Start DeVonta Smith or Josh Downs? Week 6

Our Week 6 call

Start DeVonta Smith over Josh Downs in Week 6.

Market-based projections have DeVonta Smith at 12.2 points and Josh Downs at 12.2, a gap of 0.1. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. DeVonta Smith still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 34 against 96, and that outweighs a gap this size.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 12.2 fantasy points for Josh Downs, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for Josh Downs is 52 receiving yards, 4-5 receptions and 0.4 touchdowns (14, 12 and 14 market sources).

Player markets imply 12.2 fantasy points for DeVonta Smith, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The market-based projection for DeVonta Smith is 57 receiving yards, 4-5 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (12, 10 and 11 market sources).

That puts Josh Downs 0.1 points ahead of DeVonta Smith on the market projections.

Week 6 matchups

Josh Downs and IND host TEN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

TEN allowed 35.9 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 5 games, the 11th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 174 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against TEN.

DeVonta Smith and PHI host CAR on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CAR allowed 28.4 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 4 games, the 9th fewest in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 152 yards and 0.3 touchdowns a game against CAR.

By points allowed to the position, Josh Downs has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Josh Downs is not on the injury report.

DeVonta Smith is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 6

Through Week 5, Josh Downs played 80 percent of IND snaps, drew 20 percent of the targets, earned 29 percent of the air yards and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

Josh Downs, Week 2 against KC: 54 of 65 snaps, 9 targets and 7 catches for 72 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 3 against HOU: 48 of 71 snaps, 11 targets and 5 catches for 77 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 4 against WAS: 51 of 66 snaps, 4 targets and 3 catches for 16 yards.

Josh Downs, Week 5 against PIT: 60 of 71 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 47 yards.

Through Week 3, DeVonta Smith played 93 percent of PHI snaps, drew 33 percent of the targets, earned 48 percent of the air yards and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

DeVonta Smith, Week 1 against WAS: 52 of 55 snaps, 6 targets and 3 catches for 53 yards.

DeVonta Smith, Week 2 against TEN: 67 of 76 snaps, 13 targets and 10 catches for 117 yards, 1 touchdown.

DeVonta Smith, Week 3 against CHI: 50 of 50 snaps, 8 targets and 6 catches for 65 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Josh Downs played 16 games for IND and scored 136.4 PPR points, 8.5 a game, finishing WR44.

He caught 58 of 88 targets for 566 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 14 red zone targets and 422 air yards.

He was on the field for 58 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, DeVonta Smith played 17 games for PHI and scored 201.8 PPR points, 11.9 a game, finishing WR20.

He caught 77 of 113 targets for 1008 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 10 red zone targets and 715 air yards.

He was on the field for 89 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 6 calls

• Start Josh Downs over Adonai Mitchell.
• Start A.J. Brown over Josh Downs.
• Start Josh Downs over Carnell Tate.
• Start A.J. Brown over DeVonta Smith.
• Start DeVonta Smith over Carnell Tate.
• Start DeVonta Smith over Chris Godwin Jr..