Fantasy Football News, Week 6: Ryan Torain, Tim Hightower Remain In Limbo

The Cleveland Browns travel to O.Co Coliseum to face the Oakland Raiders on Sunday and fantasy owners have to be wondering if Peyton Hillis' head is in the game at this point. He has been dealing with all sorts of contract drama that has resulted in players questioning him and his performance down considerably.

A year after playing his way onto the cover of Madden '12, Hillis has rushed for 197 yards through three of his team's four games. The latest drama involved his missing week three with strep throat. The latest report has him skipping it on the advice of his agent and him unsure if he would have sat if he had a contract. This is not exactly the kind of information that inspires a player to dominate the coming week.

Aside from his two touchdown performance against the Colts, Hillis has been fairly mediocre in fantasy play. He rushed for 11 touchdowns in 2010, but also added 1,177 yards so he wasn't exactly a one-trick pony. He now heads into Oakland this weekend looking to begin his fantasy and career redemption. The Raiders are a middle of the road defense, but if Hillis can get past the defensive line, the Raiders linebackers and secondary have some question marks in stopping the run. Of course, easier said than done sometimes.

Peyton Hill remains a guy you start, but another stinker of a game and it might be time to consider other options. You can't really trade him at this point because his value is low, so you might end up having to stash him on your bench until he straightens out his head. With bye weeks you likely need to use him this week, but another poor performance might require some consideration of alternatives.

For more on the Browns, check out Dawgs By Nature. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams. Follow @sbnationfantasy on Twitter.

San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner chatted with the media following Wednesday's practice and discussed the role of Ryan Mathews moving forward. Turner indicated that he believes Mathews' could benefit from getting into the range of 24-25 carries per game. Mathews had 16 carries and five receptions last week and 21 carries and four receptions the week before.

Mike Tolbert has had some opportunities to grab more playing time, but thus far he has struggled in the ground game. He has been a significant contributor in the passing game, but in rushing he has struggled. Turner's comments would seem to indicate Mathews will be in line for more carries this week against Denver. While Tolbert is still effective in the passing game, he still might lose more touches so the Chargers avoid telegraphing passing plays when they mix him in.

For now, Mathews is the guy to consistently play. He's not exactly a fantastic running back option, but given the bye weeks you are likely facing, he remains a solid play. Throw in a questionable Broncos defense this week and he should be solid.

For more on the Chargers, check out Bolts from the Blue. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams. Follow @sbnationfantasy on Twitter.

The Washington Redskins have found themselves in a situation that could bode well for them, but will only serve to frustrate fantasy football owners. Tim Hightower is reportedly dealing with a shoulder injury that limited his work on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. In his place, running back Ryan Torain rushed 19 times for 135 yards and as the Redskins described it, he ran like "he was possessed."

The good news for the Redskins is they now have three running backs (Roy Helu included) who can handle the rushing load. The bad news for fantasy owners is Mike Shanahan has said he will go with the hot guy. When Shanahan has dealt with running back injuries in the past he has employed extensive running back by committee strategies that have made it next to impossible to predict the upcoming week. For now the Redskins will be in such a situation, creating headaches for fantasy owners of Hightower, Torain and/or Helu.

If you are in such a situation, the best way to handle it for now is see how Hightower's shoulder responds this week. There were rumors Shanahan was prepared to bench Hightower last Monday Night. That would seem to further favor Torain. At this point, Torain is looking like the guy to start. The problem is that can and will likely change at a point you cannot predict. Welcome to the world of Mike Shanahan running backs.

For more on the Redskins, check out Hogs Haven. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams. Follow @sbnationfantasy on Twitter.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the NFL Network on Monday that he believes a decision will come soon as to Cedric Benson's three-game suspension. Benson was originally suspended two weeks ago for various violations of the league's personal conduct policy and immediately appealed the suspension. This joins in the farce that is the league's appeal process, which sees the commissioner's office hand down suspension and then hear appeals on those same suspensions.

For fantasy purposes, Benson owners are left a bit out in the dark as to when they'll lose him. Hopefully you're prepared with a backup running back, but if not, you might as well grab a backup option sooner rather than later because Benson will sit for some period of time.

If you're looking strictly at Bengals running backs, Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard are the two primary options. As it currently stands, Scott has rushed 13 times for 36 yards and Leonard has rushed six times for 51 yards. Leonard has been much more effective while Scott gets more of the carries. Scott likely will get the call when Benson finally sits, but Leonard could be the more intriguing option if Scott does not improve on his yards per carry.

For more on the Bengals, check out Cincy Jungle. For more on fantasy football, check out Fake Teams. Follow @sbnationfantasy on Twitter.