Week 6 Inactives: Tee Higgins returns; Bears, Panthers look to backups
Fantasy Football Live’s Andy Behrens and Matt Harmon react to the latest injury news before Sunday’s Week 6 main slate.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANDY BEHRENS: Oh hey, it's week 6. That snuck up on us. I'm Andy Behrens. He's Matt Harman. We're going to take a look at a few key actives and inactives this week heading into Sunday's slate. In the early window, Roschon Johnson not going to go. He's got a concussion. Miles Sanders, he's out this week. Tee Higgins, however, is back. Tank Dell not going to go in this one.
In the later games, we expect Jahmyr Gibbs to be out. Sam LaPorta probably on the good side of a game time decision there. He practiced on Friday. Marquise Brown is expected to play. Also probably on the good side of a game-time decision is Saquon Barkley. I heard some good vibes on him on Sunday morning. Matt, where should we start? Let's actually start in Cincinnati with the return of Tee Higgins. All of a sudden, Joe Burrow looks good. He looks like regular Joe Burrow again, and Higgins is back in the mix.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, it felt like last week was the time for every goofball to pop up and demand a public apology from every fantasy analyst that told you to sit Joe Burrow going into that match-up against the Arizona Cardinals. You know, when he'd been like one of the least productive passers because of the injury going into it. So I usually say when those things happen, and if it happens on your bench, you can just feel good that it happened, right? Because this is something that you needed to see. Now you kind of have that prove it moment for Joe Burrow.
I don't think we're totally out of the woods just yet. I want to see him string together multiple healthy games and multiple strong performances, looking more like vintage Joe Burrow. I mean, we are putting a lot-- and I am, too. I'm with the people out here. I'm putting a lot into a few scrambles in that game against the Cardinals. I'm like, he's back. That looks like Joe Burrow.
ANDY BEHRENS: [CHUCKLES]
MATT HARMON: I do also think even if Burrow is starting to normalize, he's starting to get kind of the pop back in his arm, the mobility back a little bit, I think fitting Tee Higgins back into this offense is really interesting, Andy, because we know that if they're getting the ball out quick and they're not trying to push it downfield, that still really fits Ja'Marr Chase because, as he said, he is always open. I'm going to edit that sentence a little bit there for our family-friendly audience. He's always open.
And that is true, number 1. Number 2, he's great after the catch. You can get him those layup targets. There's a lot that you can do with Ja'Marr Chase there. I think Higgins is a little more interesting in that if they're still trying to get the ball out quick to protect Burrow's calf, and the offensive line has struggled in pass protection-- that rebuild has sort of taken-- it's been two steps forward, one step back with that offensive line rebuild there-- Tee Higgins is that vertical receiver, right? Where he doesn't totally, consistently separate in the short to intermediaries, but he's a big ball-winning clasher and a solid separator in the intermediate deep area.
Can he still be a guy that gets eight to 10 targets? I would hope so. I would think so, because he's a very, very good player. And I'm probably still playing him in this match-up if I have Tee Higgins, and I do in a couple spots. But it's worth noting, again, that how does he fit in that offense is a question. And 2, how does he go against some really impressive young cornerbacks in Seattle, including Devon Witherspoon, who might line up more in the slot? But again, just slightly difficult match-up. High-scoring game. I would view Tee Higgins as a volatile wide receiver 2, basically, trying to set expectations.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, far too tempting a name to actually send to the bench, but obviously a good thing to have him back. Appreciate you keeping this clip appropriate to all ages, too, by the way. Thank you for the language edit. I'm just going to talk about a couple of sketchy running backs here. Not a name as buzzy as Joe Burrow or Tee Higgins, but I think we need to talk about D'Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard as replacements for Roschon Johnson, Khalil Herbert, and Miles Sanders.
The Bears' backfield is all of a sudden down to one guy, basically, and it is a guy who's been a healthy scratch for four weeks. It's going to be D'Onta Foreman. We have Khalil Herbert on IR with a high ankle sprain. He's going to miss at least four games. And Roschon Johnson couldn't get clear of the concussion protocol for week 6. So this is going to be all the work that Foreman can handle, in a pretty friendly match-up against Minnesota. I would expect the run to be in play all day. I would expect him to get goal line work. So really good chance that he finds the end zone in this one.
And then in the weeks ahead, he probably takes a back seat to Roschon, but he is also probably still heavily involved because the Bears pretty clearly want him to have some sort of backfield committee. And then Chuba Hubbard, going to lead the Carolina backfield today. I don't-- I don't know that I'm terribly excited about this. I know that this is a guy that we've kind of had fire drills on before, and we add him and we drop him, then we end up with, like, 64 yards and it's fine. That's kind of what I'm expecting today.
They've got Miami. I don't think this is going to go well for winless Carolina. I don't know how long the run is going to be in play in this one. But we do expect Hubbard to sort of carry the mail. It's probably not going to be a splashy fantasy line. Between the two, I would definitely prefer to start Foreman in week 6. All right, here's hoping you can navigate all this nonsense. Let's go get a win, people.