It was a bit thinner of a Red Zone week in Week 5 as big plays took over to provide the scoring but there are still several players who still had great days inside the 20-yard line. Week 6 is upon us but before setting lineups you should take into account who saw the work for their teams inside the 20-yard line last week as key injuries will play a role in Week 6 just as they have in previous weeks.
Red Zone Passing
Baker Mayfield QB CLE - Mayfield has been rightfully criticized for his performances this year but there was a glimmer of hope this past week in terms of his performance and what he did in the Red Zone. The seven passing attempts inside the 20 was the most in a game for him this season so far and was more than the previous two weeks combined. Those attempts produced two scores, though only one went to a wide receiver while the other went to Kareem Hunt . It’s clear that he’s a streaming option at best at this point and with the weapons at his disposal he can have flash weeks but not the consistency to be a long-term solution at quarterback for fantasy.
Gardner Minshew QB JAC - Minshew was last in here in Week 2 when he put up 12 passing attempts inside the 20 and then in Week 5 he had his next best week of the season with eight passing attempts with two of those going for touchdowns. He also had a carry in there as well. Six of the attempts were inside the 10 and four were inside the five. Jacksonville has a favorable match-up in Week 6 against the Lions and so we should expect another productive game from the Jaguars’ passing attack led by Minshew capitalizing on Red Zone chances.
Patrick Mahomes QB KC - Mahomes had his best Red Zone passing day since Week 1 though it came in the team’s first loss. The eight passing attempts with three inside the 10, resulted in two more passing touchdowns on his ledger and he also carried it two more times inside the 20 with one of those going for a score as well. For Clyde Edwards-Helaire owners it’s a bit discomforting to see even the quarterback getting more Red Zone work than he is and now Le’Veon Bell is joining the backfield giving even more weapons for Mahomes to utilize inside the 20.
Carson Wentz QB PHI - It’s been a rough start to the year for the Eagles’ offense with a lot of injuries across the offensive line and to the receiving corps but that didn’t stop them from putting up a fight against the Steelers in Week 5 and Wentz having his best Red Zone week of the season. The five targets are a season-high and he posted two touchdowns on those targets as well. The wideouts are slated to get a bit better in the next few weeks and so that should help Wentz’s numbers improve as well and in Week 6 they face the Ravens who are allowing 70-percent of opponent trips to the Red Zone to end in touchdowns.
Red Zone Rushing
Ezekiel Elliott RB DAL - Elliott had a very good day for the Cowboys offense, as we expected against a beleaguered Giants’ defense but the five Red Zone carries were the most he’s had in a game since Week 2 and equalled his total from the last two weeks combined. With Dak Prescott now out for the rest of the season and Andy Dalton taking the helm under center, Elliott will be more relied upon than normal, especially near the goal line and so expect more days like this as he also punched in two scores on Sunday as well.
Josh Jacobs RB LV - Jacobs posted his best Red Zone week since Week 1 but that also shouldn’t be a surprise as the Chiefs rush defense is quite porous and the Raiders give Jacobs about as many carries in any situation as any team gives their running back. The Raiders have a bye week in Week 6 which should also give Jacobs a chance to rest up a bit for the stretch run trying to make the playoffs or challenging the Chiefs for the division title given that they beat them in Week 5.
Darrell Henderson RB LA - For the third week in a row Henderson has been the top Red Zone rusher for the Rams this time with five carries, giving him 12 total in the last three weeks. In Week 5 he punched one of those in for a score as well. Even with Cam Akers back on the field last week, though for only 13 snaps, Henderson still appears to be the short yardage and goal line option for Sean McVay and company which makes sense since he’s the bigger back of the three. If you need some touchdown upside from a free agent running back, Henderson might be a guy to look at at this point.
Alexander Mattison RB MIN - Dalvin Cook is out for Week 6 after injuring his groin in Week 5 against Seattle and in his absence, Mattison shined. He posted more than 100 yards in that game and carried it six times inside the 20. While none of those carries resulted in a touchdown, he was still a big part of the offense once Cook went down. The Vikings are facing the Falcons this week in what could be a track meet of a game given the defenses on both sides of the match-up and Mattison is clearly a more than capable backup. Not only should he see just as much work against Atlanta, the goal line work will be there for him as well with no one else really in the picture.
Red Zone Targets
Odell Beckham Jr. WR CLE - Beckham was Mayfield’s top Red Zone target in Week 5 with three of his seven attempts heading toward Beckham of which he caught two. That showing by Beckham is the most of any Browns’ wide receiver this year and gives him a total of five on the season. While he’s still being quite productive in general the up-and-down nature of the Browns’ passing game inside the 20 is harming his ability to reliably get in the end zone, just like Week 5 when none of the catches got him a touchdown.
Travis Kelce TE KC - Kelce had his most voluminous Red Zone day of the season with three targets of which he caught two and one for a touchdown. He now has eight targets on the season inside the 20 which is the most on the team but a couple of targets ahead of Sammy Watkins and that really shouldn’t come as a shock as the big-bodied tight end has long been the favorite target of Mahomes. There are some easier match-ups over the next few weeks for the Chiefs as well so Kelce should continue to be the lock-and-load TE1 that he has been the last couple of seasons.
Adam Thielen WR MIN - Thielen has had improving Red Zone numbers each of the last three weeks with Week 5 resulting in a season-high for the wideout. He posted three targets and caught all three of them with two being touchdowns as Thielen continues to be the biggest touchdown threat in the passing game for the Vikings. It certainly didn’t hurt that they faced the Seahawks terrible pass defense and now in Week 6 they will face the Falcons who aren’t much better than what the Seahawks put up last week.
Chase Claypool WR PIT - Claypool had about as good of a week as a receiver can have and he’s been the talk of the NFL much of this week leading into Week 6. He was targeted three times inside the 20 out of the five attempts that Ben Roethlisberger posted and two of those targets were caught, both for touchdowns. He also ran a touchdown in from inside the 20 against the Eagles. The rookie wideout is an athletic freak given his size and speed he should be a bigger part of the Red Zone offense going forward as he makes a great target for Roethlisberger.
DK Metcalf WR SEA - It shouldn’t be a shock to see Metcalf being targeted this many times given how big of a target he is for the Seahawks passing attack but it is still nice to see him be this productive. Of the four targets, three inside the 10, he caught two of them both for touchdowns as the Vikings gave up the lead late. The five targets ties him for the team-lead with fellow wideout Tyler Lockett but he likely finishes as the higher targeted member of the receiver corps by the end of the season.
Red Zone Defense
Baltimore Ravens - The Ravens defense is an interesting unit as they’ve allowed the fewest total trips to the Red Zone of any defense in the league with just 10 total in five games. However, they’ve allowed seven touchdowns for a 70-percent conversion rate which is the eighth-highest in the league. The Eagles are up next and while their offense looked good in Week 5 there are still holes in that unit that could make it easier for Baltimore to shut them down overall.
Carolina Panthers - While the Panthers defense has been regarded as one of the worst rush defenses in the league, they are doing a pretty good job of keeping teams out of the Red Zone as they rank fourth best in the league in Red Zone attempts per game by their opponents at 3.0 per game. They’ve allowed those teams to score two-thirds of the time in those 15 chances and both the 10 allowed touchdowns and the 66.7-percent rate put them in the middle of the pack. So while they are doing a good job of keeping teams out of the scoring area when they get there, the defense is only so-so at keeping them off the board.
Tennessee Titans - The Titans are fresh off a drumming of the Bills and their Red Zone defense has been pretty good this year in certain ways. They have allowed 3.0 trips to their 20 a game in four games but the problem with the shorter field and smaller passing windows, they haven’t been great allowing 10 opponent touchdowns in those 12 chances. The 83.3-percent conversion rate is the second-highest in the league behind only the Saints. So while they are pretty good between the 20s, they aren’t inside the 20s.