Fantasy Football Week 6: Risers, Fallers and Top Trade Candidates

As you all may know, Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles is now out for the season (and fantasy football season) with a torn ACL.

Over the course of this past weekend, we saw arguably one of the top running backs in college football, Georgia's Nick Chubb, and Charles, a top running back in the NFL, go down with season-ending injuries.

We also witnessed a potentially scary injury with Jacksonville Jaguars running back Bernard Pierce. If you're not familiar with what happened, here's a breakdown of the incident from SB Nation's Yaron Weitzman.

What we're seeing is Pierce, who is on special teams with the Jaguars as they kicked the ball off to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, go down the field, filling his lane in an attempt to tackle the player returning the kick off.

However, as Pierce is running downfield, he then turns around and appears to block a Buccaneers player, opening up a huge hole for the Bucs return man and setting them up in excellent field position.

When you first see the play, it was interpreted as, "What the heck is that guy doing?," followed by laughter.

Then reports of a concussion come out. It takes the humor out of the situation, and, at least for me, an eerie feeling of fright creeps in.

Why? The play may have been linked to a concussion suffered earlier in the game.

We all love football so much, and that's understandable. But what happened to Pierce is downright scary.

While poor performances or injuries may infuriate us as fantasy football owners, we should all realize that these guys are humans, too. Some of the injuries are not only game- or career-altering—they could be life-altering.

On a positive note, let's find some players to help us succeed this week and going forward.

You know the drill—risers, fallers and trade candidates.

Riser: Charcandrick West, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

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As pointed out in the previous slide, Kansas City Chiefs star running back Jamaal Charles is out for the season.

Whenever a starting running back is available on the waiver wire, owners make that their No. 1 priority for their waiver claims.

As we've seen in the past, fellow running back Knile Davis has been Charles' backup, but that isn't the case any longer. Running back Charcandrick West had moved up the depth chart and will now get the majority of the snaps.

As we saw in Week 5, West received 18 snaps while Davis had only four.

West has just a handful of carries in his career, but he cannot unnoticed.

(Insert Andy Reid joke here.)

Faller: All Buffalo Bills Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

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According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor suffered a sprained MCL against the Tennessee Titans in Week 5.

As a result of this injury, the Bills will prepare former first-round draft pick EJ Manuel to start in Week 6.

Over the course of his career, Manuel has played in 14 games and thrown two or more touchdowns just four times—and he's never thrown more that two TDs.

It's clear that Taylor gave the Bills new life and propelled players much better than we can expect Manuel to.

Manuel is not nearly as good as Taylor, and players such as wide receivers Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods and tight end Charles Clay will take a hit moving forward.

Riser: Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is the No. 7 quarterback in all of fantasy.

Let that sink in.

He's also just 15 fantasy points behind Green Bay Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Coming into the season there were question marks surrounding whether or not Bortles would be able to utilize the pass-catching options at his disposal, weapons like wide receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns and tight end Julius Thomas, who's returned from injury. Oh yeah, he has a solid running back in rookie T.J. Yeldon, too.

However, according to John Oehser of Jaguars.com, Bortles has suffered an AC joint injury, the same injury that Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb sustained earlier this season.

While that is something to monitor moving forward, Bortles appears to be here to stay, no matter how innately inaccurate he can be.

Faller: Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos

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This has been speculated about pretty much all season—Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is "falling."

Manning has given us a few performances this year that could make you rethink your view on whether or not he is "done", but after Week 5's performance against the Oakland Raiders, Manning appears to be droppable in most leagues.

While that's crazy to say—and let's be honest, you probably won't drop him because "It's Peyton Manning, man!"—he's just not the same guy anymore.

In fact, he's tied with Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford in fantasy points, and I'd guess you don't think Stafford is very good right now.

Manning also finished with fewer fantasy points than Lions backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky in Week 5, who came on in relief of Stafford.

Although you won't, it's safe to drop Manning.

Riser: Josh Huff, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor is hurt and questionable for Week 6. According to Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ Advanced Media, Agholor has a muscle injury in his left shin.

As of now, it's unknown how long Agholor could be out, if at all.

However, Huff filled in nicely in his absence, catching four balls for 78 yards and a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints. It could cross the Eagles' mind to let Agholor heal up and let Huff play more snaps, as he did show that he can play in this offense.

For as long as Agholor is out, Huff is an interesting wide receiver option moving forward.

He should appear on a ton of waiver-wire columns this week.

Faller: Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Much like Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson isn't the same fantasy quarterback we all loved last season.

While he is a top-10 quarterback in fantasy, he's been rather underwhelming.

To this point, Wilson hasn't matched the value in which people drafted him.

Additionally, Wilson hasn't been as successful running the football. At this time last season he had more yards and a score, and he's without a rushing touchdown to this point.

Unlike Manning, you're not dropping Wilson, but he has been rather inconsistent to this point considering where you drafted him.

Trade Candidates

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Buy Low: Randall Cobb, WR, Green Bay Packers

Over the past two weeks, Cobb has managed just eight catches for 67 yards and hasn't found the end zone.

While Cobb is an obvious WR1, owners in your league may depend on a guy like Cobb week in and week out. Without him scoring, they're losing, thus making them panic.

Additionally, the emergence of wide receivers James Jones and Ty Montgomery may cause an owner to question if Cobb will see the ball enough.

While this (and a lot of buy-low, sell-high candidates) is circumstantial, now is the perfect time to strike and get Cobb on the cheaper side.

Sell High: Allen Hurns, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

While Bortles may be here to stay, the pace Hurns is on simply cannot be sustained.

Over the last three weeks, Hurns has gone for over 100 yards twice and has scored in each game.

As of right now, Hurns is the No. 10 wide receiver in points-per-reception formats. Before this three-week streak, Hurns was WR40.

His value will never be higher, and this cannot be sustained. His value is higher than it ever will be.

Sell High: DeMarco Murray, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Believe it or not, there are probably still some Murray truthers out there.

Last week, Murray ran for 83 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes for 37 yards.

It's been obvious that the running back by committee approach in Philly has been torturous. It's also been clear that Murray just isn't the same guy we saw last season.

We may have just witnessed his best game of the season. Before this week, he was essentially untradable.