4 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Target in Week 6

When playing daily fantasy football, we should be matchup sensitive when rostering players. One star player can go from a great play to a horrible one based on his opponents and the specific individual matchup might play a huge role in that. Since we can play any player we want on a given slate, it makes sense to pick players in the best matchups. This will raise both their floor and their ceiling, and should lead to us having some winning lineups.

Week 6 promises to be exciting, as we have a lot of good matchups that we can exploit.

Seattle's Passing Game vs. Arizona's Pass Defense

It's hard to believe that we are here in Week 6 and the Seattle Seahawks are one of the teams in this article. People thought this might be one of the worst offenses in the league, with a journeyman quarterback and a shaky offensive line. Well, they are far from that, which has shocked much of the fantasy community.

Everyone assumed going from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith ($7,400) was a significant downgrade for the offense. And who can blame them? but Geno has shocked the world and has the Seahawks as the second-best passing offense in the league, according to numberFire's metrics.

We knew Seattle had some decent offensive weapons, but it's pretty surprising how they haven't missed a beat with the new quarterback. Tyler Lockett ($7,500) is the WR8 by half-PPR scoring, while D.K. Metcalf ($7,400) is WR20. These two have combined for a 54.2% target share, so it's perfect for a double-stack because we know where the ball is likely to go. It's hard to justify playing any other Seattle pass catcher, with Noah Fant and Will Dissly splitting routes at tight end.

The Seahawks are playing in a division game against the Arizona Cardinals This game has the second-highest total on the main slate, currently sitting at 50.5. The Cardinals have struggled on defense all season long. They rank 29th in schedule-adjusted pass D, and teams pass on them at the 11th-highest rate in the league.

Seattle is an underdog in this game but still has a healthy implied total of 23.75 points. Geno and his crew look like a great stack to use this week.

Tampa Bay's Passing Game vs. the Steelers' Pass Defense

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' passing game set up well last week, and they also set up very well this week. A week ago, it didn't result in anyone from this passing attack having monster games in fantasy, but a few players were close. Everything we wanted to see from the offense was there. Now they just have to put it together for a true eruption game.

What we love about the Bucs for fantasy purposes is that they are willing to go very pass-happy at times. Tom Brady ($7,500) threw the ball 52 times last week despite the team being ahead for the majority of the game. They are third in pass rate over expectation and have the second-highest pass/run ratio in the league.

Tampa has many passing game options we can use. Mike Evans ($7,700) caught just four passes for 81 yards last week but saw eight total targets. His fantasy output would look a lot better if he would have scored instead of getting knocked out at the one-yard line. Chris Godwin ($6,800) looked to be healthier in the past two games, and his salary is way too low if we get anything close to him at full ability. Rookie tight end Cade Otton ($5,000) had a solid game with six catches for 43 yards last week and can be used if Cameron Brate is out again.

The Buccaneers will face a Pittsburgh Steelers team that has been reeling. You might think that defending the pass would be a strength for them, but they are 27th in adjusted fantasy points per drop back. They just got torched by Josh Allen and company last week, and Tampa's passing game might be able to beat them, as well.

Tampa's implied team total is 27.0 points, and they should be able to find success through the air to get to that total.

Rhamondre Stevenson vs. the Cleveland Run Defense

The New England Patriots were always going to be a run-heavy team. That was the case last season, and it led to a playoff berth. That's how it set up to be this season, too, given their offensive personnel. The way things have played out, it's been beneficial for one player specifically.

With Mac Jones going down, New England has had to turn to fourth-round rookie Bailey Zappe. In Zappe's first start in Week 5, the Patriots ran the ball 35 times and threw just 21. They likely will be running a ton in Week 6, as it clearly will be the most effective way for them to move the ball.

Heading into the season, the Pats had a backfield duo of Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson ($7,500). With Harris unlikely to play this week due to a hamstring injury, Stevenson is set to be the guy in this offense. Last week, he saw 25 carries and two targets, and he totaled 175 yards from scrimmage.

Stevenson gets a juicy matchup against the Cleveland Browns this week. Cleveland has been horrible against running backs, allowing the most adjusted fantasy points per carry in the league. They are also vulnerable to running backs in the passing game, ranking 31st in adjusted fantasy points per target to the position. We know that Bill Belichick is one of the few coaches in the NFL who builds his game plan around the other team's weaknesses, and he likely will do the same thing here.

Stevenson is a fantastic play in all formats, as we can expect the volume and efficiency to be there in this matchup.

Zach Ertz vs. the Seattle Linebackers/Secondary

We want pieces of this game between Seattle and Arizona, as both teams are struggling mightily on defense. There are many names to target. We already talked about the Seattle passing game, but we also have running backs who will be popular options on both teams.

Don't overlook Zach Ertz ($6,000) when thinking about stacking this game. The veteran tight end has been seeing great volume ever since a Week 1 injury limited him. Since then, he's caught at least six passes in every game and has seen double-digit targets in three outings. In the last four games, he's been targeted on 23.8% of his routes, a very good number for a tight end.

The Seattle pass defense is even worse than Arizona's. They rank dead last in passing D and 31st in fantasy points per drop back to quarterbacks. Against tight ends, they allow 2.12 adjusted fantasy points per target. No other team allows more than 1.97.

We saw T.J. Hockenson have a blow-up game against Seattle in Week 4. They have been without Jamal Adams since Week 1, and his role was normally to cover the tight ends. They also allowed a touchdown to Ross Dwelley in Week 2, and five catches for 87 yards to Kyle Pitts in Week 3. If Ertz can see the same volume he normally sees, he can do a lot of damage this week.

Ertz makes sense as an option in stacks with Kyler Murray or as a bring-back piece for Seattle stacks.

Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.