Week 6 Fantasy Football Projections: Stat Predictions for Top 100 Players

Five weeks of football are behind us, and we are now officially at the midway point in most fantasy football regular seasons.

Bye weeks and injuries are piling up, and we are in crunch time for fantasy owners who want to take a step up in the second half of their fantasy seasons.

Options on the waiver wire are becoming more and more limited, so owners need to rely more heavily on making the right decisions about who is on their roster.

Here are my Week 6 fantasy football rankings for every position.

Quarterback

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	Player, Team	Opp.	Comp.	Pass Yds	Pass TDs	INTs	Rush Yds
1	Peyton Manning, DEN	JAX	30	425	5	0	0
2	Drew Brees, NO	NE	26	303	4	0	4
3	Aaron Rodgers, GB	BAL	25	319	3	0	20
4	Tony Romo, DAL	WAS	26	310	3	1	7
5	Andrew Luck, IND	SD	24	301	3	0	23
6	Philip Rivers, SD	IND	25	310	3	0	0
7	Matthew Stafford, DET	CLE	24	314	3	1	0
8	Jay Cutler, CHI	NYG	22	297	2	0	9
9	Tom Brady, NE	NO	25	288	3	0	2
10	Robert Griffin II, WAS	DAL	21	247	2	0	25
11	Alex Smith, KC	OAK	26	265	3	0	10
12	Cam Newton, CAR	MIN	17	225	2	1	42
13	Colin Kaepernick, SF	ARI	21	215	2	1	31
14	Terrelle Pryor, OAK	KC	19	196	1	1	47
15	Geno Smith, NYJ	PIT	20	231	2	1	12

The Denver-Jacksonville game is going to be an embarrassing blowout. I think a potential issue for the Broncos offense will be that they get ahead so big so early that they don't end up putting up numbers that are as crazy as they could be. But it'll still be big.

There should be no doubts about who is the best quarterback from the talented 2012 class. Luck has separated himself from the pack and has put up good numbers each week this season, including in a huge victory over Seattle last week. The game against San Diego could turn into a shootout, which is good for Luck's fantasy prospects.

If Brady has Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski on the field, then he could make the Patriots look like their old selves on offense. He'll have to throw a lot to keep up with Drew Brees, so a big game could be in the works.

Running Back

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	Player, Team	Opp.	Rush Yds	Rec.	Rec. Yds	Total TDs
1	Adrian Peterson, MIN	CAR	133	4	34	2
2	Jamaal Charles, KC	OAK	103	6	50	2
3	Matt Forte, CHI	NYG	88	5	89	2
4	Arian Foster, HOU	STL	114	3	34	1
5	LeSean McCoy, PHI	TB	100	4	39	1
6	DeMarco Murray, DAL	WAS	97	5	43	1
7	Marshawn Lynch, SEA	TEN	112	0	0	1
8	Knowshon Moreno, DEN	JAX	94	2	10	1
9	Doug Martin, TB	PHI	88	3	17	1
10	Trent Richardson, IND	SD	86	1	5	1
11	Ray Rice, BAL	GB	72	4	48	1
12	Reggie Bush, DET	CLE	57	6	57	1
13	Alfred Morris, WAS	DAL	87	0	0	0
14	Frank Gore, SF	ARI	77	0	0	0
15	C.J. Spiller, BUF	CIN	61	3	30	0
16	Fred Jackson, BUF	CIN	45	2	19	1
17	Danny Woodhead, SD	IND	32	5	61	0
18	Darren Sproles, NO	NE	43	6	53	0
19	Pierre Thomas, NO	NE	41	0	0	1
20	DeAngelo Williams, CAR	MIN	57	2	17	0

Foster has put in two big games in a row now and looks to be back to his usual form. St. Louis' defense is nothing special, and Foster will be relied on pretty heavily to carry Houston's offense.

Martin has been one of the biggest victims in Tampa Bay's free fall, but with things a little more settled after a bye week, expect him to start putting up better numbers. His talent is there, he just needs better opportunities.

After hobbling through the first few weeks of the season, Rice finally had a good game against Miami in Week 5 and seems to be fully healthy again. Baltimore's offense is still pretty bad, but having their top talent healthy will be huge.

Wide Receiver

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	Player, Team	Opp.	Rec.	Rec. Yds	Rec. TDs
1	Dez Bryant, DAL	WAS	7	123	1
2	Demaryius Thomas, DEN	JAX	6	106	2
3	Calvin Johnson, DET	CLE	7	115	1
4	Wes Welker, DEN	JAX	9	108	0
5	Brandon Marshall, CHI	NYG	7	100	1
6	A.J. Green, CIN	BUF	6	105	1
7	Eric Decker, DEN	JAX	7	99	1
8	Victor Cruz, NYG	CHI	5	111	1
9	Andre Johnson, HOU	STL	6	94	1
10	Pierre Garcon, WAS	DAL	5	96	1
11	DeSean Jackson, PHI	TB	4	99	1
12	Reggie Wayne, IND	SD	6	93	1
13	Jordy Nelson, GB	BAL	5	95	1
14	Josh Gordon, CLE	DET	6	90	1
15	Antonio Brown, PIT	NYJ	6	89	0
16	Justin Blackmon, JAX	DEN	7	77	1
17	Danny Amendola, NE	NO	6	84	0
18	Torrey Smith, BAL	GB	5	83	0
19	Hakeem Nicks, NYG	CHI	6	78	0
20	Vincent Jackson, TB	PHI	5	73	0
21	Cecil Shorts, JAX	DEN	6	73	0
22	Steve Smith, CAR	MIN	4	77	0
23	Marques Colston, NO	NE	6	64	0
24	Alshon Jeffery, CHI	NYG	6	62	0
25	T.Y. Hilton, IND	SD	3	68	0
26	Larry Fitzgerald, ARI	SF	4	62	0
27	James Jones, GB	BAL	5	58	0
28	Vincent Brown, SD	IND	4	60	0
29	Dwayne Bowe, KC	OAK	5	55	0
30	Keenan Allen, SD	IND	5	54	0

Dez has fully established himself as one of, if not the premier receiver in the NFL this year, even threatening Calvin Johnson's position at the top of the league during a down year for Megatron. Bryant can do it all and should dominate Washington's secondary this week.

Decker has quietly taken a back seat to Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, but he's been ultra-productive this year, and there will be plenty of stats to go around against lowly Jacksonville.

After two insanely monster performances, expect Jeffery to receive special attention this week from New York's secondary. He'll come back down to earth but still put up respectable numbers.

Allen was one of my favorite rookie receivers from this class before the draft, and he's now getting a chance to shine on the outside for San Diego. He's a great waiver-wire pickup.

*Randall Cobb should be included on this list as well, slotted sixth between Brandon Marshall and A.J. Green.

Tight End

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	Player, Team	Opp.	Rec.	Rec. Yds.	Rec. TDs
1	Jimmy Graham, NO	NE	7	125	1
2	Rob Gronkowski, NE	NO	8	102	1
3	Jason Witten, DAL	WAS	6	106	0
4	Jordan Cameron, CLE	DET	5	95	1
5	Martellus Bennett, CHI	NYG	6	90	1
6	Garrett Graham, HOU	STL	7	81	0
7	Julius Thomas, DEN	JAX	4	54	1
8	Antonio Gates, SD	IND	6	86	0
9	Greg Olsen, CAR	MIN	6	80	0
10	Brandon Myers, NYG	CHI	6	77	0
11	Vernon Davis, SF	ARI	4	79	0
12	Coby Fleener, IND	SD	6	68	0
13	Jermichael Finley, GB	BAL	6	65	0
14	Heath Miller, PIT	NYJ	5	59	0
15	Sean McGrath, KC	OAK	5	57	0

I was wrong about him last week, but Gronkowski is finally expected to play in Week 6, per USA Today. Tom Brady will love having Gronk back. Expect a big week right off the bat.

With Owen Daniels out for at least a few weeks, Graham steps in for Houston as the go-to tight end. He's an athletic pass-catcher who should see his share of targets from Matt Schaub.

Kicker

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	Player, Team	Opp.	Makes	40+	XP
1	Nick Novak, SD	IND	4	2	3
2	Stephen Gostkowski, NE	NO	3	2	4
3	Justin Tucker, BAL	GB	4	1	2
4	Dan Bailey, DAL	WAS	2	2	3
5	Blair Walsh, MIN	CAR	3	1	2
6	Garrett Hartley, NO	NE	3	0	3
7	Greg Zuerlein, STL	HOU	3	0	2
8	Alex Henery, PHI	TB	2	1	3
9	Mason Crosby, GB	BAL	2	1	2
10	Matt Prater, DEN	JAX	1	0	5

After an impressive rookie year, Walsh has followed it up with a great rookie season. His leg is one of the most powerful in the league, as he has blasted two 50+ yard field goals already this year. The fact that Minnesota's defense has struggled to capitalize and score touchdowns also adds to his value.

The fact that Jacksonville's defense is so bad is actually what keeps Prater lower than usual this week. The Broncos offense will likely score more often than not, and so his leg won't be needed.

Defense

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	Team	Opp.	Points Allowed	Sacks	Turnovers
1	Chicago	NYG	9	3	4
2	Denver	JAX	6	3	2
3	Cincinnati	BUF	13	4	2
4	Seattle	TEN	14	3	2
5	Kansas City	OAK	13	3	1
6	San Francisco	ARI	16	3	1
7	Arizona	SF	20	3	2
8	Minnesota	CAR	21	1	2
9	New York Jets	PIT	20	2	1
10	Detroit	CLE	17	1	2

Cincinnati will be licking its chops getting to face a Buffalo team whose offense has been sputtering so far this season. Thad Lewis is starting under center in Week 6 (seriously), and C.J. Spiller and Stevie Johnson have not been threats so far this year.

Coming off of a monstrous Monday night victory over Atlanta, New York will be riding high coming into their matchup with the suddenly woeful, winless Steelers. Maybe Mike Wallace was more important to that offense than they thought.