Week 5 of the 2015 NFL season was exciting right to the very end, when Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell scored a walkoff touchdown to give his team a “Monday Night Football” win over the San Diego Chargers.
Now we must turn the page to Week 6 and dig into our mailbag to help fantasy owners handle the tough decisions in the days ahead.
As always, thanks for sending in your questions to our Twitter and Facebook pages. We answered four of them in this week’s fantasy mailbag.
Question (via Facebook): Safe to start Gary Barnidge?
Of course. The Browns tight end is a must-start in every fantasy league, including one-day leagues on DraftKings. He has scored a touchdown in three straight weeks, and he tallied eight receptions on 10 targets for 139 receiving yards and one touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Browns quarterback Josh McCown is targeting Barnidge early and often each game.
Question (via Facebook): Is it smart to ignore the attentionWest is getting for another up and coming back, especially with low waiver priority on the week?
Charcandrick West is the best option for fantasy owners who want to add a Kansas City Chiefs running back after Jamaal Charles’ season-ending ACL injury. He’s a better option than the other Chiefs backup, Knile Davis.
Overall, though, you should be able to do better than West. He’s probably going to be splitting carries with Davis until one of them emerges as the lead RB. A lack of touches wouldn’t make him fantasy relevant.
Question (via Facebook): Peyton Manning has ben struggling should I start him or sit him for J. MCcown or R. Tannehill?
Josh McCown has three straight games of 340-plus passing yards with six touchdown passes and one interception in that span. That type of production is too good to bench, even against a tough Denver Broncos defense that ranks eighth against the pass. The Browns likely will be trailing in the second half, which would result in McCown attempting a lot of passes.
Ryan Tannehill is averaging less than 250 yards passing with a total of four touchdowns and five interceptions over the last two weeks. He is not a good start against a Tennessee Titans defense that’s allowed the fewest pass yards in the league.
The best bet is starting McCown over Manning, but not Tannehill.
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Stick with Matthews for one more week. The Eagles offense finally put it all together in Week 5 with 39 points scored and 519 total yards. He’s the best wide receiver on the team and has had some productive weeks. If you’re in a PPR league, Matthews is at least worth a flex play because he has five or more receptions in four of five games.
Philly’s schedule is about to get easier, so hold onto Matthews and see if he improves like teammate DeMarco Murray did in Week 5.
Thumbnail photo via Mitch Stringer/USA TODAY Sports Images
