Fantasy Fallout: Week 5

By: Billy Gabelman (StatATL) and Mike Johnson (Mjohnson86)

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Daily Dose newsletter, our “Fantasy Fallout” day. In this article, you will get a quick rundown of the relevant things we learned from the week’s games from Thursday through Sunday. This won’t talk about every single player and we usually won’t spend time on studs who go nuts (no one needs to be told to start CeeDee Lamb right now!), but rather, the idea is to update you on usage trends, injuries, and other relevant things to help your decisions with your teams.

Bucs at Falcons

• Kirk Cousins threw for over 500 yards and four TDs, for only the 13th-such occurrence in NFL history. This led to Drake London (who we wrote up last week) and Darnell Mooney producing their career best fantasy outputs, as they both surpassed 30 points in PPR scoring.

• The Buccaneers’ secondary has become a matchup to target with opposing WRs as London, Mooney, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Courtland Sutton have all posted their best fantasy lines of the season against Tampa Bay.

• Tyler Allgeier continues to be involved for Atlanta, seeing a season-high 38% snap count on Thursday. Like the Jets’ Brealon Allen, Allgeier is a strong handcuff who has weekly starter value even without an injury to Bijan Robinson. 

• The Buccaneers’ backfield has evolved into a 50/50 split between rookie Bucky Irving and Rachaad White. Since Week 1, White has 36 rush attempts while Irving has 35. 

• Mike Evans and Chris Godwin continue to be heavily involved in the offense, but it was Evans who secured two TD catches in this one for the bigger fantasy day. Both remain every-week starters.

• Baker Mayfield produced his fourth game (out of five) this season with 20 or more fantasy points. He remains a weekly starter and a cheaper trade target / waiver pickup for any team needing QB help.

Jets at Vikings

• Aaron Jones left the game early with an apparent hip injury. If he were to miss time, Ty Chandler would be in line for an increased workload and should be a priority add if available on waivers. Jones has been an integral part of the Vikings’ offense, so this is definitely an injury to monitor. The Vikings do have a Week 6 bye, so he has some time.

• The chemistry we’ve been talking about between Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson finally seems to be coming together, as Wilson exploded for a 13-101-1 line on 22 (!!) targets.

• In his second game back from injury, Jordan Addison took a back seat to Justin Jefferson, but he saw eight targets as the Vikings improved to 5-0.

Panthers at Bears

• Caleb Williams produced the best game of his young career, throwing for 300+ yards and two TDs to DJ Moore, who remains his preferred target. 

• Miles Sanders took a complete back seat to Chuba Hubbard, who accounted for 95 yards and a TD on 17 touches in a blowout loss. Hubbard remains a RB2 in season-long leagues at this time until Jonathon Brooks is activated.

• D’Andre Swift accounted for 120 total yards and a TD, but he yielded two goal-line TDs to Roschon Johnson. Johnson is an interesting waiver pickup if available in your league.

Browns at Commanders

• Jayden Daniels continued to impress with his fourth game of 20+ fantasy points already this season. He remains locked in as an every-week starter.

• Terry McLaurin went for 100 yards receiving for the second time in three weeks as his chemistry continues to build with Daniels. McLaurin is a WR I’d be targeting in a trade as this Commanders offense is likely to continue to improve.

• Amari Cooper saw double-digit targets again in Week 5 and has at least eight targets in every game this season. He is a buy-low candidate, as his target share continues to be elite.

• Deshaun Watson was once again putrid, as he has yet to throw for 200 yards this season. It feels like a matter of time before Jameis Winston gets a start. 

Dolphins at Patriots

• Despite not getting the start, Rhamondre Stevenson dominated the touches out of the backfield on his way to 92 total yards and a TD. He remains a weekly starter.

• De’Von Achane left the game in the first half after suffering a concussion. A situation to monitor. Raheem Mostert saw 21 touches and would be the biggest beneficiary of an extended absence from Achane. Rookie Jaylen Wright also saw 13 carries and would be an intriguing speculative waiver add if Achane were to miss time. Miami has a Week 6 bye, so there is a good chance we don’t get much information for a while.

• Tyreek Hill saw more involvement this week with nine targets and narrowly missed a touchdown reception. While Tyler Huntley limits his upside, Hill probably needs to remain in your starting lineup.

Colts at Jaguars

• Tank Bigsby out-snapped Travis Etienne for the first time in his career today on his way to 101 yards and two TDs on 13 rushes. 

• In the absence of Evan Engram, rookie Brian Thomas Jr. (BTJ) has really come into his own, posting a 5-122-1 line in this one. Through five weeks, BTJ leads the team in targets and is top 10 in the league in scoring among WRs.

• Making his first start of the year, Joe Flacco exploded for 359 yards and three passing TDs. If Anthony Richardson were to miss extended time, Flacco would be a weekly option at QB.

• Josh Downs led the Colts in both receptions and targets for the second straight week. He makes an intriguing trade target, but his value appears to be largely tied to Richardson’s status.

Bills at Texans

• Nico Collins left the game in the first half after injuring his hamstring on a 60-yard touchdown reception. This will be a situation to monitor, as Collins entered the week as the WR1 in fantasy and was off to a hot start. Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell would see their value spike in the absence of Collins, while C.J. Stroud’s production could become a bit more volatile.

• Buffalo struggled to get much going through the air with Khalil Shakir sidelined. Keon Coleman made a big play at a key time that should earn him more opportunities going forward.

• For the second straight week, Dalton Kincaid led the Bills in targets. Stay patient if you own Kincaid.

Ravens at Bengals

• In one of the most exciting games we have seen all season, almost all the stars came out in this one. Lamar Jackson threw for 348 and four TDs, only to be one-upped by Burrow’s 392 and five passing TDs.

• Both Ja’Marr Chase (10-193-2) and Tee Higgins (9-83-2) had huge games and accounted for 67% of the Bengals’ targets.

• The TEs remained involved for Baltimore, including Mark Andrews, who had a season-best 55 yards. However three of the four TDs went to other TEs (two for Likely and one for Kolar). It’s hard to trust Andrews at this point due to the spread-out nature of the Ravens’ passing attack and their propensity to lean on their running game. Streaming TEs in good matchups or trading Andrews (if there is any value left to get) are both reasonable options.

• Zay Flowers turned his third double-digit target game of the year into 111 yards receiving. He remains a volatile weekly starter but has 25-point upside and should be started every week.

Raiders at Broncos

• Brock Bowers has three games with at least eight targets. In those games, he is averaging 7.5 receptions and 84 yards with a touchdown. Considering the fact that Davante Adams has probably played his last snap as a Raider, Bowers seems likely to see 8+ targets most weeks and should be viewed as a top-three TE going forward.

• Raiders QB Gardner Minshew was benched in the second half and replaced by second-year QB Aidan O’Connell. Head coach Antonio Pierce declined to name a starter for Week 6, but a change seems to be imminent.

• The Broncos’ RB room has settled into roughly a 65-35 split with Javonte Williams having the bigger piece of the pie than Jaleel McLaughlin.

• Bo Nix targeted 11 different players on his 24 pass attempts. None of the WRs or TEs were targeted more than four times. Good luck finding value from this group while they continue this kind of player usage.

Cardinals at 49ers

• Kyler Murray set the tone for this game with a 50-yard TD run on the game’s opening possession. Murray’s rushing ability gives him an elite weekly floor, but he will need his coaches to be more aggressive with their play calling to reach the ceiling of other top QBs.

• Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Michael Wilson combined for 21 of the 27 targets in the passing game. McBride and Harrison are weekly starters, while Wilson can be a consideration as a fill-in when injuries and bye weeks hit.

• Jordan Mason lost a critical fumble in the second half and failed to score a touchdown in this game. Through five games, Mason has had three games where he ran for 100+ yards and scored a touchdown while being held under 100 yards and failing to score in the other two.

• Brandon Aiyuk came to life with nearly as many receiving yards in Week 5 as he had in the first four weeks combined. 

• George Kittle has now scored a touchdown in three of four games he has played in this season and leads all tight ends in fantasy points through five weeks.

Giants at Seahawks

• Giants running back Devin Singletary missed this game after dominating the backfield the first four weeks. Eric Gray started the game and caught three passes for 50 yards on the opening drive before fumbling at the goal line on a play that the Seahawks returned 101 yards for their own TD, a 14-point swing. Gray was severely out-snapped by rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. after that, as Tracy posted 130 total yards on 19 touches. One would think Tracy has earned at least a timeshare even when Singletary returns.

• Darius Slayton had a monster game with eight receptions, 122 yards, and a touchdown in the absence of Malik Nabers. Slayton, Nabers, and Wan’Dale Robinson constitute an underrated receiving corps.

• Seattle struggled in this game after its Monday night loss in Detroit and now hosts the 49ers on Thursday night in what will be their third game in eleven days.

• The Seahawks basically didn’t even try to run the ball in this game, with only seven running back carries compared to 40 Geno Smith pass attempts.

Packers at Rams

• Tucker Kraft leads all TEs in PPR points over the last two weeks while only being outscored by five wide receivers. He is a weekly starter, as the Packers have a very good upcoming schedule.

• The Packers rotated four wide receivers this week, with three of them (Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Malik Heath) playing 75% of the snaps and Bo Melton playing 50% of the snaps. Romeo Doubs should return next week and they should settle into a regular three-WR set of him, Reed, and Wicks.

• Wicks disappointed as he struggled with drops but is an athletic player who is a great route runner and can create separation and make plays on the ball. Better days ahead.

• Highly touted rookie running back Blake Corum finally saw some game action in this one and looked good. He would be an immediate low-end RB1 if Kyren Williams ever gets hurt.

• The Rams have a bye in Week 6 and expect to get Cooper Kupp back in Week 7, so it is hard to take much away from their pass-game usage in this one.

Cowboys at Steelers

• Cowboys WR Jalen Tolbert stepped up in the absence of Brandin Cooks and should be a factor going forward with Cooks on IR.

• RB Rico Dowdle has officially taken over the Dallas backfield and is a weekly RB2 or Flex consideration going forward, depending on the matchup.

• The passing numbers for Justin Fields came down to earth this week after his massive game against the Colts in Week 4. He averaged around 5.0 yards per attempt in a low-volume passing attack. Pat Freiermuth and George Pickens saw their production plummet as well and will be tough to trust on a weekly basis.

• Najee Harris failed to do anything notable as the clear leader of the Steelers’ backfield for the second straight week. He had fine performances in both Week 4 and Week 5, but nothing close to what his managers were expecting.

Join us Tuesday for Week 6 Waiver Targets!