Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 quarterbacks to target for Week 6

After last week’s bye week quagmire, fantasy football owners get a slight reprieve in Week 6 -- at least when it concerns the quarterback position. Only two teams get the week off this time (Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneeers) and their QBs aren’t quite big names in fantasy.

Sure, Sam Bradford looks good and will be a solid streaming option this year, but you’re probably not starting him every week. Same deal with Jameis Winston. For most other owners, it will be business as usual. Tom Brady is back, so you can finally free up that bench spot you’ve been saving on him. Carson Palmer and Cam Newton should be cleared from their concussions in time to play this week. And Russell Wilson is closer to full health after resting in his bye week.

Things are looking up, unless you don’t own any of those big names. In that case, you’ll likely be looking at the waiver wire again to see which QBs are worth picking up. We’re here to help you out with the top five recommended players, owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! standard leagues.

It’s been hard to use Mariota in fantasy, since he’s been one of the worst quarterbacks in football this season. However, the former Oregon Duck showed signs of life against the Miami Dolphins, throwing for three touchdowns and running in another score. It was particularly encouraging to see Mariota using his legs, since he hasn’t done much running this year. Mariota remains an inconsistent QB stuck in an offense that doesn’t fit his skill set, but he’s a streamable option against the Cleveland Browns this week.

Flacco avoided turnovers and finished his Week 5 game with 210 yards and a touchdown against Washington. He could’ve had a bigger stat line, but a last-minute touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman got overturned on replay. The Ravens also fired offensive coordinator Marc Trestman, which means they’ll possibly re-commit to the run game, but Flacco should continue being a viable streamer. He gets the New York Giants next, whose secondary is ravaged by injuries.

Hoyer might have just taken Jay Cutler’s job for good this season. The Bears couldn’t beat the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, but Hoyer filled up the stat sheet with 397 passing yards, two touchdowns, and zero picks. He has yet to throw an interception this season and is playing smart, mistake-free football, a far cry from Cutler’s devil-may-care style. This train may go off the rails at any moment -- it’s still Brian Hoyer, after all -- but fantasy owners can keep using him when he faces the Jacksonville Jaguars this week.

Barring a setback, the Broncos should have Siemian back in time for Thursday’s game after he sat out Week 5 with a shoulder injury. Rookie Paxton Lynch had his moments, but ultimately didn’t look ready for prime time and won’t be pushing Siemian for the starting job anytime soon. Going up against the San Diego Chargers’ injury-plagued defense, Siemian should re-establish his borderline-QB1 value if the shoulder holds up.

Here’s the Hail Mary deep dive of the week. Blaine Gabbert was awful yet again and the 49ers are finally considering a quarterback change. Kaepernick recently restructured his contract to get rid of the injury guarantees, which strongly suggest he’ll get the start against the Buffalo Bills. It’s not an easy spot -- the last time we saw Kaepernick on a football field, he looked lost and unsure of himself. But the talent should still be there, and who knows, maybe he’ll take to Chip Kelly’s offense better than we realize. The schedule loosens up afterwards, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7 and New Orleans Saints in Week 9 after a bye, so for now Kaepernick is only a bench stash in two-QB leagues.