Alright guys, welcome to Week 5 of the NFL season! We now have official hit #byeszn, so today I’ll be sprinkling in some under-the-radar plays so you guys can get some fillers for those players on bye this week. Enough chatter, let’s get to some Razzball-certified picks!
Check out Rudy’s exclusive DFS and season-long tools that are sure to help you be profitable this fantasy football season!
Note: Projections are based off of standard scoring leagues.
Quarterbacks
Dak Prescott vs. GB: Proj: 18.76 pts (#1 QB)
Do I think Dak Prescott will finish as the best QB this week? Possibly. But it’s a great matchup at home against a poor secondary that features some very weak CB play from Kevin King and Damarious Randall. The Cowboys should be coming out for revenge after a loss not only last year against the Packers in the playoffs, but a disappointing loss last week to Los Angeles. Dez Bryant is quite possibly my favorite WR play this week, and my money is on him over anyone else with the highest upside on the slate.
Eli Manning vs. LAC: Proj: 16.03 pts (#8 QB)
Manning gets to come back home after a grueling few weeks on the road to face off against the Chargers to see which team will finally notch a win in 2017. The Chargers secondary ranks as the 20th-best pass defense, according to Football Outsiders. With their backfield finally starting to show some signs of life, this offense could be rolling at home against the Chargers, and Manning cracks the Top-10 in our projections.
Jacoby Brissett vs. SF: Proj: 15.72 (#11 QB)
Brissett has looked pretty darn good these past few weeks against Arizona, Cleveland and the first half against Seattle, and now gets to head back home to the womb that is Lucas Oil against the 49ers. Their secondary is just not very good, and Brissett should be a fine streaming option.
Cam Newton @ DET: Proj: 14.62 (#14 QB)
I would stay away from Newton this week. We shouldn’t overreact against Newton’s performance last week against the worst defense in the NFL, and now faces a much tougher test on the road against Detroit, the 5th-best secondary in the NFL, per Football Outsiders. You can find someone else.
Running Backs
Bilal Powell @ CLE: Proj: 13.17 pts (#3 RB)
Do I think Powell will finish this week as a Top-5 running back this week? No (although anything is possible, shoutout to Kevin Garnett). However, he’s a great play this week against the Cleveland defense. Elijah McGuire might eat into his workload, but there should be plenty enough to eat for both running backs as there was last week. The situation is great for Powell.
Leonard Fournette @ PIT: Proj: 10.94 pts (#12 RB)
You’ve gotta love Fournette each and every week, especially this week. The volume is always there, the O-Line is decent enough to support him, and he’s pretty much their only offensive weapon (unless you’re a Mercedes Lewis truther). The Steelers secondary is pretty legitimate, so I would expect for Fournette to be a bigger bell-cow than he even would be normally.
Ameer Abdullah vs. CAR: Proj: 10 pts (#17 RB)
Abdullah has been a beast so far in fantasy leagues through Week 4, and I would expect him to continue to produce against Carolina. Abdullah is always a threat in games that aren’t likely to be shootouts, and this game could very well be one-sided very early against Carolina.
Tarik Cohen @ MIN: 6.15 pts (#33 RB)
It seems like a weird suggestion to sit Cohen, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about Cohen (and Howard), but I wouldn’t start Cohen at all. It’s Trubisky’s first start on the road against Minnesota. I really don’t want any part of this offense.
Wide Receivers
T.Y. Hilton vs. SF: Proj: 10.79 pts (#3 WR)
Like I mentioned above with Brissett, this is a great matchup for the Colts, and especially for Hilton, as he’ll likely draw Rashard Robinson in coverage, a great individual matchup for Hilton. He definitely has multi-TD upside to finish in the Top 10 this week.
Stefon Diggs vs. CHI: Proj: 8.42 pts (#17 WR)
Okay, Diggs is way too low. First off, he’s likely getting Sam Bradford back from injury. Second, he’s likely going to be covered by Kyle Fuller against Chicago. Kyle Fuller’s PFF grade is at 35.6. Diggs’ PFF grade is at 87.3. You do the math.
Cooper Kupp vs. SEA: Proj: 6.96 pts (#25 WR)
Talk about a great under-the-radar WR option this week. Many people will look at this matchup and think, man I need to bench Kupp, but as Matt and I have said, this isn’t the Seahawks defense from year’s past. Kupp should draw Jeremy Lane in the slot, which is great news for Kupp and a very exploitable matchup.
Martavis Bryant vs. JAC: Proj: 6.06 (#34 WR)
Bench Bryant. He’s been under-performing thus far and now will draw A.J. Bouye. Nope.
Tight Ends
Austin Seferian-Jenkins @ CLE: Proj: 6.55 pts (#6 TE)
ASJ draws an excellent matchup against Cleveland, a defense that versus TE’s, ranks as the 27th-best defense versus the position. ASJ is a great streaming option.
Kyle Rudolph vs. CHI: Proj: 5.06 pts (#13 TE)
He gets his buddy back, most likely, in Sam Bradford, and now draws a good matchup against the Bears.
Kickers and DST’s
Jake Elliott vs. ARI: Proj: 8.39 pts (#2 K)
Elliott should be a big beneficiary of the Eagles offense as they take on the Cardinals at home. Elliott is a great streaming option at kicker.
Blair Walsh @ LAR: Proj: 7.91 pts (#12 K)
This seems like a trap game for the Seahawks offense as they travel to L.A. to take on the Rams defense.
Minnesota Vikings vs. CHI: Proj: 7.97 pts (#3 D/ST)
At home against Trubisky. Yeah I’ll take that.
Houston Texans vs. KC: Proj: 6.52 pts (#16 D/ST)
They’re a good unit, but I would prefer to bench them against this high-powered Chiefs offense.
Daily Fantasy Advice for Week 5
Using Razzball’s DFS projections and optimizer, powered by Daily Fantasy Cafe, here is a sample lineup I generated, using Fanduel scoring:
QB: Jacoby Brissett
HB: Le’Veon Bell, Todd Gurley
WR: T.Y. Hilton, DeAndre Hopkins, Jaron Brown
TE: Zach Ertz
K: Randy Bullock
D/ST: Pittsburgh Steelers
Alright everyone, well that about does it for me as we preview another week of the NFL season. Good luck to everyone in your matchups, and we’ll talk next week! And as always, if you have a question or comment, feel free to leave one below!
You Can Follow Zach on Twitter @razzball_Zach.
