Early Week 6 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

Every week, the SI Fantasy team will post a full waiver-wire column early in the week so be on the lookout for that column. Every Sunday night, however, I will take an early look at a few waiver-wire options that could help you in the upcoming week or on a rest-of-season basis.

(Note: All players referenced in this post are available in more than half of Yahoo! leagues as their ownership levels are all below 50%.)

With that said, here are a few waiver-wire options to consider heading into Week 6 (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):

Gerald Everett, TE, Los Angeles Rams (8% owned)

After a slow start to the season, Everett has scored double-digit fantasy points in back-to-back games. The third-year tight end had seven catches for 136 yards on 11 targets, all of which were season-high marks, on Thursday night against the Seahawks. Before that, Everett had five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown on eight targets in Week 4.

While the Rams have one of the league’s better wide receiver trios, Jared Goff has thrown it 68 and 49 times in the past two games, respectively. The 49ers have allowed the sixth-fewest fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season, but if the high-volume passing trend continues for the Rams, Everett could flirt with top 10-15 production in Week 6.

Preston Williams, WR, Miami Dolphins (7% owned)

Coming off a Week 5 bye, Preston Williams has 15 catches for 201 yards and a touchdown on 30 targets through a quarter of the season. Those numbers are all team highs. The rookie receiver has been targeted at least five times every week and has four receptions in three consecutive games with 177 yards in those three games.

Miami will host Washington in Week 6, and this will be one of the few weeks where it won’t be a massive underdog. Perhaps the Dolphins won’t throw as often in Week 6, but the matchup is favorable for Williams and the team’s receivers. Entering Week 5, Washington had surrendered the second-most fantasy points to opposing receivers and Williams will be in the WR3/flex range of my Week 6 rankings.

Alexander Mattison, RB, Minnesota Vikings (23% owned)

Alexander Mattison had only seven carries in Week 5, and he’s clearly just a handcuff to Dalvin Cook as long as Cook is healthy. But the rookie has been extremely efficient with his opportunities this season and he turned his seven carries into 52 yards against the Giants on Sunday. Mattison now has 34 carries for 189 yards (5.56 YPC) on the season.

Racking up 218 yards from scrimmage on Sunday, Cook has rushed for 100-plus yards in four of five games. Given his problems with durability—17 missed games in his first two seasons—and the team’s run-heavy approach, Mattison would become a top-10 weekly back if Cook were to miss any time. He should definitely be owned in more than a quarter of Yahoo! leagues and is worth an add whether you own Cook or not.

Auden Tate, WR, Cincinnati Bengals (22% owned)

With A.J. Green (ankle) and John Ross (clavicle) sidelined, Auden Tate has picked up (some of) the slack. The second-year receiver has a minimum of six targets in three consecutive games and he had three catches for 26 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. The day could have been better for Tate, who had a couple of drops, but he continues to be a productive performer in the team’s injury-depleted receiving corps.

Tate and the Bengals will face the Ravens in Baltimore next week and passing volume could be high as the Bengals should be big road underdogs. While the Ravens had a top-10 run defense entering Sunday’s games, they allowed the third-most passing yards per game to start the day.

Kevin Hanson joins SI for the 2019 season. His fantasy rankings have placed him in the top 20 in each of the past two seasons among all the industry experts tracked by FantasyPros.com, and he has been in the top 25 in six of the past eight years.