Luke's FLEXology report, Week 6

Luke spent a week learning to FLEX with Terry Crews

After a brief hiatus, Luke returns with the FLEXology report! - Luke B.

Quarterback

Flex to Start: Joe Flacco

The best option for a flex QB to give a top 10 week comes from Flacco as he is going up against the 29th ranked pass defense in San Francisco. Last week, against the 28th ranked pass defense, Flacco was able to score 26 points with a skeleton crew at the skilled positions. Now, he may be down Justin Forsett, who had four catches for 49 yards as well as adding 121 yards on the ground on 21 carries, but Buck Allen proved to be serviceable and should fit in decent enough if Forsett cannot go.

Starter to Avoid: Cam Newton

The Carolina Panthers remain undefeated going into week 6, however their one passing weapon of note is Greg Olsen; the rest are simply role players as long as Kelvin is recovering from an ACL tear. Also, Cam is going against the 9th best rush defense so the odds of him being fantasy relevant from his legs are not exactly good. I am staying away from Cam if I am able to.

Running Back

Flex to Start: Lamar Miller

Relegated to the bench in recent weeks, there is new hope for Miller as the Dolphins have fired their head coach, Joe Philbin, and have replaced him with the TE coach, Dan Campbell. While the offense establishes itself under its new coach, the team will need to lean on someone to help stabilize their tailspin. That could be Miller, as Tannehill has been struggling as well. As for Tennessee, they are ranked 27th in rush defense and should help as Miami’s o-line folds under better talent.

Starter to Avoid: Jeremy Hill

With Hill still in the starter spot (if you listen to Hugh Jackson) it may seem like giving him another shot would be appropriate. However, CIN playing against Buffalo this week, who rank 6th according to football outsiders at rush defense. So, even with the questionable offense of BUF, the defense should be able to make the game plan lean more on Giovanni Bernard.

Wide Receiver

Flex to Start: Allen Hurns

Going against the 27th passing defense should allow Hurns to have a start-worthy game, as long as Blake Bortles is the QB. So far, this year, Hurns has 27 receptions for 430 yards and 3 TD’s. 2 of his 5 games have had +100 yards outings. In comparison, Allen Robinson has had 402 yards on 22 receptions and 4 TDs. (2 of which came in his last game).  He has also only had 1 outing that yielded +100 yards. Allen Hurns should prove that his current production is not a fluke against an inferior Houston passing defense.

Starter to Avoid: Julio Jones

Kind of an easy one to call, but it seems that Jones is the latest in a growing list of NFL players to suffer from a hamstring injury that could either make him not play or only play in the hopes of acting as the dreaded decoy. If he does play, this is obviously more than likely a bad call, but as of now I do not think he is going to play. We’ll see Thursday night.

Tight End

Flex to Start: Charles Clay

There are not many options for Buffalo going into this week for probable starter EJ Manuel to throw to. So I expect there to be a lot of opportunity for Clay as he acts as Manuel’s safety blanket. They face CIN, who should get up quickly on Buffalo through the air, so BUF will need to throw in an effort to keep up.

Starter to Avoid: Gary Barnidge

This will be the week that Gary crashes back to Earth, although I do not think he will stay down for long. The Browns will be going up against the number 1 defense in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. I expect the Browns to try and combat this by running the ball as much as possible. By the time, the Browns begin to throw the ball, they could be far enough behind to need to depend on Travis Benjamin and Taylor Gabriel to get down field.