The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gotten off to a great start this season, but injuries are now testing their depth as they head into Week 6 against the 49ers. With Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin ruled out, fantasy managers must determine the best starting options from what remains of this team’s arsenal.
Let’s go over the landscape: Rachaad White will lead the backfield for a second straight week, and from my experience managing multiple fantasy leagues, this is where the real upside lies.
Bucs’ Backfield
Without Irving around, White dominated in Week 5, getting 18 of 24 touches while logging 49 offensive snaps on the day he rushed for 41 yards and two touchdowns, plus caught all four of his targets for 30 yards. Sure, the two touchdowns propped up an otherwise down outing, but his workload and usage were both exactly what you want from a lead back.
He will face a tougher challenge in this matchup, yet I see White delivering a solid fantasy showing on volume alone. I had him ranked 14th among my top 30 PPR running backs and projected for 17 fantasy points, which sits ninth overall. In other words, I’d be starting him in all your lineups this week, even if you are stacked at running back.
Trade Analyzer Fantasy Football
I see him as a top 20 option with top 10 upside. Get him in those starting slots. Sean Tucker should gobble up the backup work, but in his secondary role against this defense, I don’t see him doing enough to warrant any fantasy starts after all, he only rushed for three yards on three carries and caught all three of his targets but went backward four yards last week.
Try to avoid him in deeper leagues; there has to be a better deep league option out there for your roster, could be someone more favorable who hasn’t been dealing with such limited opportunity, and that’s the reality of navigating these injury scenarios where you might think a sneaky good fantasy option emerges, but the math just doesn’t add up when a player is not played enough or getting the necessary touches, carries, or offensive snaps to justify the risk, especially when Tucker hasn’t shown the delivering power or catching ability needed, so you need to look elsewhere among the waiver wire gems at this point in the season as we’ve both seen how quickly things change over a matchup or two.
Bucs’ Pass Catchers
Evans has been out several weeks already with an injury, and he wasn’t expected back, so his absence was known—Godwin just came back a couple weeks ago, so to see him inactive again is a bummer for him and his fantasy owners, and Godwin should probably be dropped in all standard leagues at this point, as I don’t see him as a locked in standard league asset the remainder of the way, though I’d rostering him in deeper leagues though because you never know when those situations flip.
With those two wideouts out of the picture, you can expect a heavy dose of rookie Emeka Egbuka in Week 6 he’s been a fantasy star this season, and could be in line for his biggest showing yet given who else is available, and from my experience managing lineups across multiple formats, this is where opportunity meets talent.
He and the wideouts have a tougher matchup coming, but with how he’s performed, and the lack of proven pass catchers around him, I don’t know how Egbuka doesn’t go off this week he’s projected for 17 PPR fantasy points, which is tied for the fourth highest mark this week, and I had him at No. 5 in my top 30 wide receiver PPR rankings, and that was before knowing Godwin was also out, so Egbuka should absolutely star on Sunday, don’t get too hung up on the tougher challenge and make sure he’s in your lineups.
Week 1 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings
After him, there’s really no clear No. 2 pass catcher, but after he delivered in Week 5, I’d nominate tight end Cade Otton for that honor—he had 81 yards on four receptions and five targets, it was his first big game of the season, but he’s on the field almost every snap, so you could do a lot worse than him, and I had him as my No.
25 fantasy PPR tight end for Week 6, and would bump him a few spots up after the news that Godwin is out, as he is projected for about seven PPR points and has an average matchup coming.
So if you are looking for tight end help, Otton is a widely available and trending up option, and I’d at least feel confident enough in him to start him in deeper leagues, and in a pinch, even start him in standard leagues where streaming tight end options can be brutal. Wideout Sterling Shepard played the next most snaps after Otton, Egbuka and Godwin a week ago, while Tez Johnson was also a bit involved.
Shepard had four catches for 24 yards and a touchdown over five targets, and Johnson went for 59 yards on four catches and targets, so with decent fantasy outings from each guy, starting either in deeper leagues is not the craziest idea, though the tougher matchup holds them back from standard league consideration. Tight end Payne Durham and receivers Ryan Miller and Kameron Johnson all could be in line for expanded roles, but I don’t want to start any of them, regardless of how deep a league is I think that between Egbuka, Otton, Shepard and Johnson that most of the targets and production go to those guys, and if anyone else contributes, they can be considered in future weeks, but avoid them in Week 6 because chasing snaps without proven results rarely works out.
The injuries will also make life harder on Baker Mayfield, who has been really good to start this fantasy season, and I had Mayfield at No. 14 before knowing that Godwin would be out, though I’d still consider Mayfield in that range, but maybe be a bit more inclined to start a couple of the guys I ranked right after him depending on what you need.
Mayfield is projected for 18 fantasy points, which is tied for the ninth highest mark of the week, but he’s in a logjam with five other guys at 18 points, and that puts him in the standard league conversation, but maybe trending toward sitting him outside deeper leagues where you might have better streaming choices in a tougher matchup, I’d understand not wanting to play Mayfield either this week, however, I would still be OK starting him in standard leagues because he’s at 83% started right now, but that could drop before his game actually kicks off.
I tend to trust a player’s results over the matchup, or any outside news, so it would not surprise me to see Mayfield keep up his strong start to the season it’s just a bit less likely given the injuries around him, but yeah, I’m more than happy to roll out Mayfield in all leagues for Week 6 since his track record this season speaks louder than one difficult Sunday ahead.
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