London Game Walkthrough Week 6: Parker Washington, International Star
Welcome to the Week 6 London Game Walkthrough.
In this article, I'll outline critical fantasy football context for a glorious international football game.
(The stats below are from PFF, NFLfastR, rbsdm.com, RotoViz, FantasyLabs, Fantasy Life, Fantasy Points, ESPN, FTN, and NFL Next Gen).
PROE data is available for subscribers at the bottom of the post.
Texans vs. Jaguars, 9:30 AM
Texans
Implied Team Total: 20
Nico Collins has been a huge factor for the Texans this season. He's been productive, sometimes extremely so in his three games played.
But Collins' impact was just as clear when he wasn't on the field. In those two games, CJ Stroud posted -2.0 EPA per game with a 44% success rate. He looked a lot like Cam Ward over that stretch. And Stroud was playing the Bengals and Colts, neither of which is a shutdown defense.
In Collins' three games, Stroud has been a different QB, averaging 10.5 EPA with a 54% success rate.
For the season, Stroud has been respectable, ranking QB16 in EPA per game and QB13 in success rate. And he's trending in the right direction.
Stroud's reliance on Collins is likely related to his aggressive passing style. Stroud's 10.6 aDOT ranks behind only Lamar Jackson (10.8). And if consistently pushing the ball downfield, it helps to have a WR who can win deep
The Texans are betting that Stroud will now have two deep options, having traded a 2nd-round pick for Marvin Harrison Jr. DeMeco Ryans confirmed that Harrison will play this week, although likely in a part-time role as he learns the offense.
Harrison has the type of profile that you'd expect when the No. 4 overall pick gets traded in his third season.
Clearly, the Texans plan to use Harrison more, or they wouldn't have traded for him. And that new role is likely to be more than just clear-out routes. But even when Harrison was a part of the Cardinals offense in 2024 and 2025, he had aDOTs of 14.2 and 13.9. He is a downfield receiver. This week, Harrison is likely to have a bigger impact on his teammates than directly impacting the box score.
For Stroud, Harrison looks like a positive development. For Collins, I think the impact is mostly positive as well, especially if Harrison is in a limited role. Harrison should help draw some attention without drawing a big target share.
And as the clear engine of the offense, Collins' role is stable. He's a WR1.
Behind Collins, things get dicey. Harrison's exact playing time is unknown. Meanwhile, three WRs—Kayshonne Boutte, Xavier Hutchinson, and Jaylin Noel—have already been splitting up two WR roles.
Noel actually saw the highest route participation last week.
Boutte was heavily targeted as a deep threat last week, but is the most likely to be directly replaced by Harrison.
Hutchinson has been splitting Noel in slot but seems to be losing that battle, except he's been very efficient when actually on the field.
The non-Collins WRs are really short-slate only plays, and honestly, you're just hoping for some high leverage targets to go your way. It's hard to have a strong preference for any of them, though Noel looks like the safest bet for routes of the bunch.
At tight end, Dalton Schultz saw his routes decline against the Titans, with Cade Stover, Foster Moreau, and Brevin Jordan seeing playing time as well. However, this was as part of a 26-3 win over the Titans, so it's not clear how big of a red flag this really is.
To me, it looks like the Texans are interested in using more of a tight end rotation than they did at the start of the season. But the route participation for Moreau (17%), Stover (17%), and Jordan (8%) is all pretty tame. Collectively, they are annoying. But no one is directly challenging Schultz's starter status. Schultz is a high-end TE2.
Individually, outside of Collin, playing time rates are a concern for Texans receivers. However, this game environment could boost the Texans' overall dropback volume.
The Jaguars have been elite against the run this year.
They have been solid against the pass, but are allowing explosive plays while also having a mediocre success rate.
The Jaguars also have a good offense, which has also helped push opponents to the air.
Meanwhile, the Texans have been a balanced team, with a slight lean to the pass on 1st down.
And this is a team that just lost David Montgomery to a groin injury. That leaves Woody Marks to shoulder the rushing load.
Marks has been splitting with Montgomery this year and has not run well. He's also been disappointingly uninvolved as a receiver.
Marks is a volume-based high-end RB3. But he's also a reason for the Texans to prioritize the passing game.