Fantasy Football NFL Week 6 Target Report: Drake Maye Rescues Patriots

When it comes to fantasy football, targets are king. You can’t make anything happen without first having the opportunity. Targets are the top indicator of both weekly consistency and upside. And the landscape is currently changing.

For instance, the volume and quality of targets immediately changed when the Indianapolis Colts had to switch from Anthony Richardson to Joe Flacco. And those weapons have seen a temporary boost. The Miami Dolphins on the other hand lost Tua Tagovailoa and the quality of the targets has plummeted. It’s a two-way street.

There are always moving parts which is why we track everything with our Fantasy Football Week 6 Target Report. This week, however, we get a special treat with a quarterback change from a placeholder in Jacoby Brissett to the future in Drake Maye. It might not amount to much for fantasy football, but it’s worth a stash or two just to see!

2024 Fantasy Football NFL Week 6 Target Report Preview

Why do we do this? Well, historically incredibly rare for a team to have three players all get 100+ targets. It’s happened only once over the last three years and less than 3% of the time over the last five years. 

More teams will have ZERO players get 100+ targets than have three. And, last year, every top 24 WR except one got 100+ targets (and that was Deebo Samuel who scored 5 rushing touchdowns). That’s why the NFL Fantasy Football Week 6 Target Report is so important.

In the chart below you will see our PROJECTION for what we believe will happen. That projection is a mix of what we are seeing on the field, who is actually healthy, and what we predict for the rest of the season. 

Naturally, that is going to change from week to week and it’s important to check the notes section at the bottom as to why. Our 2024 NFL Fantasy Football Week 6 Target Report has a note for every single team. So, let’s take a look!

Fantasy Football Target Chart 2024 NFL Week 6

Fantasy Football Week 6 Target Report Advice & Takeaways

NOTE: If a team moved from where they were in the Week 5 NFL target report, they will be denoted with ***

Clear Top Two

Arizona Cardinals

• Trey McBride
• Marvin Harrison Jr
  • Michael Wilson has been a pleasant surprise but he’s still not on pace for 100+ targets. As we know, that’s fairly rare so he’d likely need an injury to Marvin Harrison or Trey McBride to really take off. Still, a lot of our leagues our three WRs and a flex so guys like Wilson have their utility. 

Cincinnati Bengals

• Ja'Marr Chase
• Tee Higgins
  • With the return of Tee Higgins, guys like Mike Gesicki and Andrei Iosivas have fallen on the backburner. There’s been some deep league 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Chris Godwin
• Mike Evans
  • Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are both awesome which makes this a great situation for fantasy football. With injuries, some other guys can have stretches of fantasy relevance like Cade Otton without Jalen McMillan or Trey Palmer. But they’d need an injury to Godwin or Evans to really have the upside we look for. 

High Consolidation

Houston Texans

• Nico Collins (IR)
• Stefon Diggs
• Tank Dell
• Dalton Schultz
  • Tank Dell had not been living up to his draft capital but an injury to Nico Collins has now opened the door for Dell and Schultz to rack up some targets over the next four games minimum while Nico is on IR. All players will have temporarily elevated value for the foreseeable future. 

Miami Dolphins

• Tyreek Hill
• Jaylen Waddle
• De'Vone Achane
  • De’Vone Achane suffered a concussion this week, but the team is on bye, so he’ll have some time to clear protocol. The big issue here of course is the QB play. It’s hard to trust anyone where if the ball can’t be delivered. Basically, you are stashing these guys with the hopes that Tua Tagovailoa gets medically cleared to play again. And that he chooses to do so if that is the case.

New Orlean Saints

• Chris Olave
• Rashid Shaheed
• Alvin Kamara
  • Bit of a nightmare here with Derek Carr set to potentially miss time. It really doesn’t matter if the QB is going to be Spencer Rattler or someone else, it’s almost certainly a downgrade. Chris Olave had already been struggling so this is especially not a great development for him.

New York Giants

• Malik Nabers
• Wan’Dale Robinson
  • No change here even though Malik Nabers missed a game with a concussion. He already has 51 targets through three games so it would take quite a bit to knock him off his 100+ target pace. We did learn that Darius Slayton took on a bigger role so keep an eye out for that if Nabers continues to miss time. 

Philadelphia Eagles

• A.J. Brown
• DeVonta Smith
• Dallas Goedert
• Saquon Barkley
  • The updates coming out of the bye week have been good as A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert are all tracking to play. Full steam ahead. 

San Francisco 49ers

• Brandon Aiyuk
• Deebo Samuel
• George Kittle
• Jauan Jennings
  • To hit 100 targets, you need to average about 6 targets per game. The 49ers technically have four players doing that, but the catch is that injuries have played a big part in that. For instance, Jauaun Jennings is second on the time in targets, but he’s done that with no Christian McCaffrey and with Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk both missing games. Jennings is the odd man out in three WR sets so he’s a sell candidate if you can still get something for him.

One Stud, Then Uncertainty

Atlanta Falcons

• Drake London
  • Darnell Mooney at this stage is making a compelling case for this team to be moved up to the “clear top two” category. A good game from Kyle Pitts this week as well has us hesitant as of now, but Mooney and Pitts should be rostered in all leagues right now. We have to remember that the one time a team did have three players all get 100+ targets over the last three years, Kirk Cousins was the QB. Right now, it’s only London and Mooney but we’re holding out hope that Pitts can get hot at a brutal TE position. 

Baltimore Ravens

• Zay Flowers
  • The two-way tight end rotation turned into a three-way rotation this week with Charlie Kolar getting some extra looks. Flowers is clearly the top guys but after him it could be a guessing game from week to week. And there’s always the risk that Derrick Henry simply takes over. 

Carolina Panthers

• Diontae Johnson
  • Xavier Legette believes that he avoided serious injury to his shoulder but we’re still waiting on the results from the imaging. With Adam Thielen already out, Jonathan Mingo could be forced into a bigger role followed by rookie Jalen Coker or journeyman David Moore. Diontae Johnson is still the only one we can truly trust but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Chicago Bears

• DJ Moore
  • DJ Moore remains the only Bears on pace for 100+ targets - he’s on pace for 136 in fact. The snaps and the ball have been spread a little thin amongst Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, and Cole Kmet making it hard to predict from week to week who the guy will be. Keenan Allen’s health has once again been an issue. 

Cleveland Browns

• Amari Cooper
  • Even while getting peppered with targets, Amari Cooper has been historically inefficient. Whether it’s the shoulder or some sort of mental issue, Deshaun Watson has clearly lost whatever he had in Houston. Might be time to see Jameis Winston get a chance. 

Dallas Cowboys

• CeeDee Lamb
  • Jake Ferguson is just barely on pace for 100+ targets but all we really need at the tight end position is 90+ for upside. With Brandin Cooks out especially, Ferguson is a locked in start at TE. And Jalen Tolbert is now on the streaming radar for the next three weeks at the very least. 

Denver Broncos

• Courtland Sutton
  • Sutton is on pace for over 130 targets, but no one is even close outside of him. The Broncos seem to be running “live tryouts” of sorts to see who will actually be a part of this team in the future when they are competing. That makes them incredibly unpredictable from week to week. 

Detroit Lions

• Amon Ra St. Brown
  • No change here coming off bye, here’s what we had to say last week:
  • This team has become difficult to characterize. We initially had them listed as “highly consolidated”. But Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs, with only 13 targets a piece, have not been holding up their end of the bargain. Since he’s only caught three passes over the last two games, we’re still not ready to dub this team a “clear top two” either with Jameson Williams but it’s honestly closer to than right now than we would have imagined coming out. With ARSB having 38 targets, he’s the true sure thing.

Indianapolis Colts

• Michael Pittman
  • Josh Downs is quickly making the case that this should be a “clear top two” situation. If his pace were to hold, he would actually crack 125 targets on the season despite missing games. The issue is that two of those games came with Joe Flacco and Flacco is presumed to go back to the bench at some point. So, we need to see it with Anthony Richardson. 

Jacksonville Jaguars***

• Brian Thomas Jr
  • We have seen enough from Brian Thomas Jr at this stage to declare him a must-start player moving forward in fantasy football. That could change but he’s simply been too good as of late. Christian Kirk is on pace for 100+ targets but we need to see what he looks like when Evan Engram returns to compete for slot snaps and targets. 

Kansas City Chiefs

• Travis Kelce
  • Rashee Rice is now officially done for the year. JuJu Smith-Schuster looked good in his absence so we’re hoping he can keep that rolling. The one concern there is that Rice had 8 targets on screens this year after the Chiefs led all teams in WR screens last year. JuJu got one this week, but Mecole Hardman actually got four. Those were the only targets Hardman has all year so we’re hoping JuJu and/or Xavier Worthy can separate themselves. 

Los Angeles Rams***

• Cooper Kupp
  • Cooper Kupp is expected back after the bye week and, if that’s the case, we expect him to jump right back into his target-heavy ways. Technically Colby Parkinson is on pace for 100+ targets thanks for a 13-target game this week but that’s simply not sustainable, especially once Kupp and Puka Nacua get back. The interesting question is whether guys like Jordan Whittington or Tutu Atwell have done enough to steal that third chair from Demarcus Robinson down the stretch.

Minnesota Vikings

• Justin Jefferson
  • Justin Jefferson is the clear top dog. And Jordan Addison looked pretty darn good in his game back. The 21-day window has been activated for T.J. Hockenson so now the waiting game is on. That battle will determine whether this team falls under “clear top two” or “highly consolidated”. 

New York Jets

• Garrett Wilson
  • Technically Allen Lazard is on pace for 100+ target but we can’t fully buy into that with some of the other talent on this team. Maybe Aaron Rodgers gets his way, and he continues to be highly involved but the coaching change this week was clearly meant to send a message - time to change things up. We’re hoping Breece Hall can get more looks and maybe Mike Williams can get ramped up here. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

• George Pickens
  • George Pickens is still alone at the top here as Pat Freiermuth has gotten consistent targets but not a high volume of targets. Pickens has been hit or miss with the targets he has gotten and is not on pace for 125. The other wide receivers here are not useful for fantasy as of now.

Tennessee Titans

• Calvin Ridley
  • The Titans are coming out of a bye so maybe DeAndre Hopkins will actually be fully healthy and play the whole game here. No one is on pace for 100+ targets but Ridley is probably your best bet. Hopkins is worth a stash just to see.

Washington Commanders

• Terry McLaurin
  • McLaurin is the clear top target here.  Zach Ertz is on pace for about 80 targets which is fine for a spot start if needed but doesn’t really give us the shot at upside we need. We’re keeping an eye on Ben Sinnott in case Ertz goes down as well as the battle between Dyami Brown, Luke McCaffrey, and Noah Brown to potentially emerge as a fantasy relevant WR option. 

Too Many Mouths To Feed?

Green Bay Packers

• Romeo Doubs
• Jayden Reed
• Dontayvion Wicks
• Josh Jacobs
• Tucker Kraft
• Luke Musgrave
• Emmanuel Wilson
• Christian Watson
  • The Packers currently don’t have anyone on pace for 100+ targets. Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed are the closest though Romeo Doubs is expected back this week and Christian Watson at some point as well (they did not place him on IR suggesting they expect it to be fewer than four games). This one could remain a headache, but Reed is an every week starter because he also gets consistent carries. 

Seattle Seahawks

• DK Metcalf
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Tyler Lockett
• Noah Fant
• Kenneth Walker
  • The Seattle Seahawks are still the only team to currently have three healthy player all on pace for 100+ target with DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and JSN. JSN is right on the line with 30 but maybe this team in a Ryan Grubb offense can accomplish the rare feat. 

Wide Open

Buffalo Bills

• With Khalil Shakir missing this past week, Dalton Kincaid took the lead in overall targets. But not one is currently on pace for more than 80. The Bills really need to find their identity in the passing game. Dalton Kincaid and Khalil Shakir remain the best bets. 

Las Vegas Raiders

• We have to at least consider a world where Davante Adams has played his last snap for the Raiders. He has gone back and forth on that notion so far. If that’s the case, Jakobi Meyers and Brock Bowers are the main beneficiaries with Tre Tucker worth a look in deep leagues. This one is still very much up in the air, but it’s been great for Brock Bowers in a tough tight end landscape.

Los Angeles Chargers

• No change here coming off bye, here’s what we had to say last week:
  • Technically, at 24 targets so far, Ladd McConkey would just barely be on a 100+ target pace. But he certainly doesn’t feel like a reliable fantasy option - none of these guys do so far. And that fact that Joshua Palmer missed a stint there makes it hard to crown anyone at the top here. There is a very real possibility that this team is so run heavy that we have difficulty trusting them all season. It’s McConkey and Quentin Johnston, for now.

New England Patriots

• Big change coming at quarterback with Drake Maye getting his first start. Reportedly it’s a different “run and gun” game script they are running with which could shake up the pecking order here. Ja'Lynn Polk just played a 100% snap share and Hunter Henry has that TE eligibility for fantasy, so we are rooting for those guys to have a decent target share.