Week 6 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Fantasy Football Stars to Play and Bench

Five weeks of the 2019 NFL season—and, more importantly for you folks, the fantasy football season—are in the books.

It's a great time to take stock of your situation, because even though things can (and will) change over the coming weeks, your place on the standings might start impacting your decisions.

If you've built up an early lead, you might consider protecting it by taking the conservative route with start-or-sit decisions. Conversely, if you need to make up ground, you could be more open to boom-or-bust plays.

Either way, we're here to point you in the right direction with our top starts and sits at the quarterback, running back and wide receiver positions.

Quarterbacks

Start 'Em: Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals vs. Atlanta Falcons

Gary Landers/Associated Press

As rookie quarterbacks are wont to do, Kyler Murray has followed a roller coaster's path through his first five professional outings.

He's had a pair of 300-yard passing performances, a game with 93 rushing yards and a score on the ground, and two tilts with multiple touchdown passes. He's also finished with fewer than 250 passing yards twice, had three games without a passing touchdown and effectively cancelled out his four touchdown tosses with four interceptions.

If you're still onboard the Murray Express, you're in luck—Week 6 looks like a doozy. He's coming off his best fantasy outing of the season (346 total yards, one rushing touchdown), and this matchup is the most favorable he's seen.

"Only the Dolphins and Cardinals allow more fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks than the Falcons, and the past four opposing quarterbacks against Atlanta have scored at least 20 fantasy points," CBS Sports' Jamey Eisenberg wrote. "Murray should continue to make plays with his legs ... as well as exploit this secondary."

Murray is a must-start in all formats and could be looking at a top-five finish at the position.

Sit 'Em: Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns vs. Seattle Seahawks

You know that old line about not saying anything unless you have something nice to say? Well, we'll say this about Baker Mayfield—it probably can't get any worse than it did in Week 5.

Like the Cleveland Browns as a whole, Mayfield was abysmal in his club's 31-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. He completed just eight of his 22 pass attempts for 100 yards, never found the end zone, threw two interceptions, was sacked four times, fumbled twice and lost one of them.

Any leftover goodwill from Mayfield's impressive rookie season is out the window, at least for fantasy purposes. He's yet to throw multiple touchdowns in the same game, and he's doubled up his four scores with eight interceptions.

Seattle's pass defense isn't as ferocious as it was in the Legion of Boom days, but it has only allowed one quarterback to produce 20 fantasy points (Andy Dalton with 20.7 in Week 1, per Yahoo Sports). Add a short turnaround time to the equation, and it would be tough to play Mayfield in any one-quarterback league.

Running Backs

Start 'Em: Kerryon Johnson, Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Volume can mean everything to fringe running backs, and right now, Kerryon Johnson has enough of it to receive a noise complaint.

His 74 carries are the most by any running back who's only played four games, and that number is trending up. After tallying a season-high 20 rush attempts in Week 3, he set another high mark with 26 in Week 4, when he eclipsed the century mark for the first time in 2019.

Granted, he's only scored a single rushing touchdown, and chunk plays are apparently not his thing. His longest rush of the campaign stretched just 14 yards.

But volume trumps efficiency in fantasy football, and Johnson's opportunities could mean a monster performance is imminent. Green Bay's defense allows the seventh-most rushing yards per game (138.2) and is tied for the third-most yards per carry (5.2).

Sit 'Em: LeSean McCoy, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans

It's hard to imagine we'd recommend sitting any offensive players in a matchup oddsmakers have tagged with a robust 54-point over/under, per Caesars Sportsbook. But if you've seen what happens to LeSean McCoy when Damien Williams is healthy, then you should understand.

Williams returned from a two-week absence in Week 5, and McCoy's fantasy relevance went out the window. While Williams handled nine of the team's 14 rushing attempts, McCoy didn't get a single one. Oh, and Williams doubled up McCoy in targets (four to two).

To be fair, this was the most dramatic impact Williams has had on McCoy. Williams only had one more carry than McCoy through the first two weeks, though the former did trounce the latter in targets (11 to four).

McCoy also racked up 110 rushing yards and 59 receiving yards with three touchdowns in the two games Williams missed and only managed 104, 45 and zero, respectively, in the three he played.

If you're still on the fence, here's one more nugget that might sway you away from Shady: Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey are the only two backs to top 50 rushing yards against the Texans through five weeks.

Wide Receivers

Start 'Em: Terry McLaurin, Washington Redskins at Miami Dolphins

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Don't hold Terry McLaurin's quiet Week 5 against him. You could spot that snoozer coming from a mile away.

Sure, McLaurin didn't sniff the end zone, but neither have any of the pass-catchers who've faced the New England Patriots this season. And while his 51 yards were a season-low, they accounted for nearly half of Washington's 122 and nearly a third of New England's NFL-best 160.4 allowed per game.

Moving from a matchup with New England to one against Miami is like turning the difficulty down and the sliders all the way up. In other words, expect McLaurin to re-emerge as one of the league's rapidly rising young stars.

The Dolphins allow the ninth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, per Yahoo Sports, and they've surrendered seven touchdowns to wideouts in only four games.

Sit 'Em: Golden Tate, New York Giants at New England Patriots

The stars are almost aligned for Golden Tate to have a breakout performance. With the Giants missing—clears throat—Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard and Wayne Gallman for Thursday night's game in New England, Tate is almost without competition for offensive chances.

But...did you forget what we said about New England's pass defense?

The Patriots are flat-out filthy when it comes to keeping wide receivers in check. They've allowed the fewest points to the position this season, per Yahoo Sports. Only three receivers have cracked double-digit fantasy points against them, and the high man, Washington's Steven Sims Jr., only reached 13.6 points by turning his lone rushing attempt into a 65-yard score.

Adding to Tate's challenges, he'll be catching passes (or being thrown passes, at least) from a rookie quarterback going against Bill Belichick. Even if you like Daniel Jones (and you should), history is not at all on his side. Belichick is 19-5 against rookie quarterbacks during his tenure with New England and a perfect 12-0 at home.