Week 6 DFS Picks: Core Players and Best Plays

Every Sunday in the weekly fantasy chats, I get asked about my favorite plays of the week or who is in my player pool that weekend for DFS.

This article series covers exactly that.

Every week, I will go through the players I am targeting to play in DFS for all games, tournaments, and game stacks.

The idea is that this will paint a clearer picture of framing lineups.

Week 6 DFS Content:

Our core players are the players we will have the most exposure to at their positions.

They can be played in cash games and tournaments.

I will analyze the player selections and game writeups, but for a detailed breakdown of the players and games, check out the Week 6 Worksheet.

Quarterback

Lamar Jackson ($7,800 DraftKings/$9,500 FanDuel)

Neither site will let us play Jackson at any discount, but he is the best floor and ceiling combination for the position, and we should pay top dollar for him.

Jackson is the only quarterback to have scored in the top 10 in every game this season.

He has been at his best in the intermediate area of the field this season.

On throws 10-19 air yards, Jackson has completed 24-of-37 (64.9%) passes for 441 yards and 3 touchdowns, second in the NFL with a 132.8 rating on those throws.

The Commanders are 28th in the NFL defending those intermediate passes.

This game already had matchup appeal, but now that Washington has performed so well on offense to open the year, this game has more shootout potential than we would have penciled in before the season.

Washington has kept us honest the past two weeks against Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson, but even with those games factored in, they are 30th in passing points allowed (17.4 per game).

Jackson's 363 yards rushing are the second-most he has had through five weeks over his career.

He has 32 designed runs, one behind his career-high through five weeks.

At this point last season, he had 22 designed runs.

Joe Burrow ($8,100 FanDuel)

Burrow is scorching hot right now, ripping off four straight QB1 scoring weeks.

He has thrown multiple touchdowns in all those games, including five touchdowns on Sunday against the Ravens.

Over the past four weeks, Burrow has 104 completions (third), a 72.2% completion rate (4th), 8.4 yards per pass attempt (4th), and a league-high 12 touchdowns.

When the Giants have not gotten to the quarterback, they have been shredded for 8.4 yards per attempt (30th) and a league-high 83.6% completion rate.

The Giants have to get to Burrow here to have a chance of slowing him down, but even when they do, it may not matter.

When Burrow has been pressured the past four weeks, he leads the NFL with 12.2 yards per pass attempt and a 67.7% completion percentage.

Kirk Cousins ($6,200/$7,400)

Cousins went bonkers on Thursday night, setting career-highs in completions (42), pass attempts (58), and passing yards (509) to go along with 4 touchdowns through the air.

The Panthers are 31st in the league in passing points allowed per attempt (0.601) and are 29th in passing points allowed per game (17.3).

Carolina has allowed multiple touchdown passes in every game this season.

And Carolina keeps losing defensive starters.

Carolina is dead last in pressure rate (23.6%).

When Cousins has not been pressured, he is sixth in the NFL with a 111.9 rating, completing 72.3% of his passes for 7.9 yards per attempt with 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

When pressured, he is 22nd in rating (56.4), completing 56.9% of his passes for 7.5 yards per attempt with 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

Running Back