Fantasy Football Rankings Week 5: Sleepers, Projections, Starts, Josh Downs, Xavier Worthy and More

As we enter Week 5 of the fantasy football season, the bye is here, injuries are frustrating, and managers are under pressure. No one wants to be left out in Week 6, so let's make sure you have all the breakdowns, starts, sleepers and more you need to win.

Reminder! I always have some fun posts! It can be anything from cartoons to 80s players to things not to do if you're over 30 — feel free to suggest yours. And, I try to answer as many comments as humanly possible… but… if it's a simple WDIS within a position or “Who do I trade for?” Type questions, they are covered with 99% rank and link to trade charts. Let's go duck!

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Week 5 waiver wire
Week 5 SOS Rank (Coming Soon)
Fantasy 101 (Weather, Start/Sit, Trading, More)
🎙️All in Fantasy Podcast🎙️

Week 5 Fantasy Football Preview

BYES: DET, LAC, PHI, TEN

Buccaneers at Falcons, Thursday, 8:15 pm ET

• Slippers: Cade Otton, TE, TB — With Trey Palmer injured in addition to Jalen McMillan, the Buccaneers signed Sterling Shepard to the active roster, but Otton saw more action the last two games with those injuries.
• Note: Week 4 was Rashad White's first game with over 2.8 YPC (4.9), but it was the second-straight game in which he had under 50% RB touches and nearly the same number as Bucky Irving… Kyle Pitts averaged 2.02 YPRR while in- Line tight ends vs. 1.35 YPRR when lined up in the slot and 1.15 out wide… Granted, both top wideouts were sidelined, but Dallas Goedert was in-line 44.4% of the time in Week 4 — you know. , for some desperate pits hope.

Jets at Vikings, London, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET

• Sleepers: Mike Williams, WR, NYJ — Performs better against zone while Allen Lazard sees a boost against man, and the Vikings are a zone-heavy team (83.1%).
• Note: Brees Hall's utilization score (fantasylife) has dropped each week — 9.6, 9.3, 8.9, and 6.1 in Week 4… Aaron Rodgers has no touchdowns under pressure, he's 17th in EPA under pressure, and the Vikings are pressured just 43.6% of the time. With four rushers (third-most).

Bears at Panthers, Sunday, 1 pm ET

Bengals at Ravens, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

• Sleepers: Justice Hill, RB, BAL — The Bengals defense is unstoppable right now.
• NOTES: Ja'Mar Chase and Jackson Smith-Nzigba are the only two wideouts with not one – not one – off-target pass coming their way (Min. 20 Target) … Derrick Henry is seeing his highest yards before contact with the Ravens (YBC) (2.66 , fourth overall this year) had a previous high of 1.82 in his rookie season… Chase Brown ran explosive 6.9% to Jack Moss' 4.2%.

Dolphins at Patriots, Sunday, 1 pm ET

• Slippers: Ramondre Stevenson, RB, NE — The Dolphins are tied for the second-most missed tackles forced, behind only the Giants (0.19).
• Notes: Dolphins offense with Tua Tagovailoa in the Tyreek Hill era: 0.15 EPA/Dropback, 6.5 YD/Play, 8.8 YD/TGT and 5.5 TD/ATT% -0.21, 4.8, 6.7 and 2.3% PolynnL… on Patriots route, though Kendrick Bourne could return to training this week.

Browns at Commander, Sunday, 1 pm ET

• Sleepers: Jerome Ford, RB, CLE — De'Onta Foreman got some opportunities while leading, but it wasn't often, the Commanders continued to be efficient on offense and they struggled to stop elusive running backs.
• NOTES: Terry McLaurin leads the NFL in TmAirYD% at 56.9% with George Pickens (53.5%) and Malik Nabers (51.5%) second and third… He's set for another good week with a 2.22 YPRR against man coverage. up (1.38 vs. zone) ), and the Browns are the third-heaviest man coverage team (40.6%)… In addition, the Browns have 78.5% of their first reads (highest), Jayden Daniels has his first reads of 71.7% (seventh) and McLaurin has his first Aimed at the read team. First Read 31.6% (18th)… Deshaun Watson hasn't been that good even under pressure, ranking 25th without pressure with just 3.1 TD/ATT%.

Colts at Jaguars, Sunday, 1 pm ET

• Sleepers: Josh Downs, WR, IND — For clearance, I like him with Anthony Richardson or Joe Flacco.
• Note: Back on Downs, he had a TmTGT% of 25.0 with Richardson, and in his action, Flacco saw his way to 33.3%, but in a smaller game sample. And, Richardson averaged 11.0 YD/TGT while Flacco had 8.9 on downs, so again, that's why I like him… The Jaguars are the third-worst receiver in defensive EPA against QBs and WRs and the fourth-worst against the slot when Flacco starts. Michael Pittman Jr. and Downs Up.

Bills at Texans, Sunday, 1 pm ET

• Sleepers: Khalil Shaqir, WR, BUF — If anyone has success against the Texans pass defense (fourth-lowest catch% allowed), Shaqir will be easy to get open. More below…
• NOTES: Shaqir leads the Bills in first read% at 21.1 (Dalton Kincaid is second at 19.3%), and given the Texans' stout pass defense, the first read is often the target with the fourth-highest first read% allowed at 73.5… Get 1 for Nico Collins Poised to continue his claim at the No. WR spot, as he dominates zone coverage with a 3.19 YPRR against him (seventh-highest, fewest 5 targets), and the Bills run the zone 77.0% (ninth-highest).

Raiders at Broncos, Sunday, 4 pm ET

• Sleepers: Broncos DST? — This game looks gross
• NOTES: Courtland Sutton is the only player with 100% of his team's end zone targets (Nico Collins is second at 78%)… The Raiders' run game gets stuffed more than any team (51.9%, Chargers second at 51.4%), and the Broncos defense is sixth-best Staff % (48.6) is there.

Cardinals at 49ers, Sunday, 4 pm ET

• Sleeper: Start main options.
• Notes: Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. have the biggest and fifth biggest drop-offs, respectively, from TGT% on 1-2 downs to third down (3D) with McBride 23.5% to 4.3% (-19.2) and Harrison 28.4% to 13.0% ( -15.4)… Greg Dort's 34.8 3D TGT% (eighth-highest in league)… After giving up three double-digit scores in the first two weeks, only one wideout topped 3.2 points for the 49ers, which was Tutu Atwell (9.3). Sure, the 49ers played the Patriots last week, but skipping Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch — with or without Trey McBride — is smart.

Packers at Rams, Sunday, 4 pm ET

• Sleepers: Tutu Atwell, WR, LAR — The Packers were susceptible to big plays, and it might make you think DeMarcus Robinson, the Rams are designing plays to get Atwell some big-play shots, even in Week 4 with Jordan and Whittington out there a lot.
• Note: Jayden Reed is the only top 10 wideout without a red zone target (would have been here if Rushie Rice hadn't been hurt in Week 4)… Reed also leads the NFL in YPRR against the zone (4.40) and the Rams have the seventh-highest zone rate.. .Matthew Stafford surprisingly has 11.5 YD/Comp without Cooper Kupp and Puka Nakuya, compared to 9.9 with them.

Seahawks at Giants, Sunday, 4 pm ET

• Slippers: Whether Malik Nabers plays or not, Von'Dell Robinson is the reason…
• NOTES: Robinson leads the league with 53.7% of his team's third-down targets (next, George Pickens 38.7%)… He also has the biggest jump in TGT% on 1-2 versus 3D (36.8, with Calvin Ridley) at 26.6- A second — 12.5% ​​to 39.1%)… The Giants' run defense allows the most missed tackles per attempt (0.21), and Kenneth Walker has the third-most in forcing them (0.34).

Cowboys at Steelers, Sunday, 8 pm ET

• Sleepers: Naji Harris, RB, PIT — Not a true sleeper, but with Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson hurt in the workload, as well as the Cowboys running defense, Harris is an RB2.
• NOTES: Steelers lead the league in Staff% (51.1%, Packers second at 50.0%)… After the Browns did nothing in Week 1 against the Cowboys, teams are averaging 2.48 YPRR against them (last three weeks) with the Rams averaging 1.93.

Saints at Chiefs, Monday, 8:15 pm

• Sleepers: Xavier Worthy, WR, KC — not just because of Rashee Rice — see below
• NOTES: No running back topped 46 yards against the Chiefs and they allowed the third-lowest % on explosive runs (1.9 — Ravens and Vikings tied at 1.3%)… Saints defense allows lowest TD/Drive% (9.5 with Broncos second) at 10.6% ) but allowed 9.19 AirYD/TGT (second most) and 12 receptions of 20+ yards.

Some “buy low” and “sell high” (without context) since I had an ER visit to find out I have a hernia… duck that!

Purchased:

• Anthony Richardson, QB, IND
• Travis Etienne, RB, JAX
• Josh Jacobs, RB, GB
• DeVonta Smith, WR, PHI
• Debo Samuel, WR, SF
• Brandon Ayuk, WR, SF

Sell:

• Jayden Daniels, QB, WSH
• Sam Darnold, QB, MIN
• Brian Robinson Jr., RB, WSH
• Jack Moss, RB, CIN
• Davante Adams, WR, LV — only WR1 value — no guarantee the team will be traded to the Chiefs
• Chris Godwin, WR, TB
• Stefon Diggs, WR, HOU

Fun with ranks

This is from a reader suggestion — please, keep them coming! – And I will never It's thought, but it's a fun one. I didn't even expect to have 10, but it was easier than expected.

Top 10 Weather — How does it feel outside? And if not mentioned, all of them with low humidity!

1. Sunny and cloudy while around 70 degrees
2. Full snow — not fluffy, slushy, etc. — full, snowball quality, snow
3. No clouds, bright sun and low-60s
4. Lightning with thunder
5. Winds in the upper 70s
6. Heavy @$$ snow — ready to make foot plus stuff
7. A light mist on a cool evening – not heavy enough to obscure everything
8. Rainbow near 70 degrees post-rain
9. Low 80s … while at the beach
10. Cool afternoon showers on 80+ temp days

DFL: Any sub-50 temps or 85+ temps with monsoons and any humidity

Week 5 Fantasy Football Projections

🚨 head up 🚨 This may differ from my ranking, and my rank is I want players to start Added out of context, e.g., “requires maximum leverage, even if risky.” Also, based on 4-point TD, 6-point rest, and half-PPR for QB

Download link added on Thursday

Week 5 fantasy football rankings

🚨 head up 🚨

• Unfortunately, there is still no perfect widget out there. I know many see it on your phone, but 1) use the ranking widget on a PC/laptop/etc. If possible or 2) open in your phone's browser, especially for Android users, to make scrolling work (or Android people can try two finger scroll).
• ECR = “expert” consensus ranking (which is not updated consistently by everyone, so take with a grain of salt).
• The lineup is updated regularly, so keep checking up on the lineup.

(Top photo by Josh Downs: Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)