Fantasy Football Week 6 WR Rankings and Picks feat. CeeDee Lamb, D.J. Moore and more

The wide receiver position took another blow when it lost fantasy star Nico Collins for the next four weeks to injury. With elite options like Cooper Kupp, Rashee Rice, and Malik Nabers all missing time this season, even the most experienced fantasy managers have been tested with tough weekly decisions.

With four more bye weeks in Week 6, many must optimize lineups with viable matchups to maximize fantasy points. Let's highlight the best pass defenses to target and provide an overview of the wide receiver landscape in Week 6.

Week 6 Fantasy Football WR Rankings

Fantasy Football Week 6 WR Picks

CeeDee Lamb vs. Detroit Lions

Pittsburgh's head coach, Mike Tomlin, decided last week that CeeDee Lamb wouldn't be the reason his team lost. Tomlin's defense bracketed Lamb all night, shadowed him everywhere on the field, and forced the ball elsewhere.

Statistically, it worked. Lamb could only turn nine targets into five catches and 62 scoreless yards on the night and the second-worst game of his season. The only problem is that quarterback Dak Prescott turned in his best performance of the season, with 29 completions for 352 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Lamb's teammate Jalen Tolbert enjoyed a career-best seven catches for 87 receiving yards and a touchdown in the win over the Steelers. Prescott and Lamb could keep things rolling with one of the best matchups to wide receivers this weekend.

The last piece of the puzzle is the hardest for the Detroit Lions. With an elite offense and stout run-stuffing defense, the Lions tried to address its most glaring weakness in the offseason — the secondary.

Detroit moved on from four members of its unit last season as Cam Sutton, Jerry Jacobs, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Tracy Walker all found different homes in 2024. The Lions traded for veteran Carlton Davis and signed Amik Robertson in free agency. The first two picks of its 2024 rookie class were cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw. But the results remained the same.

Detroit has been torched by fantasy stars this season, starting with Cooper Kupp's season-opening performance of 14 catches for 110 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Chris Godwin followed that performance with seven catches for 117 receiving yards and a touchdown in Week 2 against the Lions. Rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. didn't record a 100-plus yard game but still got in the end zone in Week 3. Finally, DK Metcalf turned in seven catches for 104 receiving yards and was a replay away from an explosive touchdown in Week 4.

The early bye week may come at the perfect time for Detroit secondary. However, if the trend continues on Sunday, handling one of the premier pass catchers in the league in Lamb will be tough. Tolbert was a waiver wire target this week and could find some flex appeal this weekend in season-long and DFS. Fire up all of your Cowboys pass catchers, as this is one of the weekend's most intriguing matchups.

D.J. Moore vs Jacksonville Jaguars

D.J. Moore turned in his best performance of the year against a poor Carolina pass defense in Week 5, and we're returning to the well this week. The Jacksonville secondary has been an equally poor pass defense as the Jaguars rank near the bottom in every statistical category we look for in attacking pass defense.

Jacksonville's secondary has allowed the second-most receiving yards (1,518), second-most receiving yards per game (303.6), and second-most receiving touchdowns (11) this season. The Jaguars also rank 29th in receptions allowed (130), 28th in receptions allowed per game (26), and fourth-most receiving yards per target (7.7).

Jacksonville did get its first win last week, but veteran backup Joe Flacco completed 33 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns against this secondary. Trying to stop Caleb Williams from coming off his second 300-plus-yard performance in the last three weeks will be even more challenging.

You have to feel good for Moore. Finally, we have a quarterback who can consistently feed him targets to show off his elite skill set. Last year, Moore had to play through the growing pains of Justin Fields and below-par fill-ins like Tyson Bagent and Nathan Peterson.

With Wiliams this year, Moore is 10th in the league in targets (42), 11th in receptions (27), second in end zone targets (7), and second in end zone touchdowns (3). Williams will still experience some growing pains this season, but his confidence in Moore seems to be expanding each week.

With this matchup with Jacksonville's poor pass defense, Moore is a sure-fire WR1 this weekend and could be in contention for overall WR1 status.

Terry McLaurin vs Baltimore Ravens

What happened to the Baltimore pass defense? It's one of the biggest mysteries in fantasy football, and veteran managers are still adjusting to the new paradigm of the Ravens being a viable defense to start your receivers against.

Baltimore wasn't the defense to challenge in 2023, as it ranked as the best pass defense in Aaron Schatz's DVOA metrics the previous season at -28.8%. Using the same pass-defense DVOA metric through five games this season, the Ravens rank 16th in at 5.0%.

For the season, Baltimore ranks last in the league in receiving yardage allowed (1,520), last in receiving yards allowed per game (304), 28th in receptions allowed (125), and 28th in yards per route run allowed (12.2).

Last week, Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase roasted this secondary for 10 catches for 193 receiving yards and two touchdowns. His teammate Tee Higgins also exploded for nine more catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns of his own.

The NFL is ruthless business week-to-week, and the Baltimore secondary will have a tough test against rookie sensation Jayden Daniels and Co., who comes into town this weekend.

Daniels has taken the NFL by storm this season and will come into this matchup with the best completion percentage in the league at 77.1%, second in yards per attempt (8.7), and second in fantasy points per game for quarterbacks (22.3). With all that production, you would assume Washington would have multiple pass catchers enjoying career years.

Terry McLaurin is the only Washington pass catcher to eclipse the 100-yard mark this season, and he has done it twice in the last three weeks. Veteran Olamide Zaccheaus turned in the next-highest yardage total with 85 receiving yards in Week 4 against Arizona.

McLaurin comes into this contest as our 20th-ranked receiver but is one of the hottest receivers in fantasy football. He's the only Commanders receiver worth starting in season-long leagues. Still, with this advantageous matchup, you might want to sprinkle some Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown into some DFS lineups this weekend.