Week 6 is here! Bye weeks are in full force and fantasy football teams are starting to be tested for depth. The key to getting depth is being able to play the waiver wires right and compile a great watch list. This week provides plenty of great players who deserve the watch list star next to their names in every player’s league. Wendell Smallwood, Auden Tate, and Chris Herndon all play for bad teams, but they still have the potential to add some good fantasy value over the season.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Watch List Featuring Wendell Smallwood
Wendell Smallwood
The Washington Redskins are a dumpster fire. There is no question about that. After a dismal 0-5 start where the team was outscored 57-10 in their last two games owner, Dan Snyder fired head coach Jay Gruden. Unfortunately for the Redskins, they still have 11 more games to play this season.
The team will likely use this time to evaluate some of the younger players on the roster to see if they will fit with an imminent rebuild. One player who has almost no chance of coming back next season is Adrian Peterson. The 34-year old running back has defied the odds by playing well into his 30’s. However, this season he has not looked good.
He is used to averaging 100 yards per game. Unfortunately, in the four games he has played he has only totaled 108 rushing yards. It might be time for him to hand up the cleats. But, with Derrius Guice on injured reserve, there isn’t much competition around him. Or is there?
Wendell Smallwood might start to fight for carries moving forward. Last week, he got six, only one less than Peterson. He only gained 27 yards, but that is nine more than Peterson totaled. Smallwood spent his first three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as part of their running back by committee. He was solid with his limited carries and averages 4.0 yards-per-carry on his career.
Watch Smallwood this week when the Redskins meet the Miami Dolphins in the mid-season toilet bowl where the loser might already secure the number one overall pick.
Auden Tate
Auden Tate also plays for a team contending for the first overall pick this season, the Cincinnati Bengals. Tate was a seventh-round pick in last year’s draft but has suddenly shot up the depth chart after injuries to A.J. Green and John Ross.
Tate more of a big-bodied guy than anything, but has been getting enough volume to make him a desperation add if needed. He hasn’t seen less than six targets since Week 6, and the Bengals’ bad defense likely forces them into a ton of shootouts. Tate’s role right now is still iffy, as he will likely lose all value once Green returns to game action. However, there is still no timetable for that to happen, and with how bad the Bengals are, Green might decide to just sit out the entire year and take his talents elsewhere.
Matchups are very appealing for Tate as well. Two of his next four games are against the Baltimore Ravens, whose shaky secondary is susceptible to big plays downfield. The Jacksonville Jaguars are also in store, and without Jalen Ramsey, they aren’t very scary. A good strategy would be to monitor how Tate does this week and decide if he is worth adding in week seven.
Chris Herndon
It’s weird to put a player who doesn’t even have one fantasy point on the watch list all the way in Week 6, but that is exactly what is happening here. Chris Herndon was suspended the first four games of the season. The New York Jets had an early week three bye, so that means he is only just eligible for his first game action this week.
The Jets have been listless without quarterback Sam Darnold, who has been out with mono. He was just cleared to play this week, so it is looking like the perfect time to unleash Herndon as well. The tight end is coming into his second season and is expected to take a huge leap forward this year.
He only saw limited action in 2018 but was still able to compile 502 yards and four touchdowns. He showed a decent connection with Darnold, and the team is in desperate need of a spark in the passing game. Jamison Crowder is the team’s leading receiver, but only has 174 yards and a paltry 7.9 yards per reception.
Take note of how Herndon does in his first action of 2019 this weekend.
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