Weekly Hail Mary: Week 6

Each week of the football season, HMF will provide you with at least one “Hail Mary” at RB, WR, and TE - a guy who is not generally regarded as a starter for the week, but who has the potential to pay off big.  These are the guys you look to when you’re in dire straits and have nowhere else to turn. They are lottery tickets that are not likely to hit, but if they do, you’ll be thrilled, as you can likely grab them for free off your waiver wire.  We only focus on players who are available in at least two-thirds of Yahoo! leagues.

Caveat: We’re getting to the point in the season where running backs, in particular, are unbelievably scare, as most guys with a pulse are already rostered. So the deep plays listed here are of the “if you’re truly desperate” variety. These backs aren’t likely to post a top-24 week, but they should at least get a little bit of work.

The Hail Marys for Week 6:

Running Backs

Gus Edwards, Ravens (7% owned). In Week 1, when the Ravens blew out the Dolphins, Edwards racked up 17 carries in garbage time. In Week 6, the Ravens get to face the Bengals, who aren’t appreciably better than the Dolphins. It wouldn’t be a shock to see the Ravens get up big in this one and rest their starters, which could lead to plenty of opportunities for the Gus Bus. Plus, the Bengals have been getting absolutely gashed on the ground this year, because their linebackers are slow as molasses. Edwards is a risky play, but hey, if you had a safe option, you wouldn’t be visiting this site, would you?

Raheem Mostert, 49ers (28%). This article is being written before San Francisco’s Week 5 Monday Night Football game, so who knows how Mostert will be deployed once Tevin Coleman returns. But on the season he’s averaging 11 carries per game and 2 targets per game. At this point in the season, its hard to find a guy with a 13 touch floor, so if you’re truly desperate for something at running back in Week 6, Mostert could be your guy. He’s got 75+ rushing yards in each of his last two games, so there’s a reasonable expectation for decent production here. He’s a better floor play than Edwards this week.

Wide Receivers

*Start of the Week* Preston Williams, Dolphins (7%). The former five-star recruit is establishing a rapport with Josh Rosen and quickly cementing his status as the team’s #1 receiver. The Dolphins are bad, but they’re throwing plenty, and Williams is the primary beneficiary. The kid is only a rookie, so theoretically he should continue to improve as the season progresses. He’s getting a minimum of 5 targets a game, with a spike of 12 targets in Week 3. The Dolphins were off in Week 5 and get Washington in Week 6. Washington is not good against the pass. Williams is a sneaky play this week.

Keke Coutee, Texans (17%). Coutee was a fantasy wiseguys darling heading into the season. He’s a PPR maven in a good passing attack. Then along the way to a supposed breakout season, the Texans acquired Kenny Stills. Well, Stills is hurt now and Coutee is back in the picture, and the Texans’ offense is better for it. He’s the underneath threat that they were lacking (Stills has a downfield skill set that is essentially duplicative of Will Fuller’s), and with Coutee on the field in Week 5, the Houston offense soared to new heights. Coutee pitched in with three catches for 72 yards, with most of his damage coming on a 51-yard catch-and-run. His role is likely to grow in the coming weeks, so snap him up where you can. In Week 6 the Texans have a date with the Chiefs, which is sure to be a shootout.

Dante Pettis (20%) and Deebo Samuel (30%), 49ers. There’s a San Francisco theme this week. It’s criminal how scarcely these guys are owned. I guess perhaps it has something to do with San Francisco’s early bye, but these are both very talented players with significant draft capital invested in them (each was a second round pick). Pettis seems to be slowly working his way out of Shanahan’s doghouse - he even scored a touchdown in Week 3 - and Samuel is being deployed in a variety of ways, including as a rusher. Neither has posted a huge day yet this year, but breakouts are coming in a better-than-you-think San Francisco passing attack.

Auden Tate, Bengals (22%). This is about as lukewarm of an endorsement as you can get, but he’s a starting wide receiver in an offense that’s throwing a ton (at least 36 pass attempts in every game this season). Tate has at least 6 targets in each of the last three games, and pulled down a touchdown in Week 5, so there is some potential flex appeal here. I like him least of all the receivers on this list, though.

Tight Ends

Vernon Davis, Washington (14%). Assuming he gets cleared from a concussion, of course. But Washington has the Dolphins on tap in Week 6, which seems like an ideal spot to give rookie Dwayne Haskins his first career start. Conventional wisdom (who knows if you should trust that?) suggests that rookie quarterbacks look often to their tight end as a safety blanket. This could be a blow-up spot for Davis… if he’s active.

Noah Fant, Broncos (13%). He followed up his first career touchdown in Week 4 with a real turd of a game in Week 5 (only 1 catch), but the road is always rocky with rookie tight ends. He gets the Titans in Week 5, which is one of the bottom 5 teams against tight ends this season.

Chris Herndon, Jets (28%). Just listing him here in case you forgot about him. His suspension is over, and Sam Darnold should be back in Week 6. The offense we see this week should be markedly different than the one we saw in the first third of the season.

Bye week teams: Colts, Bears, Bills, Raiders