It is still very early in the fantasy football season. This feels like something I repeat weekly since the season began, but it remains true! Players can make up ground for a slow start to their season very quickly. Sometimes, that may feel like a one-off game; however, when this is coming from a player with a history of volume and efficiency, there is reason to believe the scoring outburst is not fluky.
The fantasy season does not really stabilize until halfway through the year (Week 8-9), and even then, players have as many games as they have played thus far to make up ground. We see slow starters and hot second halves every year. Identifying them is not too difficult either. As long as the player is healthy, in a good enough offense, and receiving moderate volume, the production will come. Patience is a virtue, and here are some players who should be paying off as soon as Week 6!
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RB Kenneth Walker (SEA)
The Seahawks will continue to play Zach Charbonnet, yet that does not make Kenneth Walker useless. Walker is having his most efficient season to date, largely due to his shared role with Charbonnet. Technically, Week 3 was Walker’s “breakout” fantasy game with two touchdowns on 17 touches, but he only produced 50 total yards.
The Jaguars’ run defense ranks 24th by DVOA (via FTN), and they are coming off a shorter week after playing on Monday night. Walker only touched the ball 11 times last weekend against the Buccaneers because of the shootout that necessitated a season-high 34 pass attempts from QB Sam Darnold.
Nevertheless, Walker managed to amass 86 yards on just 10 carries against the league’s fourth-best run defense. Expect the Seahawks to attack the Jaguars’ weak spot this week with much more Walker and some Charbonnet as well.
WR Ladd McConkey (LAC)
Ladd McConkey had his best fantasy day of the season in Week 5, and that was a measly five catches for 39 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown was his first of the season and did most of the heavy lifting on his scorecard. The Chargers face a Dolphins defense that ranks second-worst against the pass thus far and is unlikely to improve much this season.
Also, Quentin Johnston is expected to miss this week’s game, which should create more opportunities for McConkey early and often. Keenan Allen remains a slight nuisance, but he is only playing a limited number of snaps per game. Allen has not played over 80% of the snaps in a single game this season, while only playing above 65% once.
McConkey is the best playmaker on this team and could even be utilized out of the backfield on jet sweeps to get the ball in his hands more with the loss of RB Omarion Hampton. The Chargers will need to rely on him if they want to control this game, even against a lower-end opponent like the Dolphins.
WR Brian Thomas Jr (JAC)
Speaking of Seahawks vs. Jaguars, Seattle is missing three key pieces in their secondary. Devon Witherspoon and Tariq Woolen are both out at CB, while S Julian Love will miss another game. Last week was Brian Thomas Jr.’s first game with 10 half-PPR points in fantasy football, and he looked more like himself throughout the matchup against a tough Chiefs pass defense.
The Jaguars are not giving up on Thomas Jr. as their WR1 despite a slow start to the season. He has a healthy 23.3% target share and 38.9% of the team’s air yards. Jacksonville’s passing offense will go as BTJ goes, and that is aiming in a positive direction, especially with Travis Hunter providing a proper complementary option for defenses to respect. Hunter is still not playing a full-time role on offense, and that is great news for Thomas Jr. to sustain his alpha role throughout the season.
Fire up Thomas Jr. this week and hope for the best. Unless he is injured, that gaudy 42.1% catch rate will not last long and regress sooner than later.
WR D.J. Moore (CHI)
The Bears are coming off their Bye Week and will likely feature the highly paid D.J. Moore in the coming weeks. Moore is performing like an afterthought this season, yet is too talented to ignore. Last year’s top-10 pick at WR, Rome Odunze, is playing like a star, but will likely attract more attention from defenses as we advance.
Meanwhile, Moore has just 21 targets this season. This ranks third on the team behind Odunze and offseason addition Olamide Zaccheus. While it is fair to criticize Moore for this, he started slow last year as well (albeit with many more targets). Moore had just 189 yards through the first four games last season on 34 targets. He has 173 yards on just 21 targets this season. Moore went on to post 777 yards through the next 13 games of 2024 and could do something similar this year.
The Washington Commanders’ defense ranks 18th against the pass this season, and we should expect the Bears to pass plenty as their run struggles continue against Washington’s top-five run defense.
WR Jakobi Meyers (LV)
I’m not sure if Jakobi Meyers classifies as a “fantasy stud”, but he is a consistent fantasy contributor yearly and is starting slow this season, so sure…why not? Meyers earned 22 targets between the first two weeks of this season, and just 17 through the past three weeks. He has not scored a touchdown nor cracked 100 yards in a game.
With Brock Bowers sidelined, everyone expected Meyers to have his first big game in Week 5. Sadly, he posted one of his worst games this season with four catches and 32 yards on six targets in a match where Las Vegas trailed all four quarters. The Raiders’ game script should be much more kind this week against a poor Tennessee Titans roster, but they should get more production out of Meyers against a bottom-eight pass defense.
TE Trey McBride
The Arizona Cardinals are starting QB Jacoby Brissett this week, and this could revitalize TE Trey McBride. McBride is seeing his usual dosage of targets this season, but is not as efficient as his 2024 season. The addition of Brissett could help shake the offense up as the Cardinals take more shots downfield and rely less on dinking and dunking.
McBride has benefitted from the underneath passing attack, but this has also limited his TD upside. Since entering the league in 2022, Trey McBride has 251 touches and just eight touchdowns. He had 112 touches last year, and this only resulted in three total scores!
Brissett is not a high-volume TD thrower throughout his career (3% TD rate), but this Cardinals’ offense may have the most pass-catching talent he has ever played with between McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. Maybe we see a short-lived hot streak from Brissett while Murray is out of commission? The bar is pretty low to perform better this season anyway.
