Fantasy Football Week 6 Rankings: Updated Overview for All Positions

No fantasy football rankings would ever throw Josh McCown at No. 1, but it's still the best way for owners to cast a wide net over the fake football landscape in a hurry.

The Cleveland Browns quarterback might have outscored Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and every other signal-caller in Week 5, but it's an anomaly, not the rule.

Going into Week 6, owners have five weeks' worth of data to analyze to help craft projections. For those who haven't caught up on each nugget of information yet, here's a look at rankings for each position before Thursday.

Week 6 Schedule

Thursday, Oct. 15	Time (ET)
Sunday, Oct. 18	Time (ET)
Monday, Oct. 19	Time (ET)
Atlanta at New Orleans	8:25 pm
Denver at Cleveland	1:00 pm
Chicago at Detroit	1:00 pm
Houston at Jacksonville	1:00 pm
Cincinnati at Buffalo	1:00 pm
Washington at N.Y. Jets	1:00 pm
Kansas City at Minnesota	1:00 pm
Arizona at Pittsburgh	1:00 pm
Miami at Tennessee	1:00 pm
Carolina at Seattle	4:05 pm
Baltimore at San Francisco	4:25 pm
San Diego at Green Bay	4:25 pm
New England at Indianapolis	8:30 pm
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia	8:30 pm

Quarterbacks

Rank	Player
1	Tom Brady
2	Aaron Rodgers
3	Drew Brees
4	Andrew Luck
5	Carson Palmer
6	Matt Ryan
7	Russell Wilson
8	Peyton Manning
9	Jay Cutler
10	Philip Rivers
11	Eli Manning
12	Matthew Stafford
13	Colin Kaepernick
14	Joe Flacco
15	Ryan Tannehill

Don't expect Brady and Rodgers to not top leaderboards most weeks. 

Rodgers gets the San Diego Chargers this week, one of the teams to let a Cleveland quarterback go over the 20-point mark this season. The matchup is in Green Bay in a showdown with Philip Rivers (who is also a great play this week as an underdog), too, so it's going to be a shootout.

It doesn't matter if Andrew Luck plays or not—Brady will go off against the Indianapolis Colts, the team involved in all of the offseason controversy. Brady has at least 22 points in every game already, but going past the 30-point mark for the first time this year wouldn't be a shock.

Perhaps the week's most interesting play? Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who gets to go against the winless Detroit Lions. 

It sounds like a bad play at face value, but since a surprising return from injury, Cutler has two consecutive 17-point outings. The Lions have already allowed 18 or more points to the position in four of five games.

Running Backs

Rank	Player
1	Le'Veon Bell
2	Matt Forte
3	Devonta Freeman
4	Adrian Peterson
5	Arian Foster
6	Eddie Lacy
7	Marshawn Lynch*
8	Dion Lewis
9	Giovani Bernard
10	Mark Ingram
11	Justin Forsett*
12	Charcandrick West
13	Karlos Williams*
14	Carlos Hyde
15	DeMarco Murray
16	Lamar Miller
17	Chris Johnson
18	Frank Gore
19	T.J. Yeldon*
20	Chris Ivory
21	LeGarrette Blount
22	Duke Johnson Jr.
23	Ronnie Hillman
24	Danny Woodhead
25	Ryan Mathews
26	Melvin Gordon
27	Ameer Abdullah
28	Jonathan Stewart
29	Chris Thompson
30	Jeremy Hill

As most weeks, there's value everywhere at running back this week. 

Le'Veon Bell continues to charge ahead after missing the first two games of the season. Opponent doesn't matter—he's scored in all three games and reached at least 18 points.

Cutler's lead back Matt Forte will reign supreme once again. He's been to double digits every week except Week 3, a trip to Seattle with Cutler on the sidelines. The hapless Lions just allowed 35 points to backs.

Dual-threat options such as Forte will once again rule the day. Look at New England's Dion Lewis, who thanks to an elite pass-catching ability has 11 or more points in all four games this season. 

Injury replacements will also play a major role yet again. Remember what Devonta Freeman has done in Atlanta? Charcandrick West might get a chance to do the same in Kansas City with Chiefs star Jamaal Charles lost for the season, per ESPN.com.

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player
1	Julio Jones*
2	A.J. Green
3	Odell Beckham Jr.*
4	DeAndre Hopkins
5	Julian Edelman
6	Randall Cobb
7	Demaryius Thomas
8	Jeremy Maclin
9	Calvin Johnson
10	Keenan Allen
11	Larry Fitzgerald
12	Antonio Brown
13	T.Y. Hilton
14	Emmanuel Sanders
15	Allen Robinson
16	Willie Snead
17	Alshon Jeffery*
18	Jordan Matthews
19	Steve Smith Sr.*
20	James Jones
21	Brandon Marshall
22	Mike Wallace*
23	Brandin Cooks
24	Donte Moncrief
25	Jarvis Landry
26	Rueben Randle*
27	Pierre Garcon
28	Sammy Watkins*
29	John Brown
30	Kendall Wright
31	Allen Hurns
32	Golden Tate
33	Leonard Hankerson*
34	Travis Benjamin
35	Anquan Boldin

There's no better play this week than Cincinnati Bengals wideout A.J. Green.

Green hasn't had a crazy season because of his team's wealth of weapons, but it's going to be hard for him not to have a massive day against the Buffalo Bills. Rex Ryan's defense has allowed 22 or more points to backs in four of five games.

Other than big-name stars, it's all about the target machines. Look at Houston Texans wideout DeAndre Hopkins, who leads the league with a whopping 75 targets. Some might not be able to name his quarterback, but it doesn't matter when the next closest person in the league, Julio Jones, has just 62.

Speaking of Jones, he's the top injured star to watch. He's hobbled but sounds ready to go Thursday.

"He did the walk through last night and did that today," Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said, per NFL.com's Kevin Patra. "From what we saw, he's doing good and we anticipate him playing for the game." 

Back on target monsters for a moment, keep in mind Kansas City's Jeremy Maclin. Most don't think about him when it comes to top names given his new locale's history for ignoring the position, but he's seventh in targets this year and has two double-digit games to his name.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player
1	Rob Gronkowski
2	Greg Olsen
3	Tyler Eifert
4	Martellus Bennett
5	Julius Thomas
6	Travis Kelce
7	Antonio Gates
8	Jimmy Graham
9	Kyle Rudolph
10	Charles Clay
11	Delanie Walker
12	Ladarius Green

Everyone knows Rob Gronkowski belongs at the top, but more difficult on a week-to-week basis is who comes after him. 

This week, consider it Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. When the team wants to work him in, Olsen tends to explode, as he did in Week 3 with a 25-point showing. The Seattle Seahawks allow the fifth-most points to tight ends—last week, they allowed 21 to the position.

Tyler Eifert in Cincinnati would be part of the reason Seattle ranks so poorly. He ranks right behind Olsen thanks to three double-digit games and a matchup against Buffalo, a team that hasn't received a major test from tight ends other than Gronkowski.

Much of tight end comes down to matchups, which is why it's important to keep an eye on Martellus Bennett this week. He's been Chicago's top target this season, and while he doesn't have a massive showing just yet, it might come against Detroit, owners of a defense allowing the sixth-most points to the position on average.

Defense/Special Teams

Rank	Unit
1	Broncos
2	Bengals
3	Jets
4	Titans
5	Cardinals
6	Seahawks
7	Ravens
8	Packers
9	Patriots
10	Vikings

Ben Margot/Associated Press

It's not hard to see where to go with defenses this weekend.

Denver leads all scorers with 88 points. Arizona's the closest unit at 61. The Broncos have scored at least 17 points in four of five weeks thanks to seven interceptions and a trio of touchdowns.

For an interesting under-the-radar play, consider the Baltimore Ravens against the hapless San Francisco 49ers. 

Ray Lewis isn't walking through the door, but the Ravens do have three interceptions and two touchdowns on the year. It's a unit capable of exploiting the 49ers, who allow the third-most points to defenses on average.

Kickers

Rank	Player
1	Brandon McManus
2	Matt Bryant
3	Stephen Gostkowski
4	Justin Tucker
5	Nick Novak
6	Blair Walsh
7	Phil Dawson
8	Zach Hocker
9	Josh Brown
10	Dan Carpenter

Coming off a nine-point performance last week, Houston's Nick Novak tops the rankings this time around.

It's not because of the outburst, either, although it certainly helps. Novak gets to travel to Jacksonville for an encounter with the Jaguars, a team letting up the most fantasy points to the position on average. The last three kickers have gone for at least 12 points against the unit.

As an extension of the defense and special teams, Baltimore's Justin Tucker is one to know, too. The 49ers just allowed 13 points last week, and Tucker has been his usual self, breaching double digits in three of five games this year.

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats as of October 14. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.com. Dallas, Oakland, St. Louis and Tampa Bay on bye.