Las Vegas Raiders vs. Buffalo Bills Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 6

If there’s one fantasy player to rule them all at quarterback, his name is Josh Allen. No longer the subject of criticism for an inability to separate from the field, and therefore justifying draft cost, Allen’s outpacing the QB field by over 22%. Wow. He’s already up to three top-3 weekly finishes in this short season, while Drake Maye’s the only other player with two. There isn’t a situation where you'd bench Allen, who’s quietly posting a magnificent passing season to boot (0.32 EPA/attempt, 99.6 passer rating, 9.1 yards/attempt).

Part of why we draft Buffalo Bills for fantasy in the first place is the certainty, stemming from confidence in a +32 PPG squad. James Cook currently sits as the overall RB10 (17.9 fantasy points/game), including three separate top-7 positional finishes in five games. Yes, there’s a certain dark corner of the internet complaining about Cook’s lack of usage in the receiving game. And while that argument’s not false (2.2 targets/game, 8.5% team target share), Cook’s responsible for the league’s third-highest backfield opportunity share (85.0%), the fifth-most RB scrimmage yards/game (112.6), and 10 goal-to-go rushes. In a perfect world, sure, he reels in three grabs per game like he did Week 1 in Houston — it just feels greedy to be ungrateful for this level of production.

Buffalo even had the pass-catching decisions on lock for all of one week, back when it came down to a two-man show starring DJ Moore and Dalton Kincaid. Ah, simpler times. Since Week 2, Moore’s logged just 45 total routes. Hard to do any fantasy damage on such limited opportunities.

Meanwhile, Kincaid kept the party going into Week 2 (7-95-1) but then firmly disappeared — he’s averaging a measly 2.4 fantasy points/game on unimaginably bad advanced metrics since (11.1% target/route, 0.83 yards/route). Of course, when Moore missed Week 5 with an AC joint injury, I couldn’t get Kincaid into my lineup fast enough, only to head home despondent, tail between my legs with a second straight (1-7-0) line to show for it.

If you want to roll the dice on Keon Coleman or Khalil Shakir in Moore’s absence, that’s fine. However, just know Allen’s hair-on-fire style of play leads to mass confusion on the receiving stat sheet.

• Start: Josh Allen (QB1), James Cook (RB6), DJ Moore (WR34)
• Sit: Dalton Kincaid (TE8)
• Sleeper: Keon Coleman (WR54)

Las Vegas Raiders Fantasy Preview For Week 6

After a blistering 3-0 start to the season, Las Vegas stands at a definitive crossroads. Granted, losing to the Chiefs and Patriots in consecutive weeks hardly makes for rational condemnation, especially with Cousins going for +17 fantasy points and +300 passing yards/game in those losses. The thing is, when franchises select a QB at 1.01, certain expectations come with it, especially in this age of starting kids right away to max out the benefits of their rookie deal.

Point being, even if he’s playing well, if the Raiders lose, a benching could be imminent for Kirko Chainz. The matchup versus Buffalo is pretty sweet; the Bills allow the fourth-most fantasy points/game to QBs (22.4), as well as bottom-3 marks in EPA/attempt (-0.29), passing yards/game (280.4), and +20-yard completions (22). I’d start positioning to add Fernando Mendoza, even if the old lion manages to hold off the young lion for one more week.

Las Vegas’ backfield was supposed to be extremely easy to manage, as is the expectation when drafting an RB in the top-20 overall. And you can blame Ashton Jeanty's extreme lack of efficiency (3.3 yards/carry, -0.26 EA/attempt, 26.1% negative rush rate) on the ankle injury, O-line, or anything in between. Fact is, even if the receiving utilization’s awesome, which it is (6.0 targets/game, 17.3% team target share), he’ll likely be stuck in the RB2 range going forward — he could make for interesting trade bait if you’re as worried about ankle re-aggravation as I am.

Last note, it’s time to move on Mike Washington as a premium handcuff. Yes, Dylan Laube racked up most of his (4-9-1; 3-16-0) line late on the wrong end of a blowout, but that doesn’t change the fact he outsnapped Washington to 23-2 in the first half. I’m not stashing anyone without some degree of confidence they’re stepping into a majority role when called upon.

In regard to speculating on Raiders pass catchers, I think I’m done with anyone not named Brock Bowers. Tre Tucker’s got a consistent, but low range of outcomes — he hasn’t cracked the top-50 leaderboard once outside a Week 2 breakout with Bowers inactive. Even my guy Michael Mayer belongs in the fantasy doghouse, finally losing work with the Vegas defense starting to show cracks. Averaging 5.0 targets/game for a tight end’s not terrible, except when the aDOT is the same exact number.

• Start: Kirk Cousins (QB12), Ashton Jeanty (RB11), Brock Bowers (TE1)
• Sit: Michael Mayer (TE22)
• Sleeper: Tre Tucker (WR31)