Week 6 Fantasy Football Stashes: Christian Watson is Close to Returning
Geoff Ulrich targets the players to stash for fantasy football heading into Week 6, headed up by Christian Watson in his return from a knee injury.
Welcome to Week 6 Stashes.
“Stashes” are players with long-term upside who we’re looking to get ahead of the competition on. From a stock market perspective, think of it as trying to identify and buy that next hot tech stock (or hot alt coin for the Crypto crowd), that will hopefully run 50-200% before everyone else does.
On that note, instead of going through this positionally, I’m going to highlight stash candidates from a risk/variance perspective. Higher-profile stashes may be better known and harder to grab, but also have a better chance of turning out.
Lower-profile stashes should be available in all leagues, but will obviously have a bigger bust factor.
As always, you can pair the advice here with the fantasy football rankings, projections, and other cool tools from a Fantasy Life+ subscription ahead of Week 6.
Let’s get stashing.
Week 6 Fantasy Football Stashes
High-Upside Stashes
Christian Watson, WR, Packers
Christian Watson returned to a fully padded practice this week, which opened up a 21-day window that the Packers now have where they can activate him from IR. The 26-year-old is already mixing into drills and running routes, so his ramp-up looks like it’s going well, and he should be expected back into the Packers rotation soon.
The Green Bay passing game isn’t very appealing for fantasy outside of Tucker Kraft, but Watson stands out as a unique target for Jordan Love, being that he’s got sub-4.4 speed and at 6-foot-4 is the tallest of the Packers starting receivers. Watson managed two +100-yard games last season—both came on just 4 receptions—with Love, and has the ability to produce big fantasy days even if his playing time is limited. Assuming he’s fully healthy, he’ll eventually force his way into a bigger role and could be a major producer by the end of the year. If he’s still out there on waivers, this week may be your last to grab him.
Upside Potential: 9.0/10
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Isaiah Likely, TE, Ravens
Isaiah Likely will be making his third start of the season this week after he missed the first three games of the year with a foot injury. It’s been a slow comeback for the 25-year-old, who has just one catch in his first two games, but did see an increase in snap percentage played in Week 5.
Baltimore may not be the most appealing offense at the moment, given Lamar Jackson’s status and the terrible fantasy performance from all their offensive players vs. the Texans, but Likely’s value should increase organically as he gets healthier and becomes a more regular target in the passing game. He’s also got some major upside lurking if the Ravens decide to move on from Mark Andrews, who was mentioned in trade rumours this week.
A player who may not make too much of a mark in the next week or two, but has the chance to potentially be a league winner come the second half of the season.
Upside Potential: 8.5/10
Jayden Higgins, WR, Texans
Jayden Higgins is a unique talent who stands 6-foot-4 and ran a sub-4.5 40 out of college. Despite seeing just 10 targets on the year, he’s already hit for three plays of 20+ yards on the season.
While Higgins' role has been disappointing to date, Head Coach DeMeco Ryans talked before the game vs. the Ravens about getting Higgins and fellow rookie Jaylin Noel more involved soon. Both players then set season highs for usage and targets, with Higgins going for 4 receptions and 32 yards, while playing 56% of the snaps.
With only third-year WR Xavier Hutchinson in his way for more outside snaps, Higgins is certainly looking like he has a chance to be a big factor for the Texans in the second half of the season, especially with the difficulties they’ve had running the ball. A nice player to stash for the next few weeks to see how the Texans WR situation plays out if you have room.
Upside Potential: 7.0/10
Deeper Stashes
Emanuel Wilson, RB, Packers
I’ve always thought Wilson is the back the Packers should be pushing behind Josh Jacobs. At 5-foot-10, 215 pounds, he’s pretty much the same size as Jonathan Taylor, moves extremely well for his size and looks faster than a guy who ran 4.57 sec (40) out of college.
The Packers looks like they’ve wisened up to Wilson’s talent of late, as they essentially benched Chris Brooks vs. the Cowboys (6% snap rate ) and gave Wilson his highest touch count of the season (8 car, 44 yards; 3 rec, 37 yards).
If Jacobs ever went down, he’d be an immediate RB2 with low-end RB1 upside.
Upside Potential: 8.0/10
DJ Giddens, RB, Colts
Giddens won the backup role in preseason when he beat out Tyler Goodson (who has just 2 carries this year). He’s a 212-pound back who ran a 4.43 sec 40 at the combine, so there is some good upside lurking if the Colts ever needed to turn to him for more early down work.
After taking 5 carries last week in the Colts' blowout win, he’s the only non-Jonathan Taylor back on the team to take multiple carries in a game on more than one occasion. His standalone value isn't likely to go up unless the Colts clinch a playoff spot early, but his handcuff value makes him a perfect-deep league stash. If Taylor ever went down, you’d essentially be holding a golden ticket for a guy guaranteed to get at least 10-15 carries and goal-line carries right off the bat.
Upside Potential: 7.5/10
Luther Burden III, WR, Bears
Luther Burden showcased his great open-field running ability and speed in his 3-catch, 108-yard and a TD game from Week 3. He beat the Cowboys deep on his long TD (a flea-flicker), but also had a couple more positive plays where he managed to break tackles on shorter catches, and looks like a great long-term replacement for DJ Moore (and complementary receiver to Rome Odunze) going forward.
He received only 2 targets and played just 19 snaps vs the Raiders, but there is plenty of upside if he’s able to move into a bigger role via injury or a Moore trade. Overall, a player you want to be out in front of, given how poorly the Bears' defense has played to date and how many valuable opportunities there would be in this offense for a player of his skill set.
Upside Potential: 7.0/10
Week 6 Big Brain Stash
Tez Johnson, WR, Buccaneers
Tez Johnson has great open-field agility that was on display numerous times vs the Seahawks. He racked up 59 yards catching all 4 targets vs. their secondary, despite posting just a 7.3 aDOT, and had numerous impressive moments. The rookie recorded the fastest 3-cone drill in the NFL Draft, so if veteran Chris Godwin can’t get up to speed fast, it’s possible the Buccaneers keep finding ways to work Johnson in, especially given how efficient he was for them in Week 5.
It’s a crowded depth chart, but Johnson should keep getting work, and at the very least, has a chance to supplement Sterling Shepard in the near term in 3-4 WR sets. Given his skill set and attachment to one of the top fantasy QBs in the league in Baker Mayfield, Johnson makes sense as a name to stash in deeper leagues.
Upside Potential: 6.0/10
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