Targets are paramount when it comes to evaluating pass-catchers for fantasy football. There are no receiving yards, no receiving touchdowns, and no receptions without a target.

We want the players on our rosters in fantasy football who will earn these targets because targets are the most important thing to look at when trying to separate one pass-catcher from another on a base level. Sure, the player that earned 160 targets may be a better fantasy option than the player who earned 110, but that doesn’t take into account the offenses these players are in, the target share percentages on their particular team, how deep down the field these targets were earned, and so on.

Each week, we’ll take a weekly team-by-team look into these target earners and separate the wheat from the chaff. 

We're through five weeks of the NFL season, and there's now plenty of data as bye weeks start this upcoming week with the Texans, Titans, Raiders and Lions all off this week, so we'll go through some team and player usage tendencies here in our Target Report. Before we get into the Target Report for Week 5, let's dive into a legend of terms we'll be referencing.

Start Your Studs: Players you should be starting in all formats, regardless of matchup. Use your judgment in shallower leagues where players who are typically startable are plentiful.

Dump ‘Em: Players that you should be dropping from your rosters. Use your judgment in deeper leagues where players with usefulness on waivers aren’t as plentiful.

NFL Week 5 Target Report

Arizona Cardinals

James Conner and Darrel Williams both left the game, leading Eno Benjamin to take over running back duties as the Cardinals tried (and failed) to tie the game up late. Benjamin ended Week 5 with 54% snaps and 56% routes and could be a nice plug-and-play if Conner and/or Williams isn’t able to go in Week 6.

Rondale Moore saw a sizeable contingent of snaps and targets (7-68 on eight targets, 91% routes) in the slot, ticketing him for what we saw out of Greg Dortch in the early going in 2022 when DeAndre Hopkins returns. A.J. Green is currently taking up space on the outside with his large, old body until Hopkins is eligible to come back in Week 7.

Week 5 Arizona Cardinals Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Marquise Brown, Kyler Murray, James Conner (when healthy), DeAndre Hopkins (returns in Week 7)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• I’m a bit concerned about Zach Ertz, and not really for the production now, but the production after Hopkins returns. The writing is on the wall, with either Rondale Moore or Ertz rotating the fantasy-friendly weeks in normal game scripts. Obviously, there will be more than enough room for both Moore and Ertz to eat in this offense in Arizona’s trailing scripts, but that was the thesis behind drafting Ertz where he was being drafted, knowing Hopkins was going to come back and knock everybody else down a peg.

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are weird. They’re like walking into a candy aisle and choosing the wasabi-flavored Kit Kat bars. Why would you do this? Who is this marketed for?

In a game that saw the Falcons without Cordarrelle Patterson and their 2021 top draft pick and Arthur Smith’s favorite decoy Kyle Pitts, Drake London suffered an ankle injury, which could be why he dropped to a season-low 65% routes. London wasn’t doing much anyway (4-35), but that’s the story of the Falcons' passing game in 2022. Nobody is doing anything. 

Week 5 Atlanta Falcons Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Drake London (when healthy… for now.)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• In the Falcons backfield, Tyler Allgeier led the way with 45% of the rushing attempts and 56% of routes. Granted, it didn’t return more than 4.5 fantasy points, but the Falcons were down 21-0 before scoring 15 unanswered points, making this game closer than it had any right to be. It looks like Allgeier leads this backfield with Caleb Huntley the next man up after him, but both backs aren’t anything more than flex plays and desperate flex plays against a strong 49ers defense in Week 6.

Baltimore Ravens

In the expansive worldwide search this offseason and into the regular season for the next “Deebo Samuel”, the Ravens threw their entrant into the ring: Devin Duvernay. Duvernay saw a season-high 80% of routes per dropback with Rashod Bateman sidelined and put up a modest stat line (5-54 on seven targets) while stretching the field with an almost 16-yard aDOT and getting some snaps in the backfield. Some creative usage for Duvernay in an otherwise milquetoast game between the Ravens and Bengals that should have been opened up a bit more in the passing game.

The Ravens did their part, letting some guys get deep but could not make the long-distance connections to Duvernay, Demarcus Robinson, and Tylan Wallace.

Besides them, what about Mark Andrews? I’m happy to report — still very #good.

Week 5 Baltimore Ravens Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• Not super enthused about the Ravens mixing in multiple running backs (and the aforementioned Duvernay) in the backfield and making J.K. Dobbins the de facto two-down grinder. Dobbins is still the leader of this pack, but it sure looks like a group project backfield in typical Ravens' fashion.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills are #good.

(via @benbbaldwin) 

Gabe Davis is a grown-ass man. First, he caught a 98-yard touchdown which set the Davis truthers out into the streets in a frenzy. To hammer home “Gabe Davis Day”, he caught a 62-yard touchdown where he ripped the ball away from Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. 

Davis ended up with a 3-171-2 line on six targets and 85% routes and set the tone for Week 5 as they clobbered the Steelers 38-3.

Davis wasn’t the only Buffalo Bill eating well in Week 5. Of course, Stefon Diggs did as he led the team in targets and receptions (8-102-1, 11 targets, 82% routes) while coming out later when the game was well in hand.

With no Dawson Knox, Isaiah McKenzie or Jamison Crowder, Khalil Shakir saw an increased opportunity and parlayed his six targets into 3-75-1 on 72% routes. A very impressive performance from the rookie, and one could make a bit of a leap to say he’s earned some more standing in this offense even when McKenzie and Crowder return. 

Week 5 Buffalo Bills Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Stefon Diggs, Josh Allen, Gabe Davis (fight me), Devin Singletary (for now)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• Dawson Knox isn’t the safest of holds right now, but at a weak tight end position, you can do much worse than Knox — who has produced like the AFC’s version of Robert Tonyan so far in 2022. 

Carolina Panthers

So Matt Rhule was fired early this week, and while we never like to actively celebrate or victory lap people losing their jobs (especially in this economy), Rhule was pretty #ungood at his job. What does this mean for the Panthers? Well, Ben McAdoo is still the offensive coordinator, so it doesn’t mean too much.

Naturally, the trade winds were circulating and people could not help themselves:

I just don’t think too many things change here on a personnel front for Carolina. It’s still a bad offensive environment and now the Panthers are likely starting PJ Walker at quarterback in Week 6 when they travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams. Perhaps that could mean more deep shots, certainly more elusiveness in and out of the pocket, and more risk-taking for Walker versus Mayfield, who has a bottom-six aDOT (6.9) amongst starting quarterbacks this season. Walker’s career aDOT sits right at 10 yards even, so that could mean more downfield shots and a varied offense.

One can hope.

In Week 5, McCaffrey saw a vintage McCaffrey day with 26 opportunities (14 carries, 12 targets) for 23.4 fantasy points. We love to see it.

D.J. Moore saw his deepest aDOT of the season by far (17.4 yards) and 139 air yards, which was the fifth-highest of the week’s action in the NFL Story of the year has been inefficiency but at least better here than earlier in the season, he’s seeing increased targets (20% share) to help make up for some of that.

Let’s just say it can’t get much worse with Walker at the helm instead of Mayfield.

Week 5 Carolina Panthers Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Christian McCaffrey

Dump ‘Em: Robbie Anderson, however he spells his name. He’s seeing a starter’s share of routes and everything, but he’s not producing and doesn’t have a good offensive environment to boost him any further. If D.J. Moore is struggling to stay relevant here, what chance does Anderson have?

Chicago Bears

The Bears are #ungood.

21 pass attempts. The most run-heavy team in the NFL. It’s nowhere near enough volume for anybody to thrive. 

Week 5 Chicago Bears Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: David Montgomery. That’s it.

Dump ‘Em: It’s time to drop Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet, as there’s just not enough volume and likely won’t be enough to support either of these assets in fantasy. Mooney is averaging slightly over four targets and two receptions per game.

Kmet has nine total receptions in five games, with just over 20 yards per game.

It’s not even their fault; it’s just a function of this inept offense.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals put together a non-Bengals-like gameplan of short dink and dunk passes which capped everybody in the offense — especially Ja’Marr Chase. Chase earned targets but of the shorter variety (4.2-yard aDOT) and the offense as a whole just couldn’t push the ball downfield.

Tee Higgins couldn’t stay on the field after he tweaked his ankle and was ruled out quickly.

Neither Chase (7-50 on 12 targets) nor Tyler Boyd (3-32 on four targets, 97% routes) could take advantage of one less big-time target in their offense. Frankly, the Bengals looked like a shell of themselves against Baltimore, who sports one of the worst secondaries in football.

Week 5 Cincinnati Bengals Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• Hayden Hurst staved off the “dump” list with seven targets and a 6-53-1 line on 84% of routes. If Higgins remains out, Hurst and by extension, Boyd. become much more attractive fantasy options.

Cleveland Browns

Condensed passing game yields almost the same result week after week. Amari Cooper puts up his usually solid stat line on the most routes run by a Cleveland pass-catcher (7-76-1 on 12 targets, 94% routes) and his resurgent campaign soldiers on with his season-long 28% target share. The bar is set lower at tight end than wide receiver, so David Njoku should probably be started in every format if he’s going to continue putting up 6-88 stat lines on almost 90% of routes. 

Week 5 Cleveland Browns Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Amari Cooper, Nick Chubb, David Njoku

Dump ‘Em: Given the condensed nature of the Browns passing game, I’m fine cutting bait on guys like Donovan Peoples-Jones and David Bell. If injuries strike, that’s another story.

Dallas Cowboys

In a game where the Cowboys passed the ball just 16 times at a 36% clip for only 103 yards, there wasn’t a lot of smooth sailing here. Only four players even earned a target and CeeDee Lamb earned half of them for a 5-53 line on 100% route participation. Michael Gallup was the only other player that caught more than one pass for the Cowboys. It truly harkened back to the days of John Facenda narrating a slow-motion NFL Films documentary from the 1960’s.

Week 5 Dallas Cowboys Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott (when healthy), Ezekiel Elliott

Dump ‘Em: Dalton Schultz just cannot stay healthy, as he re-aggravated his knee injury after playing just 10 snaps in Week 5. He’s reportedly on track to play in Week 6 against the Eagles, but nothing is set in stone. Schultz hasn’t put a fantasy-friendly line together since Week 1.

Denver Broncos

As one of the teams that helped to set offensive football back an entire generation, the Broncos' offensive highlights were the three field goals by Brandon McManus. 

(Meme may or may not have been a dramatization of my face while watching this game)

Related: Nathaniel Hackett is a coward.

(via @benbbaldwin)

In the wake of the Javonte Williams injury that knocked him out for the rest of the season, we saw Latavius Murray deemed inactive and Melvin Gordon taking most of the rushing work (65% of running back carries) minus third downs — which mostly went to Mike Boone.

For the passing game, Courtland Sutton (11) and Jerry Jeudy (8) saw exactly half of Denver’s targets in Week 5, with Eric Saubert (somehow) seeing seven on only 53% of routes. This tight end room is a wasteland, but Greg Dulcich is eligible to come off of IR for Week 6, so he might work his way into the receiving discussion moving forward.

Week 5 Denver Broncos Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy (for now)

Dump ‘Em: If you’re still holding K.J. Hamler, it’s time to cut bait. I think we love the *idea* of Hamler more than the actual player, and if we can’t get consistent production out of anybody in this offense besides Courtland Sutton, then I think we can rule out Hamler being anything more than a wide receiver handcuff.

This comes from an unabashed Hamler truther, but we’ve got new information that this offense isn’t all that’s cracked up to be in 2022 — at least not yet.

Detroit Lions

Sad times for Lions fans in Week 5, as they scored <checks notes> zero points. T.J. Hockenson, last week’s hero, came crashing back down to earth with a 1-6 line on four targets on 82% of routes.

Amon-Ra St. Brown gutted out a six-target, four-catch game on only 41% of routes so you could tell that the high ankle sprain that has hampered him the last couple of weeks really bothered him. Luckily, the Lions get a bye week to lick their wounds and get healthy.

Week 5 Detroit Lions Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Amon-Ra St. Brown (when healthy), D’Andre Swift (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• We’ll see if D’Andre Swift will be back in Week 7, but last week, Jamaal Williams still split some time with Craig Reynolds and Justin Jackson. We’ll see if Swift regains a full workload upon return or if he’ll be eased in.

Green Bay Packers

This was a game where the Packers and Aaron Rodgers looked to the old and clunky in London — perhaps in respect to the departed Queen —  and it got them upset by a much inferior Giants team. 

Romeo Doubs paid the price for being too young and athletic as he ran 88% of routes but fell by the wayside to Randall Cobb’s 13 targets (71% routes) and Allen Lazard’s career-high eight targets. The Rodgers “trust in the olds” narrative was at work here, even across the pond.

I hope this is a one-game aberration with AJ Dillon, but he was shelved for the most part in favor of Aaron Jones.

Week 5 Green Bay Packers Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Aaron Jones

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump, but you should have dumped Robert Tonyan by now though.

• If Rodgers is going to target the olds, then we’ve got to revisit Randall Cobb as a volume-dependent flex option in fantasy. It’s not looking like Christian Watson (29% snaps, 22% routes) will be a volume option anytime soon, so Cobb looks like the best bet for it outside of Lazard/Doubs. If you’re trolling waivers for usable production in these bye weeks, Cobb might be that solid option you’re looking for in a pinch.

Houston Texans

I think no quote better encapsulates Week 5’s tilt between the Texans and Jaguars than from RotoViz scribe and proprietor of ZeroRB Shawn Siegele: “A game was played between Houston and Jacksonville. It resembled what I’m told takes place in the USFL.”

Houston did win this game 13-6 on the back of Dameon Pierce and a whopping 31 opportunities; 26 carries and five targets. Ride him if you’ve got him; he’s RB8 on the season. Unless he puts a dent into the Rex Burkhead receiving role, Pierce is a bit at risk of getting game-scripted out of some blowout games.

Because of Pierce’s huge workload, Davis Mills had only 24 pass attempts, which stifled any sort of ceiling projection or any middling projection for the Texans receivers.

Both Nico Collins and Brandin Cooks saw six targets and routes on 92% of dropbacks, but Collins caught all for 65 yards in a much more fruitful downfield role (13.5-yard aDOT). Cooks caught only four of his targets for 20 yards, so as likely the only Texans’ receiving option universally started in fantasy, he was undoubtedly a disappointment.

Week 5 Houston Texans Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Dameon Pierce, Brandin Cooks

Dump ‘Em: The one-week O.J. Howard experiment where he jumped up to 67% of routes and the hopefulness we (I) felt when he could represent an option at tight end in fantasy all but evaporated when Howard put up one catchless target on 60% of routes in Week 5. We must persevere and cut bait.

• Players like Rex Burkhead seem relatively gross on the surface as a low-floor option in fantasy, but when we’re trying to fill out lineups with multiple teams on their bye weeks, he seems less gross? Yeah, we’ll go with that. Houston is on their bye in Week 6, but Burkhead is somebody I’m leaving around to at least fill out some points on our bench and start if we need to.

Indianapolis Colts

In the other half of the Thursday Night Football game, which set offensive football back to the stone age, the Colts got off to a rocky start after they were already behind the eight-ball by Jonathan Taylor missing the game. Nyheim Hines was knocked out of the game on the first drive with a concussion — leading the way for the vaunted Deon Jackson/Phillip Lindsay combination at running back for the rest of the night. Both split the work almost right down the middle, but Jackson saw more passing down work. If Taylor misses another week, 

With the Colts’ passing game, we saw one of the bear cases for it on Thursday. Michael Pittman (5-59, eight targets, 100% route participation) was just okay, and Alec Pierce had his best game as a pro, with 8-81 on 75% routes. 

If I had to draw a conclusion, I’d say It’s completely possible that Matt Ryan is just cooked as a quarterback. Because of that and the Colts’ inability to score consistently, it really hampers the upside of the entire group of fantasy-friendly options in Indianapolis.

Week 5 Indianapolis Colts Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Michael Pittman, Jonathan Taylor (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Mo Alie-Cox dipped down from 63% route to just 38% in Week 5, with his production dwindling to just one target and one catch for seven yards. Alie-Cox is fine for a tight end streamer, but you can probably do much better than him for an every-week option.  

• The eternal spinning roulette wheel for a WR2 in Indianapolis seems to have slowed down a little bit and landed on Pierce. Pierce produced double-digit fantasy points on just 42% of routes in Week 4 and now, with increased opportunity and efficiency, pumped those numbers up on 75% of routes. He’s looked markedly better than Parris Campbell, and hopefully, Campbell starts to see a reduction in routes to Pierce’s benefit.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Imagine scoring six points total but gaining 422 yards from scrimmage. This was the tale of Week 5’s Jacksonville Jaguars, as they could not muster any sort of points to put away the Houston Texans.

The Jaguars’ backfield of James Robinson and Travis Etienne are ships passing in the night, with Etienne looking like the star and Robinson looking like a dud. Take out Robinson’s 50-yard run in Week 3 as well as his 37-yard run in Week 2, and Robinson’s 2.3 yards per carry seems very Mixon-ian in comparison. 

It was a quiet week for the “supposed” top targets Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, as they combined for 11 targets but only caught four for 23 yards. Meanwhile, Marvin Jones had a 104-yard performance, which is great but something you can’t count on weekly. Evan Engram also ran 82% of routes and cashed in some target-earning potential we hoped for in his move to Jacksonville, with a 6-69 line on 10 targets. At worst, he has to be in the streaming tight end category with options on bye like Darren Waller and T.J. Hockenson, plus injuries.

Week 5 Jacksonville Jaguars Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Christian Kirk, Travis Etienne

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• I’d love to say that I think Zay Jones and Marvin Jones could have some usefulness with the bye weeks, but the Jaguars face the three stingiest defenses in fantasy points allowed per game to wide receivers in the Colts, Giants, and Broncos, so I have my reservations about digging deeper in the Jaguars’ ancillary receivers outside of Kirk and Engram.

Kansas City Chiefs

When the historians look back at this game, they’ll probably note two things: the heinous roughing the passer call on Chris Jones and the four-touchdown game from Travis Kelce.

Besides Kelce, Marquez Valdes-Scantling turned in a solid performance (6-90, eight targets, 88% routes) and was the only other pass-catcher to really put up anything noteworthy.

JuJu Smith-Schuster has been a failure at his ADP this season despite notching eight targets in four of five games this season. It’s time to adjust and take him for what he is at this juncture: a sporadic, medium-ceiling play in a strong offense. That seems more on the player and not on the scheme, as it seems like JuJu is not the player he once was — even at only 25 years old.

Week 5 Kansas City Chiefs Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Clyde Edwards-Helaire (for now)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• I’m still fine holding Skyy Moore; I don’t want to be the one dropping somebody from my roster in this offense who is just getting his feet wet in the NFL. Game speed takes a bit to adjust to, and we lose sight of that in an era where we’re getting immediate production out of rookies almost right out of the gate. Add in the fact he’s coming from Western Michigan too. The thesis behind the Moore play in drafts was never immediate production, though we would have most certainly taken it had it happened that way.
• Almost 37% of Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s production has come via the touchdown, and he was shut down by the Raiders (nine carries, 15 yards), with Jerick McKinnon looking like the most athletic running back. CEH would be one of my bigger sells in fantasy if he scores a touchdown or two.

Las Vegas Raiders

We’ll obviously take Davante Adams’ 3-134-2 line as they game from long passes in almost the same way Gabe Davis’ touchdowns came. Make no question — Adams is an elite target earner in fantasy and has been for a long time now. The fact that he can get there with fantasy production in multiple ways just speaks to how talented a player is, post-game antics notwithstanding. Those antics could suspend him for a game after the bye week in Week 6.

The fantasy community seems to have some kind of “pick and choose” between how players get to their final stat lines. DeSean Jackson made a career from a lack of volume but deep shots that hit. Adams should (and rightly so) get some leeway here as the manner in which Adams scored doesn’t happen very often for him, if at all. I just prefer the destination over needing to see how the sausage is made.

Josh Jacobs looks like an every-week fantasy stud at running back in the mold of the Cowboys running DeMarco Murray until the wheels fall off. Jacobs’ 29 high-value touches (receptions + touches inside the 10-yard line) are tied for second in the NFL through five games. It seems like Jacobs was a player most of us whiffed on (including myself), so again, we must adjust.

Darren Waller played a total of eight snaps before leaving the game with a hamstring and not returning. It’s been a tumultuous season for Waller, and this just piles on.

Week 5 Las Vegas Raiders Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Mack Hollins is still running routes at a high clip (91% in Week 5) but is the split end and not seeing must in the way of production with four catchless targets. You can drop him if you need the room on your roster with the Raiders heading into the bye.

• Hunter Renfrow missed the last two games with a concussion and saw his first game action since Week 2. He caught all four targets for 25 yards on only 73% of routes — a season-low. He should ramp up to his typical 80-90% of routes after the bye week.

Los Angeles Chargers

Mike Williams continues to show he is the unquestioned alpha of this offense, especially with Keenan Allen not playing. His 10-134 line on 13 targets and 87% of routes is awesome to see, but even more encouraging is Williams’ aDOT shortening up to exactly 9.0 yards. We know Williams is an awesome downfield weapon, but earning target volume (and consistently) is earned on shorter passes with more frequency. He's becoming more well-rounded and is finally realizing his immense potential.

Williams’ day came at the expense of… well, everybody else. Only eight targets and six receptions went to the other wide receivers in the offense. Gerald Everett (1-2 on three targets, 68% routes) and Josh Palmer (3-24 on six targets, 87%) wildly disappointed in Week 5. This offense misses that certain somebody by the name of Keenan Allen for Williams to play off of.

Week 5 Los Angeles Chargers Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Mike Williams, Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Gerald Everett is probably on his last straw as it stands, and it’s bad timing for when Keenan Allen makes his return to the lineup. The other side of the coin is the weak tight end position, and Everett has three of five weeks with at least 13 fantasy points in full PPR.

Los Angeles Rams

Cooper Kupp? As always, #good. Even in a game where they scored 10 points, Kupp still shined with a 7-125-1 line on 10 targets with a 75-yard touchdown.

In the same vein as Kupp, where I state the obvious but feel obligated to at least mention him, Allen Robinson, as always, #ungood. A 3-12 line on five targets is the quintessential Robinson stat line. We were all rugged by this one; most of all the Los Angeles Rams, who paid him a ton of money for minimal production.

The only other asset on this team that has worked to any sort of favorable degree is Tyler Higbee, who continues to rack up short targets (7-46 on 10 targets, 79% routes). By virtue of consistent targets regardless of depth, he’s worked his way into must-start territory — which is the perfect microcosm of how the tight end position broke through five weeks of the NFL season.

Week 5 Los Angeles Rams Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Cooper Kupp (duh), Tyler Higbee

Dump ‘Em: Allen Robinson. Drop him with the quickness.

• Darrell Henderson saw exactly zero carries in Week 5, while Akers got 13 of them. That’s 100% of the running back carries for Akers, but that doesn’t mean a huge gulf in favor of Akers. Henderson still saw five targets and 57% of snaps in a Tony Pollard-esque role for the Rams. Henderson still out-snapped Akers and has looked better in 2022. It’s still a backfield in flux, but battle lines are at least being drawn based on the type of work each is receiving, so in terms of clarity, the smoke is clearing in Rams land.

Miami Dolphins

By necessity, the Dolphins had to turn to a seventh-round rookie in Skylar Thompson because Teddy Bridgewater was ruled out very quickly in this one. That, in turn, cut all receiving options off at the legs in a stroke of bad luck, with Tyreek Hill (7-46 on seven targets, 60% routes) and Jaylen Waddle (3-23, three targets, 81%) suffering the most here.

Everybody’s favorite disappointing mid-round running back, Chase Edmonds, ceded work and snaps to Myles Gaskin (24% routes, 19% snaps), which should tell you everything you should know about how the team feels about Edmonds.

Raheem Mostert handled 78% of all running back carries, 69% of snaps, and 54% of routes in dominant utilization, putting him on a course for 122 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. Needless to say, the Mostert regime is alive and well, so I feel good (for now) in calling him a mid-range RB2 on a team that without Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, wants to run and keep the ball out of Skylar Thompson’s (Week 6’s starting quarterback) hands. 

Week 5 Miami Dolphins Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle

Dump ‘Em: Drop Chase Edmonds. I’m not even sure that if something happened to Mostert if Edmonds would even get more than a piece of a backfield split. He’s definitely fallen out of favor to the point where he’s just a space filler on rosters at this point.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings made a concerted effort to get Justin Jefferson involved and hyper-targeted. They did just that, with Kirk Cousins completing his first 17 passes of the game and almost half of them going to Jefferson, who ended up catching 12-of-13 targets for 154 yards.

While Jefferson ended up with 57% of the air yards and 1/3 of the targets, the rest of the Vikings pass-catchers were there to pick up the crumbs because there weren’t touchdowns to help buoy the fantasy points floor as all but a Jalen Reagor tip pass touchdown went to Dalvin Cook and Cousins.

Week 5 Minnesota Vikings Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• Make sure you’re continuing to stash Alexander Mattison, as with Dalvin Cook’s shoulder injury, Mattison could see some more usage and in the event of Cook missing time, he carries massive contingent value. 

New England Patriots

Jakobi Meyers. That’s the blurb.

Oh, we want more? Well, Meyers is essentially quarterback proof even if it’s third-string quarterback Bailey Zappe (henceforth known as “Zappe Hour”). Meyers put up 7-111-1 on eight targets while running the most routes per dropback among the Patriots’ pass-catching group at 96%. The DeVante Parker experiment isn’t looking so hot. The Hunter Henry experience in year two has stumbled out of the gates.

It’s Meyers or nothing.

Week 5 New England Patriots Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Jakobi Meyers, Rhamondre Stevenson (if Damien Harris misses time)

Dump ‘Em: Nobody to outright dump.

• Rhamondre Stevenson took hold of the running back work in New England when Damien Harris left the game with a hamstring injury in Week 5. Stevenson took every running back touch and route after that and is a potential top-five play against the Browns in Week 6.

New Orleans Saints

Taysom Hill scored four touchdowns and ruined the fantasy slate for everybody that played against him. Was that what you wanted to read?

The outlier of outliers, Hill is the worst click you can make at the tight end position in that it’s never fun and the floor is absolute zero. Then again, that’s also most tight ends. Maybe the Taysom slappies were right; so I’ll just go ahead and say if you got him off of waivers, you probably paid way too much for him, considering last week was the absolute tippy-top ceiling for him. It’s a long fall from Week 5.

I do bring good news and a #good sign for Chris Olave:

Olave left the game and didn’t return after a pretty bad concussion after running 59% of routes and a 4-54-1 line. In a game where Hill bogarted 2/3 of the scoring for the Saints, it was nice to see Olave salvage a shortened day with a score. With Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry still not practicing, the Saints need all the reinforcements they can muster.

Week 5 New Orleans Saints Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas (when healthy), Chris Olave (when healthy)

Dump ‘Em: Adam Trautman scored the touchdown, but Juwan Johnson gets the routes run advantage. You can’t trust either.

• Alvin Kamara looked Alvin Kamara-like with 29 opportunities, 103 yards on the ground and catching all six targets for 91 yards. Touchdown variance skewed HARD for Taysom Hill, but Kamara will find them thanks to the law of averages.

New York Giants

This week, I was a guest on Pat Fitzmaurice’s Fitz on Fantasy podcast, and as we’re both Packers fans, we were able to wax poetic about the team’s listless performance against these Giants. Good for Brian Daboll to get a team like the Giants, who have an obvious talent deficiency (especially on offense) but are maximizing what they do (i.e.: give the ball to Saquon Barkley) to overachieve. They’ll be in good shape eventually if they can turn over some of that receiving talent and get more of it on the field.

Speaking of receiving talent (or lack thereof), the ghost of Darius Slayton popped out for his yearly game that harkened back to 2019 when he was a darling of the dynasty fantasy football community, only to turn back into a pumpkin in the 2020 offseason. Slayton led the Giants in receiving (6-79, seven targets) in Week 5 on only 68% of routes. Former Colt Marcus Johnson (3-35, 90% routes) led the team on routes per dropback, and it seems like the team is shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic despite their 4-1 start to the season. Unfortunately, you can’t start any of these receivers with any sort of confidence since five different Giants have led the team in route % each week of the season.

Week 5 New York Giants Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Some guy named Saquon Barkley.

Dump ‘Em: We’re still holding Kadarius Toney and to a lesser degree, Wan’Dale Robinson. If you have Robinson and need the bench room with bye weeks here, by all means, cut bait. I do think the investment with Toney warrants him being held until he can make his way onto the field. 

New York Jets

The Jets took advantage of Miami’s quarterback situation to plow ahead and go with more of a run-heavy script. Zach Wilson had to throw only 21 times, but the star was Breece Hall, who put up a sick 197 yards from scrimmage, including a 79-yard reception that got him to the 1-yard line, where the new vulture and bane of Hall’s existence Michael Carter ran in the short touchdown as one of his two on the day. For the third consecutive week, Hall out-snapped and ran more routes than Carter, and Hall is proving to be a huge value at his fantasy draft ADP with his production in the first five weeks of 2022.

With so much production in the run game, it’s clearly affecting the passing game, as with 21 pass attempts, it puts a crunch on the upside of the passing game weapons like Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore. Perhaps that’s a side-effect of the game script, but the Jets were in a bit of a trailing script in Week 4 against the Steelers, and the passing game still suffered. The Jets drafted Zach Wilson with the second overall pick in 2021 to be much more than a game manager, and that’s what he is right now. We need more tangible improvements from Wilson to feel much better about starting these weapons in fantasy. Otherwise, he’s a poor man’s Jimmy Garoppolo. That’s #notgood.

Week 5 New York Jets Fantasy Takeaways:

Start Your Studs: Breece Hall

Dump ‘Em: The season-long stats are a bit skewed because of the change from Joe Flacco to Zach Wilson as starting quarterback, but the team is skewing more run-heavy with Wilson. It’s affecting everybody in the passing game, and at this point, Tyler Conklin is a pretty safe drop. He was moderately effective in Week 4 on 71%, but he saw those routes crater to just 29% in Week 5 where he had one catchless target. It was a good run for Conklin, but he’s waiver wire fodder.

• The hope for Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore (and, to a lesser extent, Corey Davis) is that the passing game improves so both can be viable each week for fantasy. That hasn’t been the case, and it’s been tough to get even ONE involved weekly. Both ran just shy of 80% of routes in Week 5, but that was likely due to a commanding lead and getting them off the field. We have to see more, but right now, both are flex plays.

Philadelphia Eagles