Week 5 Start/Sit: If The Minshew Fits

It’s that time of the week again! Thursday night football will be played just hours after you read this. It’s week 5, which means the beginning of bye weeks. Bye weeks are another road block to go along with the plethora of injuries and COVID cancellations that are surely on the horizon. There might even be a cancellation this week between Buffalo and Tennessee. But we must trudge on and work with what we have. Hopefully you still have some healthy studs to get you through the tough times. 

Start

Gardner Minshew (Possible twin brother of Grey Albright)

This week’s column starts with a player that I had negative pre-conceived notions about coming into the year. My motto this year has been to take my losses early on players that I might have been wrong about to be a better analyst for you so you can get those sweet Ws. I thought Minshew was a one-year flavor that was more mustache than arm strength. Don’t get me wrong, they are both important talents, but I don’t play in a points per mustache league. I thought the Jags’ season was doomed to a depleted roster and a coaching staff that was inept but here we are. I’m not saying that the Jags are good by any stretch of the imagination, but Minshew already has two 300 yard games and 8 passing TDs through his first 4 starts. He will be playing against a team that just lost it’s head coach/GM/team chef/golf caddie/window washer/CEO. I like Minshew’s chances to have himself a big game on Sunday. 

Damien Harris

It’s time to get your Damien Harris lineup reps in before he misses his alarm or sneezes in a way that Belichick doesn’t like. Harris came off of the IR and immediately saw 17 touches and ran for 100 yards against the Chiefs. He seemed to do the Sony Michel role better than Sony Michel was doing before he himself hit the IR. I was quite smitten with Harris this preseason and he was able to show why on Monday night. I like the matchup in what should be a very boring game against Denver, especially if Cam Newton isn’t back.

Antonio Gibson

I hope that you are flexing Gibson on a weekly basis by now. Gibson has now scored a touchdown in three straight contests. To add to the encouragement, Gibson saw 5 targets in the passing game and caught 4 of them for 82 yards. Gibson is doing good things against teams that are tough on running backs. I expect Gibson’s involvement in the passing game to continue this week with Ramsay likely attached to McLaurin’s hip. 

Laviska Shenault Jr. 

Laviska was a week late with his projected break out, but it puts him heavily on my radar for week 5. Minshew having a good game should lead to Shenault having another solid week. Laviska has seen 6 targets two weeks in a row and already has two games with at least 70 scrimmage yards. Don’t bench studs to get Shenault in there on a whim, but if you need a flex, he might be the guy. 

Justin Jefferson

I know that I am suggesting a lot of rookies this week, but my spin on a start/sit column is to focus on fringe guys, like it should be in my opinion. Seattle gives up 401 yards per game through the air and Justin is firmly entrenching himself as the second option behind Adam Thielen. Jefferson has two straight 100 yard games including his break out two weeks ago. It’s a toss up who I like more for the rest of the season between Jefferson and Higgins, but there is little doubt that Jefferson is the play this week. 

Rob Gronkowski

Why not? I can be the fun guy too. The cool fantasy dad. Yes, I’m sleeping with your mom. Sorry that you found out like this. Anyways, Gronkowski hasn’t done anything yet this year; but O.J. Howard is gone for the year, Chris Godwin is unlikely to play, Mike Evans and Scott Miller are both questionable. It’s a primetime national TV game. This just has Gronk written all over it to me. If there is one position that has succeeded against the Bears this year, it is the tight end. 

Sit

Joe Burrow

Man do I love me some Joe Burrow and all of his sexy jewelry and cigars and whatnot. I’m going to take a pass this week against Baltimore. If you don’t have a better option, I don’t think Burrow will hurt your fantasy team, but there are a lot of sweet upside matchups this week. I realize that Baltimore’s secondary isn’t the same caliber as last year but I think Baltimore against this terrible Cincinnati offensive line caps Burrow’s ceiling quite a bit. 

Miles Sanders

I wrote about Miles Sanders being a sell on Tuesday and he is definitely a sit this week if you can come up with something better from your bench. Pittsburgh is going to demolish the Eagles at the line of scrimmage this week. The yards won’t be there. The only thing that will be able to save Sanders’ week is some good touchdown luck and that hasn’t been there for him or the Eagles so far in 2020.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Oh boy, here comes MB again to sh*t on Odell Beckham Jr. No, no, no. First off, from what we’ve heard about Odell, he might enjoy that a little too much. And second, I actually had him ranked a few spots higher last week than the average FantasyPros ranker. I’m warming up to Beckham, but this isn’t the week. Teams average less than 160 passing yards/game against the Colts and Baker Mayfield is, to put it frankly, not a good quarterback. 

Mike Gesicki

I don’t think you can play Gesicki until he gets more looks. In the past two weeks, Gesicki has two catches for 30 yards on six targets. TE is tough by nature, but that is brutal. I’d prefer Gronkowski, Mo Alie-Cox, or Hayden Hurst in the low-end TE1 area. To add insult to injury, Miami is going against San Francisco who didn’t allow Zach Ertz to do all that much on Sunday night.