Welcome to Week 5!
We’re 4 weeks down — how are you feeling?! You could be 4-0 or 0-4, but remember: it’s a long season, and this is the point where some of your league-mates will slowly start giving up. The waiver wire becomes even more important now that bye weeks are kicking off, and it feels like every week delivers another slew of notable injuries. Stay steady and vigilant, even if things haven’t gone your way.
Week 4 is what I’m coining the “bounce back” week of 2026. We saw a plethora of under-performing fantasy assets finally show up: Drake Maye, Tetairoa McMillan, Carnell Tate, Quinshon Judkins, and Jameson Williams all had strong performances after it felt like they weren’t going to get anything going this year. But week 4 also left us growingly uneasy about a number of high-profile draft picks: Saquon Barkley and Omarion Hampton have taken a nosedive in value since August, and neither offense is super inspiring.
This week has 2 (!) 54.5-point O/U matchups in Arizona/Detroit and Buffalo/Rams. The latter is more likely to have NFL playoff implications, but both promise to have significant fantasy football implications. I’m playing everyone I can in both games. Divisional matchups also offer plenty of intrigue in week 4: the Bears face off against the struggling Packers in Green Bay, and Seattle hosts 4-0 San Francisco. The Browns against the Jets has a chance to be the fantasy dud game of the week with how slow New York’s offense has been operating (just 32 plays against the Bears this past Sunday).
As always, if you need any trade advice or bespoke start/sit decisions, my full weekly rankings, rest-of-season rankings, and trade calculator are available on grankfantasyfootball.com.
P.S. — the below rankings in my newsletter are half-PPR by default. The website will always have my full PPR and standard scoring rankings as well.
View Full RankingsWeek 5 Rankings
QB:
Favorite Plays: Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott crack the top 3 this week. Burrow could be without his 2 best receivers, and it might not matter. The Bengals play Miami, and the Cincinnati offense has featured the heaviest dose of passing to-date among NFL teams. Dallas’ Thursday Night Matchup against the banged-up Buccaneers could be a bloodbath. There’s rarely a week that I’m sitting Dak, but he’s absolutely in your starting lineup tonight. Don’t forget about Jayden Daniels who, despite coming off the injury, gets New York at home for a Commanders team that’s desperate for a win right now.
Leave on the Bench: Lamar Jackson probably doesn’t play this week, but if he somehow goes, I’d be weary of starting him on a bad ankle (not to mention he plays Sunday night, so you’d have to hold out for him). I’m also fine benching Kyler Murray until further notice. He logged back-to-bank stinkers against Tampa Bay and Miami: it’s not going to get any easier than that, and even if he gets Jefferson back, there are better plays.
Sleepers: There’s a name in the graphic below that you normally won’t see. Yes, Jacoby Brissett is a top 10 QB for me this week, and it’s not because he became Patrick Mahomes overnight. Any QB facing the hapless Lions’ defense gets an automatic bump — we’re talking about a team giving up nearly 28 fantasy points per game to the QB position. He’s worth a stream if you don’t have a top tier option. I also wouldn’t be utterly opposed to playing Aaron Rodgers who’s logged back-to-back 20+ point fantasy outings and gets the Colts this week (a team giving up the 6th most fantasy points to QBs right now).
RB:
Favorite Plays: Chase Brown hasn’t been able to get it going on the ground, but he did log 11 targets last week in a come-from-behind effort against Jacksonville. If Chase and/or Higgins misses, you’ve got an RB poised to get a ton of targets out of the backfield again. Monitor Jeremiyah Love’s status this week, but assuming he plays, he’s an automatic start against the Lions (you should be sensing a theme here). And given the way the Eagles’ offense has been unable to stay on the field, Bhayshul Tuten in the early game could soak up a bunch of volume for the Jaguars in their home-away-from-home.
Leave on the Bench: I hate to say it, but during this gauntlet stretch, Omarion Hampton should probably ride the bench unless you don’t have a better option at the position. I don’t want to play a committee backfield against the Broncos. Alvin Kamara got in the endzone twice against Atlanta, but don’t ignore the 7 attempts for 23 yards. He’s dealing with a back injury too and faces the Vikings this week, so it’s not the time to start him.
Sleepers: RJ Harvey is a name who I think should be in play most weeks going forward. It’s not going to come from the ground game though: he had just 7 attempts for 25 yards last week but salvaged his fantasy outing with 10 targets and 68 receiving yards. He’s a much better play in a full PPR league. I’m also going back to the well if I picked up Emanuel Wilson last week. George Holani has been limited in practice, Charbonnet isn’t coming back in week 5, and Joe Mixon didn’t pass his physical. Emanuel Wilson is in line for a significant workload once again, and San Francisco’s defense is mediocre.
WR:
Favorite Plays: Need I mention the Lions again? Michael Wilson is a top 15 option this week. Set it and forget it. Davante Adams should also be forgiven for his 5.2-point performance last week and go right back into your lineup. The Bills are one of the premier defenses to target for wide receivers, and this game figures to be a shootout. Even though George Pickens hasn’t had that vintage breakout game yet, you have to keep starting him and trust it’s coming. There’s no time like the present against Tampa Bay.
Leave on the Bench: Usually the 49ers’ receivers are in play, but Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel get the Seahawks’ defense this week, and I’m skeptical either has a big game. Also, there is no world where I am playing Emeka Egbuka until Baker Mayfield is back on the field. The passing attempts with Jalon Daniels are too few and far in between, and unfortunately, he’s not commanding the “alpha” target share to make up for that.
Sleepers: He’s probably not much of a sleeper at this point, but you can play Carnell Tate after seeing him log 145 yards on 9 catches last week. The Texans’ defense has been surprisingly terrible, so that start doesn’t worry me at all. DK Metcalf is also a borderline top 25 option this week against the Colts. I still worry about the widespread target distribution in Pittsburgh creating fantasy irrelevance, but Metcalf is the best bet of any.
TE:
Favorite Plays: Your usual suspects are in play as always — even George Kittle with a tough matchup against Seattle should be viewed as a top 5 option. Dalton Kincaid is due for a bounce back game as well — it’s unfathomable to see him go from 17 and 19 fantasy points to 3 and 1 over the course of 4 weeks. I trust this offense will get him more involved. Isaiah Likely’s target share continues to elevate him into TE1 status, and I’m viewing him as a guy you can start on a weekly basis.
Leave on the Bench: I don’t have a ton of interest in Keyon Sadiq this week, even though he had the breakout 2 weekends ago (putting up a goose egg will do that). I just don’t trust the Jets offense to support 3+ skill position players for fantasy right now. I don’t really think I can trust Hunter Henry right now either, so he’s a TE2 at best moving forward.
Sleepers: T.J. Hockenson is start-able if you picked him up off waivers after a dominant performance against Miami. Don’t expect it to be that good every week, especially if Justin Jefferson is back, but I think he’s a fine play so long as Kyler Murray is starting and throwing for a low aDOT (he ranks 30th among qualified QBs). I also like Michael Mayer if you’re in a bind or are missing Travis Kelce with the bye. He had 10 targets against the Chiefs last week and more importantly played 88% of snaps. Yes, I think it’s possible that 2 different TEs have fantasy relevance for the Raiders moving forward.
G-RANK Game of the Week for Fantasy
Let’s pick a game that’s not for the defensive snobs. The Detroit Lions at the Arizona Cardinals is one of 2 games this week with a 54.5-point O/U. Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, Jacoby Brissett, Jeremiyah Love, Michael Wilson, and Trey McBride are all in play for fantasy. If you’re in a deep league, I honestly wouldn’t mind starting Tyler Allgeier as well. The Lions’ defense is as bad as I can remember, and any fantasy start against them is probably a good one moving forward. The outlook for the Lions’ offense becomes that much better too — they’re going to be fighting to keep up in most games, necessitating 20, 30, or even 40-point outings. This game has a chance to give us multiple week-winning fantasy performances.
G-RANK Weekly Sleeper Pick
I’m on a dry streak after Darren Waller failed to get in the endzone on Sunday night (Tetairoa McMillan decided all the work would go his way). That’s fine — we’re going to bounce back this week. I’m taking Malik Washington on the Dolphins. There’s a chance Joe Burrow plays without his top 2 weapons on Sunday, which could keep this game closer than the initial spread indicates. Miami actually kept it close against Minnesota last week, but that was more Minnesota’s inability to move the ball than it was competence on Miami’s side. Still, I like what the Dolphins have with Ollie Gordon moving forward, and Malik Washington has 28 targets through 4 weeks. I think a big game is coming…
Thanks for reading this week! G-RANK has you covered for full top 200 rankings (half-PPR, full-PPR, standard) for this week and the rest-of-season. Be sure to also leverage the start / sit tool, trade calculator, and more for decisions specific to your league!
