2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 6: Kirk Cousins, Tank Bigsby, More

We are now four weeks into the NFL season. And though it still feels like a small sample size of games, that’s almost a quarter of the NFL season. Unless you play in an unusual format, no one is truly eliminated from playoffs through four weeks. 

But, if you have started 0-4, it might be time to make some drastic moves. And the 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 6 is the perfect place to get your season on track. 

If you are hurting at the wide receiver position especially, this might be the week to strike. There are some upside plays, some safe PPR plays, even a deeper stash to grab off the Week 6 fantasy football waiver wire. 

So, let’s dig into all the positions here and hash out which direction to go to put you back on pace for the fantasy football playoffs!

2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 6 Top Targets

If this 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 6 is your first time seeing this series, here’s a little idea of how we break it down. 

There are too many articles out there who don’t take into account YOUR team needs. Whether you just want the best player, you want someone to start now, or you are loaded and you want the best upside stashed, we have you covered. And we break it down like this:

• 2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 6: This is the current article where we focus on the best waiver wire picks for any format or team needs. Guys that can potentially be started now but also have season long upside
   
• 2024 Fantasy Football Streamers Week 6: These are players that are decent starts for Week 6 but might not have great long-term upside (perhaps it’s just a good matchup or the starter has a short-term injury, for instance)
   
• 2024 Fantasy Football Stashes Week 6: These are players that are very difficult to trust in a lineup right now. But we believe in the talent and the possibility of upside down the stretch. Every year there are certain rookies or backups that get a big opportunity and run with it at some point - like Trey McBride last year.

The 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 6 you are currently looking at is free for everyone. The Week 6 waiver wire stashes and Week 6 waiver wire streamers articles are for Fantasy Alarm members only.  

If you aren’t a Fantasy Alarm member yet, you can not only get 40% off your annual membership if you sign up right now or 50% off your first month with promo code LETSGO, but we are offering a 7-day free trial RIGHT NOW! You can check out everything we have to offer this week and decide if it's right for you!

P.S. At the very bottom of this article, I will update my Yin & Yang Tight End chart each week!

NFL Week 6 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Kirk Cousins - Atlanta Falcons, Yahoo: 51% | ESPN: 45% | Sleeper: 41%  

We’re not typically one to chase points. But we’re not just going after Kirk Cousins because he threw for 500+ yards and 4 touchdowns this week. Anyone who watched that game on Thursday night saw what we saw - something with the Atlanta Falcons offense clicked.

It’s not surprising that this team started slow after having a brand-new quarterback join the team. Especially a quarterback coming off a serious Achilles injury. With Cousins this week his completion percentage wasn’t drastically better than what it’s been this year, and this actually wasn’t even his highest passer rating (the Eagles in Week 2 at 117.2 was). No, what we saw here was a guy who finally looked comfortable in the pocket like he did in Minnesota.

He’s owned in a lot of leagues and, if he is on your wire, it’s probably a shallower league so you don’t need to go crazy spending up to get him with other options likely out there as well. But he was able to get Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Kyle Pitts all involved in the same week. And we saw how scary that can look. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority or Free Add
• FAAB: 0-5% (or more if he starts for you right away)

Drake Maye - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 2% | Sleeper: 10%  

We’ve had Drake Maye in the Stashes article every week this year. And that thought process there has not changed. The simple willingness to run is one of the greatest generators of value in fantasy football. We’ve seen Justin Fields finish as RB6 while throwing for under 2,300 yards. We’ve seen Daniel Jones, who runs a 4.8 forty-yard dash, finish as a QB1 in fantasy while throwing 15 TD passes. If you are willing to run 5-7 times a game, that creates an incredible floor and an interesting ceiling.

It might be a complete disaster for Maye in this offense. But he has a season on his college resume running 184 times (two fewer than the best season Jayden Daniels had). In 62 preseason snaps, he ran 7 times and scored a touchdown. In his one drive earlier this year, he took off and ran twice.

Jerod Mayo sounds more open to letting Drake Maye play following the Week 5 loss. He’s also already told reporters that they have a different scheme in mind for the “run and gun” quarterback. That’s intriguing enough for us to get a glimpse of what it might look like after seeing what C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels were able to do as rookie with beleaguered franchises. If it’s bad, back to the wire. 

• Waiver Priority: Low or Free Add
• FAAB: 0%

NFL Week 6 Waiver Wire Running Back

Tank Bigsby - Jacksonville Jaguars, Yahoo: 23% | ESPN: 10% | Sleeper: 31%

The waiver wire is the trickiest part of fantasy football. Sometimes you have a tough decision to make between two pretty good options. And that could change the trajectory of your season. This week, there are two pretty good options at running back.

With FAAB, we suggest putting in bids on both Bigsby and Tyrone Tracy. If you have the top priority, we are leaning on Tank Bigsby. The difference for us is that he’s been doing it WITH Travis Ettienne healthy and on the team. There’s no question of “What happens when the starter gets back”. The starter has been right there.

Bigsby has been the more efficient back running the football for the Jaguars, no question. At a certain point you need to lean into the more productive player regardless of who may have been college teammates with the starting quarterback. And, at 1-4, the Jaguars have to start making those moves now. 

Bigsby has always been a talented player, but mental mistakes held him back. Now the only thing holding him back is Doug Pederson. It will likely remain a timeshare but hopefully Bigsby can carve out work like he did these last two weeks.  

• Waiver Priority: Top
• FAAB: 15-20%

Tyrone Tracy - New York Giants, Yahoo: 23% | ESPN: 18% | Sleeper: 34%

If you are someone that prefers trying to catch lightning in a bottle, maybe you go for the unknown upside of rookie Tyrone Tracy With Devin Singletary out, he started for the first time this week (which was also the first time he played more than 31% of the snaps). And he looked fantastic running for 129 yards.

The really interesting aspect to consider here is that Tracy is also a converted wide receiver. So we haven’t yet seen the full extent of what he can offer in the pass game. Tracy hadn’t shown much so far in his limited touches leading up to this game, but he might have shown enough to warrant more usage.

The problem? Well, Devin Singletary could return from this groin issue and take the starting job back. Then you’re left with a backup running back that you might not be able to use at all. Or it might be a timeshare with Singletary, at which point you have a part-time running back for the New York Giants - which also isn’t super appealing. But we have to give ourselves a shot at upside and there are only so many of these shots you can take. 

As we mentioned in our Streaming article, if you need someone to actually start for you in Week 6, that might give Tracy the edge for you if Devin Singletary is out again. Not only will he be in line to start again but it will be against the Bengals who have allowed the third most rushing yards so far this season.  

• Waiver Priority: Top
• FAAB: 15-20%

Antonio Gibson - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 38% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 50%

They told us that Rhamondre Stevonson could be “benched” after fumbling four straight games. And that amounted to Antonio Gibson getting the start this week. Rhamondre Stevenson responded well to that by running the ball hard - and holding onto it. But that didn’t mean Antonio Gibson didn’t also play pretty well, averaging 8.7 yards per carry.

A lot of folks will say that Stevenson “earned the job back” but the reality is that Gibson had a pretty decent role this entire time. He’s touched the ball at least 7 times in every single game - in fact, this week despite “starting” tied his lowest touch total over the five games. 

The Patriots opted to go super thin at the running back position so both players will need to play. And Gibson, as a former wide receiver, is always a threat to sub in and catch some balls or rip off some yards on a garbage time handoff. 

• Waiver Priority: Free Add or Late Priority
• FAAB: 0-5%

NFL Week 6 Waiver Wire Wide Receiver

Josh Downs - Indianapolis Colts, Yahoo: 40% | ESPN: 35% | Sleeper: 54%

Last week we said to throw some money at both Wan’Dale Robinson and Josh Downs. Two players operating out of the slot with big target potential. Wan’Dale Robinson ended up being rostered in over 50% of all platforms. Downs is still out there in a big chunk of them.

This is our biggest and one of the best waiver wire picks since Jordan Mason in terms of what we are willing to drop both in terms of priority and FAAB. If Josh Downs is there in your league, go out and get him. In terms of targets, he is clearly ahead of Alec Pierce now and could even rival Michael Pittman. 

Wan’Dale Robinson was on pace for 150+ targets even playing alongside Malik Nabers and Downs has that same profile and upside. He’ll get an added boost whenever the gunslinger Joe Flacco is starting. 

• Waiver Priority: First
• FAAB: 50%+

JuJu Smith-Schuster - Kansas City Chiefs, Yahoo: 7% | ESPN: 4% | Sleeper: 6%

It’s hard to argue with what we saw last night. With Rashee Rice out, JuJu Smith-Schuster was asked to step up in a big way for the Kansas City Chiefs - and he did. He stepped into that mid-range role that includes wide receiver screens and the Chiefs led the entire league in wide receiver screens in 2023. So, he has to be on our radar.

Regardless of how you feel about the player and whether he has lost a step or not, the Chiefs offense has a number of complex wrinkles that create separation for players that understand the concepts. JuJu has experience with this offense, and you saw his ability to execute with some of the delayed and deceptive routes they had him running last night. 

Xavier Worthy is the field stretcher and Justin Watson is more out there as a big body for blocking (he led the team in snaps and did not garner a target). JuJu is absolutely one of the best waiver wire picks right now and there are arguments for him to be the top one. We still like Downs but Downs is rostered in many serious leagues.

• Waiver Priority: First
• FAAB: 15-20%

Jalen Tolbert - Dallas Cowboys, Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 17%

The farther we get into the season, the more of a weekly game fantasy football becomes. Bye weeks hit hard, and you can’t afford to bleed losses. In this case, we’ll have three more games minimum of Jalen Tolbert in the spotlight as the Cowboys opted to put Brandin Cooks on IR.

This past week Tolbert played his highest snap share yet at 89% (which actually led the team with CeeDee Lamb at 87%). He had a season high 10 targets which beat out the 9 targets he got in Week 9. Lamb is the top dog and Jake Ferguson will always get some looks, but Tolbert has an opportunity to get a solid target share in Dak Prescott’s offense. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium
• FAAB: 5-10%

Ja'Lynn Polk - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 17%

After leading the Patriots in snaps and routes in Week 4, Ja'Lynn Polk came out this week and played every single snap. He could only haul in one of his six targets, but he was a mere heel away from scoring what would have been a beautiful toe tap touchdown in the back of the endzone. 

The most appealing part of this add is a potential QB change looming in New England. We have to remember that a guy like Nico Collins did very little for two years before C.J. Stroud showed up. And, even on bad teams, a QB can potentially pick a favorite target and force feed him the ball. We’re hoping that maybe the mobile Drake Maye can do more with this brutal Patriots offensive line in terms of extending the play and finding guys like Polk. 

• Waiver Priority: Low or Free Add
• FAAB: 0-5%

NFL Week 6 Waiver Tight End + Yin & Yang TE

YIN (Good Floor, Low Ceiling)

Zach Ertz - Washington Commanders, Yahoo: 31% | ESPN: 48% | Sleeper: 49%

His rostership numbers have slowly grown because some folks are recognizing how consistent he’s been. In fact, this was the first time he didn’t give us a decent PPR game, and it actually came in a game where he got 8 targets. We’re hoping to find someone along the way with higher upside than Ertz but, for now, he at least is a featured part of the offense as the second target behind Terry McLaurin.

If anything were to happen to Ertz, we would be jumping to grab Ben Sinnott off waivers as one of the best waiver wire picks. It’s likely that John Bates would maintain his inline blocking role (blocking on 74% of snaps) and Sinnott would take over that pass-catching role. This is exactly how we got a breakout down the stretch from Trey McBride last year. 

• Waiver Priority: Free Add
• FAAB: 0%

Tyler Conklin - New York Jets, Yahoo: 30% | ESPN: 37% | Sleeper: 30%

Tyler Conklin doesn’t really offer much in the YAC department. He’s not particularly fast or elusive. But, with Breece Hall and Mike Williams falling way behind in terms of where we thought they would be for targets, Tyler Conklin has picked up the slack. He’s now on pace for 92 targets - that 90+ target pace is all we need in this world.

We definitely aren’t spending up for him with the Davante Adams rumors (or the fact that Conklin has two games this year with only one catch). But you could do a lot worse in this economy and the Jets will once again have to throw this week against the Bills.

• Waiver Priority: Free Add
• FAAB: 0%

Cade Otton - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 17% | Sleeper: 44%

Like Tyler Conklin, Cade Otton was useless for the first two weeks. But he’s come on a bit over the last couple, partially thanks to injuries to Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer. After catching one pass for five yards over the first two weeks, he’s had 7 for 47, 6 for 52, and 3 for 44. Which is pretty serviceable.

He’s obviously the third fiddle here behind Chris Godwin and Mike Evans so his upside is capped unless one of them goes down. But the reality is that a lot of guys are in that same boat - what exactly is the difference between Otton in his situation vs. a guy like Dallas Goedert in his behind AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith? So, Otton remains a “safe but boring” option. Which is all you need for this stretch of the season.  

• Waiver Priority: Free Add
• FAAB: 0%

YANG (High Risk, High Reward)

Hunter Henry - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 30% | ESPN: 24% | Sleeper: 29%

We’ve been stashing Hunter Henry wherever possible. So why would we stop now with Drake Maye taking over as quarterback? He still leads the New England Patriots in routes run, targets, and yards through five weeks. Obviously, he’s a difficult start right now but that’s why he’s a stash and not a start.

We have to ask ourselves a simple question - what if Drake Maye is good? Or what if this “run and gun” scheme Alex Van Pelt has planned for Drake Maye heavily features the tight end? When looking for breakout tight ends, we have to ask ourselves “what if?” That’s how we got Sam LaPorta last year. 

And folks at the start of the season would not have predicted that Trey McBride and Isaiah Likely would be top five tight ends down the stretch. They needed a catalyst for change. Maye might not change anything, but he has to give it a shot. 

• Waiver Priority: Late or free add
• FAAB: 0% 

Ben Sinnott - Washington Commanders, Yahoo: 2% | ESPN: 1% | Sleeper: 10%

This is more of a deep league or dynasty add. For most folks, it’s simply a “watch list”. But we have to remember that last year Trey McBride actually started picking up snaps BEFORE Zach Ertz was ruled out. So we’re keeping an eye on Sinnott here to see how things develop.

Zach Ertz has been getting a lot of targets. And he hasn’t done a whole lot with them. At a certain point the Commanders might decide it’s time to see what the athletic TE they took in the second round of the NFL Draft can do. Or maybe Ertz goes down with an injury once again - he is 33 years old. We expect that Sinnott would leapfrog John Bates into a pass-catching role as we mentioned above. 

• Waiver Priority: Late or free add
• FAAB: 0% 

Week 6 Yin & Yang Tight End

As promised, here are our updated Yin & Yang Tight End rankings going into Week 6. If you are not familiar with this strategy, the full write-up on it is available in our 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Guide. The short and sweet is that, if you don’t get an elite tight end, you roster two – someone “safe” to start early on (Yin) and the highest risk, highest reward option on the bench (Yang). 

As you can see, we separate who we consider a Standalone tight end option where we only care about their bye week vs. the situations where you should roster two. You can use your own judgment on that based on your league size and you can also roster two Yang tight ends if you want to play the high risk, high rewards game or two from the Yin side if you are super conservative. We’ll be updating this throughout the season.