Start Rashee Rice vs. Jerry Jeudy vs. Tutu Atwell vs. K.J. Osborn vs. Josh Downs | Fantasy Football Week 6 WR Start Decision
The FantasySP “Who Should I Start? tool is starting to kick out some great trending decisions as week 6 closes in. With a couple of Thursday night receivers in a few of those trending decisions, let’s discuss who the best starters would be.
For this discussion, we’ll be breaking down Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice, Denver Broncos’ Jerry Jeudy, Los Angeles Rams’ Tutu Atwell, Minnesota Vikings’ K.J. Osborn and Indianapolis Colts’ Josh Downs.
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Why You Should Start Rashee Rice
Kansas City pass catchers aside from tight end Travis Kelce have underwhelmed to this point of the season, but Rice is at least starting to emerge as a decent fantasy option.
Rice has between 2-5 catches in all five games this season, but has topped 50 receiving yards just once. He scored a touchdown on three grabs in week 1, but was then held to two catches in week 2. Since then, Rice has at least three catches and 30 receiving yards, including his second touchdown catch last week.
Those aren’t great fantasy numbers by any means, but he’s part of this conversation seeing what the Chiefs’ offense is going up against. The Broncos’ defense has been horrible all season, allowing the most points, yards/yards per play and rushing yards. Denver has been better at slowing opposing receivers, but is still in the bottom half of the league and allowing an average of 37 fantasy points a contest.
With Kelce banged up, but expected to play, Rice is ranked 49th in our week 6 receiver projections.
Why You Should Start Jerry Jeudy
While the Broncos’ defense has been awful, the offense has been pretty solid. Courtland Sutton leads the team’s pass catchers in pretty much every stat, with Jeudy coming in second in several stats.
Jeudy has been targeted 24 times in total and made 17 grabs across four games. He’s gained 208 yards, but still has not scored. He has caught both of his red zone targets.
Jeudy has had either five or seven targets this season, and has recorded over 50 receiving yards the past three weeks. In those three weeks, he’s had one catch of at least 20 yards.
The Kansas City defense is one of the better ones in the league when it comes to slowing opposing wideouts, allowing an average of 32 fantasy points a contest. Denver might have to do a good deal of passing simply to stay in the game, so that bodes well for Sutton and Jeudy.
Jeudy is ranked 36th among wideouts in our week 6 projections, with Sutton in 37th,
Why You Should Start Tutu Atwell
I just wrapped up a story on the Rams’ wide receivers which talked about how Atwell’s season averages took a huge dip when Cooper Kupp returned to the lineup. However, I still believe Atwell is worthy of starting consideration against below-average defenses, and that’s exactly what the Rams are going up against this week.
For the season, Atwell has 24 catches on 40 targets, going for 279 yards and two touchdowns. Atwell had just two catches on five targets in week 5. The catches went for only 9 yards, but he did score a touchdown.
Atwell is the 42nd-ranked wideout in our weekly projections.
Why You Should Start K.J. Osborn
Osborn will step into a more prominent offensive role now that Justin Jefferson is out for several weeks. Jordan Addison is also part of the team’s injury report this week, so Osborn could be in for a big workload.
After being targeted six times in the first two weeks, Osborn had just five targets between weeks 3 and 4. He jumped up to nine targets in week 5, and made a season-high five receptions for 49 yards. Osborn hasn’t scored since week 3.
Osborn and the Vikings will be going up against the Chicago Bears in week 6. The Bears’ defense has been a bit below average against opposing wideouts, allowing an average of 37 fantasy points a contest. Chicago is the third-worst defense against the run, so down Jefferson and maybe Addison, Minnesota might instead try to run more.
Osborn is the 38th-ranked receiver in our weekly projections.
Why You Should Start Josh Downs
Downs has become the Colts’ No. 2 wideout early in his rookie season. Downs has caught 23 of the 33 passes thrown his way for 255 yards. He’s made one catch on three red zone targets, but still hasn’t scored.
Downs has at least three targets and two catches in each contest. His 97-yard outing in week 5 was his best of the season, with three of the other four games seeing him below 40 yards.
He’ll get some consistency in the passing game now with Gardner Minshew taking over as the starter while Anthony Richardson is injured. Downs and the team’s pass catchers have swapped between the two quarterbacks almost every week so far.
Indy will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend. Jacksonville has been average in slowing opposing wideouts, allowing an average of 37 fantasy points a game.
Downs is the 46th-ranked receiver for the coming week.
Final Numbers and the Recommended Start
Our projections say that Jeudy is the top-ranked receiver of this discussion. According to our numbers as of this publication, Jeudy is the preferred starter over Rice, Atwell and Downs, but not Osborn. That matchups has Osborn preferred 25.2% of the time to 21.3% for Jeudy.
Those are the top two guys in this discussion for me too, and it’s a tight decision. I’d favor the easier defensive matchup, which is Osborn against the Bears. With Jefferson out and Addison ailing, I think Osborn not only could lead the team’s receivers in yardage, but also score a time or two with the amount Minnesota likes the pass.
Jeudy is a solid start this week, but just hasn’t done enough so far to take him over Osborn. I do think Jeudy will also go over his projections.
As for the final three guys, I’m most confident in what receivers have done for me lately. Rice and Atwell each scored a touchdown last week, but didn’t do much else. Downs didn’t score, but nearly had 100 yards.
Rice and Atwell have the more favorable matchups, but I actually would prefer Downs over them both. Downs is going to be the team’s No. 2 receiving option and he should be able to produce enough against an average Jacksonville defense to outscore the other two.
The final decision is then either Rice or Atwell. The player who scores the most fantasy points probably is the guy who makes the biggest play or scores, and I think Rice has the better chance to do that, so I’d take him. With Kelce banged up, I like Rice to be a little more involved than usual, and against that terrible Broncos’ defense, I think he scores or has enough yardage to barely outscore Atwell.
I still like Atwell this week, just not more than any receivers in this conversation. If he had produced a little more last week, this decision would have likely gone a different way, but for now, I’m not comfortable taking him over the other four.
