Fantasy Football Week 6 Wide Receiver Start/Sit: Kendrick Bourne, Tee Higgins and More

Welcome to Week 6's fantasy football wide receiver start/sit breakdown!

As always, I'd like to begin with a quick look back at last week's results. Unfortunately, after back-to-back strong outings, my picks were a very mixed bag in Week 5. Things were okay on the start side: Stefon Diggs (19.6 half-PPR points) was a big hit, and both Tetairoa McMillan (10.3) and Chris Oalve (9.4) provided respectable showings. 

However, the mediocre results for the latter two receivers are made worth by the fact that they were outscored by two players from my sit section: DeVonta Smith (15.4) and Jordan Addison (12.6) both finished as top-20 options on the week. Neither Khalil Shakir (8) nor Keon Colenman (8.3) ranked in the top 40, so that's a win, but they didn't kill you either.  

Overall, that's a fairly disappointing week. Results like that are inevitable given the high-variance nature of fringe fantasy receivers, but that doesn't mean I have to accept them. Let's bounce back this week. 

For more help with your toughest Week 6 start/sit decisions, check out FantasySP's NFL Start/Sit tool!

Wide Receivers to Start Week 6

Kendrick Bourne (or Jauan Jennings), San Francisco 49ers

In case it wasn't clear already, Bourne's 142-yard outing last Thursday night proved that Kyle Shanahan is an offensive genius. Even with Mac Jones under center (which it looks like he will be again this week), Bourne was constantly open against a good Rams' defense. Some credit obviously goes to Bourne himself, but Shanahan clearly knows how to help his WR1 produce.

This week, there's a chance that the 49ers' WR1 will once again be Bourne. If it is, feel free to fire him up again. If not, it will be because Jennings has returned from his ankle/rib injuries. Jennings practiced in a limited fashion on Thursday, giving him a shot to return this week (Ricky Pearsall did not practice, so he is likely out another week).

If Jennings does return, he becomes the player this blurb is about, but Bourne himself is also still playable. Against a Buccaneers team that just got in a full-blown shootout with Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, there could be targets to go around for San Francisco's offense this week. Especially if Jennings is out, it isn't just chasing points to start Bourne, who had truly elite usage to go with his excellent production last week. 

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts

When will Pittman get the respect he deserves? The veteran wideout is currently the half-PPR WR15, with only one week below 12 points. With a 22% target share and a 25% air yards share, he is the undisputed WR1 on a Colts' offense that ranks second in points per game and fourth in yards per game. 

Despite all this, Pittman is currently being started in just 52% of ESPN leagues. Nearly half of the managers who have hit on one of the best picks of the fantasy season so far are just letting him rot on their bench. Especially in a solid matchup with the Cardinals, don't let that be you. 

Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers

The Packers have played two full games without Jayden Reed. In those two games, Doubs has led the team in route share (77%) and target share (15%), and is just behind Matthew Golden with a still-excellent 40% air yards share. He scored just 3.5 points in Week 3 against a tough Cleveland defense, but exploded for 26.8 points against Dallas in Week 4.

Of course, points scored against the Cowboys' defense should be taken with a grain of salt. They are allowing a whopping 38.6 points per game to opposing receivers, easily the most in the league. But Green Bay's home matchup with the Bengals this week is almost as soft. The only potential worry is that Cincinnati will fail to put up enough of a fight for the Packers to have any passing volume (the spread for this one is an absurd 14 points). 

But the Packers still have a near-30-point total, and those points can't all come from Josh Jacobs (probably). Really, that's what this comes down to. Doubs isn't an elite talent, but he's currently operating as the Packers' WR1. Playing the WR1 on a team with a 29.5-point total is a move that should work out more often than not. 

Wide Receivers to Sit Week 6

Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals

This one hurts, as I love Higgins as a player. But we have to face facts. The Bengals' WR2 is averaging just 6.9 half-PPR points per game this season, the 55th-most among receivers. He has scored double-digit points just once, back in Week 2. 

And it's not even as though we can blame everything on Jake Browning. Higgins' usage has been rough, with just a 17% target share (he does have a decent 32% air yards share).

Even if Joe Flacco brings some improvement to Cincinnati's offense, you can bet he will be looking to Ja'Marr Chase before he looks to Higgins. Where the Packers have a massive team total, Cincinnati's is a miserable 14.5 — everyone not named Ja'Marr on this offense should be avoided, and that includes Higgins.

Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans

Ridley had his first big game of the season last week, playing an instrumental role in the Titans' comeback win with five catches for 131 yards. He also saw 10 targets, his highest mark of the season. Unfortunately, I don't think this is a sign that he is back to being a viable option as a weekly WR3 (and certainly not as a WR2). 

The first and most obvious problem with Ridley is that the Titans' offense is flat-out terrible. Even coming off that win over the Cardinals, Tennessee ranks second-worst in both yards and points per game, as well as dead last in yards per play. 

On an offense that bad, you need elite usage to produce, and Ridley hasn't quite seen that. He's averaging just a 20% target share and a 35% air yards share. To be fair, those numbers are slightly deflated by the reduced role he saw in Week 4. But we also have to take into account that Ridley ranks fourth-worst among 58 qualified pass-catchers with just a 69% catchable target rate.

He has only seen 22 catchable targets in five games … and he has dropped four of those. Even in a good matchup with the Raiders' defense, I recommend benching Ridley where possible.

Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Godwin has scored exactly 4.1 half-PPR points in both of his games since returning from IR. However, he got there in very different ways.

In his Week 4 debut, Godwin's usage was very encouraging: he saw nine targets with a 15.4-yard ADOT for a 23% target share and a 43% air yards share. In Week 5, it was mediocre: four targets on a 2.8-yard ADOT for shares of 12% and just 5%. His route participation rate also dropped dramatically, from 86% to 69%.

Long term, I still think there are good reasons to believe in Godwin's ability to be a solid fantasy asset. But right now, he has yet to produce, and his usage is trending down instead of up. Even in a relatively average matchup with the 49ers, the veteran receivers is best left on your bench this week.