Through it all, no one has questioned Jalen Hurts’ toughness. Not even the most craven sports talk caller would go there. That’s because they simply couldn’t. It’s not up for debate. It is up for debate if Hurts should have been allowed to be so tough in London, where he was apparently permitted to start after going without sleep for over 36 hours as a means of managing what was then called a “superficial” blood clot.
That clot has now become a far more serious matter — deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli — that will require weeks of blood thinners and seems poised to end his season. Genuinely scary stuff. Thankfully, Hurts is expected to make a full recovery and resume his athletic career. The question is if it will be with the Eagles.
Of course, it’s not really a question at all. Hurts and the Eagles have appeared tired of each other for some time now and are set to go their separate ways this offseason. It’s just so frustrating Hurts didn’t get one final chance to “make things right” on the field. Always the avatar for this shockingly successful franchise’s equally shocking dysfunction, Hurts had been getting set up as the fall guy for months.
He deserved better. Instead, he got worse. As always, that just seems to be life in the National Football League. That’s especially true when you play like Hurts, through the pain even if it means not sleeping for two days in a different country. Hopefully his 2027 second chance will prove to the Eagles they should not have been so eager to move on after all.
Germie Bernard and Omar Cooper Jr. are coming online just in time to save fantasy football teams. They headline the biggest names on the Week 7 waiver wire.
Five Week 6 Storylines
J.J. McCarthy injects some chaos into moribund NFC East. Sometimes you just need to take off your Guy Fawkes mask to reveal your Joker makeup. That’s how J.J. McCarthy lives his life, and it’s definitely how he plays football. “Nine” (times two) played 11 minutes vs. the Saints. He led the Giants in both passing and rushing. This being McCarthy, there was a pick and several other near-misses, but Nine is an agent of chaos to a degree not even Jameis Winston can match. That is everything fantasy football players want and more. The Giants? They, understandably, are going to sleep on it. Expect them to wake up doing the right — but oh so wrong — thing and announce it is Nine’s town moving forward.
Omar Cooper Jr. welcomes himself to the season with 100-yard effort. “Nine” wasn’t the only player finally getting acquainted with New York on Sunday. There was also Cooper, who picked up where he left before getting injured early in the opener. Cooper commanded “just” seven targets against the Patriots but turned them into 6/103/1, including a 48-yard touchdown where he blew by the entire defense then had to work back through traffic to an underthrown deep ball. It was exactly what you would hope to see from a first-round talent, but not necessarily expect through only five quarters of play. But that has been the early theme for Coop: He just makes plays. With Adonai Mitchell soon rejoining the fold and making this a three-man receiver corps, Cooper might have trouble drawing the requisite looks to make a weekly fantasy impact, but he is very much in the mix as an upside WR4.
Bears resume road paving the competition with Caleb Williams back under center. Williams pitched a perfect game in Week 1. As so often happens, things then could not have gone more off script in Week 2. Rain, Brian Flores, and a hamstring injury. Well the Bears got back on task in Williams’ Week 6 return, dismantling the Falcons and revving up the fantasy machine that has for too long remained stuck in neutral. Luther Burden had his best box score, and Colston Loveland scored his first touchdown. There were still a few trouble spots. Rome Odunze cannot seem to get going, and Burden had his routes curiously rationed, but it’s now pretty clear the Bears are going to do almost whatever they want vs. lesser opponents. That is, however, unlikely to include Thursday evening’s short-week matchup with the Patriots.
Corey Kiner injects some life into Patriots’ backfield. To the question of “Rhamondre Stevenson or TreVeyon Henderson?” the answer was, somewhat appropriately, “neither.” With Stevenson plodding and Henderson committing his customary “big mistake” against the Jets, coach Mike Vrabel turned to option three in closeout mode. Kiner handled 11 carries in the game’s final 16:30, banishing his more ballyhooed backfield mates to the bench. The Patriots’ reward was a bushel of first down conversions and a pair of marathon drives to finally subdue the Jets. It was just what the Pats needed, but also the last thing fantasy managers wanted. Afterward, Vrabel uttered the most dreaded of words: “Hot hand.” Kiner had it. He may get it again. In between will be a three-man committee where no one is entirely trustworthy. Kiner is worth an add but not yet a Week 7 start.
A.J. Brown has less than stellar return performance as Romeo Doubs injures shoulder. If the Pats were thankful for Kiner, they were perhaps rueful of Brown. It was simply a disasterclass day for the erstwhile No. 1 wideout, who committed three official drops and perhaps 2-3 more informal miscues. That does not even include his butterfingers on the Jets’ late onside kick attempt. Brown alligator armed a potential deep touchdown despite no defender being in the area, and looked big and bulky moving in a straight line. Side to side? He could barely do it as he undoubtedly still deals with the fallout from his high-ankle sprain. We forgive one bad game by a star player. It will be harder to do so if Brown busts again vs. the Bears’ awful defense on Thursday evening.
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Five More 6 Storylines
Chris Ballard becomes deserving fall guy for Colts’ slow-motion disaster. They found the guy who did this. In his 10th season as general manager, Ballard had made the playoffs twice, winning one game. Although it’s nice to see a little front office patience in a league addicted to change just for the sake of it, this felt more like stasis. Ballard had the same idea over and over again — retread veteran quarterbacks, some of whom were 44 and out of the league for five years — and it was never good. Now maybe it was in part a product of ownership meddling, but at a certain point your own retention becomes a red flag. Maybe I’m only here because I do what the big guy wants. That was Jim Irsay. His daughter Carlie has wisely opted for change after a more than long enough grace period. Daniel Jones is the current problem. Hopefully Ballard’s replacement finally has a different solution.
Chargers find a new depth to plunge to. The Chargers did not compete in Kansas City. They, in fact, looked like an expansion team. Like 53 players and a coaching staff who had not been allowed to come together until early last offseason. But this is not an expansion team. It is year three under a Hall-of-Fame coach, and if this is what you’re getting in Game 40 of the Jim Harbaugh project, it’s safe to say the process that led to this point was faulty. That very much includes the hiring of OC Mike McDaniel, who let slip to the CBS production team that Justin Herbert was having trouble learning the system. Actually, if a seventh-year pro is having trouble with the system, maybe the system is bad and needs to be recalibrated. Adjustments, of course, are what McDaniel is least famous for. He will soon be gone. Only then can there be any short-term fantasy hope in this truly terrible attack.
Spiraling Rams look out of ideas. Although the Chargers’ stadium mates have not sunk to the same depths of despair, they appear equally uncertain of how to fix their current predicament. For Week 5, they went all in on their most versatile players, Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams. For Week 6, they couldn’t get the ball to Puka and chose not to give it to Williams. The receiver was disappointed, and the running back was hot. Everyone is dazed. What was supposed to be a super team seems to instead be in a state of Permanent Australia Forever. The Rams did not take Week 1 seriously and the tail of that disastrous mistake is proving unfathomably long. There’s still enough time to turn this around, but the Rams people thought we were getting are not walking through that door. This is going to be a scratch-and-claw job rather than a coronation.
Travis Hunter finally arrives on offense — but with nine snaps. Hunter was everywhere you looked in London, but also nowhere at the same time. The good news is, when he was in the game on offense, it was a point of emphasis to get him the ball. The bad news, as you may have guessed, is that he was still barely in the game. This was an important first step. If Hunter were ever going to rebuild his offensive value, it was by definition going to start small. But with the second-year pro continuing to develop on defense, “small” may be how the Jags want to keep it, even as they transparently prepare to trade Brian Thomas Jr. Hunter is a weapon. You need to be more if you are going to provide stable WR4 returns in fantasy, and that is not a bet worth placing at the current moment, especially with the Jags headed on bye for Week 7.
Germie Bernard has interesting fill-in performance. The git shop is demanding more Germie license plates. More important than Bernard’s 11 catches? The fact that Aaron Rodgers kept looking his way even after he turned a first quarter fourth down conversion into a turnover on downs after he unwisely went back behind the chains. That was a rookie mistake. Those aren’t usually allowed in Rodgers’ attack. Not only were they allowed on Sunday, they were forgiven in the form of the most ever receptions for a first-year Rodgers wideout. Suddenly stacking huge PPR box scores, Bernard finds himself in the WR3 mix headed into a potential Week 7 smash spot in the Saints.
Questions
1. Are the Cowboys ever not two touchdowns and two two-point conversions away from tying the game?
2. Seahawks on the phone with customer service: Are you sure our Kenneth Walker III is out of warranty?
3. How many Eagles running back injuries is it going to take to get Jaydon Blue on the field?
Early Waivers Look (Players rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues)
QB: Aaron Rodgers (vs. NO in Paris), Michael Penix Jr. (vs. SF), Geno Smith (vs. MIA), Sam Darnold (vs. KC), Baker Mayfield (@CAR if healthy), J.J. McCarthy (@HOU flier), Malik Willis (@NYJ)
RB: Kendre Miller, Corey Kiner, Roschon Johnson, Kimani Vidal, Mike Washington Jr., Chris Rodriguez Jr., Jaylen Wright, CJ Donaldson
WR: Tre Tucker, Omar Cooper Jr., Keenan Allen, Malik Washington, Keon Coleman, Kendrick Bourne, Adonai Mitchell, Ja’Kobi Lane, Jaylin Noel, Brandin Cooks
TE: Michael Mayer, Dalton Schultz, Pat Freiermuth, Chig Okonkwo
DEF: Browns (@TEN), Cowboys (@PHI), Jets (vs. MIA), Panthers (vs. TB), Titans (vs. CLE)
Stats of the Week
Via Pro Football Talk: “If Commanders lose Monday evening, the NFC East will be first division with zero wins in back-to-back weeks since the merger.”
Via NFL Researcher: ‘The Cardinals have more wins in SoFi Stadium this season (two) than the Rams and Chargers combined (one).”
The Jets under Aaron Glenn, via Zack Rosenblatt: “The Jets have been outscored 100-6 in the final two minutes in the second quarter since Aaron Glenn was hired, according to TruMedia. That’s zero touchdowns and two field goals for the Jets with 11 touchdowns and eight field goals for their opponents.”
Ian Hartitz on Bryce Young: “Bryce Young games with 275+ passing yards: 2023-2025: Four. 2026: Five.”
Awards Section
Week 6 Fantasy All-Pro Team: QB Trevor Lawrence, RB Kenneth Walker III, RB Bhayshul Tuten, WR Malik Nabers, WR Tre Tucker, WR Germie Bernard, TE Isaiah Likely
Week 6 All Bank Examiner Squad: QB Bo Nix, RB Derrick Henry, RB Bucky Irving, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, WR A.J. Brown, WR Jaylen Waddle, WR Rome Odunze, TE Harold Fannin Jr.
Tweet of the Week, from Kevin Clark: I’d have pressed the hard reset button on the Colts in 2022 when they lost a do-or-die game to a 2-14 Jaguars team whose fans were protesting their own dysfunction by *dressing up as clowns*. You CANNOT lose this game. The Jags have built a great team since. The Colts have not.
Now That’s Why You Have A “Thicker Kicker” Award: Harrison Mevis replacement Blake Grupe getting injured the second he had to actually play football.