What an interesting week this is setting up to be.
Fantasy football is the ultimate game of strategy because every season has a vast galaxy of variables. How we assess, interpret and act on those variables is critical to our success.
Boy oh boy, Week 5 is chock full o’ variables.
The bye weeks are back to challenge our roster depth and our managerial acumen. Can you win with one hand tied behind your back? Two hands? Two hands and one foot? If you went heavy on Chargers, Browns and Seahawks in your draft, you might be feeling like the Black Knight at the end of the sword fight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
But there are some positive variables, too. Week 5 could bring the return of a pair of stars who spent the first four weeks of the season on injured reserve: Cooper Kupp and Jonathan Taylor. Kupp reportedly practiced with the Rams without limitation on Wednesday. Taylor also practiced in full, though it’s unclear whether he and the Colts have resolved their differences over Taylor’s contractual status. Also back in Week 5 is Lions WR Jameson Williams, whose six game gambling suspension was shortened to four games after a change to the NFL’s gambling policy.
And of course, we have to sift through all of the other variables: matchups, injuries, shifting depth charts, etc.
Buckle up, friends. It’s going to be a wild week.
As always, feel free to use these tiered rankings as a tiebreaker for your difficult lineup decisions. Here are all of my fantasy football rankings, tiers, and player notes for Week 5. Below we dive into a few notable players.
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
- Waiver Wire Picks
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Fitz’s Fantasy Football Outlook
Courtland Sutton is going to be running most of his routes against either of the Jets’ starting outside cornerbacks, Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. PFF has Gardner and Reed both graded among the top 25 cornerbacks in the league so far this season. I’m fading Sutton a bit this week, ranking him as a low-end WR3.
Cardinals rookie Michael Wilson has been impressive so far, but he hasn’t quite earned a spot inside the circle of trust. Wilson had 7-76-2 last week against the 49ers, and he had 2-86-0 against the Cowboys in Week 3. But last week was the first time that Wilson has drawn more than four targets in a game, and while the Arizona passing game has been unexpectedly functional, it’s not yet trustworthy. I have Wilson ranked WR44.
Wait a week before plugging Jameson Williams into your lineup. The Lions were extremely conservative in their usage of Williams last year when he was a rookie coming off a torn ACL. Williams has been serving a gambling suspension, but he also sustained a hamstring injury in mid-August. It’s probably safe to assume that the hammy injury is no longer a major concern, but I don’t think we’ll see Williams play a full complement of snaps right away when Josh Reynold has been performing so well opposite Amon-Ra St. Brown in two-receiver sets.
-Pat Fitzmaurice
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