Matthew Golden and Jordan Love are stacked in NFL 2025 Week 6 Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em

The sixth week has arrived, bringing with it yet another round of challenging start/sit choices in fantasy football. For Sunday’s slate, these are my top picks and plays.

The quarterback position.

Start: The Packers’ Jordan Love.

With one of the lowest PROEs in the league at -5 percent, the Packers are an annoyingly run-heavy team. This week, however, they are predicted to score more points than any other team. The Bills, who are predicted to finish second in scoring, are two points behind Green Bay’s 29-point-25 implied team total. If his team defeats the Bengals, Love might not get to pass much, but he won’t have any trouble doing it effectively. Cincy has allowed the sixth-most explosive passing plays this season and is ranked 24th in terms of EPA per dropback allowed. Love got the Packers there, so if they get up enough to put him on ice, that’s why.

Rams’ Matthew Stafford will start.

Sean McVay is trying his hardest to cook the books, and Stafford is playing well at the moment. At the moment, Stafford is the QB6 in fantasy points and the QB14 in EPA per dropback. He is outperforming himself in terms of volume. For the first time since Stafford’s debut season in Los Angeles, the Rams are above zero and in the top five in PROE.

At 26:01 seconds per play in neutral settings, they are third in the league in pace. Now, he is paired with a wounded Baltimore defense that is allowing opponents to score the second-highest number of fantasy points.

Sit: Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa.

To thwart Mike McDaniel’s Mickey Mouse offense, the Chargers were constructed in a lab. When it comes to throws that occur within 22.5 seconds of the snap, LA has given up the fourth-lowest YPA (5.2) and the fifth-lowest touchdown rate (2.1 percent).

As one might expect, Tua is heavily dependent on these plays. Sixty-two percent of his total passes fall into this category, and he has thrown seven of his ten touchdowns on fast attempts. Miami is a 4- to 5-point underdog with a team total under 20 this week, indicating that the books are also cautious about them.

Bears’ Caleb Williams is seated.

Although the Commanders don’t have a particularly strong defense, they complement Williams and the Bears in particular. Washington has produced pressure at the eleventh-highest rate this season and outperforms nearly every other team in terms of time spent at home. They have the third-highest quick pressure rate in the NFL at 27% (less than 2 points per 5 seconds). Williams’ PPF grade on fast pressure dropbacks is 37.3, and he has averaged 3.8 yards per attempt. Out of all the qualified passers, those marks rank last and second-to-last. He is the PFF’s No. passed with a grade of 32 on pressures at any speed. He might still make it home for fictional purposes, but I anticipate at least a few annoying errors.

Running back.

Start: Croskey-Merritt, Jacory.

Last week, Bill finally took over the Washington backfield, at least to the extent that he is now the obvious lead back. In: he set season-highs.

50 percent is the snap rate.

61 percent is the carry-on share.

Rate of travel: 38%.

Both rush yards over expected per carry (2.17) and yards per carry (6.6) are league-high for JCM. The Bears defense he faces on Sunday is allowing the fourth-highest number of fantasy points to opposing running backs.

Beginning: J. K. . Bronco Dobbins.

With 74 percent of the team’s attempts in Week 5, Dobbins’ dominance of the Denver backfield reached a new peak. He gained 79 yards and a touchdown on 20 runs. Dobbins has scrimmaged at least 68 yards in each of this season’s games. Due in large part to his role in the red zone, he has scored in every game save one. He has four red zone carries for RJ Harvey out of twelve. Dobbins leads 4-1 in goal line attempts as well. Dobbins should keep dominating against a defense that has given up the sixth-most fantasy points to running backs as the clear favorites over the Jets.

Sit: Titans’ Tony Pollard.

Pollard’s snap share and carry share dropped from 89 percent and 86 percent prior to Tyjae Spears’ return to the lineup last week to 72 percent and 74 percent following Spears. Even though those are still impressive marks, Pollard wasn’t making it home at the time he was witnessing every touch the backfield made. As Spears recovers from his ankle injury, his role will only expand. This implies a further reduction in Pollard’s already meager production of fantasy. The Titans, who are 4 points and 5 points behind on the road, are not expected to have a strong ground game in Week 6.

Chase Brown of the Bengals is seated.

Based on his share of the Cincy backfield, Brown is getting a lot of work, but the pie is getting smaller every week. The Bengals have called forty-two running plays for their running backs in Jake Browning’s three starts. Only the Bears, who didn’t play last week, have that number. Brown, on the other hand, has been limited to 10 carries since Joe Burrow was taken out. Vegas doesn’t think that Joe Flacco’s leadership will make a difference for the team. The Packers are 14 points ahead of the Bengals this week.

Wide Receiver.

Matthew Golden of the Packers will start.

Before they were benched in Week 5, the Packers tried Golden in a different role. He set career-highs in targets (six), catches (five), and yards (58) after running 75% of his routes from the slot in Week 4. On Sunday, he faces a Bengals defense that has allowed slot receivers the third-most yards and the eighth-most receptions this season.

Start: Cowboys, George Pickens.

This season, the Panthers have employed zone coverage on four of their five defensive passing plays. The only team that depends more on zone coverage is the Cowboys. Since joining the Dallas, Pickens has improved his game, averaging 2 points per 41 against zone. Among all wide receivers in YPRR against zone, he is ranked fourteenth. Pickens was always a “Start” after it was obvious Lamb would miss Week 6, but he also excels in DFS competitions when he has a strong matchup.

Sit: Steelers’ DK Metcalf.

Although Jim Schwartz’s Browns run man on 46 percent of their coverage snaps, the highest percentage in the NFL, few teams rely on man coverage these days. With an average of a pitiful .69 YPRR and being targeted on 11.1 percent of his routes, Metcalf has had a terrible season against man looks. Although it’s far from alpha territory, his target share of 23% is acceptable overall. He is more of a WR3 than a must-start in a poor game against Cleveland.

Travis Hunter, Jaguars, sits.

Hunter had a strong showing in Week 5. He graded well as a wideout and a cornerback and played both ways. Nevertheless, he was unable to establish himself in the WR4 ranks. Targeting Hunter occurs on 15% of his routes, placing him outside the top 50 receivers (min. He is compared to Elic Ayomanor and Dontayvion Wicks (50 routes). Furthermore, he isn’t seeing all of the snaps. Alongside Dont’e Thornton and Hunter Renfrow, he has a route rate of 69 percent, which puts him in 75th place. For fantasy purposes, the role and target-earning skills are far from what we require.

The Tight End.

Starter: Dolphins’ Darren Waller.

Last week, Waller increased his route rate to 68 percent and achieved a target share of only 15 percent. Using an aDOT of 14, he enhanced his fantasy output. Over the course of two games, Waller has run 74% of his routes from the slot or out wide. His only position is wide receiver, but fantasy managers can choose to have him play tight end.

Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson will begin.

This season, Ferguson has appeared in three games without CeeDee Lamb. He currently has a target share of 28 percent overall, having surpassed a 30 percent target share in two of them.

Given Lamb’s injury and the likelihood that the star wide receiver will miss Week 6 against Carolina, Ferguson is averaging 20 points and 5 fantasy points per game. Opposing wideouts receive the second-highest fantasy point total from the Panthers.

Mark Andrew, Ravens, is seated.

After Isaiah Likely was sidelined for two of the three games, Andrews scored less than two points. Since Likely’s return to the starting lineup, his average score has continued to drop. Andrews has only run a route on 61% of his team’s passing plays over the last two weeks, which are probably the first two games of the season. When Likely was absent, that was at its highest point, 74 percent. On Sunday, Andrews, who currently plays a part-time role, will be catching passes from Cooper Rush. With someone who is not on the waiver wire, I’ll take a chance.

Broncos’ Evan Engram sits.