Blue Rated Wideouts Week 6 2022

The volatile scoring nature of the wide receiver position may cause more start-sit headaches for fantasy managers than any other position, but when things go well wide receivers can post point totals capable of winning fantasy games.

How does one know which wide receivers are capable of posting those game-winning point totals? My player grading system (a full version of which can be found at TheFootballScientist.com) aims to identify these players via an overall/upside/downside approach. A player's overall grade measures his likely performance, the downside the grade indicates how a player is apt to fare if things go poorly for him that week, and the upside grade measures the scoring ceiling of a player if things go well in a given contest.

This grading system also uses five color-coded categories: blue (indicating someone who can post elite point totals), green (a strong starter), yellow (a solid backup or a potential starter in bye weeks or deep leagues), orange (a desperation play), and red (someone who should not be started).

This means fantasy managers who are looking for big scoring potential at wide receiver should aim for someone who has a blue-rated upside grade (which is 90-100 in my system). This weekly article series will identify all the blue-rated upside wideouts in a given week and then provide details on a few of the unexpected candidates on this board. It will also detail the strength of the matchup each of these receivers is facing via a matchup points total of 1-100, with 100 being most favorable.

Week 6 wide receivers with blue-rated upside


 

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis

Pittman may end up facing Jaguars cornerback Shaquill Griffin in coverage more often than not in this matchup. That could be a big plus, as Griffin has allowed receivers to catch 8 of 11 targets for 97 yards since Week 2 (per Pro Football Reference). That is a 72.7 percent completion rate and an 8.8 yards per target (YPT) mark, both of which are totals that bode well for a big game from Pittman.

Amari Cooper, Cleveland

New England's secondary used to be manned by red-rated defenders that no fantasy manager wanted to see players face, but that isn't the case in 2022, as Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones, and Devin McCourty have all allowed an 8.9 YPT or higher since Week 2. Cooper has racked up 20+ PPR points in three of the past four weeks and this matchup could make it four out of five weeks.

Jakobi Meyers, New England

Cleveland's defense is in a similar boat to the Patriots, as Denzel Ward has allowed a 9.6 YPT and 240 yards since Week 2, while Grant Delpit has allowed an 8.1 YPT and given up three touchdowns in that time frame. Meyers is dealing with a knee injury, so be sure to check the inactives before playing him, but if he is good to go, this is a matchup to target.

Mike Williams, Los Angeles Chargers

The matchup points total isn't topnotch for Williams, but Denver did just lose starting cornerback Ronald Darby to a season ending knee injury last week. With Keenan Allen trending towards a return, the Broncos may have to divide their coverage attention a lot in this game and that may portend for one of Williams' impact boom point totals.