Fantasy Football Week 6 Quarterback Start/Sit: Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, and More
Three quarterbacks to start and three to sit in Week 6 of the NFL season.
With bye weeks starting last week, fantasy owners have entered the portion of the season where their players start missing random fantasy games. Talk of an 18-game schedule persists with thoughts that it will bring a second bye for each team, something that will cause even more fantasy chaos.
That's where streamers come in handy, as they can fill in for just one week when your best players must sit out. If you find the right matchup and get lucky, you might even get a pickup player who blows away your usual starter; how many fantasy owners begrudgingly put in Rico Dowdle last week only to watch him run for over 200 yards?
With fantasy owners in need, let's look at three quarterbacks to start and three to sit in Week 6 of the NFL season. There won't be any obvious names below, like Josh Allen. Instead, we have six guys who are good fantasy starters some weeks but are better left on the bench other times. Most stats are from NFL.com.
Use FantasySP's weekly projections to identify players ready to break out and help make your toughest lineup decisions!
Start
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers @ Miami Dolphins
Through three weeks, Herbert was tied for fantasy QB6. He was averaging 286.7 passing yards per game with six touchdowns and one interception, and his team was 3-0.
The past two games, Herbert has averaged just 184.5 yards per game with two TDs and three interceptions. He was QB18 in that time. His left tackle, Joe Alt, suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 4; there may be a connection there.
Herbert has sustained in fantasy these past two weeks by running for 84 yards. He is a good runner, averaging 30 yards per game, and he might take a little more of the burden because starting RB Omarion Hampton was put on IR.
The matchup here is one the best, as the Dolphins have allowed the second-most yards per pass attempt and third-most fantasy points to quarterbacks. Bryce Young had his best per-attempt game against Miami last week; even the worst quarterbacks in the league can find success.
Alt is questionable and could miss this contest, which would hurt, but the Dolphins are weak enough defensively that Herbert can still have a good game without his blindside protector.
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Coming off the bye, Love gets a matchup against one of the most wayward teams in the league. Cincinnati hasn't found any kind of success since Joe Burrow went down, averaging 12.3 points in the three full games he has missed while going 0-3.
Most importantly for our purposes, the Bengals have given up 37.7 points per game during that time. They have also allowed seventh-most yards per pass attempt and ninth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
Love is several weeks away (at least) from getting his full-strength receiving corps back. With another good matchup in Week 4 against the Cowboys, Love threw for 337 yards on 7.8 per attempt with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 28 rushing yards.
Refreshed from a week off, the Packers should be ready to continue the barrage that Cincinnati has felt. Love is in position to have another strong fantasy game even without his full complement of pass catchers.
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers vs. Dallas Cowboys
Speaking of Young, he is a low-floor, low-ceiling fantasy player most weeks, making him one of the worst fantasy options. This is the ultimate matchup, though, as the Cowboys have allowed the most yards per pass attempt and the most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
If you have a weekly starter or even a few guys that you rotate, you're not looking at Young. He is averaging just 190 passing yards per game on 5.5 yards per attempt with a 60.9% completion rate. None of those numbers are good enough. A passer can live on smaller totals if he's super efficient, and lower completion percentages are OK with explosive plays, but Young isn't doing any of it.
With another good matchup against the Dolphins last week, Young had maybe his best game of the season, gaining 198 passing yards on 6.6 per attempt with two touchdowns and an interception. That put him outside the top 20 fantasy QBs, a place he also sits over the full season.
Young isn't a good passer and doesn't run enough to make up for it. With a great matchup in Week 6, though, he is a low-level streamer who makes sense in deep leagues or if you're completely desperate.
Sit
Justin Fields, New York Jets vs. Denver Broncos
Fields has alternated between good and bad performances, doing better against the Steelers and Dolphins but struggling hard against the Bills in Week 2 and playing middling with a great matchup against Dallas last week. As always, Fields is contributing with his running, averaging 50 yards per game and scoring three touchdowns.
Fields is QB13 despite missing Week 3 with a concussion. He ranks fourth in fantasy points per game among QBs, showing his big fantasy ceiling. Staying healthy is a real concern, but Fields produces when he is in the game, making him an intriguing fantasy player.
The matchup here is a tough one. The Broncos have allowed the 10th-fewest yards per pass attempt and the second-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. A big part of their fantasy success has been shutting down the QB running game, as even against strong runners of the football, Denver has held quarterbacks to fewer than 10 rushing yards in every game:
- Cameron Ward Week 1: 0 rushing yards
- Daniel Jones Week 2: 2 rushing yards
- Justin Herbert Week 3: 6 rushing yards
- Jake Browning Week 4: 4 rushing yards
- Jalen Hurts Week 5: 3 rushing yards
That's a major concern for Fields' fantasy outlook, as running is what gives him a high ceiling. Left only to his passing, Fields isn't a fantasy-relevant player. With his opponent also strong stopping the pass, there's not a lot of room left for Fields to find big success.
With a tough matchup that hinders what he does best, I must recommend leaving Fields on the bench this week. He'll have plenty more big performances, but this isn't likely to be one of them.
Michael Penix, Atlanta Falcons vs. Buffalo Bills
Penix has shown flashes in his first season as the starter. His first real standout game was in Week 4 against the Commanders, when Penix threw for 313 yards on 12.0 per attempt with two touchdowns and an interception. Atlanta then had their bye last week, so we haven't seen him since.
It's tough to expect a repeat performance because the Bills have been one of the toughest pass defenses in the league. Buffalo has allowed the fourth-fewest yards per pass attempt and 10th-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. Their lower standing in fantasy stems from allowing rushing yards: three of the five quarterbacks the Bills faced ran for at least 49 yards.
Penix isn't much of a rusher, so he doesn't figure to attack that potential weakness often. He ran for 21 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, but Penix gained just 10 total rushing yards in the ensuing three games and hasn't scored again. The lack of running lowers his fantasy value and is a big reason that he was outside the top 20 quarterbacks over the first month.
As a lower-level fantasy player to begin with, and with a tougher matchup here, Penix is a better bench player in Week 6. He is worthy of consideration in the right matchups, but this doesn't look like the time to deploy the young QB.
Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns
It was easy to think that Rodgers was cooked coming off maybe the worst season of his career. The 41-year-old has looked better in 2025: he's averaging under 200 passing yards per game, but he's doing it at a slightly above-average 7.3 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.
That had him at QB16 before their Week 5 bye, but it's going to be really tough (maybe impossible) for Rodgers to reach the top 10 because he never runs the ball. While he used to be a better scrambler, Rodgers' age has caught up with him, and he has run the ball just nine times for 11 yards this year (including kneel-downs).
The matchup in this one is also tough, as the Browns have allowed the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. They are in the middle in terms of yards per pass attempt allowed, but they look like an above-average defense that has made things tough for every opposing QB.
Rodgers is far from his peak, and he's not a weekly fantasy starter at this point. He can still be a streamer and put up positive numbers at times, but this is no longer the player who was one of the top quarterbacks of his generation.
