Fantasy Football: Keep, Trade, Drop Week 6 of the 2021 NFL Season

Wondering what you should do with the guys on your fantasy team? Here are answers to a few of those questions

Author:
Ryan Frederick
Publish date:
Oct 20, 2021 9:00 AM EDT

We are officially a third of the way through the regular season already. We only have six weeks left until the trade deadline in most fantasy leagues and only eight weeks until the playoffs start. By now, there has been a clear separation between the haves and have-nots in your league. The teams towards the bottom will start poking around at accumulating rookie picks for the 2022 rookie draft, and the front runners will begin solidifying their place at the top to push for a championship. If you are riding the middle line, though, the moves you make now can make or break your season as we approach the trade deadline. Here are the players you should start considering your options with moving forward.

TRADE: Tim Patrick, WR, Denver Broncos

Tim Patrick has been a really interesting player over the last two seasons. He was a very under-the-radar player to start the 2020 season sitting behind Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy on the depth chart. However, when Sutton went down with a torn ACL early in the season, Patrick took over a significant role for the Broncos. He finished with 51 catches, 742 yards, and six touchdowns. Patrick dealt with extremely inconsistent quarterback play and was battling for targets with Jeudy and tight end Noah Fant and running back Melvin Gordon and still found a solid footing as a flex option. This year he was back in his presumed role behind Jeudy, Fant, Sutton, and Gordon, and then Jeudy went down with a high ankle sprain, paving the way for Patrick to be relevant again, and he has not disappointed. Patrick has scored double-digit fantasy points in five of the first six weeks and has been a reliable target for quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. However, Jerry Jeudy has been designated to return off the injured reserve, meaning he will be back within the next 21 days. This will undoubtedly push Patrick back down the depth chart, so the time to capitalize on his value is right now. Try to trade Tim Patrick before his production starts to dwindle as part of a package to upgrade the position or get your rebuild started by amassing rookie picks.

DROP: Ty'son Williams, RB, Baltimore Ravens

It is crazy to think that Ty'son Williams went from twitter darling and the hottest waiver wire add to healthy scratch multiple weeks in a row, but here we are. It is tough to say what went wrong here for Williams. He was the most explosive running back for the Ravens, averaging 7.4 yards per carry through the first two weeks. Then against the Detroit Lions in Week 3, he only had five touches and was immediately a healthy scratch the following week. In Week 5, he was active again and only managed six touches for 21 total yards and was scratched for Week 6. In Week 6, the Ravens ran the ball a whopping 38 times for 187 yards with Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley, Devonta Freeman, Latavius Murray, Le'Veon Bell, and Dein Duvernay. Suppose Williams will be inconsistently active like this and be in a heavy running back committee that includes Lamar Jackson's rushing ability. In that case, there is no reason to keep Williams around unless he gets traded with his unreliable nature, especially as bye weeks start to come up; you will need a reliable bench option to fill holes where necessary.

KEEP: Jamal Agnew, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Jamal Agnew is an odd name for the keep section because he is probably only rostered in the deepest of leagues, but if you have him, keep him and if he is on the waiver wire, add him. This season has been an odd revelation the last two weeks as we know him as nothing more than a career special teams' player that would make a few splashes a year but never had any fantasy relevance. The Detroit Lions drafted him as a cornerback but tried to transfer him into a two-way player because of his speed, and they were unable to do so. He joined Jacksonville in the offseason and, due to injuries, has found himself as, at worst, the third receiving option in the Jaguars offense. He averaged over nine yards per touch in the last two weeks and is tied for second in targets with Laviska Shenault. The Jaguars have shown that they are willing to throw the ball a lot and will have to throw the ball a lot to stay in games which will make Jamal Agnew an interesting hold moving forward and could be someone that is a solid flex option if the production continues to flow his way.