Welcome to the Week 5 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em where we help you finalize your roster and answer your toughest sit/start dilemmas.
For additional lineup help, use our Week 5 Fantasy Football Rankings.
Quarterbacks
Start ‘Em
Deshaun Watson vs Jacksonville
Okay, normally recommending Deshaun Watson would seem like a cop-out, I agree. But, this offense has been in utter disarray all season. No DeAndre Hopkins and now former head coach Bill O’Brien looked, surprise-surprise, completely in over his head. The Texans sit 0-4 and the offense still has yet to produce.
Can the absence of O’Brien finally rev up the engines of this offense? Like a Mustang GT. The upcoming schedule also helps.
So far, the Texans have faced tough tests in the Chiefs, Steelers, and Ravens defenses. Watson put up at least 17 fantasy points in two of those three games. Including the Week 4 “get right” game against the Vikings, Watson has scored at least 20 fantasy points in two of his four matchups.
Conversely, Jacksonville has allowed nine passing touchdowns through four games. Against the quarterback position, the Jaguars defense has allowed 20.2 fantasy points per game and they’ve allowed either 300 passing yards or multiple passing touchdowns in all four games this season.
There is no reason other than a complete team-wide collapse that Watson doesn’t have a field day against the Jaguars. Rock out with Watson!
Honorable Mention: Justin Herbert, Teddy Bridgewater
Sit ‘Em
Tom Brady vs Chicago
Repeat after me. I will not chase last week’s points. Once more, please. Thank you!
Staying water is one of the single most beneficial skills one must learn to succeed at fantasy football. Point chasing has a peculiar way of handing fantasy owners’ future losses. That’s sheep behavior and we as fantasy wolves will not stand for it!
Brady is the GOAT. Anyone denying it has isolated themselves on a hill of denial and they are not coming down. As for his opponent, the Bears defense has been STOUT against opposing QBs. They rank second in fantasy points against only behind the surprising Colts defense.
Through four games, the Bears defense has given up 46.5 fantasy points to quarterbacks. That’s just over 11 points per game. If your name isn’t Patrick Mahomes or any of the other few “set it and forget it” starting QBs, that’s a scary matchup. The Bears have allowed three passing touchdowns through four games and have also picked off opposing QBs three times.
Chris Godwin has already been declared out this week, OJ Howard is out for the year with a ruptured Achilles, and the rest of the perimeter starters are marked questionable. Also, Ronald Jones couldn’t catch a cold wearing a speedo in the arctic circle. Brady’s list of weapons is still respectable, but there are a lot of roadblocks standing in his way. If you’re feeling gutsy, roll Brady out in your lineup… he might surprise you. Just consider yourself warned.
Honorable Mention: Carson Wentz, Joe Burrow
Running Backs
Start ‘Em
Antonio Gibson vs Los Angeles Rams
Antoniooooooo!
Psssssst. Come here. Come closer. *Whispers* Kyle Allen loves to check down to his running backs… start Antonio Gibson and smile. Gibson is one of the biggest fantasy steals of the season. Despite not having complete control of the Washington backfield, Gibson has produced at a high clip.
According to Nick Akridge of Pro Football Focus, “Despite having only 31 rush attempts, he’s forced 9 missed tackles leading to 0.29 missed tackles forced per attempt. That’s the 3rd highest rate in the NFL.”. Gibson’s explosive play capability is off the charts and exactly the type of player you want as your RB2/flex this week.
While the Rams are pedestrian against the running back (17th vs RBs) they have a soft spot against receiving RBs. The Rams have allowed 206 receiving yards and a score to running backs. Fortunately for Gibson, not only does he have The Godfather of check down backups starting at QB for him… he also has Scott Turner as his OC.
Turner served as the QBs coach with the Panthers from 2018-2019. The Panthers starting QB for 13 games last season was…Kyle Allen. Christian McCaffrey was absolutely peppered under Turner last season with Allen at the helm.
Through 13 games, McCaffrey caught 110 of his 137 targets. McCaffrey also was on pace for 294 rush attempts. While Gibson is not near the same caliber player as McCaffrey, the narrative is there for Gibson to feast!
Honorable Mention: Devin Singletary, Joshua Kelley
Sit ‘Em
David Montgomery vs Tampa Bay
David Montgomery is empty calories. Krispy Kremes of Fantasy.
Sees 96% of Bears rushing share, tuns it into 27 yards.
— Wolf of Roto Street (@RotoStreetWolf) October 8, 2020
As one of the leading experts in the industry so elegantly put it, Montgomery just doesn’t provide much of a ceiling. While there is certainly nothing wrong with a good Krispy Kreme donut in the morning, starting Montgomery doesn’t offer that same satisfaction.
Now to Montgomery’s credit, he has now likely inherited the lions share of the receiving work out of the backfield. Last week, Montgomery did see six targets against the Colts. While the Bucs aren’t quite as stout of a matchup as the Colts, they still have only allowed 66.2 fantasy points to opposing RBs. It doesn’t help that the defense doesn’t exactly have to try hard to stop the passing game with Nick Foles under center.
While there is still a path to fantasy relevance for Montgomery this week, it’s best to start players like Antonio Gibson or Devin Singletary this week.
Honorable Mention: Darrell Henderson, Myles Gaskin
Wide Receivers
Start ‘Em
DJ Moore vs Atlanta
It’s a sign of the times that Moore isn’t considered an auto-start in 2020, even though Teddy Bridgewater has been fantastic for the Panthers as of late after a bit of a slow start. What’s the most inexplicable is the fact that Bridgewater has formed such deadly chemistry with Robby Anderson, while Moore seems to be the odd man out.
According to Pro Football Focus, Moore is still averaging an impressive 2.04 yards per route run. This week, Moore projects to be going against Isaiah Oliver for most of his routes. Oliver projects to be a very favorable matchup, as he allows 1.56 yards per reception and a catch rate of 68%.
Moore still sees a respectable number of targets (32 through four games) and a staggering 42.8% of the team’s air yards. Often known as a menace after the catch, that’s the major part of Moore’s game that has been lacking this season. Atlanta’s secondary is soft and Moore should still be able to cut through the secondary like a hot knife through butter.
Honorable Mention: Justin Jefferson, Darius Slayton
Sit ‘Em
Odell Beckham Jr. vs Indianapolis
While this would once be considered sacrilegious to write, Beckham’s fantasy outlook has crashed. Whether it is because of injuries or poor target quality, Beckham has not produced like the elite talent he was just a couple years ago. However, there is an opportunity against the Colts. Through four games they have given up five touchdowns to opposing wide receivers.
Beckham is coming off of easily his best fantasy outing this season. Still, Beckham will likely draw the eye of Xavier Rhodes, who is experiencing a little bit of a renaissance of quality cornerback play this season. Rhodes has allowed a catch on only 44% of his targets this season.
Beckham has also averaged a sizzling 2.13 Y/RR, but Beckham has also been inconsistent catching the ball this season (53% catch rate).
As a whole, the Colts have still ranked as a top 10 fantasy secondary this season. With such a run-heavy attack and an erratic Baker Mayfield at QB, Beckham’s boom rate appears low this week.
Honorable Mention: Jerry Jeudy, TY Hilton
Tight End Streamers
Dalton Schultz vs New York Giants
Ian Thomas vs Atlanta Falcons
