Thursday Fantasy Fliers, Week 6: Hakeem Nicks, Coby Fleener

The NFL's Thursday extravaganza is kind of a big deal this week, with Indianapolis and Houston entering the night tied atop the AFC South.

Fantasy-wise, the matchup features our game's top-scoring quarterback (Andrew Luck), the No. 4 and No. 6 running backs (Arian Foster, Ahmad Bradshaw), three top-30 receivers (DeAndre Hopkins, Reggie Wayne, TY Hilton), a sneaky-good tight end (Dwayne Allen), plus a pair of top-12 kickers and defenses.

[Make Sunday even more fun. Play in FanDuel's Week 6 fantasy football league, win cash]

So we'll have fantasy starters all over the field in tonight's game, in all phases. Bankable assets. Houston has been a relatively top-heavy team for fantasy purposes, with all the touchdowns essentially owned by three players: Foster, Hopkins and J.J. Watt. But the Colts have spread the wealth a bit more, while also generating a lot of wealth. Indy ranks second in the NFL in total yards per game (441.6) and first in scoring (31.2).

Luck leads the league in both passing yards (1,617) and touchdowns (14), yet no Colts wideout currently ranks among the top-20 receivers in fantasy scoring. He's thrown TD passes to six different players, but somehow his most heavily targeted receiver (Hilton) isn't one of them. Indy's receiving corps is a deep group, and Luck utilizes everyone. Thus, the Colts' roster is a good place to look for fliers...

WR Hakeem Nicks (33 percent owned, 5 percent started) – Nicks isn't for everyone, I'll freely admit. If you're playing in a 10-team league, he's not really on the radar. But he's still running as the No. 3 WR in this offense, in terms of both snaps and targets. Check the full-season usage of this team's receivers and tight ends, via Pro Football Focus:

Reggie Wayne – 329 snaps, 44 targets, 30 receptions
TY Hilton – 286 snaps, 49 targets, 31 receptions
Dwayne Allen – 273 snaps, 20 targets, 15 receptions
Coby Fleener – 247 snaps, 19 targets, 11 receptions
Hakeem Nicks – 234 snaps, 25 targets, 15 receptions
Jack Doyle – 135 snaps, 6 targets, 6 receptions
Donte Moncrief – 62 snaps, 9 targets, 8 receptions

Nicks has seen six targets in each of the Colts' last two games, and he has a pair of touchdown catches so far this season (which is two more than he had last year in New York). He's in the discussion if you're looking for a WR3 in a deep-ish league. Houston's defense has allowed the tenth-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season, so the matchup isn't the worst.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Basketball: Sign up and join a league today!]

TE Coby Fleener (22 percent owned, 10 percent started) – Would I prefer to roll with Allen, if you made me start a Colts tight end? Yes, I would. Anyone would. But Allen is 61 percent owned, and thus not eligible for flier status. Also, as you can see above, it's not as if Allen's opportunities have dwarfed Fleener's to this point in the year. Coby saw the field for 45 snaps in Week 5, so he wasn't stuck on the sideline. I'm using him this week as a Kelce placeholder in two leagues, which means he's on the approved list. Here's hoping he gives us an end-zone spike.