There have certainly been some weird weeks in fantasy football but Week 6 of the 2023 season was definitely up there with the most bizarre. Injuries took out a ton of top players, including Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and five quarterbacks, while stars with tremendous matchups largely flopped.
If you managed to survive Bizarro World and pick up a win, a hearty congratulations are in order, and if you didn't this week is easy to write off as an aberration. There will be a lot of fantasy ramifications from the Week 6 action, however, so let's look at the five top pickups for Week 7 with all rostered percentages based on Yahoo! leagues.
5. Elijah Mitchell, RB, San Francisco 49ers
The big news of the week was McCaffrey's oblique injury, which knocked him out of action in the second half. McCaffrey has been the top running back in fantasy this season, scoring a touchdown in every game so far, but his injury history leads to significant concern any time he has to miss a game.
Oblique injuries are tricky ones to recover from so there is a chance McCaffrey misses some time. Expect the 49ers to look towards a committee in that case, with Elijah Mitchell getting a significant share of the carries here.
Mitchell was quiet in Week 6, recording just two carries for -3 yards, but it was his first game back after missing the past two weeks with a knee issue. The 49ers have seen good things out of Mitchell, who is rostered in 28 percent of leagues, in the past and his track record could make him a strong pickup if McCaffrey misses time.
4. Keontay Ingram, RB, Arizona Cardinals
After James Conner went on IR this week, most running back speculators picked up Emeri Demercado, who was the primary fill-in after Conner got hurt in Week 5. Anyone who used a waiver priority or a significant portion of their FAAB budget on Demercado this week got a nasty surprise when he was buried on the depth chart behind both Damien Williams and Keontay Ingram.
The latter is the man we're focusing on as Ingram began the year as Conner's backup before missing two weeks with a neck injury. Ingram did solid work with his touches, recording 10 carries for 40 yards and adding two catches for 11 yards in Arizona's 26-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Chasing fantasy production in Arizona isn't ideal but Ingram does appear poised to be at least a co-lead in the backfield while Conner is sidelined. The respectable performance should ensure that Ingram remains relevant, albeit potentially sharing carries with Williams, ahead of the Cardinals' Week 7 date with Seattle.
Negative game flow is admittedly a risk with Ingram, who is rostered in only 20 percent of leagues, but beggars can't be choosers in this game. Fantasy owners with bye week issues or injury problems can take a stab at Ingram to hopefully get a solid 8-10 points as a filler.
3. Rashee Rice, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
We talked about Rice in this space last week and he continued to deliver steady results, catching all four of his targets for 72 yards in Kansas City's ugly win over Denver on Thursday night. While Travis Kelce dominated the receiving workload with Taylor Swift in attendance, Rice was the top target among Kansas City's other pass catchers.
It is becoming clear that Patrick Mahomes has a growing connection with Rice, whose speed and hands make him an intriguing player for the Kansas City attack to develop. Having all of the other team's eyes on Kelce does open things up for Rice to get plenty of single coverage on the outside, which is a huge matchup edge given his speed.
The market did move a bit on Rice last week as he is now rostered in 45 percent of leagues, a nice spike from his Week 5 total. The best opportunity to use Rice as a bye week filler or WR3 option comes in matchups where Kansas City needs to score a lot, and they have one of those on tap in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Justin Herbert is one of the few quarterbacks in the league that can go toe-to-toe with Mahomes and live to tell the tale. Chiefs-Chargers games also tend to be higher scoring, so anyone looking for a bye-week filler for CeeDee Lamb, Ja'Marr Chase or Garrett Wilson can feel free to roll the dice on Rice.
2. Sam Howell, QB, Washington Commanders
Finding a good streaming option at quarterback can be critical in the bye weeks, especially in ones where six teams get a week off. Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott are the biggest names who won't be playing in Week 7, so the most popular quarterback streamer this week will be Washington's Sam Howell.
The second-year passer was very efficient in Washington's win over Atlanta in Week 6, completing 14-of-23 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Outside of a Week 3 dud against Buffalo where he threw four interceptions, Howell has been quite effective for fantasy purposes, racking up at least 290 yards passing three times and recording three multi-touchdown games.
The matchup game also plays in Howell's favor over the next two weeks. First up is a Week 7 date against the struggling New York Giants, who suffered a few more key injuries in their tight loss to Buffalo, and then a rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles, who he threw for 290 yards against in Week 4.
The Eagles' secondary is also very banged up, which could make this a good time for teams in need of quarterback help to grab Howell, who is rostered in 38 percent of leagues. When you factor in that five quarterbacks left Week 6 early with injuries, it makes sense that Howell will be a very popular add ahead of Week 7.
1. Jordan Mason, RB, San Francisco 49ers
Anyone in fantasy circles well aware of McCaffrey's injury history likely had their eyes on Mitchell, who was likely taken late in drafts as either a handcuff option or a stash in the event of injury. Mitchell's own injury may have allowed him to get Wally Pipp-ed by Jordan Mason, who built on a strong Week 5 performance to be the 49ers' top option when McCaffrey left the game.
Mason carried five times in the second half of San Francisco's 19-17 loss to Cleveland. Those carries went for 27 yards and a touchdown, marking the second consecutive week that Mason found pay dirt after a 10-69-1 line in mop-up duty of a blowout victory in Week 5.
The burst that the second-year man out of Georgia Tech has demonstrated is quite impressive and has earned him a significant seat at the table with McCaffrey out. Mitchell will undoubtedly factor into the mix given his history with the team, but the fact that Kyle Shanahan went to Mason first when McCaffrey went down makes him the priority add in this backfield.
Few fantasy owners have taken the plunge on Mason, who is rostered in only five percent of leagues. That percentage figures to skyrocket if McCaffrey has to miss significant time and he would instantly be in the high-end RB2 conversation given his favorable offensive setup.