5 fantasy football studs you must pick up for Week 6
By Jon Dove
Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons
Stats: nine receptions, 77 yards and 12 targets
The Atlanta Falcons have a nice collection of pass catchers for Matt Ryan to work with. Julio Jones obviously leads the charge, but others like Calvin Ridley and Austin Hooper have emerged. This creates more mouths to feeds, but also makes life tougher on opposing defenses.
Hooper’s breakout game against the Pittsburgh Steelers should be noticed by fantasy football owners. The tight end position doesn’t feature a lot of reliable options and Hooper has a chance to produce strong numbers during the rest of the year.
A big takeaway from this week’s performance is that Hooper was able to tally 12 targets. That paced the team and could be a sign of him becoming more involved.
Hooper is a sound athlete with the quickness to attack the seam. Matt Ryan is a veteran quarterback who will find the open man. Jones will always be his top target, but Hooper appears to be carving out a roll.
There is absolutely some bust potential here. Hooper hasn’t had great usage throughout the season and could just go back to his hold target count. However, he’s worth a pick up as bye-week filler or high upside play.