly 13 percent. So he might be worth a look as a waiver wire add with the Eagles taking on the hapless Giants on Thursday Night Football.
Adam Humphries
The Tennessee Titans aren’t shy about making it clear that they are going to live and die under the prowess of Derrick Henry. Just one week after a two-touchdown performance that included making Buffalo Bills cornerback Josh Norman look like a rag doll, he added two more against the Houston Texans including the game-winner in a 42-36 overtime victory. In the end, he finished with the most fantasy points among running backs in Week 6. But given his 100 percent ownership rate in Yahoo leagues, plenty of fantasy players benefited from his bonanza.
The same can’t be said of Humphries. Just two percent of players in Yahoo fantasy leagues had him on their roster. Yet he managed 18.40 points in PPR leagues, good enough for 12th-best among wide receivers this past week. It certainly indicates that he’s kind of a feast-or-famine kind of player for fantasy purposes given the fact he registered a goose egg in Week 5. But he did manage double-digit points in both Weeks 1 and 2. So he might be worth looking at as a possible flex this coming week against a Pittsburgh Steelers team who are allowing the seventh-most fantasy points to wideouts.
Anthony Firkser
And speaking of Titans offensive players not named Derrick Henry, how bout we discuss Firkser after what he pulled off on Sunday. Not a single player in Yahoo fantasy leagues rostered him. And yet he finished as the highest-scoring tight end of Week 6 taking into account PPR and the bonus-point structure of our LWOPF league. That means that Firkser, the aforementioned Humphries, and Henry, as well as Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, accounted for over 115 fantasy points on Sunday. Now Firkser was a beneficiary of an ankle injury suffered by Jonnu Smith. And if Smith can’t go against the Steelers in Week 7, Firkser might be an intriguing play for those who like to stream tight ends.
Cairo Santos
Yes, Santos is still going strong in the NFL. The first-ever Brazilian to play in the NFL, he’s certainly bounced around the league recently after a few stable years with the Kansas City Chiefs to start his career. Santos started the 2020 season on the Chicago Bears practice squad but the team promoted him to the 53-man roster after Eddy Piñeiro was placed on injured reserve. And he had his best performance of the year in Chicago’s 23-16 road win over the Carolina Panthers this past weekend. He was a perfect 3/3 on field goals, one of which was a career-long 55-yard effort. It led to him finishing fourth-best among kickers in fantasy points in Week 6. But nobody in Yahoo leagues benefited as his ownership percentage was a big fat 0.
