We all knew that this would be a season unlike any other coming into it. Unlike the NBA and NHL, the idea of placing every NFL team, plus coaches, referees, trainers and other personnel was never going to be realistic.
So here we are in Week 5, and already had two games that were pushed back until later in the season, and another couple of games pushed back later in the week they were already scheduled.
In fact, when Tennessee faces off against Buffalo on Tuesday night, it will be only the third time in the last 75 years that the NFL has played a game on a Tuesday – once in 2010, due to a blizzard in a game between Philadelphia and Minnesota, and way back in 1946, when a match up between the New York Giants and Boston Yanks was pushed back because of rain.
Add that to the fact that there have been many injuries to high-profile fantasy football players, and it has been extremely tough to field a roster that competes with those that have been lucky to not lose their players to injury or sudden bye week.
On a side note, I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan, but Dak Prescott is a stand up individual, and that was heart breaking, I hope he recovers from his devastating ankle injury and makes a full recovery for next year.
Other than that, let’s go over the fantasy football recap for week 5!
Stock Up
Quarterbacks
Ryan Fitzpatrick – Miami Dolphins
Amazingly only rostered on 21% of Yahoo rosters, Fitzpatrick now has 4 consecutive weeks over 23 fantasy points in traditional leagues. You will definitely see him again tomorrow on my waiver wire week 6 edition.
In this weeks game, against the San Francisco offense, which granted has been ravaged with injuries, Fitzpatrick threw for 350 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns while only having 6 incomplete passes the entire game.
Jared Goff – Los Angeles Rams
After a clunker last week against the New York Giants, Goff rebounded against the Washington Football Team, passing for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns total, 1 on the ground and two through the air.
Up next for Goff is the same San Francisco defense that Fitzpatrick just lit up, so he should be in another good week next week.
Derek Carr – Las Vegas Raiders
Carr had other ideas, tossing 3 touchdown passes on 347 yards passing, which included scores of 59 and 72 yards. The team has had a rough schedule to start, facing against some of the best teams in the league, but with a bye week up next then a favorable schedule after who knows how far the Raiders and Carr can go.
Honorable Mention
Granted they were playing the Falcons, who just fired their head coach and gm after starting 0-5, Teddy Bridgewater had a solid game with 313 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. A game against the Bears is up next, and we will see exactly where Bridgewater is in the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks. Ben Roethlisberger came back after the unexpected bye week, and had 3 touchdown passes, all to rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool, who was on fire Sunday. Gardner Minshew threw for over 300 yards in his second straight game, and 3 out of the last 4. Detroit is up next for Jacksonville.
Running Backs
Mike Davis – Carolina Panthers
If you were fortunate enough to pick up Davis after Christian McCaffrey went down, he has more than done a good job filling in, especially in PPR leagues.
This week he had 89 rushing yards on 16 attempts, and caught 9 of his 10 targets for 60 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately for Davis and fantasy teams he is on, McCaffrey will be back soon, but until he is then Davis will be a solid RB1 each week.
Todd Gurley – Atlanta Falcons
Gurley has been picking up steam lately, and had his best game of the year Sunday against the Panthers. 121 rushing yards on only 14 carries, plus a rushing touchdown, while adding 4 catches and another 29 yards.
We will see how the Falcons look with a new coach, but one would think that they would focus on Gurley moving forward.
Miles Sanders – Philadelphia Eagles
Sanders showed the home run ability, running for a 74-yard touchdown and scored twice on the day in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Unfortunately for Sanders owners, the Eagles look to be playing from behind often, and will be passing more than running, which limits Sanders numbers.
Honorable Mention
Darrel Henderson was back at lead back for the Rams, rushing 15 times for 38 yards, 3 receptions for 30 yards, and 2 total touchdowns. This was 3 of 4 weeks in which he has had over 18 fantasy points in traditional PPR leagues. Chase Edmonds continues to take opportunities from Kenyan Drake, particularly in the passing game. Finishing with 36 rushing yards and 5 receptions for 56 yards, plus a 29-yard touchdown one has to wonder when he will take over the starting job. Myles Gaskin continues to be a feel good story, rushing 16 times for 57 yards and 5 catches for 34 yards with a rushing touchdown. His lowest game this year was 7.70 fantasy points, and fits in nicely as a RB2, getting to double digit fantasy points 3 of 5 games.
Wide Receivers
Chase Claypool – Pittsburgh Steelers
The star rookie out of Notre Dame exploded onto the scene on Sunday, catching 7 of his 11 targets (both number more than the entire season combined coming in), 110 yards and 3 touchdowns.
And if that wasn’t enough, he added a rushing touchdown on 1 of his 3 rushing attempts. It looks like the Steelers used the impromptu bye week to figure out how to get Claypool more involved, and although every week will not be like this, I would bet he will be targeted like this going forward.
Travis Fulgham – Philadelphia Eagles
On the other side of the field on Sunday, Fulgham took advantage of the opportunity due to so many injuries on the Eagles team.
He caught 10 of his 13 targets, for 152 yards and a touchdown, although the Eagles ultimately lost to the Steelers Sunday. In only his second week playing with the team, it looks like him and Wentz will be able to connect many more times down the road.
Brandin Cooks – Houston Texans
I remember a friend asking me about playing Cooks in the season opener for Texans, and thought it would be a good play. The Texans had traded away Deandre Hopkins over the offseason, and surely Cooks would be able to see a lot of action against the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense.
I was way off, and Cooks ended up with only 2 catches on 5 targets, both in the 4th quarter. The finally on Sunday they decided to get him the ball, targeting him 12 times, catching 8 of them, for 161 yards and a touchdown. Maybe with a new coach his production will go up moving forward.
Honorable Mention
Adam Thielen is quietly having a good season, with 9 receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. Although Kirk Cousins has struggled and Justin Jefferson has emerged, Thielen will still be a WR1 for the Vikings run-first offense. We already knew DK Metcalf was good, but he is slowly taking away the top receiver spot from Tyler Lockett. He has had at least 92 yards receiving in every contest, and scored 5 touchdowns on the season, including 2 on Sunday. Preston Williams had a nice game on Sunday, catching 4 of his 5 targets for 106 yards and a touchdown. With the resurgent Miami Dolphins playing well, he would be a good addition to your fantasy team.
Tight Ends
Darren Waller – Las Vegas Raiders
Waller has rebounded from a very poor week 3 match up against the New England Patriots with consecutive double digit fantasy outputs in PPR leagues.
After only getting 4 targets in the week 3 game, he has had 12 and 7 in the last two week, catching 5 of them for 48 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.
Mike Gesicki – Miami Dolphins
Gesicki is yet another Dolphin that has been doing good this year, especially Sunday against the 49ers. He caught 5 of 6 targets for 91 yards, and looks to build on this game.
As of now he is a touchdown dependent TE1, but if he continues to get those targets the numbers will follow.
Jimmy Graham – Chicago Bears
Graham is still feeling out the Bears offense, and with Nick Foles just taking over at quarterback Graham must now learn to work with him.
That being said, even though he only had 5 targets last Thursday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2 of them were in the end zone, and he caught one of them with one hand.
Going forward he will be a huge red zone target and if the Bears offense ever starts clicking, Graham’s numbers will jump up.
Honorable Mention
Darren Fells only caught 2 passes, but one of them was for 44 yards and a touchdown. The Rams have two good tight ends, which makes it tough to start either of them for fantasy purposes, but Gerald Everett caught all 4 of his passes for 90 yards on Sunday. The Giants used tight end Evan Engram in the running game Sunday against the Cowboys, rushing two times for 9 yards and a touchdown. he only caught one pass outside of that though, so he probably isn’t worth starting unless you have no other option.
Stock Down
Quarterbacks
Philip Rivers – Indianapolis Colts
Rivers has not had a great season so far, bu this Sunday was by far his worst game of the year. He threw for only 243 yards, and 2 interceptions, while not throwing any touchdowns.
Joe Burrow – Cincinnati Bengals
Burrow was bound to have rough games in his first season in the NFL, and it happened Sunday against Baltimore. He only threw for 183 yards, with an interception and a lost fumbled, as his team only managed to score 3 points on the day.
Matt Ryan – Atlanta Falcons
There were quite a few quarterbacks that had rough games this week, but since Ryan’s head coach and general manager got fired after the game, it seems fitting to put him here.
He had his second straight game without a touchdown pass, while only throwing for 226 yards and an interception. Missing Julio Jones has definitely hurt Ryan and the entire offense, hopefully when he comes back they can at least get back to scoring some points.
Also had Rough Weeks
When you are benched at the half, you probably had a rough week. That was Jimmy Garoppolo’s week, throwing for 77 yards and 2 interceptions in the first half. C.J. Beathard didn’t do much better in the second half, throwing for 94 yards and a fumble, but did at least throw a touchdown. Overall a bad day for the San Francisco 49ers. Daniel Jones shows flashes in his young career, but makes mistakes that cost his team, like the lost fumble that was returned for a touchdown as the Cowboys tied the game up at 17 yesterday, after the Giants had been up 17-3 minutes earlier.
Running Backs
Jerick McKinnon – San Francisco 49ers
We knew that when Raheem Mostert came back that McKinnon’s work load would be decreased, but not this much. He only rushed the ball one time, for 0 yards (yes, you read that right), and caught 2 passes for 5 yards.
Unless Mostert gets hurt again the outlook for McKinnon is not promising.
D’Earnest Johnson – Cleveland Browns
With Nick Chubb going down last week, Johnson stepped in and rushed 13 times for 95 yards. This had most fantasy football players thinking he would be a good waiver wire add coming into week 5.
We forgot that he got those 95 yards against the dismal Dallas Cowboys defense. Indianapolis made things slightly more difficult, as Johnson only rushed 8 times for 32 yards, and 28 of that was on a single rush in the final quarter!
Things do not get any easier for Johnson next week, as the Browns face off against division rival Pittsburgh Steelers, and Kareem Hunt is still in front of him on the depth chart.
Malcolm Brown – Los Angeles Rams
After an impressive week one performance, Malcolm Brown has been relegated to back up status, only getting 8 rushes and catching 1 pass against the Washington Football Team, as Darrell Henderson continues to dominate usage from the Rams backfield.
Also Avoid
Le’Veon Bell is still coming back from injury, but until he shows that he has the burst he had while he was with Pittsburgh, stay away from playing him in any fantasy format. He only had 13 carries for 60 yards and 1 target out of the backfield. James Robinson had a tough game, his first of the year not getting at least 10 points in PPR leagues. he had 13 rushes, 48 yards, and 5 catches for 22 yards but lost a key fumble. He should bounce back next week against the Lions. Antonio Gibson is stuck in a RBBC situation in Washington, and until he begins to take more snaps from McKissic he will not be serviceable unless he scores.
Wide Receivers
Tyler Lockett – Seattle Seahawks
A couple weeks ago, Lockett was the golden boy in the Seahawks passing attack, scoring 3 touchdowns. Since then, he has only caught 6 passes for 83 yards total in the last two games, as DK Metcalf is beginning to emerge as Russell Wilson’s favorite target.
That being said, defenses will soon be forced to choose between focusing on Lockett or Metcalf, opening up more opportunities for Lockett again.
Tyler Boyd – Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals as a whole had a rough day against the Ravens on Sunday, so we shouldn’t be too hard on Boyd. Yet only catching 4 passes for 42 yards is the worst game he has had since week 1.
They have another tough match up against the Indianapolis Colts next week before things lighten up for Boyd and the Bengals offense.
JuJu Smith-Schuster – Pittsburgh Steelers
With the emergence of Chase Claypool, Smith-Schuster might be relegated to the second option for Big Ben. He only had 5 targets, catching 4 of them, while the rookie had 11 targets.
It remains to be seen if Smith-Schuster will benefit from defenses focusing on Claypool, but for now it is tough having Juju on your fantasy team.
Had a Tough Week
Terry McLaurin struggled along with the rest of the Washington Football Team, only catching 3 of his 7 targets for 24 yards. Fortunately the schedule gets easier for Washington, with their next 3 games against NFC East opponents. Justin Jefferson fell back to earth, only catching 3 passes for 23 yards. Amari Cooper struggled against the Giants on Sunday catching 2 passes for 23 yards, and DJ Chark finished with 3 receptions for 16 yards before leaving in the 4th quarter with an ankle injury.
Tight Ends
Dalton Schultz – Dallas Cowboys
After 3 straight games with at least 4 catches, Schultz had a dud on Sunday, only catching 1 pass for 6 yards. More importantly, Dak Prescott went out with that gruesome ankle injury, so the Cowboys offense will not be near as potent as it was, and that helped players like Schultz.
Zach Ertz – Philadelphia Eagles
Ertz has had a tough year, but had his worst outing of the season on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He did get 6 targets, but only 1 catch for 6 yards.
With Dallas Goedert going out with an injury, it would have made sense for Ertz to go back to getting enough targets to be a TE1 each week, but until that happens you almost have to sit him for other up and coming tight ends.
Hayden Hurst – Atlanta Falcons
Hurst struggled along with the rest of the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. He only caught 2 of his 6 targets for 8 yards. Matt Ryan has been looking bad, especially without Julio Jones.
If you have other options at the tight end position you may want to play them until the Falcons offense gets back on track.
One Down Week
When your quarterback is struggling, it can be hard to put up numbers no matter how good you are. That was the case for George Kittle, who caught 4 of his 8 targets for 44 yards, which was as good as anybody on the team. Eric Ebron has shown flashes on the Pittsburgh Steelers, but with so many weapons sometimes he gets lost in the shuffle. He caught 5 passes for 43 yards, but did have a lost fumble. Tyler Higbee was supposed to have a breakout season, but has only had one great game, in which he scored more than he has in the other 4 games combined.
Conclusion
As this crazy NFL season continues, most players have shown who they are going to be by this point. Unfortunately, sometimes that means inconsistent, and you have to guess which week they will put up numbers, like Robert Woods this week.
How is your season going? Have the unexpected bye weeks hurt your team yet? Let me know in the comments below!
Leave a Reply