Last time on FLEX Finder, we successfully hit on the chalky Michael Carter and Rachaad White, we predicted an ugly and somehow amazing Kendrick Bourne Legacy Game, and we watched Darius Slayton drop and injure his way to ignominy. Tough scene on that last one. Rhamondre Stevenson scored twice! Please don’t look at how our tight end selections did.
But hey, the show must roll on and the bye weeks are in full effect, which makes this an even harder article to write every week.
Once again, my rules for this weekly article:
1) I will not recommend quarterbacks — you’re on your own there.
2) I will not recommend any running back who costs more than $5,000, wideout who costs more than $4,500, or tight end that costs more than $4,000 in DraftKings’ DFS Slate — I just figured this was an easy cutoff for what a FLEX really is.
3) I consider any player who garners over 50 yards or scores a victory for the column — anything more you get out of that, well, great for you. Let’s set expectations low because we are combing for outliers.
💡 🛠️ Smarter Fantasy Tools: Running a team isn’t easy, so FantasyLife created cutting edge tools to help. From our Utilization Score feature to being able to sync your leagues and watch them all on a giant live scoreboard every weekend, FantasyLife+ takes a deep dive into your teams to deliver premium, personalized advice you can actually use. Try it today! Use promo code ROTO20 to save 20%
▶ Running Backs
Hassan Haskins, LAC, $5,000
Listen, I don’t think Hassan Haskins is a good running back. As much as I think he has the lead in an ugly running-back-by-committee assignment to start, I don’t know that I fully trust him to do better than a slight majority of the carries.
But, facts are facts, and here are some facts:
-The Miami Dolphins turned Rico Dowdle into a 200-yard runner last week.
-Haskins vultured a pair of scores last year and I think has the best case to be the goal-line back.
-Chargers OC Greg Roman will never abandon the run.
Combine these elements together and I’ll stamp a recommendation on Haskins even though I have little belief in him as a long-term starter.
Kendre Miller, NO — $4,700
One of my lower confidence plays last week, I don’t love this matchup against a Patriots defense that did a good job holding Buffalo’s ground game in check. What I do love (not for him, obviously) is Alvin Kamara pulling up with a day-to-day ankle injury in practice. Miller came close enough to hitting the standards of the column (49 yards) last week that I’ll call him a success. Writing this column Wednesday night, I am blessed to not know the outcome of Kamara’s status this week. I will guess that he plays, but even if he does, the workload continues to shift heavier into Miller’s favor — he leapt up from 20 snaps in Week 3 and 21 in Week 4 to 26 against the Giants.
If Miller handles 45 percent of the snaps, he’s a viable FLEX play.
RJ Harvey, DEN, $4,700
There is no real reason to like Harvey on paper — his workload has been maddeningly inconsistent and he’s coming off a season-low 20.3 percent of the snaps. But one thing I have this week is a lot of confidence in the Jets getting spanked — consider that per Vegas Insider, the line has shifted from Denver minus-6.5 to Denver minus-7.5, and perhaps more importantly, that 73 percent of the money is on the Broncos.
Harvey’s “breakout” game in Week 4 came as the Broncos easily handled a weak Bengals defense. I think this game could play out similarly with a Jets offense that could go full Jake Browning against a stellar Denver defense. Harvey gave us 98 total yards and a touchdown catch against the Bengals — we’re not getting that every week, but we could find 50 yards pretty easy against a rough Jets unit that definitely needs a bye week to regroup.
Tyjae Spears, TEN, $4,500
Returning from injured reserve last week, Spears handled 17 snaps (25.4 percent of the workload) and delivered a putrid 4/14 line with no targets. Titans coach Brian Callahan said that Spears would play more. He always says that Spears will play more, and he always pretends he will lower Tony Pollard’s workload — he never actually does it, because if he did, he wouldn’t be Brian Callahan.
But Spears was closer to a 40 percent usage back with some pass-catching ability in 2024. The Raiders are a weird opponent right now — I don’t have a lot of faith in anything happening in that game — but their offense looked dead on arrival against the Colts and I could see something similar happening against the Titans if Brock Bowers continues to be held out. (We have no indication he won’t be held out.)
I think Spears is an interesting bet. I’d feel more comfortable with him if I had any proof that Cam Ward actually threw to running backs. But on paper this feels like a fair match for the Titans offense and I could see Spears getting going.
Jayden Daniels, Christian McCaffrey, Puka Nacua, and Tyler Warren highlight positional rankings for Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season.
▶ Wide receivers
Dyami Brown, JAX, $4,200
We hit on Brown in Week 1, but he’s been lost for a few weeks dealing with a shoulder ailment and finally came back in Week 5. I can understand why the Jaguars want more Travis Hunter and why people think more Travis Hunter is coming, but also — we are talking about a guy who has eight targets in his last two games. Brown has seven while playing through the shoulder ailment and missing half of one of the games.
He remains on the injury report, so it’s likely that Brown is still being a little bothered by the shoulder. Who also remains on the injury report is the entire Seahawks secondary, which got so bad last week that it heavily featured Derion Kendrick, Ty Okada, and Nehemiah Pritchett. I’m one of the behind-the-scenes guys for this website and I don’t remember ever thinking about any of these three players — all of whom finished with a below-average PFF coverage grade against the Buccaneers.
Jalen Coker, CAR ($4,200) and Xavier Legette, CAR ($3,900)
The Cowboys defense finally found someone they could bully when they played against the Jets, who start a quarterback who cannot process reads. And even then, Justin Fields used garbage time to rack up 283/2 and 26 yards on the ground.
I’m no Bryce Young apologist, but he’s proven adequate since the benching last year. He had a more-than-adequate 219/1 with a score on the ground against the Cowboys during that stretch, though he did throw two picks. This is a different, worse Cowboys defense. I think the Panthers are going to stunt on them. Coker practiced in full on Wednesday and is expected to be activated — it’s obscenely funny that he is projected to cost more than a healthy Legette. I think Legette is the better play of the two, but if you are as grossed out riding with Legette, I leave the speedster as your fallback option.
Troy Franklin, DEN, $4,100
Destined to be in this column every week, Franklin was one of many Broncos to not live up to the hype as he went 3/35 against the Eagles largely because Courtland Sutton was actually able to dust Quinyon Mitchell. I didn’t think Unc had it in him. I am legally required to tell you that I’m over 40 when I type “Unc.”
Anyway, Franklin continues to see 40 snaps a week and turn them into real targets. The Jets defense stinks out loud. You know there are going to be 2-3 games this year where Bo Nix and Franklin hit on a deep score. You know that Brandon Stephens is playing in this game. It’s a Trust The Process from me, dawg, even though I am getting tired of Franklin not delivering.
Isaac TeSlaa, DET, $3,400
A major role was grown for TeSlaa in Week 5 as Khalif Raymond went down with a scary neck injury. He played 21 snaps despite the Lions not needing a third receiver for most of the game, and he scored.
Flash forward to this week. Since I write the column Wednesday night I cannot tell you the outcome of Amon-Ra St. Brown missing Wednesday’s practice with a wrist injury, but I can tell you that it is potentially more snaps for TeSlaa to step into. Chiefs-Lions is a game with an over/under of 52.5 that has gone up by four points since the game opened.
Is it risky to start a guy with five career targets, even if two of them are touchdowns? It is. But it’s possible that this is the game that puts him on the radar. And if not, it’s $3,400.
Ryan Flournoy, DAL, $3,500
I earnestly do not understand what changed last week — I recommended Jalen Tolbert to blow up against the Jets and instead it was Flournoy, who had four catches in two games prior to this. But I applaud the Cowboys from moving us past the Tolbert discussion — it’s not like I want to circumstantially recommend Tolbert. He just happened to be the best bet for targets based on the history we knew.
Anyway, I was encouraged that Flournoy saw targets in the screen game. I remain encouraged by the fact that the Cowboys defense will keep it throwing, and that the Panthers defense is more than happy to give up passing yards in bunches. I can’t vouch for Flournoy’s actual talent, but the Cowboys sure used him like they thought he was good. Good enough for me.
Check out which players are running hot and which guys are running cold headed into Week 6, and what it might mean for your start-sit decisions.
▶ Tight ends
Darren Waller, MIA, $4,000
Lemme admit: I thought the whole Darren Waller thing had been done. Why unretire now? For the Dolphins? Why not do literally anything else with your life? But after two games where he went for a combined 105 yards and two touchdowns despite limited snap counts, I must divorce myself from these thoughts.
I still think Waller is going to get hurt. Badly. He’s 33 and didn’t play last year, he hadn’t played as many as 15 NFL games since 2020. But with Tyreek Hill down, someone is going to have to produce in this offense. He only played 58.2 percent of the snaps in Week 5, which shows there’s actually still room for growth. $4,000 feels underpriced for what he could do.
It’s just, you know, he could also crumple into dust with one shot to the hamstring. That is the risk.
Jake Tonges, SF, $3,700
The Buccaneers defense just allowed A.J. Barner to feast on them for two scores on Sunday. The Sunday before that, against Philadelphia, Dallas Goedert … caught two touchdowns. Kyle Pitts went for 7/59 against them earlier in the season. Tonges probably has one more good week left in him with the 49ers disavowing hope that Ricky Pearsall will go on Sunday. He’s been a decent little find for fantasy managers. Let’s go out with a bang.
