The fact that he has to think about it probably tips the hand that it will be J.J. McCarthy sooner or later — if not outright now. Jameis Winston was replaced by McCarthy in the fourth quarter yesterday and McCarthy showcased his deep arm and almost erased a large deficit by throwing for 243 yards on 21 attempts. If McCarthy did start against the Texans, he would likely be a bottom five superflex option on the Week 7 slate because of his established history as a starter.
Jones has yet to crack 270 yards or throw multiple touchdowns in a start. He’s also thrown six interceptions and is completing a career-worst 59.6 percent of his passes. It is not an uncommon observation to say that he is struggling to drive the ball on his throws. While the Colts are not going away from Jones now, that does not necessarily mean he will remain the starter all year if he continues to play like this. Given what the Vikings have been up to this year, we’d be surprised if Jones escaped the bottom five of quarterback fantasy points this week.
Tom Pelissero’s report over the weekend was that Pierce was still weeks from returning, and unfortunately this very much aligns with that. Pierce is now eligible to return off injured reserve, but until we see him designated to return and practicing, it’s hard to believe he’s close to returning.
Coen benched Thomas for the entire second half after he had one drop and two non-catches in the first against Houston. It sure seems like the runway for Thomas is running out in Jacksonville. A potential trade is the only fantasy salvation coming for the third-year receiver as he looks buried here.
Bowles has already said that the team is preparing as if Jalon Daniels will start in Week 7, but the team will be evaluating Mayfield to see how he is progressing in his recovery from a dislocated thumb. Mayfield reportedly pushed to play last week after throwing on Monday, but his thumb swelled up, which factored into the decision to sit him in Week 6’s loss to the Steelers. Given Bowles’ comments about the team’s plans entering the week, it sounds like Mayfield is at risk of missing at least one more game, but we’ll see how his hand responds when he gets on the field on Wednesday.
Arroyo’s career hasn’t really got off the ground with AJ Barner as the obvious No. 1 in the Seahawks tight end room. The 50th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft has just two targets this year and hasn’t been a fantasy factor yet.
“He is going to become the byproduct of all the finer things that get improved. The improved play from our offensive line; the more efficient we are relative to downs; running the football. That’s our job as coaches here,” Payton said. Nix has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league through six starts and Jay Glazer passed along word yesterday that Payton changed the terminology that OC Davis Webb had put in this offseason back to what it was last season, which apparently did not help Nix out. He’ll be hard to trust even with a slapdash Cardinals defense on tap for Week 7.
With the Colts sitting on a 2-4 record and the trade deadline 22 days away, Dodds could be involved in some key roster decisions over the next three weeks. Dodds was hired as the Colts’ vice president of player personnel in 2017 and has been a candidate for several GM openings over the last few offseasons. Depending on how things go the rest of the way, it’s possible Dodds earns a chance to be promoted to the Colts GM position next offseason after the team fired Chris Ballard earlier in the day.
Patrick isn’t a reporter we go to often here, but he’s a well-connected veteran in the industry. According to Patrick, his source said the call with Manning will not only be to get the names of potential candidates for the GM vacancy but also to “explore whether or not Peyton would be interested in being a general manager for the Colts as the entry point that would include ownership interest in the Colts.” Mannings’ connection to the Colts doesn’t need to be explained to anyone, but it’s far too early to say whether Manning has any interest in the role. Long-time GM Chris Ballard was recently relieved of his duties, and the Colts will likely speak to several candidates to fill the role in the offseason. Manning has not been involved in any football front office roles since retiring after the 2015 season.
Bowles said this week will be an important evaluation week for Baker Mayfield, who is still rehabbing a dislocated thumb that has sidelined him since Week 3. Daniels hasn’t been overly impressive in his three starts this season, throwing for 501 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions while also taking nine sacks. That said, he did manage to pull off a win over the Cowboys in Week 5 and had the Buccaneers in position to beat the Steelers in Week 6 before Pittsburgh erupted for 16 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime. We’ll see how things unfold throughout the week, but it sounds like Mayfield is at least one week away from returning. Daniels would be on the fantasy radar as a low-end QB2 if he gets the start against Carolina.
According to Rapoport, an MRI revealed a mild calf strain for Gardner, who is expected to be week-to-week with the injury. While he is expected to miss some time, Rapoport also notes that Gardner is not expected to miss “an extended period,” which suggests he won’t be placed on injured reserve. Gardner sounds like a virtual lock to miss Week 7’s game against the Vikings, so we’ll see if a week away gives him enough time to be ready for Week 8’s game against the Jaguars. Gardner has totaled 17 tackles and four pass breakups for the Colts this season while earning a PFF coverage grade of 62.6.
Davis is still a candidate to be limited in practice this week, but it doesn’t look like this injury is a major threat to send him to injured reserve or anything like that. Talking with the media after the game is a good sign for his future ability.
Lane was immediately involved in the offense after missing the previous four weeks with a wrist injury. The rookie third-rounder caught two of his four passes on the Ravens’ opening drive that ended with a short touchdown pass to Josh Cuevas and ran 22 routes on the day. Zay Flowers (34) and Devontez Walker (26) both ran more routes than Lane on the afternoon, but Lane has been targeted on 21.1 percent of his routes in limited action this season. Fantasy managers shouldn’t be looking to start him in Week 7 against the Bengals, but the early volume is encouraging for a player who was hyped up throughout training camp.
Dalton had a chance to re-sign with the Eagles after being let go by them earlier in the week, but he spurned them to sign with Atlanta. The 38-year-old vet will presumably serve as the Falcons’ third-string QB for now, but could be one injury away from seeing playing time. Dalton threw for 293-1-1 on 37 pass attempts for the Panthers last season and has not started more than five games in a season since 2022.
The good news is that this shouldn’t exactly be expected to sideline Knight going forward after his 98-total yard effort against the Rams. Knight’s fantasy value is tenuous despite the big game, as he was outsnapped by Tyler Allgeier and Jeremiyah Love (ankle) could be back next week. But he did outplay Allgeier in Week 6.
Rush’s release came after the Falcons signed Andy Dalton. Rush had a rough stretch with the Falcons, throwing for 229-1-4 in his two starts while completing 56.4 percent of his passes. Once regarded as one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league, Rush has struggled mightily in his two seasons away from the Cowboys, going 0-4 in his starts since 2024 while throwing one touchdown to eight interceptions. He could catch on elsewhere as a practice squad option in the coming days, but he seems like a long shot to start another game in 2026.
This would effectively end Hurts’ season, as a three-month absence would have him on track to return some time in late-January/early-February. In a statement released by Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lyyn, she said further tests revealed “deep vein thrombosis as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli.” She said that Hurts is stable and is not expected to have any “functional limitations” and that his treatment to resolve his blood clotting issues “should only involve anticoagulation [i.e., ‘blood thinners’].” As a result, Hurts will not be permitted to engage in football activities and will not be allowed to resume them until he is off his blood thinners. The good news here is that Hurts is expected to make a full recovery, and the doctors do not believe this will have a long-term effect on him moving forward. Hurts threw for 933 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions this season while completing 57.8 percent of his passes — his lowest mark since his rookie season. He ran for another 107 yards and one touchdown as he and the Eagles struggled in his first five starts under offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. He remains under contract through the 2028 season, but Hurts has faced his fair share of scrutiny since leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl title in 2024. Hurts’ contract situation would suggest his job is more than secured for the foreseeable future, but this is the same Eagles front office that used a 2020 second round pick to select him as the heir apparent to Carson Wentz, who signed a four-year extension with the team in 2019. While we fully expect Hurts to be back with the Eagles next season, we can’t rule out the team using an early draft pick on a quarterback in a draft that is projected to be one of the more QB-rich drafts in recent memory.
Bringing back Harrison Mevis, whom the Rams waived five days ago, is one option, but it is unclear whether either side wants a reunion. The Rams might want to bring a few special teams contributors aboard while they’re at it. Grupe was injured during a tackle attempt because yet another return had scooted right past the Rams’ special teams coverage unit. The Rams rank outside the top 25 in average kick return yards allowed and average punt return yards allowed. Minimizing kicker tackling attempts in the future is probably a good call.
The team announced its decision to move on from Ballard early Monday morning. The Colts opted to retain Ballard for a 10th season earlier this offseason despite a monumental collapse in the second half of last season that saw the team finish 8-9 after getting off to an 8-2 start. Ballard was hired as the Colts GM in 2017 and leaves with just two postseason berths and zero division titles to his name. The abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck before the start of the 2018 season presented an early challenge for Ballard to suddenly find a new QB, which often resulted in short-term answers to solve a long-term problem. After the likes of Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, and Carson Wentz passed through the organization, the Colts finally selected Anthony Richardson in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft in hopes of landing their guy. When it became apparent Richardson wasn’t the answer, the team signed Daniel Jones, who turned in a solid 2025 campaign and was rewarded with a two-year, $88 million contract earlier this offseason. Among the multiple missteps by Ballard during his Colts tenure is the trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner, whom he acquired in exchange for the team’s 2026 and 2027 first-round picks. Few GMs get the leash that Ballard was provided with by the Colts, but this felt like a move that was destined to happen now or at the end of the season. Now, the Colts can get a head start on their next GM search in what is shaping up to be another rough season. The team announced that head coach Shane Steichen will remain in his role for now.
The Saints have not opened Tyson’s 21-day window for return, but the fact that he traveled with the team suggests his window could be opened later this week, which would allow him to begin practicing with the team. There’s some belief that Tyson could return in Week 9 after the Saints’ bye week, but the team hasn’t committed to a return date for him just yet. We wouldn’t expect Tyson to suit up this week against the Steelers.
Kraft was forced from the game in the second quarter after taking a scary hit to his thigh area that generated torsion on his knee while his foot was still planted. It was the opposite knee to the one he injured a season ago and the veteran tight end would miss only one drive before returning to the game after the half, providing a collective sigh of relief for fantasy managers that have tasted the despair of a major knee injury already. Kraft could be busy in Week 7 against the defense allowing the most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends when the Packers face off against the division rival Lions in a potential shootout.
Williams was immediately asked to fill the WR3 role for an offense missing its top two slot receivers. Even so, he finished fifth on the team in targets and carries little fantasy value for as long as the team’s top three options in Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, and Tucker Kraft remain healthy. That doesn’t change ahead of a matchup with the Lions in Week 7.
Prescott and the Cowboys were completely unable to get anything going prior to the half, managing just 92 yards of total offense while taking a 17-point deficit into the break. They would force a three-and-out to start the third quarter and follow it up with a touchdown drive to get on the board, but a punt and two turnovers on downs left them trailing by 16 until a late score inside of two minutes remaining in the final frame. Prescott’s two interceptions occurred deep in Green Bay territory in the second quarter, removing much needed points from the scoreboard in what was then a tight game. The loss drops the Cowboys to 2-4 and looking up at the Giants for the division lead through a third of the regular season. Prescott will be a back-end QB1 on the road against the division rival Eagles in Week 7.
Williams has now been held to 3.8 yards per carry or fewer in five of six games and 45 yards on the ground or fewer in four of six games, with seven combined touchdowns keeping his fantasy value afloat through the first third of the regular season. Furthermore, Williams has now seen 12 or fewer carries in four of six contests to start the year. The good news is that the Cowboys have no choice but to keep riding Williams until the wheels fall off considering the general lack of depth in the backfield, meaning there are likely to be better days ahead for the veteran back. He gets another middling matchup on the ground against the division rival Eagles in Week 7, where he will be a volume-driven RB2.