Seamus Carr looks at six of the biggest fantasy football developments in Week 6, including a young running back breaking out, a superstar receiver bouncing back, and statement performances from arguably the top players at each position.
There’s A New Superstar in Seattle
Kenneth Walker drafters should be feeling pretty good right now. The former Michigan State star looks like he’s next in the line of talented rushers to ply their trade in the Pacific Northwest. Selected in the second round of this year’s NFL draft, some pundits ranked Walker ahead of Jets’ rookie, Breece Hall, as the overall RB1 of the class.
We can see Walker’s 4.38 forty ranks in the 97th percentile. At 5-foot-9 and 211 pounds, that’s a 91st percentile Freak Score. The breakaway speed was on display Sunday as he gashed the defense for several chunk plays, showing vision and burst through the line. Walker wasted no time getting going, ripping off runs of 17 and 34 yards to start his day. He later sealed the win for Seattle, punctuating the Seahawks’ win with an 11-yard burst to the pylon.
Questions still linger about Walker’s pass-catching. While he was never involved in the receiving game during his time at Michigan State, his Sunday workload included two targets for an additional 13 yards. He also added three targets in both Weeks 2 and 3, despite not playing even 25% of the snaps in either game. Even if that isn’t a big part of his game this year, he at least will be a high-end RB2 given his locked-in volume and ability to score from anywhere.
Shawn Siegele anticipated this kind of performance with a big dynasty rankings move last week.