Welcome into the Week 6 edition of Redzone Risers and Fallers for the 2021 season. This is a brand new series for our site, and uses the redzone touches information that is freely available on our site. The reason for adding this tool, and making it available is its importance in helping you make better decisions when it comes to your roster. This week, and going forwards, we are going to also include fallers who have had decreased usage recently.
The idea is that if a player is starting to be used in the redzone more, then the opportunity to score is increased and you want to add them to your roster. If the opposite happens, you might look to sell that asset.
Now, in this series, we aren’t going to look at big-name players on the whole. That is to say, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara are expected to be used in and around the redzone. That is unless they start stop being used, in which case they will be included in the fallers.
Week 6 Redzone Risers
Leonard Fournette (RB, TB) 31% RZ Touches
Fournette is back for his second appearance in this column. Tampa’s offense is firing, getting downfield often. When they are in close, it’s Fournette that has been heavily involved. Last week, of the 19 plays that were run in the redzone, Fournette was directly involved in 8 of them. At this point of the season, Fournette feels like he has to be an every week starter.
Alex Collins (RB, SEA) 28% RZ Touches
Collins status for this week is uncertain, but what is known is how heavily the team leant on him in the redzone. The backup now leads the team in touches near the goal-line, and with Chris Carson set to miss more time, Collins is going to be the player that the team lean on. Whether the team make as many trips in the coming weeks remains to be seen, with Geno Smith currently leading the offense.
Stefon Diggs (WR, BUF) 14% RZ Touches
Diggs was due a good performance, finally having it this week. The star receiver hasn’t lived up to the lofty standards that he created for himself after a great debut season in Buffalo. This past week, he had a good outing- and was able to see usage in the redzone too. Diggs has his bye week now, but moving forwards there are signs to think that he can recapture that form.
Courtland Sutton (WR, DEN) 13% RZ Touches
Sutton is enjoying having Teddy Bridgewater throwing the ball, as well as Jerry Jeudy being unavailable. He now equals Noah Fant in redzone touches, with just over half of the opportunities in the past week.
Tyler Higbee (TE, LAR) 14% RZ Touches
Everyone knows that the Rams offense is flowing through Cooper Kupp, and Darrell Henderson. But, Higbee has become part of the rotation in the redzone. Higbee was previously hit by the fact that TE targets used to be split, but with Gerald Everett leaving, all of those opportunities have landed with the big-bodied receiver Higbee. With the TE landscape being what he is, he is an auto-start for most rosters.
Week 6 Redzone Fallers
Malcolm Brown (RB, MIA) 22 % RZ Touches
The return of Tua at QB was likely to lead to the offense being run differently. One casualty of that appears to be Malcolm Brown, who was previously the battering ram used to convert goal-line opportunities. This past week in London though, it was Myles Gaskin who saw nearly half of the opportunities, while Jaylen Waddle was also involved.
Allen Robinson (WR, CHI) 7% RZ Touches
Robinson has been a solid reliable receiver since he entered the league. Well, outside the seasons that he had minimal play due to injury. This season though the shift in the Bears offense isn’t suited to Robinson. At this point of the season he has only got 234 yards and a single TD. That struggle shows in the redzone too, with Robinson only having 3 touches this season in the redzone.
Dalton Schultz (TE, DAL) 6% RZ Touches
Schultz is a decent TE option, but that’s more the landscape of the position being what it is. Where TEs typically have their value is in the redzone, but that’s not the case here- at least not recently. Schultz has become more marginalized in recent weeks, with Blake Jarwin and Cedrick Wilson being the fringe pieces of the offense being used. That lack of usage is going to limit his upside.
So, that’s this weeks edition of Redzone Risers and Fallers for the 2021 season, taking into account the action from Week 6. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or jump into our Discord server
Image Credit: Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports
