Fantasy Football Week 5 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Quarterbacks

Fantasy Football Start Sit

Getty Kyler Murray is set for a strong Week 10.

Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 5 of the NFL season. In today’s quarterback edition, we will feature the greatest quarterback of all time, along with two rookie signal callers looking to bounce back after mediocre performances just one week ago.

* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Patrick Mahomes will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of his caliber check out our weekly fantasy football quarterback rankings.

Start-Sit QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | K]

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QB: Start ‘Em

Start of the Week: Tom Brady vs. WAS

Brady was an utter disappointment for fantasy owners a week ago. We knew he’d likely take a step back against a stingy Buffalo defense, but no one could have projected a meager 3.7 fantasy points from the shoo-in Hall of Famer. Tommy Terrific will return to form in Week 5 against a putrid Washington defense that has allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing QBs this season.

Kyler Murray vs. CIN

Murray has not been the game-changer he was perceived to be coming out of college quite yet. However, in the Cardinals air-raid offense, due to the abundance of opportunities that Murray gets to pass the ball, his fantasy value remains near the top of the position. We all watched the Bengals defense get torn up by Mason Rudolph and even Jaylen Samuels in the passing game this past Monday night. Their defensive unit is simply not good. Cinci allows 19+ fantasy points to QBs this season.

Kirk Cousins at NYG 

No one’s happy with Kirk Cousins right now, and that includes his own receivers. Adam Theilen is speaking to his QB through the media, while Stefon Diggs refuses to speak to the media, preferring to communicate via cryptic tweets to help fuel his trade rumors. However, Cousins will likely quiet the hate directed towards him for at least one week, even if it’s not sustainable for the long haul. The Giants allow the sixth-most fantasy points to QBs this season. If you subtract the Redskins QBs from a week ago, New York allows an average of 27+ fantasy points to signal callers.

Sleeper: Andy Dalton vs. ARI

AJ Green’s face on Monday night said it all, we’re all over the whole Andy Dalton era in Cincinnati. However, in terms of fantasy, you can do a lot worse than the Red Riffle this week. Only three teams in the NFL have been worse at defending fantasy QBs this year than the Cardinals. Dalton has averaged more than 41 pass attempts per game through the first four weeks of play. That’s the fourth-most in football.


QB: Sit ‘Em

Sit of the Week: Marcus Mariota vs. BUF

Mariota’s performance a week ago likely led to plenty of fantasy owners running to their waiver wire to scoop the Titans signal caller. While we’re not saying it was a terrible move, it was one that certainly will not pay dividends this week. As we stated above, Buffalo held Tom Brady to less than four points a week ago. Opposing QBs average below a 65 passer rating when facing off against the Bills. Mariota only averaged 18.5 completitions per game this season.

Daniel Jones vs. MIN

Jones was a guy that fantasy owners were extremely high on a week ago. He somewhat dissapointed with less than 15 points and two interceptions vs. Washington. This week will be a lot more difficult for the Giants starting QB. Minnesota allows around 16 points per game to QBs this season. They’ve allowed an average of just 215.3 passing yards over their last three contests.

Gardner Minshew at CAR

You may want to get your razors out for this one and shave off the lip hair. Minshew mania has struck the hearts of Jacksonville Jaguars fans, but in terms of fantasy, he’s just another guy. Sunday he’ll be just another guy not in peoples lineups. Minshew has averaged just 210 passing yards over his last three games. Carolina is the seventh-best defense in fantasy at defending the QB position. They’ve held the likes of Jameis Winston, Jared Goff, and Deshaun Watson to an average of just 11.75 points.


READ NEXT:  Fantasy: Quarterback Rankings Week 5