Daily Fantasy Football October 15: DFS Stock Up, Stock Down

We're rolling on into Week 6, and while there's plenty of major headlines to talk about, let's check out a few players who helped their stock in Week 5, as well as a few who hurt their stock. With the man above absolutely bursting onto the scene, he has all the makings of a player trending in the right direction.

The question is, what about the players who have let us down on a consistent basis, and hit us especially hard in Week 5? Well, it's time to evaluate where their stock stands, and see if maybe it's time to put a halt on using them in your daily fantasy lineups for a week or two.

There's plenty to evaluate, so let's jump right into it with a wide receiver who's been simply on fire in recent weeks.

Stock Up: Jeremy Maclin, WR, Kansas City Chiefs ($6,500)

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

While the Kansas City Chiefs are battling to try to fill the void after losing Jamaal Charles, the most consistent player on their roster offensively has been Jeremy Maclin. The former Philadelphia Eagle has been welcomed with open arms, and after a bit of a slow start to the season, he's been on fire over the last three weeks.

While Maclin has only caught one touchdown in the previous three weeks, he's caught 27 balls for 374 yards as well. Basically, Maclin has been worth his price and more on DraftKings. While he's averaging 19.2 fantasy points per game, he's seen his price go from $5,800 in Week 4 up to $6,500 in Week 6. Even with that said, it's still less than the $6,900 price that he had to start the season.

Maclin looks like gold right now, and the Chiefs face the Minnesota Vikings who have allowed 58 catches for 643 yards and three scores to opposing wide receivers thus far in 2015. To top it off, with the Chiefs losing Charles for the year, it's more than likely that Maclin should see even more targets moving forward.

Stock Down: Eddie Lacy, RB, Green Bay Packers ($6,300)

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Eddie Lacy has consistently been one of the highest priced running backs in daily fantasy football this season. His return on investment? Just 9.1 fantasy points per game. If you want to compare that with a few other running backs, look no further than Bilal Powell (9.0 points) and Chris Thompson (9.2 points). Both Powell and Thompson are more than $2,800 less expensive than Lacy as well.

Now, that's not to say that Lacy's ceiling isn't much, much higher than Powell or Thompson, but it does show how mediocre Lacy has been this season. He hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 1, and his Week 5 performance included 13 carries for just 27 yards, with one catch for eight yards. Basically, Lacy has been a letdown for daily fantasy players over the past four weeks.

Whether or not that changes in Week 6 is unknown, but with players like Dion Lewis and Chris Ivory less expensive than he is, it's getting harder and harder to convince yourself to use Lacy. But hey, maybe that's a good thing at this point.

Stock Up: Brian Hoyer, QB, Houston Texans ($5,100)

Patric Schneider/Associated Press

There's a good chance you just read the name "Brian Hoyer" and either laughed a little, or got incredibly intrigued. Here's to hoping you got intrigued. While Hoyer isn't the best quarterback in the NFL by a long shot, he has been a pretty interesting fantasy option when he's been the guy for the Houston Texans.

Hoyer only actually started Week 1, and he wasn't great. After losing his job though, it was like something clicked for him. Hoyer saw extended action in both Weeks 4 and 5, producing solid numbers in the process. He threw for a combined 544 yards and four touchdowns, while only being intercepted once over that span.

To this point through three games of action, he's averaging 17.5 fantasy points on DraftKings, which isn't bad for a player whose cost is $5,100. Hoyer is one of the top value plays at quarterback in Week 6, and is facing a Jacksonville Jaguars team who has allowed 1,383 yards passing, seven touchdowns and has only pulled in one interception this season.

Hoyer has a great connection with star receiver DeAndre Hopkins as well, which obviously only helps him out. The stock of Houston's original starting quarterback is definitely trending upwards, and he's going to be hard to ignore this week.

Stock Down: Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs ($5,000)

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

While we all love to talk about Travis Kelce's big-play ability, what we're overlooking at this point is how he's actually fallen off drastically since Week 1. Worst of all, he's yet to bounce back. Kelce scored 31.6 fantasy points in the first week, catching six balls for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Since that point, he's never topped 100 yards and hasn't scored a single touchdown.

As a matter of fact, Kelce has only topped 10 fantasy points one other time after that early explosion, and it came on a six-catch, 80-yard performance against the Green Bay Packers, when the Chiefs were playing catchup the whole game.

Kelce is one of the higher-priced tight ends, coming in at No. 4 this week, but may not be worth it unless Alex Smith decides to start showing him the love again. Time will tell, but Smith seems content looking in the direction of Maclin lately, not Kelce. When comparing the two, Maclin has received 52 targets on the year, while Kelce has just 33. Time to give Kelce a chance to turn it around before throwing him in lineups.

Stock Up: Antonio Gates, TE, San Diego Chargers ($4,600)

Denis Poroy/Associated Press

Welcome back, Antonio Gates. It didn't take long for Gates to show that he was the go-to option for Philip Rivers in the San Diego Chargers' passing game. Gates was targeted 11 times by Rivers, hauling in nine catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Before we could even blink an eye, Gates had topped 30 fantasy points in his first game back from suspension for the Bolts. It's blatantly obvious that the connection between Gates and Rivers is one that is going to be a force moving forward in 2015, so there's no reason to believe that the veteran tight end won't be able to keep the ball rolling.

People almost seem to forget that Gates is fresh off a 2014 campaign where he caught 69 balls for 821 yards and an impressive 12 touchdowns. His stock is obviously heading in the right direction, and I expect him to have yet another big game in Week 6 as the Chargers face the high-flying offense of the Green Bay Packers.

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Pricing information and scoring data obtained from DraftKings.com. All statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.

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