By Gene Lesser / Chris Dell
Please Note: the players listed below are owned in 50% or less of ESPN fantasy football leagues. For Chris Dell's Week 5 fantasy football rankings, click here in order to sort through players by position and scoring format
QUARTERBACKS
STREAM: Daniel Jones 39.2%/Trey Lance 30.0% - Don't look now, but Daniel Jones is a top-10 fantasy football quarterback and he's coming off a career high 402 passing yards last week to boot. This week, he gets the luxury of facing a below-average Cowboys defense in tandem with a game script that should lend itself to a lot of passing. Add in the fact that Jones is averaging 6.75 rush attempts and 47 rush yards per game as well and you have a great streaming option, with a generous hat tip to Trey Lance as well.
Honorable Mention: Trevor Lawrence 43.8%, Sam Darnold 37.4%, Justin Fields 33.2%, Taylor Heinicke 11.7%, Zach Wilson 7.0%
RUNNING BACKS
STREAM: Latavius Murray 47.5% - The Ravens backfield has been in flux ever since Gus Edwards went down right before Week 1. It once looked like it was going to be the Ty'Son Williams show as his early season performances were solid, but he was a healthy inactive last week and Murray got a stranglehold of the position. He was already vulturing goal line carries earlier this season, but last week saw him get 18 carries and a touchdown. This is his job to lose moving forward. He'll get plenty of work at home against an inferior Colts team that will be playing catch-up all game, leaving Murray to handle the clock-killing work.
UPDATE: As of Saturday morning reports indicate that Joe Mixon is likely to suit up and play in Week 5; while we wouldn't be surprised to see Perine/Evans still mix in, we do not recommend them as streamers if Mixon does indeed get cleared to play and is active for Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers.
STREAM: Samaje Perine 30.2% - Joe Mixon was diagnosed with a low grade ankle sprain after last week's game. He has not practiced this week, giving him a questionable desgination heading into his Week 5 matchup against the Packers. Keep an eye on his staus going into Sunday, but as of now he's more doubtful than questionable per some reports. If Mixon is out, then Perine is a nice streaming option at a position that is extremely shallow and surprisingly was very active in the passing game in relief last year.
STASH: Brandon Bolden 5.8%/Rhamondre Stevenson 6.1% - James White is out with a season-ending hip injury. Last week, there was speculation as to who would take over his role amongst the remaining Patriots backs, but that was cleared up after their loss to the Buccaneers. Bolden finished the game with 6 catches for 51 yards. Bill Belichik has a tendency of changing this up week to week so picking up Bolden now and seeing if his involvement in the passing game continues is a smart move, as is stashing the rookie Stevenson who has been dropped to waivers by owners across fantasy leagues of all shapes and sizes.
Honorable Mention: Kenneth Gainwell 34.7%, J.D. McKissic 49.7%, Jeremy McNichols 3.4%, Chris Evans 2.4%, Khalil Herbert - STASH 4.4%, Jaret Patterson - STASH 0.8%
WIDE RECEIVERS
STREAM: Darnell Mooney 48.6% - Justin Fields has breathed life into this Bears offense and his strong arm and mobility has allowed him to throw the ball down field with success. In Fields' first career start Mooney was targeted seven times and ended the day with five catches and 125 yards, which included a 64-yard catch. The Raiders pass defense has not been that good and is coming off of a game that just saw Justin Herbert pick them apart The Bears are going to need to throw more in this game than in Week 4.
STREAM: A.J Green 36.3% - The man that was left for dead seems to have been resurrected in this high-octane Cardinals offense. He's averaging six catches, 16.5 yards per catch, and 67 yards per game to go with two touchdowns. Murray continues to target the veteran and he gets a soft matchup against a 49ers secondary that is riddled with injuries in a game that could be higher-paced/scoring than most expect.
STASH: Josh Gordon 24.1% - Can he ever be the player he was almost a decade ago? Only time will tell, but he's on an ideal team in the Kansas City Chiefs who love to throw the ball and are looking for a big wide receiver to complement Hill on the outside. Who knows if you get anything from Gordon, but if you have a spot for him, he's definitely worth the stash in this high-powered offense to see what transpires.
Honorable Mention: Rondale Moore 43.1%, Marquez Callaway 40.4%, Tim Patrick 30.1%, Christian Kirk 29.9%, Sammy Watkins 29.4%, Jamison Crowder 29.0%, Elijah Moore 20.2%, Zach Pascal 15.3%, KJ Osborn 13.2%, Kadarius Toney 6.7%, Deonte Harris 2.5%, Olamide Zacchaeus 1.5%, John Ross 0.7%, Rashod Bateman - STASH 13.2%, TY Hilton - STASH 19.2%
TIGHT ENDS
STREAM: Evan Engram 29.5% - His 2021 season debut left much to be desired but the last two weeks have seen Engram targeted six times in each game and catching five of those six last week. With wide receivers Shepard and Slayton on the mend, expect Engram's target share to remain high especially in a high total game. The Cowboys are allowing an average of 13.8 fantasy points to TE's through four weeks.
STREAM: Tyler Conklin 20.5% - Averaging 4.25 catches on 5.5 targets per game through four weeks.
STASH: Blake Jarwin 5.1% - His teammate Dalton Schultz, the fourth ranked tight end in fantasy, and is the tight end that you ultimately want in this offense. But the Cowboys run alot of two tight end sets and Jarwin is still seeing 3.25 targets per game. If Schultz gets hurt, then Jarwin becomes one of the most coveted waiver tight ends and could quickly ascend to the top of the tight end fantasy rankings.
Honorable Mention: Zach Ertz 18.0%, Maxx Williams 6.9%, Cameron Brate 3.6%, Ricky Seals-Jones 0.5%, Hayden Hurst 1.2%, Ross Dwelley 0.1%
D/ST
STREAM: Las Vegas Raiders 37.1%- They go up against a relatively stagnant offense and a rookie quarterback in Justin Fields. There's high potential for some sacks and turnovers in this matchup.
STASH: Indianapolis Colts 44.9% - Anyone playing the Texans' offense is a priority lookahead stash
Honorable Mention: Vikings 20.0%