Week 5 may have taken until the Tuesday of Week 6 to complete, but we are now nearly 1/3 of the way through the 2020 NFL Season. Despite the league chugging along, injuries continue to pile up, and rosters in the WTBU Sports Fantasy League continue to fluctuate between success and hardship. With all that in mind, let’s look at the league power rankings for Week 6.
#10 Baby Chark (1-4) — Ethan Fuller [Last Week: 9]
Added: RB Damien Harris (Free Agency), WR Tre’Quan Smith (Waivers, later dropped), RB Alexander Mattison (Waivers), K Jason Sanders (Waivers), WR N’Keal Harry (Waivers, dropped then added back), WR Mecole Hardman (Free Agency)
Dropped: K Daniel Carlson (Waivers), WR Michael Gallup (Waivers), WR Brandon Aiyuk (Waivers)
Ethan’s team continues to run amuck with worse luck than anyone else in this league. He chose not to start Darrell Henderson Jr. who put up over 20 points from the bench. His entire starting lineup, with the exceptions of Josh Allen and Daniel Carlson, then proceeded to score in the single digits and produce a remarkably low 61.6 point performance in week 6. Adding RB Alexander Mattison is a big plus for this week as Dalvin Cook will sit out due to injury, but again only Mattison and Allen seem to be poised for even a double-digit week. As always, anything is possible, but Ethan’s team keeps getting kicked even though they’ve long been down, and that drops him to the bottom of the rankings.
#9 Flavortown Trash Can Lids (1-4) — Akshai Wadhwani [Last Week: 10]
Added: None
Dropped: None
Akshai did not fully set his lineup for Week 5. He left Rex Burkhead in as a starter even though the Patriots got a bye for their COVID-19 cases, and the same deal applied for the Patriots’ defense. As such, he gave his team a distinct disadvantage from the outset, and the only two players who performed well last week were his two active RBs: Mike Davis and Todd Gurley II. Akshai’s team faces a mixed bag of matchups for his players heading into Week 6, with a formidable opponent in D-Hop’s Pancakes waiting. Remarkably, Baby Chark is facing less favorable circumstances than Akshai’s team, and that’s why he moves up to No. 9.
#8 Suh-Tang Clan (2-3) — Patrick Donnelly [Last Week: 6]
Added: None
Dropped: RB Le’Veon Bell (Waivers)
Patrick’s team continues its tumble down the rankings after another underwhelming week. No one in his starting lineup had an exceptional week. John Brown turned out to be a non-factor for Buffalo as the Bills got rocked by the Titans and he sat out with a knee injury. Further, Patrick’s three WRs on the bench in Jarvis Landry, Henry Ruggs III, and Brandin Cooks combined to score over 60 total points.
To literally add insult to injury, Dalvin Cook will likely not play this week due to his groin injury, and Brown is listed as questionable. Further, Chase Edmonds is taking more and more offensive game from Kenyan Drake in Arizona, and Evan Engram, Brandin Cooks and Ronald Jones II are all boom-or-bust players. With a tough matchup with the Philadelphia Pigeons this week, Patrick’s team must drop further this week down to No. 8.
#7 Hannah’s Bananas (2-3) — Hannah Yoshinaga [Last Week: 7]
Added: None
Dropped: None
Hannah’s team was not great last week. Were it not for a surprise dominant game from Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins, and an unreal performance from Baltimore’s defense, Hannah might have lost to The Trash Can Lids. This coming week, her team might finally get Julio Jones back at a productive level, along with having favorable matchups for nearly all of her players. Her matchup with Happy Golladays might be tight since both teams have many “startable” players and need to make the right choices. Her team can easily flounder, or explode for 150 points.
#6 Happy Golladays (3-2) — Daniel Multz [Last Week: 3]
Added: Seahawks D/ST (Free Agency), QB Lamar Jackson (Trade), RB James White (Trade), Dolphins D/ST (Waivers), K Greg Zuerlein (Waivers), WR Tee Higgins (Free Agency)
Dropped: Broncos D/ST (Waivers), RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Trade), RB Zack Moss (Waivers), K Zane Gonzalez (Waivers), QB Dak Prescott (Waivers)
My team took a double-whammy in Week 5. Getting walloped by Senior on JV while my starters mostly struggled was bad enough, but then I lost Dak Prescott (my highest scoring player thus far) for the rest of the year after suffering the gruesome compound fracture in his right ankle. Due to this, after many past offers, I finally had to part ways with one of my RBs and send them to D-Hop’s Pancakes.
Trading Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has not looked amazing since his first game of the season, for a Lamar Jackson with huge upside but trending the other way and a bench player in James White seemed fair and necessary for me.
I still have three starting RBs in James Robinson, Myles Gaskin and Josh Jacobs, the first two of whom face very favorable matchups this week, so there’s no huge reason to panic. My team retains high projections and solid depth, but I must lower my team in the rankings due to a bad Week 5 and the loss of ‘CEH’ and Dak.
#5 These Ladies Love Sosi (3-2) — Perry Sosi [Last Week: 8]
Added: WR Chase Claypool (Waivers)
Dropped: WR Hunter Renfrow (Waiers)
Perry’s team exploded for 155 points in a fantastic rout of Baby Chark. A four-touchdown game from rookie Justin Herbert, plus everyone else he started exceeding projections and making up for a bad week from Terry McLaurin means everything clicked for his team. He now possesses the fourth-highest scoring team in the league.
Better yet, all of his starters will return for Week 6, and Cam Newton has been declared active for the Patriots. As long as Perry adds him to the lineup and removes Herbert, who is on a bye this week, he should put up another strong week. He also faces a Senior on JV team that will be without a couple of key starters, so he has a real chance to hand the lone undefeated team its first loss.
#4 The Philips Heads (2-3) — Joe Pohoryles [Last Week: 4]
Added: QB Ben Roethlisberger (Waivers), TE Robert Tonyan (Waivers), Washington D/ST (Waivers),
Dropped: QB Matt Ryan (Waivers), Cardinals D/ST (Waivers), D’Ernest Johnson (Waivers)
Joe’s team had another strong week. As I have noted time and time again, Joe’s performances should generate a better record. Despite having the second-highest scoring team in the league, he has also allowed the second-most points to opponents, meaning he catches many other teams right as they catch fire. This is why Joe’s team must remain in the top 5.
After another great week from his three Seahawks, along with Derrick Henry and Jonnu Smith, Joe’s team must remain at No. 4 because this is the one week of the season he has probably been dreading: Seattle’s bye week. Fortunately, Ben Roethlisberger, Raheem Mostert and Jameison Crowder (the only remaining beacon against full doom and gloom on the Jets) are solid backups for those Seahawks. He also faces as close to a breeze of a matchup as possible in Baby Chark, hence why he stays at fourth.
#3 Philadelphia Pigeons (2-3) — Ben Silver [Last Week: 2]
Added: WR Travis Fulgham (Waivers), Buccaneers D/ST (Waivers)
Dropped: QB Nick Foles (Waivers), RB Latavius Murray (Waivers)
Ben’s team drops only one spot heading into Week 6 despite the loss to D-Hop’s Pancakes. Kareem Hunt, Miles Sanders and Tyreek Hill all performed exceptionally despite facing difficult opposing defenses. At the same time, Kyler Murray and Stefon Diggs continued to excel. He was very clearly let down by an underperforming Zach Ertz and a 49ers defense that got decimated by Miami last week.
Many of Ben’s players face equally tough matchups this week. Perhaps starting a resurgent Jimmy Graham might be necessary. The same goes for finding almost any other defense to start over San Francisco (who faces the red-hot Rams) this week. All told, if everything stays as is, Ben’s team can easily repeat last week’s lofty points total with the potential to exceed it.
#2 D-Hop’s Pancakes (Formerly The Jackson 9) (3-2) — Brady Gardner [Last Week: 5]
Added: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Trade), WR Laviska Shenault Jr. (Waivers), Giants D/ST (Waivers), QB Andy Dalton (Waivers), QB Ryan Tannehill (Free Agency)
Dropped: QB Lamar Jackson (Trade), RB James White (Trade), RB Philip Lindsay (Waivers) TE Chris Herndon (Waivers), Cowboys D/ST (Waivers)
Brady parted with last year’s MVP in a trade with Happy Golladays, but acquired a first-round draft pick with great upside. If Edwards-Helaire gets more carries and gets more involved in the passing game, he can ascend to the RB1 tier.
Last week, Brady received stellar performances from his titular WR, Robby Anderson and a breakout week from Devonta Freeman. This made up for Jackson and his RBs underperforming as he squeaked away with a win over the Philadelphia Pigeons.
He faces a relatively easy matchup this week against The Trash Can Lids. However, no Darren Waller, tough matchups for ‘CEH’ and D-Hop, the questionability of Chris Godwin, and starting the shaky Giants defense all present question marks for Brady. His team can cruise to a win so long as they all meet projections this week.
#1 Senior on JV (5-0) — Chad Jones [Last Week: 1]
Added: TE Austin Hooper (Waivers)
Dropped: WR Golden Tate III (Waivers)
Chad continues to thrive in the glory of the best roster in the league. With Deshaun Watson putting up his best game of the week, his starting RBs and WRs more than getting the job done, and Wil Lutz putting up a surprising 15 points this week, everything clicked yet again in the rout of Happy Golladays.
However, his team barely holds onto the No. 1 position for this week for the simple reason that many of his players have byes this week. He had no backup TE, he’ll need to burn another bench spot on a second kicker, and he has no Alvin Kamara this week. Getting Aaron Jones back is a huge plus, and the rest of his team is still as good as ever, but his team is not at its strongest heading into this week.
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