Fantasy Football 2014: The Week 6 Under-the-Radar All-Stars

There are some unfortunate truths in fantasy football.

Injuries happen. In the past week alone, New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green were felled by injuries that will likely cost the pair multiple games.

Stars such as Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson and running back Reggie Bush are just two names on a long list of players who are iffy at best for Week 6.

And that doesn't even take into consideration players like Philadelphia Eagles tailback LeSean McCoy, who have been healthy but still massively disappointing from a fantasy perspective so far in 2014.

It's left fantasy owners with lineups that have more holes than the plot of a Transformers movie.

That's where the no-name All-Stars come in.

This motley crew of backups probably wasn't even drafted in the vast majority of fantasy football leagues, and yet these players now find themselves in a position to post big fantasy numbers this week.

So, if you're one of those fantasy owners for whom "desperate times call for desperate measures" has become a rallying cry, then read on...

Because it ain't over till it's over.

Sorry. I get paid by the cliche.

QB: Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns

Wade Payne/Associated Press

Quick, name the fifth-ranked fantasy quarterback from last week.

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints? Nope. He was 10th.

Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers? Close, but as well as Rivers has played this season, he was sixth a week ago.

No, the fifth-ranked fantasy quarterback of Week 5 was Cleveland's Brian Hoyer, who passed for 291 yards and three scores in the Browns' wild comeback win over the Tennessee Titans.

Hoyer, who has a 6-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and is on pace to top 4,000 yards this season, told Peter Schrager of Fox Sports he believes he's shown enough in 2014 to solidify his status as the starter under center in Cleveland.

"I think being from here and having the success I did," Hoyer said, "I think I showed the people of Cleveland that I was more than capable of being their quarterback."

Hoyer has also shown fantasy owners that's he's very much on the spot-start radar, especially heading into a Week 6 matchup with a Pittsburgh Steelers team that's looked little like its usually formidable self on defense this year.

RB1: Branden Oliver, San Diego Chargers

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Proponents of the "Zero RB" theory in fantasy football are probably feeling rather emboldened.

In a nutshell, the theory states that investing early fantasy draft picks in running backs is a fool's errand. There are too many injuries, too many busts and too many nobodies who rise from the waiver wire to post big numbers to make those backs worth the investment.

I don't necessarily prescribe to that school of thought, but one thing isn't up for debate.

As nobodies go, nobody (so to speak) had a bigger game last week than San Diego's Branden Oliver.

Pressed into action by the injuries that have ravaged the Chargers backfield, the undrafted rookie made his first start last week against the New York Jets, who entered Week 5 with the NFL's stingiest run defense.

It isn't the stingiest anymore. Not only did Oliver rush for well over 100 yards against the Jets, but his 182 total yards were the most in a single game by a San Diego running back since 2007.

Teammate Dwight Freeney lauded the performance while speaking with Eric Williams of ESPN.com: "Whenever you can have a coming-out party for somebody, it’s a great thing. He’s a rookie, and we see it all the time in practice. It’s crazy. So we kind of expected it. You can’t teach that lean, that leverage, that movement and that height. You can’t see him."

Oliver appears in line to draw another start this week when the Chargers travel to Oakland, and given what he just did to a supposedly stout run defense, the mind boggles at the prospects of what Oliver might accomplish against the tissue paper that is the Raiders' 31st-ranked run D.

RB2: Andre Williams, New York Giants

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As a senior at Boston College in 2013, Andre Williams was the definition of a bell cow.

The 5'11", 230-pounder carried the ball a staggering 355 times, gaining an equally eye-popping 2,177 yards in the process.

Now, with starter Rashad Jennings sidelined indefinitely by a knee sprain, it will fall on the rookie to carry the mail in the New York Giants' big NFC East showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

Williams told Michael Eisen of the team's website that he's chomping at the bit to get after the Giants' division foes.

"I think it is going to be a good chance to get lathered up early in the game, rather than later," Williams said. "I am very excited. It is going to be my first start. I just want to prepare as well as I can and make sure I am ready to compete at the highest level I can."

Granted, Williams' 65 yards on 20 carries last week against the Atlanta Falcons isn't a jaw-dropping number, especially given Atlanta's issues on defense this year. Williams is much more a chain-moving bulldozer than a home-run threat.

Still, Williams found the end zone last week, he's shown the ability to hold up under a heavy workload, and the Eagles have been a favorable matchup for running backs in 2014, allowing the 10th-most fantasy points per game to the position.

Add that all together, and it equals the potential for a big game from the big back on prime time.

WR1: Odell Beckham Jr., WR, New York Giants

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

It's a Big Blue rookie double-dip!

It took Odell Beckham Jr. a while to make an impact for the Giants after the team selected the former LSU standout in the first round of May's NFL draft.

In fact, thanks to a lingering hamstring issue, Beckham missed almost all of training camp and had yet to take the field in an NFL game.

Until, that is, last week's matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

Beckham shined in his NFL debut, hauling in four passes for 44 yards and a score. It was a performance that Bucky Brooks of NFL.com thinks is only the beginning:

"

With more time and game repetitions on the horizon, the Giants will likely expand Beckham's role to put him in a better position to make plays down the field. From traditional deep routes designed to clear out the zone for Cruz and others to double moves that allow him to take advantage of inferior defenders, the versatile rookie will certainly have more chances to influence games on the perimeter.

"

This week, the Giants face a Philadelphia Eagles team that's had its share of issues against the pass. The Eagles were dead last in the NFL in that regard last year, and this year, that ranking has "improved" all the way to 29th.

Add in that only the Arizona Cardinals have allowed more fantasy points to wide receivers (mainly one wide receiver: "DT" his friends call him) this year than the Eagles, and Beckham's fantasy value is trending upward in a big way.

WR2: Mohamed Sanu, Cincinnati Bengals

Steven Senne/Associated Press

As we mentioned in the introduction, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green will all but certainly miss Week 6 after aggravating his injured toe in practice earlier this week. In fact, as Coley Harvey of ESPN.com reports, the Bengals may shut Green down for a few weeks in an effort to get him healthy for the stretch run and playoffs.

With fellow wideout Marvin Jones yet to play in 2014 and still not practicing thanks to a broken foot, that leaves the Bengals perilously thin at wide receiver.

And that, in turn, should mean a boatload of targets for third-year pro Mohamed Sanu, who told Harvey that he and the other Bengals wideouts are ready and willing to pick up the slack:

"

We have a lot of guys who can fill the void of A.J. and with Marvin not being there. They're huge voids, but we've got guys that can play. The whole room is very good, and it's deep, and we know we've got guys who can play ball. So we're going to go out and do our best and execute the way we can.

"

It's a situation that has Scott White of CBS Sports.com calling Sanu a "sleeperific" fantasy start in Week 6:

"

Quarterback Andy Dalton leaned mostly on running back Giovani Bernard the last time Green missed significant time Week 2 against Atlanta, but when he went long, Sanu was his guy. The two hooked up for a 76-yard score in that one.

The Panthers are middle-of-the-road against the pass, so no matchup issues there. The only concern is how much the Bengals will want to throw with Green out.

"

I may not agree with White's choice of words, but I'm not about to argue with his assessment of Sanu's fantasy prospects this week.

WR3: Jarius Wright, Minnesota Vikings

Jim Mone/Associated Press

With each wide receiver in this article, we've gone deeper into the scrap heap. Beckham at least had some fantasy value early in the summer before his lingering injury destroyed it. Sanu has made an appearance here and there on waiver-wire-pickup lists during his career, the aftereffect of the occasional big game.

The only fantasy teams Jarius Wright has ever been on are in leagues in which all players have to have a last name beginning with "W," and even then, the third-year pro was a late-round flier.

The times, they are a-changing, though, and the reason for the upswing in Wright's fantasy value can be traced to two words: Teddy Bridgewater.

It's a theme we've seen before with rookie or backup quarterbacks who are thrust into a starting role. All that time spent working with the second-team offense in practice results in that quarterback developing a comfort level with a second-team wideout. Then both get on the field in a game that counts, and jaws start hitting the floor.

There were some muddy mandibles two weeks ago in Bridgewater's NFL debut. The main beneficiary of Bridgewater's 300-yard passing game that day was Wright, who hauled in eight catches for 132 yards.

That's well over a quarter of his production for all of last season.

Mind you, Wright's a deep sleeper. There's a very real chance that what we saw in Week 4 was a one-week aberration and that it was as good as it's ever going to get.

Or, it could be that Bridgewater is as comfortable with Wright as he looked, in which case Wright's breakout game may have just been the beginning.

TE: Tim Wright, New England Patriots

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In a way, Tim Wright is probably the biggest name on this list, at least from a fantasy football perspective.

The 24-year-old made 54 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns in 2013 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, finishing the year among the top 15 fantasy tight ends in leagues that award a point for catches.

However, Wright appeared buried on the depth chart in Tampa heading into the 2014 season. If that wasn't enough to roast his fantasy value, Wright was traded to the New England Patriots just before the season, promptly falling completely off the map.

Well, Wright's off the milk carton and back on the radar after grabbing five catches for 85 yards and a touchdown in New England's big win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week.

Head coach Bill Belichick lauded his new tight end after the breakout performance while talking to Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston: "Nobody works harder than Tim. He spends extra time in the classroom, on the field, works really hard. He does as much as he can do. Is he there yet? No, but I'd say he's gaining on it steadily."

Now, it's worth pointing out that Wright also played fewer than 20 snaps against the Bengals, and that sort of per-snap production just isn't sustainable.

However, it's also worth pointing out that the Patriots looked exponentially better on offense against Cincinnati than they have at any point this season, largely due to the success they had moving the ball in two-tight-end sets.

With first place in the AFC East on the line when the Patriots travel to Buffalo this week, it isn't exactly a huge reach to assume that Wright's snap count will increase Sunday against the Bills. As that snap count goes up, so will Wright's fantasy value.

Kicker: Matt Prater, Detroit Lions

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Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good, both in fantasy football and the NFL.

It certainly holds true for the Detroit Lions. After Alex Henery missed all three of his field-goal attempts in last week's loss to the Buffalo Bills (you do the math), the Lions let the kicker go on Monday, leaving the team in search of its third kicker of the season.

Luckily for the Lions, there just so happened to be a really good one looking for work.

That's because as Matt Prater completed his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, the Denver Broncos showed the 30-year-old the door.

Prater, who voluntarily entered a treatment center during his suspension, told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press that he's grateful to the Lions for the second chance.

"Just trying to take it a day at a time," Prater said. "Sometimes you got to get knocked down and learn the hard way. I'm thankful that I have a second chance here and learn from all the mistakes I've made in the past and will not repeat them."

Fantasy owners should be grateful as well. After all, we're talking about the top-scoring fantasy kicker from a season ago in most scoring systems. Yes, Prater isn't in the thin air of Denver with Peyton Manning anymore, but kicking indoors with Matthew Stafford and the Lions isn't exactly chopped liver.

In short, Prater's brief time as a no-name is going to end PDQ.

Defense/Special Teams: San Diego Chargers

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No one was beating down the door to draft the San Diego Chargers defense in 2014. The Bolts ranked 23rd in the NFL in total defense last year and 31st in ESPN default fantasy scoring.

So far in 2014, things have been better—sort of. The Chargers have risen all the way to third in the NFL in total defense, but remain mired in 18th place in fantasy points.

So what makes the Chargers such an attractive fantasy play this week?

Enter the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders are making their case as the league's worst team in 2014. As the Raiders come off their bye, they're winless and on their second head coach of the season, and they rank dead last in the NFL in both total offense and points scored.

Oh, and Oakland has allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to opposing defenses in 2014.

Shall I continue?