Welcome to Week 6 of the fantasy football fades and busts of the week! I am your host, Matt Okada, and will be bringing you half a dozen players to avoid each and every Thursday, throughout the fantasy season. Last week, only Baker Mayfield escaped the bust list with a strong game against Seattle, so we’re still seeking the perfect 6-for-6 — let’s make it happen.
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As a note, just because a player earns a “fade” or “bust” designation doesn’t automatically mean they should be benched — it depends on the rest of your roster or the options on your waiver wire. But you can expect them to fall short of expectations (when I get them right).
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Without further ado, here is my list for Week 6 of the 2025 season.
Justin Fields, QB, Jets
Coming off a great game against the Cowboys — 283 yards and two touchdowns passing — Justin Fields might feel like a must-start in Week 6. He’s not. Dallas has been tissue paper against the pass — and the Denver Broncos have not. In fact, the Broncos have the second-highest pressure rate in the league, the highest sack rate, have allowed the lowest scramble rate and have surrendered just 15 rushing yards to quarterbacks … in total. No team has allowed fewer rushing yards per game to QBs than the 2025 Broncos (3.0) since the 2008 Bears.
While Dallas has allowed the most fantasy points to the position, the Broncos have allowed the third-fewest. And if Patrick Surtain II shadows and locks up Garrett Wilson, the Jets don’t have a DeVonta Smith-type WR2 to pick up the slack. Fields has been excellent for fantasy in his three healthy games — with 25+ fantasy points in each — but he’s incredibly unlikely to have that kind of upside against a defense this talented and this well-schemed to counter his strengths.
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What to do ❓ Sit Fields if you have any decent streaming option. I’d even be willing to take the risk on a slow-starting Bo Nix (in the same game), Jared Goff on the road and perhaps Bryce Young against the Dallas defense that Fields just torched.
Derrick Henry, RB, Ravens
As a fantasy manager with quite a few Derrick Henry shares across my many leagues, I’m hoping with the rest of you that this one is inaccurate. But we have to face the music in Baltimore. The team has averaged 15.0 PPG over the last two weeks, with Lamar Jackson missing the end of Week 4 all of Week 5, and Cooper Rush looking disastrous in his stead. Meanwhile, Henry hasn’t had more than 50 rushing yards in a game since Week 1, and his fantasy high-water mark over that span is just 10.2 points (against the Lions in Week 3). He’s had a pretty tough schedule this past month … and it doesn’t relent in Week 6.
The Rams have allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs, largely because they’re the only remaining defense to not surrender a rushing touchdown to the position. And not by fluke either — over the previous two seasons, they allowed just 15 rushing TDs to RBs, tied with the Chiefs for sixth-fewest in the league. Los Angeles should score at will against this Ravens defense, and with Jackson trending the wrong direction, Baltimore will likely be in a hole early and often. If Henry isn’t going to find the end zone or see 20+ carries, he’s going to be hard-pressed to find a bounce-back performance this Sunday.
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What to do ❓ It’s pretty tough to straight-up bench Henry, who should still be a middle-of-the-road RB2 this weekend. But do what you can to avoid him if you have options with higher floors. Fingers crossed he proves me wrong, but expectations are as low as they ever get with the King.
Michael Carter, RB, Cardinals
In his first week on the active roster — and as the starter — Michael Carter was decent for the Cardinals and great for fantasy. He totaled 51 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries (just 2.8 yards per carry) and added 22 receiving yards on five catches. Perhaps more importantly, he saw 59.4% of the offensive snaps (to just 26.6% for Emari Demercado and 15.6% for Bam Knight). All of this seems excellent, and fantasy managers that added Carter on waivers are likely eager to roll him out again. I’d slow that roll.
Carter saw much of the work he did because the Cardinals were ahead of the hapless Titans for the entirety of the game — something that’s far less likely to happen against the Colts, who are favored by a touchdown. He was also rather inefficient against a Tennessee defense that was allowing the sixth-most yards per carry in the NFL and the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs entering Week 5. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis defense has been far more staunch against the run (and in general). They’re allowing the seventh-fewest yards before contact per carry and the 10th-lowest EPA per carry on the year (the Titans are on the reverse of those spectrums). There’s a very good chance Carter looks more like a practice squad committee back and less like a fantasy RB2 in this matchup.
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What to do ❓ Carter is more of a mid-range RB3 in my books, at least for this week, and should not be forced into lineups off of his 2025 “debut” performance. If you’re extremely bare on depth, and don’t have a better option, he should have a 10-touch floor. But I wouldn’t expect major upside in this contest.
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jaguars
It’s been a few weeks since we featured Brian Thomas Jr. in this column, but after he logged his “best” game of the year with 10 fantasy points last Sunday, it feels important to summarize just how bad he’s been in 2025. He’s only seen more than seven targets once — and he scored just 6.9 fantasy points on all those targets in Week 2. Among the 46 wide receivers with 25+ targets, BTJ’s 0.85 fantasy points per target is second-lowest, ahead of only Jerry Jeudy. For reference, DeVonta Smith has averaged 1.52 points per target right around the league median, and Amon-Ra St. Brown leads the league at 2.30 points per target, nearly three times Thomas’ mark.
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This Sunday, a matchup with the Seahawks’ corners doesn’t exactly encourage optimism. The only receivers to top-14 fantasy points against Seattle so far were Marvin Harrison Jr. — thanks to a touchdown (something BTJ still hasn’t accomplished in 2025) — and Emeka Egbuka, who’s destroyed just about everyone as one of the league’s most efficient wideouts. You’re hoping for a breakaway play with Thomas, and while it could happen, it’s a risky bet for a player who’s averaged fewer points per game than Troy Franklin and Jakobi Meyers.
What to do ❓ You can keep slotting Thomas into WR2 or flex slots, hoping for the breakout — he obviously has more upside than a Calvin Ridley or Wan’Dale Robinson. But if you have options who’ve actually proven they can produce — even guys like Stefon Diggs, DK Metcalf or Keenan Allen — lean that route until BTJ also proves it.
Jameson Williams, WR, Lions
When deciding whether to start Jameson Williams in fantasy, you basically just have to answer one question: is he going to catch a deep bomb, ideally for a touchdown? In his only game this season with more than six fantasy points (in Week 2 against Chicago), his two catches on the day went for 64 yards and a 44-yard touchdown. In the other four games, his longest reception never cracked 30 yards, and he failed to find the end zone. Unsurprisingly, he’s almost exclusively a downfield threat, with 38.1% of his total targets coming on deep passes, resulting in a team-high average depth of target of 19.4 yards. Bad news.
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The Chiefs are extremely tough against the deep ball. They’ve allowed just four completions on 16 deep pass attempts this season, with zero touchdowns and a 20.3 passer rating. Also, Jared Goff will be on the road (in Kansas City) this week, where he’s averaged nearly six fewer fantasy points per game as a Lion. Even just looking at Williams since his breakout last year, he has averaged 3.7 fewer fantasy points on the road (9.0 per game). None of the signs point to this being one of the “big play weeks” for Williams.
What to do ❓ Outside of very deep leagues or desperate circumstances, you should not be starting Jameson Williams this week. Banking on a single play in a bad environment against a strong secondary is a recipe for disaster. Go a different route.
Kyle Pitts, TE, Falcons
For the few remaining Kyle Pitts believers, September was rather encouraging. He saw 5+ targets and caught 4+ passes in every game, and entered his bye with an impressive 5-70-1 statline on five targets, for 15.5 fantasy points. Unfortunately, he exits his bye to find a matchup with the Bills defense, which has been an absolute black hole (blue hole?) for tight ends. The best performance by a tight end against Buffalo all year belongs to Jeremy Ruckert and his 7.0 fantasy points … on a single five-yard touchdown catch. Hunter Henry, Juwan Johnson, Mark Andrews and recent rookie breakout Mason Taylor were all complete duds against the Bills.
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Buffalo has been much more susceptible to running backs and around average against wide receivers, but they haven’t allowed a single tight end to catch four passes or log 50 receiving yards in 2025. Barring a miracle, or a rare touchdown, you can likely slot Pitts in below both of those marks as well.
What to do ❓ There are a number of potential streamers or waiver pickups with better upside than Pitts this week, and you should have one of them coming off the Falcons’ bye. Darren Waller and Mason Taylor are two of those options, and if you have another fringe guy, most of them are better bets than Pitts in Week 6.
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