Week 5 Fantasy Football Rankings From the Most Accurate Experts (2024)

Here’s a look at fantasy football rankings from our most accurate experts of the 2020 season. These rankings are for half-PPR scoring fantasy football formats.

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Week 5 Quarterback Rankings

Rank	Quarterbacks	Team	Opp	Best	Worst	Avg	Std Dev	Proj. Pts
1	Russell Wilson	SEA	vs. MIN	1	3	1.3	0.5	24.9
2	Patrick Mahomes II	KC	vs. LV	1	4	2.1	0.5	24.3
3	Lamar Jackson	BAL	vs. CIN	1	7	3.2	1	23.7
4	Dak Prescott	DAL	vs. NYG	1	5	3.6	0.6	23
5	Josh Allen	BUF	at TEN	3	8	5.1	0.6	22.4
6	Kyler Murray	ARI	at NYJ	5	7	5.9	0.5	21.4
7	Deshaun Watson	HOU	vs. JAC	5	7	6.7	0.6	20.5
8	Matt Ryan	ATL	vs. CAR	7	15	8.3	0.8	19.8
9	Gardner Minshew II	JAC	at HOU	8	17	9.6	1.1	19.1
10	Teddy Bridgewater	CAR	at ATL	9	13	10.2	0.8	18.5
11	Drew Brees	NO	vs. LAC	8	16	11.1	1.7	18.2
12	Kirk Cousins	MIN	at SEA	8	22	13.4	1.7	18
13	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	vs. PHI	9	18	13.7	2	17.7
14	Jared Goff	LAR	at WAS	11	19	13.9	1.7	17.4
15	Daniel Jones	NYG	at DAL	11	25	14.6	1.7	17.2
16	Joe Burrow	CIN	at BAL	11	20	15.1	1.7	16.9
17	Tom Brady	TB	at CHI	12	20	16.5	1.1	16.6
18	Justin Herbert	LAC	at NO	9	20	16.9	2.2	16.5
19	Ryan Fitzpatrick	MIA	at SF	17	21	19.8	1	16.4
20	Carson Wentz	PHI	at PIT	19	25	21.1	1.6	16.2

Kirk Cousins (MIN)
We’ve known Cousins to be a game manager type quarterback through much of his career, but that’s not the case to this point in 2020. His average depth of target is 11.0 yards, which ranks as the highest mark among quarterbacks who’ve started multiple games. The Seahawks defense has already faced a massive 200 pass attempts through four games this season. Lack of plays have been an issue for the Vikings as they’ve ran a league-low 55.8 offensive plays per game, but that shouldn’t be an issue against the Seahawks, who’ve allowed their opponents a league-leading 73.8 plays per game. You can now see how they’ve faced 50.0 pass attempts per game. No quarterback has walked out of a game against them with less than 44 pass attempts, and none of them have averaged less than 7.0 yards per attempt. The Seahawks aren’t getting pressure on the quarterback, as they rank as the third-worst in the league in pressure rate and sack rate. This will be good for Cousins, who has been pressured on 41.4 percent of his dropbacks this year, the most in the league. Oddly enough, the Seahawks have allowed just the eighth-fewest fantasy points per actual pass attempt, which is due to the minuscule 3.0 percent touchdown-rate, which could fluctuate. Still, Cousins should be able to deliver at least high-end QB2 numbers in this game and be a rock-solid streamer.

Daniel Jones (NYG)
Remember when we talked about touchdown regression for Patrick Mahomes after the 2018 season? Well, he threw a touchdown on 8.62 percent of his passes that year. Through four games, the Cowboys are allowing an 8.03 percent touchdown rate through the air. For each time a quarterback throws a pass (not including rushing totals), they average 0.614 fantasy points per pass attempt against the Cowboys. So, even if a quarterback has thrown just 30 passes, that averages out to 18.42 fantasy points. Crazy, right? The Giants have run just 60.2 plays per game to this point, though the Cowboys should be able to help out with that, as their opponents have run 71.8 plays per game, while their games overall have run a league-leading 149.0 plays per game. Matchups like this are the ones that had fantasy managers believing Jones could be a breakout star, as he totaled 28-plus fantasy points in games against Washington, the Bucs, Jets, and Lions last year, all teams who ranked in the bottom-15 against the pass, with three of them in the bottom-10. Knowing he’s still without one of his starting wide receivers, it’s tough to say Jones is a can’t-miss play this week, but if there ever were a week to play him, this would be it, as the Cowboys have allowed at least 38 points to each of their last three opponents.

Week 5 Running Back Rankings

Rank	Running Backs	Team	Opp	Best	Worst	Avg	Std Dev	Proj. Pts
1	Alvin Kamara	NO	vs. LAC	1	3	1.2	0.4	22.3
2	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	vs. NYG	1	5	2.1	0.7	19.6
3	Dalvin Cook	MIN	at SEA	1	5	3.3	0.6	17.3
4	Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	vs. LV	2	7	3.6	1	16.9
5	Josh Jacobs	LV	at KC	4	10	6.1	1.2	16.7
6	Kareem Hunt	CLE	vs. IND	4	10	6.9	1.4	16.1
7	James Robinson	JAC	at HOU	6	11	7.8	0.8	15.8
8	Chris Carson	SEA	vs. MIN	4	12	8.3	1.8	15.7
9	Derrick Henry	TEN	vs. BUF	3	23	8.5	4.3	15.6
10	Jonathan Taylor	IND	at CLE	5	15	9.7	2	15.6
11	Mike Davis	CAR	at ATL	7	14	9.9	1.2	15.5
12	Joe Mixon	CIN	at BAL	10	16	12.9	1.3	15.2
13	James Conner	PIT	vs. PHI	9	21	14.4	2.9	15
14	David Johnson	HOU	vs. JAC	12	23	14.9	1.7	14.7
15	Miles Sanders	PHI	at PIT	11	19	15.8	1.8	14.3
16	Todd Gurley II	ATL	vs. CAR	12	20	16.2	2.2	14.2
17	Kenyan Drake	ARI	at NYJ	10	22	17.3	3.2	14.1
18	Devin Singletary	BUF	at TEN	10	25	17.5	2.6	14
19	Ronald Jones II	TB	at CHI	12	28	17.8	3.4	13.8
20	Melvin Gordon III	DEN	at NE	16	22	18.6	1.7	13.6
21	Jerick McKinnon	SF	vs. MIA	16	29	20.7	3.5	13.1
22	Antonio Gibson	WAS	vs. LAR	12	24	21.6	1.3	11.6
23	David Montgomery	CHI	vs. TB	18	25	22.9	1.4	11.2
24	Joshua Kelley	LAC	at NO	20	33	24.8	1.8	11.1
25	Mark Ingram II	BAL	vs. CIN	19	31	25.7	2.4	10.1
26	Darrell Henderson	LAR	at WAS	22	35	26.6	1.6	9.7
27	Myles Gaskin	MIA	at SF	23	31	26.7	1.5	9.5
28	Devonta Freeman	NYG	at DAL	24	35	29.3	2.8	9.4
29	Malcolm Brown	LAR	at WAS	28	48	30.9	2	9.3
30	Latavius Murray	NO	vs. LAC	27	40	30.9	2.3	9
31	James White	NE	vs. DEN	29	36	31.7	1.9	8.4
32	Damien Harris	NE	vs. DEN	25	41	32.6	3.9	8.2
33	Chase Edmonds	ARI	at NYJ	29	41	34.3	2.5	8.1
34	J.K. Dobbins	BAL	vs. CIN	30	40	34.3	2.3	8
35	Rex Burkhead	NE	vs. DEN	31	41	35.4	2.3	7.9
36	Nyheim Hines	IND	at CLE	33	43	36	2.3	7.9
37	Alexander Mattison	MIN	at SEA	36	49	40.4	3.5	7.3
38	Justin Jackson	LAC	at NO	31	60	42.2	8.3	7.3
39	Jeff Wilson Jr.	SF	vs. MIA	37	58	42.8	6.1	6.8
40	Gus Edwards	BAL	vs. CIN	36	49	43.1	2.6	6.7
41	Duke Johnson Jr.	HOU	vs. JAC	39	52	43.2	2.8	6.6
42	Frank Gore	NYJ	vs. ARI	37	59	43.3	4.5	6.1
43	Brian Hill	ATL	vs. CAR	40	51	43.4	1.9	6
44	D’Ernest Johnson	CLE	vs. IND	37	54	45.1	4.9	5.9
45	J.D. McKissic	WAS	vs. LAR	42	54	45.9	2	5.9
46	Ke’Shawn Vaughn	TB	at CHI	39	56	46.6	5.2	5.9
47	Le’Veon Bell	NYJ	vs. ARI	21	99	42.6	21.1	5.6
48	Jordan Howard	MIA	at SF	41	71	50.6	7.5	5.5
49	Boston Scott	PHI	at PIT	44	65	52.3	5.9	5.3
50	Chris Thompson	JAC	at HOU	48	59	52.6	3.1	4.9

James Robinson (JAC)
He’s now totaled 74 of the 88 running back touches available in this backfield, including four of the five targets available last week. That’s rare air and something we don’t see anymore. The only running back who’s averaged more yards per route run than Robinson on the season is Alvin Kamara. I mentioned a few weeks ago that there’s no difference between him and 2019 Leonard Fournette, a running back we were starting as a borderline RB1 most weeks. The Texans are a team you want to start running backs against. They’ve now allowed four straight running backs to score at least 15.7 PPR points against them, including 295 total yards and three touchdowns to the combination of James Conner and Dalvin Cook the last two weeks. The only starting running back who failed to rush for 100-plus yards against them was Mark Ingram, who carried the ball just nine times but for 55 yards and a touchdown. Teams have chosen to run the ball 55 percent of the time against the Texans, which is the highest percentage in the league. While I don’t expect the Jaguars to hit that number, Robinson is gamescript-proof workhorse who’s going against a bottom-five defense against running backs. He should be in lineups as a low-end RB1 this week.

Kenyan Drake (ARI)
Based on where he’s been contacted at/near the line of scrimmage and how many stacked boxes he’s seen, Drake has averaged 0.58 fewer yards per carry than he should’ve, according to NFL’s NextGenStats. Play-calling has certainly been an issue, but so has his play. It’s to the point where you wonder if that injury that had him in a walking boot during training camp is lingering, as he’s just not the same running back as he was last year when he averaged 0.22 more yards per carry than he was expected. He’s also received 72 percent of the team’s running back touches, so the process was good, but the play has not been. Whatever the case, this timeshare could start to move back towards a 50/50 split, though I’m still expecting Drake to lead the team in touches. The Jets have allowed a healthy 4.57 yards per carry on the season, though removing one run from Raheem Mostert knocks them down to 3.77 yards per carry on the year. The reason fantasy running backs have so much appeal against them is due to volume, as they’ve faced 31.0 running back touches per week, which is volume that even with less-than-stellar efficiency offers results. They’ve now allowed seven different running backs to finish as the RB31 or better, though just one of them finished higher than the RB16. Drake is still the recommended play, but the expectations need to be lowered into low-end RB2/high-end RB3 territory. Edmonds is receiving most of the work through the air, though teams haven’t felt it necessary to target running backs a whole lot against the Jets, as just two running backs have recorded more than three receptions. Edmonds is gaining steam but should be considered a mediocre flex option who comes with risk.

Darrell Henderson (LAR)
What a disappointment it was in Week 4 as Henderson had everything trending in the right direction, but then wound up receiving just nine opportunities against the Giants. Granted, he didn’t do much with those touches (38 total yards) but that’s hardly a big enough sample size to judge. It appears Sean McVay was being 100 percent honest when he said that he wanted his offense to be like Kyle Shanahan’s offense, with a different running back every week. Despite the stars aligning for Henderson last week, we were all let down, so remember that when trusting a Rams running back as anything more than a RB3/flex option. The matchup with Washington hasn’t been great for opposing running backs, as there’s been just one team of running backs to account for more than 17.2 PPR points, and that team of running backs was the Browns duo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Running backs have actually totaled 111 touches through four games against them, which is the 15th-most in football, but the 463 total yards rank as the 11th-fewest in football. They’ve allowed just 0.75 PPR points per opportunity, which ranks as the seventh-lowest mark in the league, so volume has been paramount to a running backs success. This backfield has produced 29.5 touches per game, so even though Week 4 was a dud, there are enough touches to produce. Henderson is still the one I’d trust the most, though trusting him as anything more than an RB3 is too risky. Brown is teetering on the RB3/4 radar, while Akers is just a handcuff if he plays at all, as he’s been out of practice the last two weeks. He did return to a limited practice on Wednesday.

Week 5 Wide Receiver Rankings

Rank	Wide Receivers	Team	Opp	Best	Worst	Avg	Std Dev	Proj. Pts
1	DeAndre Hopkins	ARI	at NYJ	1	5	1.2	0.4	16.9
2	Tyreek Hill	KC	vs. LV	1	7	2.4	1.1	16.2
3	Adam Thielen	MIN	at SEA	2	7	3.2	1	15.9
4	D.K. Metcalf	SEA	vs. MIN	1	8	4.9	1.3	15.7
5	Tyler Lockett	SEA	vs. MIN	2	10	5	1.3	15.6
6	Amari Cooper	DAL	vs. NYG	3	8	5.8	1.4	15.4
7	Calvin Ridley	ATL	vs. CAR	4	14	7.1	1	15.2
8	Stefon Diggs	BUF	at TEN	6	11	8.3	1	14.5
9	Allen Robinson II	CHI	vs. TB	6	11	9.3	1.5	14.2
10	Keenan Allen	LAC	at NO	7	14	9.9	1.1	13.9
11	Cooper Kupp	LAR	at WAS	10	19	12.3	1.8	13.8
12	Mike Evans	TB	at CHI	10	24	14.2	3.5	13.8
13	D.J. Chark Jr.	JAC	at HOU	11	19	14.4	2	13.8
14	Robert Woods	LAR	at WAS	7	21	15.2	2.3	13.7
15	D.J. Moore	CAR	at ATL	11	25	15.4	2.6	13.5
16	Terry McLaurin	WAS	vs. LAR	11	20	15.8	2.1	13.3
17	Robby Anderson	CAR	at ATL	10	23	16.1	2.3	13.3
18	Will Fuller V	HOU	vs. JAC	12	25	18	2	13.3
19	Odell Beckham Jr.	CLE	vs. IND	16	24	19.2	2.2	13
20	DeVante Parker	MIA	at SF	19	26	21.5	1.6	12.6
21	Marquise Brown	BAL	vs. CIN	14	29	21.8	1.9	12.5
22	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	vs. NYG	18	28	23.4	2.5	12.4
23	Justin Jefferson	MIN	at SEA	17	29	23.8	2.4	12.4
24	Tyler Boyd	CIN	at BAL	16	29	24.6	2.1	12.4
25	JuJu Smith-Schuster	PIT	vs. PHI	15	30	24.9	3.4	12.2
26	Darius Slayton	NYG	at DAL	24	34	27.6	2.1	12.1
27	Michael Gallup	DAL	vs. NYG	23	39	28.2	2.6	12
28	Diontae Johnson	PIT	vs. PHI	19	36	28.4	3.1	11.9
29	Julian Edelman	NE	vs. DEN	15	37	29.4	4.4	11.7
30	John Brown	BUF	at TEN	30	40	33.4	2.4	11.7
31	T.Y. Hilton	IND	at CLE	28	45	33.4	3.7	11.2
32	Jerry Jeudy	DEN	at NE	31	52	33.8	2.3	10.7
33	Jamison Crowder	NYJ	vs. ARI	26	53	34.2	4.8	10.5
34	Jarvis Landry	CLE	vs. IND	29	43	34.4	2.7	10.5
35	Golden Tate	NYG	at DAL	34	43	36.6	2.4	10.4
36	A.J. Brown	TEN	vs. BUF	17	60	36.9	11.7	9.9
37	Laviska Shenault Jr.	JAC	at HOU	30	46	37.8	3.6	9.8
38	Tee Higgins	CIN	at BAL	34	47	39.4	1.9	9.7
39	Scotty Miller	TB	at CHI	33	52	40.4	4.4	9.7
40	Brandon Aiyuk	SF	vs. MIA	36	47	40.4	2.4	9.1
41	Russell Gage	ATL	vs. CAR	33	62	41.6	3.3	9
42	Brandin Cooks	HOU	vs. JAC	35	50	42.3	3.6	8.9
43	Sammy Watkins	KC	vs. LV	34	53	43.7	3.5	8.8
44	Deebo Samuel	SF	vs. MIA	31	53	45.2	4.7	8.8
45	Emmanuel Sanders	NO	vs. LAC	41	57	45.3	2	8.5
46	Hunter Renfrow	LV	at KC	33	57	46.1	5.3	8.5
47	A.J. Green	CIN	at BAL	38	61	46.9	5.2	8.5
48	Tre’Quan Smith	NO	vs. LAC	31	62	47.7	4.9	8.4
49	Michael Thomas	NO	vs. LAC	2	82	39.2	29.9	8.3
50	Mecole Hardman	KC	vs. LV	42	64	52.3	3.4	8.1

D.J. Moore (CAR)
I’m continuing to recommend buying Moore’s stock while it’s down. He’s being used in a different role than he was last year and it’s only a matter of time before that pays off. We’ll compare him to Robby Anderson below, but the one that’s typically tied to success is the percentage of their team’s air yards. Moore has 42.7 percent of the Panthers air yards while Anderson is at 35.4 percent. Both are very high, but it’s Moore who hasn’t scored yet. Now onto their Week 5 matchup, this could be the week we see Moore go nuts. When the Falcons allow a completion, it goes for plenty of yards per reception (15.2). That mark ranks as the third-highest in football, so it’s no wonder they’ve allowed a league-leading 21 pass plays to go for 20-plus yards. Moore plays most of his snaps at LWR, which means he’ll see Isaiah Oliver most of the time, a cornerback who’s struggled mightily since coming into the league, and it’s only gotten worse in 2020 as he’s allowed 19-of-28 passing for 277 yards and three touchdowns in his coverage. Moore should remain in lineups as a high-end WR2 this week who could have the game you’ve been waiting for.

Justin Jefferson (MIN)
Through four weeks, Jefferson leads the league in yards per route run (3.70). He’s now in a full-time role and it’s leading to fantasy points. It is worth noting that there’ll be some regression to his yards after the catch. Based on his separation at target, NFL’s NextGenStats suggest that he should be averaging around 4.5 yards after the catch, but he’s managed to average 8.1 yards to this point. He could very well be above average, but that’s the second-largest gap in the league with that particular stat. The Seahawks have allowed 336.3 yards per game… to receivers alone. I’m not making that up. You can go and double-check it. The volume is obviously there (135 targets), and so is the efficiency (9.96 yards per target). The 258.5 PPR points they’ve allowed to receivers is nearly 60 points more than any other team has allowed. It’s why we’ve already seen nine different receivers score 15-plus PPR points against them and finish as top-25 options. I can’t even begin to describe how ridiculous that is. Even if Thielen and Jefferson both finished top-25 this week, it would be an improvement on what they’ve allowed to this point. Digging even deeper, they’ve allowed 10 receivers to total 65-plus yards, which is great for projecting Jefferson’s floor. You could make the case for him to be played as a top-24 receiver this week.

T.Y. Hilton (IND)
Thanks to my friend JJ Zachariason, here are Hilton’s fantasy finishes over his last nine games (most recent last): 58, 64, 58, 61, 38, 50, 87, 56, and 76. That’s… not good. We do want to latch onto the fact that he’s the No. 1 receiver in this offense, but what does that really mean you’re your team is averaging just 30.3 pass attempts per game, and your target share is just 18.1 percent? We need more pass attempts and a higher target share for him to produce. Receivers have averaged a healthy 27.0 targets per game against the Browns, which ranks as the second-most in the league, but quarterbacks have also averaged a massive 45.5 pass attempts per game. It is worth noting that Hilton got loose behind the Bears secondary for what would’ve been a long touchdown, but Kyle Fuller opted to take a pass interference and hold him rather than allow the touchdown. Hilton moves back-and-forth on both sides of the formation, so he’ll see a mix of both Denzel Ward and Terrance Mitchell. As a whole, the Browns have allowed the second-most fantasy points to receivers, but volume is the reason, as they’ve allowed the 17th-most PPR points per target to them. Receivers have actually seen 20 targets against them in the red zone while no other team has seen more than 13 of them. You can’t say he’s a lock for much of anything, so we have to keep him in WR4 territory until he gets back on track. It helps to know that seven receivers have already finished as top-38 options against the Browns, but again, volume is the disconnect here.

Week 5 Tight End Rankings

Rank	Tight Ends	Team	Opp	Best	Worst	Avg	Std Dev	Proj. Pts
1	George Kittle	SF	vs. MIA	1	2	1.3	0.4	14.3
2	Travis Kelce	KC	vs. LV	1	4	1.8	0.5	14.3
3	Mark Andrews	BAL	vs. CIN	2	4	3.1	0.5	13.6
4	Darren Waller	LV	at KC	3	5	3.9	0.5	12.1
5	Hunter Henry	LAC	at NO	4	8	5.6	0.8	12
6	Zach Ertz	PHI	at PIT	5	9	6.2	1	11.2
7	Dalton Schultz	DAL	vs. NYG	5	11	8.2	1.1	10.7
8	Tyler Higbee	LAR	at WAS	7	11	8.3	1.2	8.8
9	Evan Engram	NYG	at DAL	6	13	9.1	1.4	8
10	Jonnu Smith	TEN	vs. BUF	3	18	10	4.4	7.6
11	Mike Gesicki	MIA	at SF	9	13	10.7	1.5	7.6
12	Hayden Hurst	ATL	vs. CAR	9	14	11.2	0.8	7.3
13	Rob Gronkowski	TB	at CHI	11	24	13.7	1.2	7.2
14	Jimmy Graham	CHI	vs. TB	11	20	15.3	1.9	7.1
15	Austin Hooper	CLE	vs. IND	12	18	15.7	1.5	7
16	Eric Ebron	PIT	vs. PHI	11	22	16	3	6.7
17	Logan Thomas	WAS	vs. LAR	14	20	16.3	1.7	6.7
18	Greg Olsen	SEA	vs. MIN	14	23	17.6	2.2	6.2
19	Mo Alie-Cox	IND	at CLE	10	24	19.8	2.2	6.1
20	Drew Sample	CIN	at BAL	15	24	20.4	1.5	5.7

Dalton Schultz (DAL)
Since taking over for Blake Jarwin as the starter, Schultz has been the No. 3 tight end in fantasy football. His worst game was a four-catch, 48-yard performance against the Seahawks. Any time you have a tight end averaging 8.0 targets per game from an offense that is scoring 31.5 points per game (third in NFL), you must pay attention. He did seem to suffer an injury towards the end of last week’s game, and it’s being listed as a thigh injury, so we’ll pay attention as the week goes on. The Giants have not been a team to attack with tight ends to this point, as they’ve allowed just 1.34 PPR points per target to them under the new defensive scheme. It certainly helps efficiency numbers when they’ve played against Eric Ebron, Jimmy Graham, Ross Dwelley, and Tyler Higbee, but still, they’ve done a solid job with the position. Knowing the volume should come down for the entire passing game this week in a game they’re projected to crush, we must lower expectations for Schultz, though he’s still on the low-end TE1 radar with his usage.

Greg Olsen (SEA)
We’re now four weeks into the season and Olsen still has a large gap on the routes run over Dissly. In Week 4, Olsen ran 22 routes while Dissly ran just nine of them. On the season, the tally is Olsen 103, Dissly 39, and Jacob Hollister 22. Olsen has been competent outside of the one Week 2 game, racking up five receptions in each of the last two games. He’s now finished as a top-16 tight end in three of four games, giving him streaming appeal. The Vikings were one of the best teams in the league against tight ends last year, but they’ve struggled a bit in 2020. They haven’t allowed a touchdown to them, keeping their overall numbers down, but the 75 percent completion-rate, and 14.83 yards per reception are both massive. It’s amounted to 11.13 yards per target, the third-highest mark in the league. Over their last three games, they’ve allowed 5/111/0 to Mo Alie-Cox, 5/61/0 to Jonnu Smith, and then 3/46/0 to Jordan Akins in a half of a game (left with concussion). If you wanted to stream Olsen as a high-end TE2, you shouldn’t let anyone talk you out of it.

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