Streaming Sleepers: Week 5

By :: Juan Carlos Blanco (@jcblanco22)

Each week, Streaming Sleepers will highlight at least five non-QB skill-position players and one team defense that currently have start or roster rates of 20% or less in season-long leagues but may be prudent options this week due to matchups and other circumstances, particularly in deeper formats. 

Additionally, the plays suggested here could be viable DFS large-field tournament options for the coming slate and are likely to carry modest ownership rates in that format as well.

Woody Marks, HOU at BAL - 15% start rate

Marks saw his snap share climb to a season-high 56% in the Week 4 laugher over the Titans, with game script affording him the extensive opportunity and the rookie fourth-round pick delivering handsomely. Marks posted 119 total yards and both a rushing and receiving TD on 21 touches.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans already stated he’s excited to see how much more work Marks can handle, and we certainly can’t ask for much better telegraphing as fantasy players. A road date with the Ravens would never have been a targetable spot before the season started, but to say that script has been flipped is an understatement. 

Not only do the losses of Nnanmdi Madubuike (IR, neck) and Roquan Smith (hamstring) brighten Marks’ outlook, but Travis Jones (knee) and Kyle Van Noy (hamstring) could be additional absentees in Baltimore’s front seven. Additionally, even Lamar Jackson (hamstring) being sidelined would help Marks’ cause indirectly, considering it exponentially ups the chances of Houston’s ground attack having a robust role.

Isaiah Bond, CLE vs. MIN - 0% roster rate

Bond is a sleeper in every sense of the word, as his current 0% roster rate helps corroborate. Yet, the rookie wideout may be primed for a solid workload in a Week 5 London matchup against the Vikings, as Cedric Tillman (hamstring) is now on injured reserve and Bond is primed for the No. 2 role for the foreseeable future.

Bond already posted a career/team-high 58 receiving yards on three catches in Week 4 against the Lions. The Texas product had also drawn four looks with Tillman healthy in Week 3 against the Packers, so despite his relative anonymity in a fantasy sense, he’s not exactly coming out of thin air into this starting opportunity. 

The Vikings have also given up 13.0 yards per reception to wide receivers and Bond averaged a stout 14.4 yards per reception on his 99 career college catches, a sample that included 10 TD grabs.

Wan’Dale Robinson, NYG vs. NO - 18% start rate

Malik Nabers’ season-ending knee injury is the first of two elite WR absences that help inform some of our Week 5 recommendations. In the star second-year wideout’s case, his exit opens up significant opportunity for both Robinson and Darius Slayton (listed below in our “Also Consider” section) first and foremost.

Robinson had already opened the season with a 14-197-1 line on 18 targets over his first two games. He’s subsequently mustered a quiet 4-40-0 tally on nine looks in the subsequent pair of contests, and he’s now working with Jaxson Dart instead of the veteran that peppered him with passes in the first couple weeks, Russell Wilson.

Nevertheless, Robinson is going to play a big part in helping absorb the average of 10.7 targets per contest Nabers drew in his three non-injury-shortened games. The fourth-year pro should benefit from another week of working with Dart in practice and the rookie signal-caller having his first game under his belt, as well as the matchup against a Saints defense that’s allowing 13.7 yards per catch to WRs and has already conceded five TDs to the position.

Darren Waller, MIA at CAR - 3% start rate 

Having just examined the ripple effect of Nabers’ absence the rest of the way, we’ll now shine the light on how Tyreek Hill’s dislocated knee impacts the healthy members of Miami’s air attack. Naturally, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane are likely to be the primary beneficiaries in terms of increased usage, but Waller is also headed for an expanded role beginning with just his second game since the end of the 2023 season.

Waller looked just like his old self in Monday night’s win, catching his first touchdown before Hill’s exit and recording his second scoring grab three plays after Hill’s gruesome injury. Waller played just 14 snaps overall, but sheer necessity and another week of practice should combine to given him appreciably more opportunity against a Panthers defense that’s given up a 21-285-2 receiving line and 80.8% catch rate to tight ends through four games.

Kendre Miller, NO at NYG - 6% roster rate 

Miller saw his profile rise significantly in the Week 4 loss to the Bills, a game in which he rushed 11 times for 65 yards and a touchdown and logged four red-zone carries. The speedy but oft-injured third-year back has upside as a pass catcher as well, and he’s now hit the 20-snap threshold in back-to-back contests.

Alvin Kamara will naturally continue to hold a significant role in the Saints’ offense, but this Week 5 matchup against a Giants defense that’s given up a whopping 6.0 yards per carry to RBs, along with five rush TDs, could certainly afford both backs some work, especially considering Dart will be making only his second career start and is now sans his top weapon. 

Arizona Cardinals Defense vs. Tennessee Titans - 18% start rate

The Cardinals are a middling 2-2, but their defense has managed to allow the sixth-fewest points per game (18.5) and a respectable 5.2 yards per play. Arizona has a solid eight sacks through the first four games as well, and even though matchups against the Saints and Panthers have helped prop up their numbers, the Cards haven’t exactly embarrassed themselves against the 49ers and Seahawks the last two games.

They now draw a matchup that, on paper, is reminiscent of the first pair of games, as the Titans’ offense continued to struggle in Week 4 despite head coach Brian Callahan ceding play-calling duties. The likes of Cam Ward, Elic Ayomanor, and Calvin Ridley have too much talent to scuffle for an entire season, but there’s no escaping the fact consistent success is going to take time.

Ward has averaged a turnover per game thus far (two INTs, two lost fumbles) and has taken 17 sacks, the latter number stemming from a combination of Ward’s inexperience/hesitancy, poor pass protection, and ineffective offensive schemes at times as well. The Cardinals’ D is no world-beating unit, but they come in just under our 20% start-rate threshold, are at home, and have more than enough playmakers to wreak some havoc against a struggling unit.

ALSO CONSIDER ::

Darius Slayton, NYG vs. NO - 2% start rate

He’s a higher-variance option than Robinson in the Giants’ Nabers-less passing attack, but Slayton’s speed and experience gives him a nice ceiling against the Saints’ vulnerable defense.

Malik Washington, MIA at CAR - 2% start rate

Washington is more of a tertiary beneficiary of Hill’s absence, but he has a small rushing role in addition to his work as a receiver and returner, and he’s certainly capable of helping replace the speed component lost with his star teammate’s season-ending injury.

Brenton Strange, JAX vs. KC - 13% start rate  

Has been delivering solid returns through the first four games and has consecutive six-catch, seven-target tallies.