NFL Week 6 Start 'Em & Sit 'Em: Sam Darnold Vs. Kyler Murray
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Injuries at the quarterback position have raised questions among fantasy football owners as they build Week 6 lineups. Two NFC quarterbacks make enticing start cases for this weekend: Sam Darnold and Kyler Murray. Though the two are very different players, they’ve posted similar fantasy production to start the season.
Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks will look to rebound from a 38-35 shootout loss versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. Despite a notable performance from Darnold, Seattle’s defense struggled against an explosive Buccaneers offense.
Murray and the Arizona Cardinals will work to snap a three-game skid following a 2-0 start to the season. Arizona will look for its first win in nearly a month following a 22-21 loss versus the Tennessee Titans last weekend.
As owners solidify Week 6 fantasy lineups, here’s our take on a start-sit decision between these two NFC West rivals:
The Case For Sam Darnold
Darnold is coming off one of the best fantasy performances of any quarterback in Week 5. His 28.6 points ranked second among all quarterbacks and marked a new season high for the veteran signal-caller. He’s provided consistent fantasy production following a slow start in Seattle’s season opener, managing at least 16.0 points in four of the team’s five games this season.
He projects to continue an encouraging trend of production versus an inconsistent Jacksonville Jaguars defense in Week 6. A matchup against the NFL’s No.27-ranked pass defense presents another favorable matchup for Darnold on Sunday.
The Case Against Darnold
The Seahawks quarterback hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire in fantasy to start the season, despite consistent production and a breakout performance in Week 5, Darnold enters Week 6 ranked as QB20 in fantasy, a lowly ranking for one of the NFL’s more consistent passers.
Darnold also doesn’t offer much rushing upside, something to consider with Murray on the other side of this argument. Despite a safe floor, there’s a relatively low ceiling on Darnold’s Week 6 fantasy production.
The Case For Kyler Murray
Despite a modest start to the season for Arizona’s passing attack, Murray has carved out notable fantasy production amid the team’s offensive struggles. Though he faced his share of struggles versus Tennessee, he found the end zone for his first rushing touchdown of the season, providing solid fantasy production despite a slow day for the unit as a whole.
With Trey Benson and James Conner sidelined for the foreseeable future, Murray also projects to take on greater rushing responsibility for a Week 6 matchup versus the Indianapolis Colts. Rushing upside and promising touchdown production help Murray build a solid case to start over Darnold.
The Case Against Murray
Similar to Darnold’s fantasy outlook pre-Week 5, Murray has yet to record a signature breakout fantasy performance so far this season. Though he’s been consistent, eclipsing 14.0 points in every game this season, he has yet to surpass the 20.0-point mark, which Darnold showed in Week 5.
A tough matchup versus a stout Colts defense has cast doubt over Murray’s fantasy ceiling in Week 6, which could lead owners to roll with the safe floor of Darnold.
The Final Verdict
Though I’m quite high on Murray in fantasy in a general sense, and I do believe a breakout performance is imminent, I’m going to roll with a combination of the hot hand and safe floor, which Darnold provides in Week 6 coming off a stellar performance last weekend.
His efficient play and touchdown production in the pass game over the past four games is too great to overlook despite Murray’s promising rushing upside. Both quarterbacks present solid cases to start in fantasy, but in this particular debate, I’m picking Darnold.
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Ethen Hutton is a MLB, WNBA, College, and Fantasy contributor at On SI. Previously, he's covered the NBA, WNBA and NFL for Sportskeeda. Hutton is also a passionate fantasy football player and an immense music lover.