Daily Fantasy Football Week 6: Strategy Advice for DraftKings, FanDuel Lineups

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Ed Zurga/Associated Press

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs could not have asked for a better bounce-back spot in Week 6. 

Kansas City takes on the Washington Football Team, one of six NFL teams to allow more than 2,000 total yards through the five weeks of the 2021 season. Washington has also conceded the second-most passing touchdowns and is one of 10 franchises with two or fewer interceptions.

Mahomes should be the centerpiece of many daily fantasy football lineups in Week 6. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce will likely be rostered at a high percentage alongside him.

Kansas City is the obvious choice for a DFS lineup stack Sunday, but there are a few other favorable matchups that can be exploited to either support a Chiefs-heavy lineup or to contend with one in the DFS contest standings.

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Ed Zurga/Associated Press

Mahomes should be the No. 1 quarterback in Sunday DFS contests.

The Kansas City signal-caller faces a favorable matchup against Washington, and there are a few big-name quarterbacks not playing Sunday. Tom Brady beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, while Josh Allen takes on the Tennessee Titans on Monday.

Additionally, Lamar Jackson faces a much tougher matchup versus the Los Angeles Chargers, and Kyler Murray could be slowed down by the Cleveland Browns pass rush.

Mahomes could be inclined to throw more than usual since Clyde Edwards-Helaire will not be in the lineup Sunday. Darrel Williams and Jerick McKinnon are Kansas City’s top two running backs in Week 6. If you are concerned about a potential split workload at running back, you should keep it simple and add Hill, Kelce and another wideout to the Kansas City lineup stack.

Hill and Kelce have combined for 67 receptions and eight touchdowns during Kansas City’s 2-3 start. They are responsible for 885 of the team’s 1,490 receiving yards.

Mecole Hardman and Byron Pringle are the other two options to choose for a lineup stack in DraftKings and FanDuel contests. Hardman has 11 more receptions than Pringle, but Pringle has one more touchdown catch. Demarcus Robinson would be the long-shot, low-percentage roster choice, but he is a riskier selection with seven catches for 80 yards this season.

Washington has the sixth-worst passing defense, and it is second to Indianapolis in passing touchdowns conceded among teams that have played five games. Tampa Bay has also conceded 14 touchdown throws, but it has already played its sixth game.

Kansas City will probably be the most popular lineup stack, but it should be worth the high roster percentage because of how poor Washington’s passing defense is.

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Emilee Chinn/Associated Press

If you do not want to have three players with high roster percentages, you need to find another matchup to exploit.

The Cincinnati Bengals appear to be in the perfect spot to put up a good amount of points against the Detroit Lions. Detroit is 0-5, and it conceded at least 320 total yards in every game.

The obvious start to any Cincinnati lineup stack this season is to pair Joe Burrow with Ja’Marr Chase. The rookie wide receiver has 456 receiving yards and five touchdowns in five weeks.

Cincinnati totaled 787 passing yards in its past two games, and it could be more inclined to throw in Week 6 since Joe Mixon is still dealing with an injury. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters Wednesday that he is giving Mixon extra rest in practice to deal with his ankle injury.

Mixon had a touchdown run in Week 5’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, but he only managed 33 rushing yards and split the workload with Samaje Perine. However, Perine is on the COVID-19/reserve list, so his status is in question for Sunday’s trip to the Motor City. With that in mind, a Bengals stack should involve Burrow and a few of his top targets in the passing game.

Any lineup with Burrow must have Chase because of the connection they have dating back to their time at LSU.

Tee Higgins was second to Chase in targets in the previous game, while Tyler Boyd also has five targets. Higgins seems to be the better of the two options and only has worse overall numbers because he missed two games.

Tight end C.J. Uzomah is an intriguing sleeper play within a Bengals lineup stack. Uzomah broke out with five catches, 95 yards and two scores in Week 4, but his production dipped to two catches for 16 yards in Week 5.

Uzomah could be used more in the short-passing game with Mixon banged up and Perine out. He could also be an alternative to Chase and Higgins on a few deep passing plays if they are keeping the top players in the Detroit secondary occupied.

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Justin Rex/Associated Press

The New England Patriots are a mess from a fantasy perspective.

Mac Jones has the same number of touchdowns as interceptions. Jakobi Meyers leads the team in receiving yards but has zero touchdown catches. Oh, and then there is the complicated running back situation that seems to change in a heartbeat once a fumble occurs.

Damien Harris has been the featured running back, but he only had three more carries than Rhamondre Stevenson in the Week 5 win over the Houston Texans.

You should just avoid New England at all costs Sunday against a Dallas Cowboys defense that has a knack for creating turnovers. Although the Cowboys have allowed the second-most passing yards in the NFL, they have forced 10 interceptions to equal their 10 passing touchdown concessions.

Trevon Diggs could feast on Jones’ mistakes, and the front seven could hold the Patriots running backs to minimal yardage. Dallas has the fifth-best rushing defense.

If you roster any players from the Dallas-New England game, it should be the ones with blue stars on their helmets.

           

Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference.