Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 6: Making the Call on Fantasy Football Fringe Starters

This is when fantasy football managers earn their money—or trophies, championship belts or whatever prize your league offers.

The days of selecting your lineup from a full roster of healthy, available players are over.

The injury bug keeps rearing its ugly head, most recently shelving Dalvin Cook (groin) for the short term and Dak Prescott (ankle) for the season. Bye weeks are becoming trickier to navigate, as the Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders are slated to sit out Week 6. Then, there are the unexpected twists and turns of playing during a pandemic.

You probably won't have access to your full complement of talent, which ups the importance of acing those tough start-or-sit decisions on the fringes or your fantasy team.

At least you came to the right to place, as we're providing our top recommendations for the upcoming 14-game slate.

Start: Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings vs. Atlanta Falcons

Kirk Cousins can run hot or cold any given week. He has a pair of 250-yard, multi-score outings under his belt, but he also owns a disastrous 113-yard, no-score, three-pick performance.

This should be the good Cousins, though, since everyone sizzles against Atlanta.

The Falcons have allowed 300-plus passing yards to each of their first five opponents. That includes the Chicago Bears in Week 3, when they benched Mitchell Trubisky for Nick Foles in the third quarter.

Week 5 was the first in which they didn't surrender at least three scores to an opposing quarterback, as they "held" Teddy Bridgewater to 27-of-37 passing for 313 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Cousins can be limited by a lack of volume—his 39 attempts on Sunday were 12 more than his previous season-high—but if Cook can't go in Week 6, this game plan should run through the passing game.

If Cousins doesn't have 300 passing yards and two touchdowns here, he will have disappointed.

Sit: Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Carolina Panthers vs. Chicago Bears

After delivering just two touchdowns through his first three games with the Panthers, Teddy Bridgewater has five scores to show for his last two outings (four passing, one rushing).

However, the momentum he's building might take a temporary pause against the Bears' daunting pass defense.

Chicago has allowed a paltry 12.4 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. All five passers the Bears have faced have combined for just four touchdown passes. None has a multi-score performance against them. Matthew Stafford has the high mark for fantasy points against Chicago from Week 1—when he was QB21.

If you've been fortunate enough to stream Bridgewater for this two-week mini-breakout, you've also hopefully realized there was an expiration date on that setup. He might have been worthwhile weeks down the road, but he shouldn't be started outside of the deepest (or two-quarterback) leagues in Week 6.

Start: David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers

Statistical efficiency doesn't matter much to the fantasy football world, so long as the lack of it doesn't negatively impact a player's workload.

Well, the Bears aren't backing off David Montgomery even as his game is entirely devoid of the big-play threat. He has touched the ball 79 times this season, and none went for more than 28 yards. He has just two touchdowns for the season and has delivered fewer than three yards per carry in each of his last two contests.

So, why the start recommendation? First, he remains one of the most prominent pieces in this offense, which should stay that way when Tarik Cohen is out for the season and either Nick Foles or Mitchell Trubisky is under center. Second, Montgomery's opportunity volume should matter now more than ever as he enters an inviting matchup with the Panthers defense.

Carolina has allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing running backs. Last season, it was dead last in the category. Rushers have already combined for nine scores against this unit, which most recently allowed Todd Gurley to bust out for by far his best performance of the season with 150 scrimmage yards and a score.

Running backs put up numbers against the Panthers, and even if Montgomery's aren't super-efficient, the end result will be there.