Welcome to Week 6 of the NFL season, which also happens to be Week 6 of the fantasy football season. Week 5 wasn’t a huge week for running backs, especially coming off Derrick Henry and Kenneth Walker’s monster Week 4 games. Your top six PPR fantasy back for Week 5 were Tank Bigsby, D’Andre Swift, Rico Dowdle, Rhamondre Stevenson, Kareem Hunt and Trey Sermon.
That list is not what many people would have guessed to come out of Week 5 as the top running backs. But this is fantasy football and running backs, they sometimes don’t matter. Bigsby is a backup, Swift started off the season awfully, Dowdle was a backup for a while, Stevenson was “demoted” for fumbling, Hunt hasn’t played since the olden times, and Sermon is in a backup timeshare with Tyler Goodson! These guys are making the most of their opportunities. Who will it be this week?
Week 6 running back byes
Kareem Hunt, Kyren Williams, De’Von Achane, Raheem Mostert, Jaylen Wright, Aaron Jones, Ty Chandler
Week 6 running back injuries
Joe Mixon, Texans
Mixon remained out in Week 5 with his ankle injury and this week isn’t a lock either. The hope is that he’ll return to practice and build some momentum for Week 6, but for now he remains week-to-week. You shouldn’t count on him returning at this point. Cam Akers and Dare Ogunbowale should continue to split work, but Dameon Pierce could return, which would muddy the waters a bit.
Zack Moss, Bengals
Moss suffered an ankle sprain last week, but it sounds like it wasn’t a significant injury. We’ll see what his practice participation looks like this week. If he can’t go, Chase Brown becomes a pretty easy start in most leagues.
Travis Etienne, Jaguars
Etienne has a shoulder injury which kept him out late in last week’s game. Tank Bigsby took over the early down work and ended up with a huge tow touchdown game. Etienne isn’t droppable, but he’ll need to get his shoulder right to truly compete for touches with Bigsby.
Brian Robinson, Commanders
Robinson scored twice in Week 5, but his knee continued to act up, as he rushed seven times for 18 yards on the day. The team will continue to rest him like they did last week, but we should take into account that this injury isn’t going away.
Kendre Miller, Saints
Miller finally looks ready to come off of I.R. and give Alvin Kamara some much needed rest. I would expect him to be taken off I.R. this week, but Dennis Allen is weird about Miller, so we’ll need to wait to see. He’s not a start with Kamara there, but he has a lot of appeal if Kamara were to miss any time.
Aaron Jones, Vikings
Jones injured his hip in Week 5 and backup Ty Chandler took over for him. The Vikings do have a bye this week and Jones is set to get some tests run. We’ll need to wait for information, but picking up Chandler makes sense if you have the room.
De’Von Achane, Dolphins
Achane suffered a brain injury in Week 5, but he also has a bye week to recover. The rookie Jaylen Wright looked good last week, playing better than Raheem Mostert and Achane of late. We’ll see if he has earned himself any extra work moving forward.
Week 6 running back sleepers
Tank Bigsby, Jaguars at Bears
Bigsby has won the goal line work for the Jaguars and more. Last week he had a great game, as he broke tackle after tackle and scored twice. Travis Etienne did sit out late due to a shoulder injury, so Bigsby’s workload isn’t set in stone, but he faces a Chicago run funnel defense. The Bears rank first in EPA against the pass, but 21st against the run. They rank third in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks, but 23rd in fantasy points to running backs. The path of least resistance in Chicago is on the ground.
Tyrone Tracy/Devin Singletary, Giants vs. Bengals
At this point in the week we don’t know if Singletary will be healthy for this matchup, but if he isn’t, Tracy showed his ability in relief. Tracy rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries against the Seahawks. The Bengals run defense has been worse, as they currently rank 31st in run defense EPA.
