RADIO
Bruce Matson lists players at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE) who have struggled ahead of Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season. These players could be fallers worth benching, trading, or dropping soon in fantasy football.
There are a lot of warning signals from Week 5. The 2020 season is possibly one of the hardest seasons to predict. We are seeing a lot of high-scoring contests that are allowing some lesser-known players to blow up the box score.
We are also seeing a changing of the guard due to some of the older veterans starting to level off while also seeing some of the younger players start to prove themselves.
With that being said, let’s look at the warning signals as we look ahead to Week 6.
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Quarterback
Philip Rivers, Indianapolis Colts
The old horse looks like it needs to ride off to pasture. He only has one 300-yard game and just four touchdown passes on the season. In Week Five against the Cleveland Browns Rivers’ game took a bad turn. The Colts’ offense seemed to be inept and lacked the firepower to consistently move the chains. This was mostly due to his inability to connect with his receivers.
We want to note that he wasn’t playing in the most promising matchups. The Colts’ wide receiver corps didn’t match up well against the opposing opposition over the last couple weeks. Matchups against the Bears and Browns made it hard for the team to consistently move the ball downfield.
Outside of the aging T.Y. Hilton, there aren’t many receiving threats in the offense. Injuries to Michael Pittman and Parris Campbell let the wind out of the sails for the Colts’ offense. Without the added firepower in the offense, Rivers will need to get creative if the team wants to be able to put points on the board.
Ugly interceptions like the one posted above can not continue to happen. If he continues to play bad, we might see Jacoby Brissett under center for the Colts.
Running Back
Mark Ingram II, Baltimore Ravens
The warning signals are shining bright here with Mark Ingram. Even with a positive game script the team is not leaning on him as their bell-cow back. We are seeing more of a committee approach in the Ravens’ run game.
On Sunday, Ingram received just a 57.90 percent share of the carries out of the backfield. On top of that, he received zero targets in the passing game. The lack of usage is a concern since it indicates inconsistent fantasy production going forward. Going into Week Five, he was RB41 on the season with two low-end RB2 weeks.
You can’t sell Ingram for anything in redraft at the moment. He could be an add-on in a bigger trade to help move the needle. However, most fantasy managers will just need to ride this out and use him when needed.
Wide Receiver
Russell Gage, Atlanta Falcons
Gage blew up in week one with 20.4 fantasy points. Since then he has experienced a downward slope with irrelevant fantasy numbers in weeks three and four. The hole continues to dig deeper with him catching just two passes for 16 yards in Week Five in a favorable matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
The targets will dissipate even more when Julio Jones is healthy and back on the field. It’s beginning to look like Gage is going to provide sporadic fantasy production, making it very hard to feel confident when putting him in your lineups.
We should look at Gage as a bye week replacement going forward. He will get the opportunity to play in some promising matchups, but he will never be a reliable option in fantasy.
Tight End
Ian Thomas, Carolina Panthers
There are not enough targets to go around in Carolina. Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore are soaking up a large portion of the targets in the passing game. The team also allocates a considerable chunk of the passing workload to the running backs. With all this being said, there’s not enough volume in the passing game to make Thomas a consistent contributor in fantasy.
Thomas is living by red-zone targets. If he doesn’t score a touchdown then he’s not going to score enough to be worthwhile in fantasy. There’s simply not enough targets going his way to make for him to score enough fantasy points to help fantasy teams win their weekly matchups.
Breakout Alert!
Chase Claypool, Pittsburgh Steelers
This isn’t much of an alert because everyone in the world is aware of Chase Claypool’s breakout from Sunday’s performance against the Eagles where he scored four touchdowns. If you didn’t know, this is a message to let you know you should immediately check your waiver wire to see if he’s available. Go do that right now.
Claypool is one of the biggest risers from this year’s rookie class. At 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, he’s a miss-match nightmare for opposing defenses. He has the speed to stretch the field and the ball skills to be an incredible red zone option. Ben Roethlisberger isn’t afraid to look his away.
Fantasy managers have to be aggressive with Claypool because he’s talented enough to provide consistent WR1 results. The offense packs enough volume in the passing game to keep him productive. The last thing you want is to watch one of your league-mates enjoy a free WR1 off the waiver wire.
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