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Who should I start or sit for fantasy football in Week 5 of the 2025 season? Andrew's potential fantasy football busts to avoid in Week 5 fantasy football lineups.
Welcome back to the Week 5 edition of potential busts, players you'll want to give a second thought about before confirming them in your fantasy football starting lineup.
Running-back roulette is in full force this week. Multiple backups, with great matchups no less, may be getting the starting nod. Could they bring more value to your starting lineup than some backs you've been starting?
Below, we sort through the stats and find 10 fantasy football busts, or players that may disappoint, for Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season. Good luck, RotoBallers!
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Zach Charbonnet (RB, SEA) vs. Tampa Bay
Zach Charbonnet outscored his backfield mate Kenneth Walker III in Week 1. Walker redeemed himself in Week 2, and Charbonnet scored a whole one fantasy point. Both were flex-worthy plays in Week 4 (12 and 12.4 PPR points). We've seen every outcome, so where do we go from here?
The matchup against Tampa Bay calls for a Walker game. The Buccaneers have given up the fewest rushing yards to running backs this season, but are bleeding yardage to running backs through the air. They're second-worst in that department, only better than the team they're facing this weekend.
It's not that Charbonnet is strictly an early-downs back. He plays significantly more third-down snaps than Walker, but he only has two receptions this season. He's primarily in the game to block. Walker does more damage in the receiving game.
It's not a great matchup for Walker either, per se, but he's more likely to exceed the deflated expectations than Charbonnet.
TreVeyon Henderson (RB, NE) at Buffalo
In an ideal world, the matchup in Buffalo sets up nicely for TreVeyon Henderson. The Bills have been beatable on the ground, and the spread predicts the Patriots will be playing from behind. Henderson's best attribute, so far in his NFL career, has been catching the ball.
However, he continues to struggle with blocking, so Rhamondre Stevenson is trotting onto the field in third-down and two-minute situations. To make matters worse, despite Henderson's short touchdown last week, Antonio Gibson dominated touches near the goal line. The New England backfield is a mess.
Antonio Gibson adds to the New England lead
CARvsNE on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/rkGBPhGLYG
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
Henderson's touchdown was a deceptive sign of progress. It certainly helped fantasy managers who were forced to plug the rookie into starting lineups. However, Henderson's playing time dropped back down to the 30 percent range -- akin to the first two weeks.
Think of the score as more of an outlier. Those opportunities won't come often if this continues to be a three-way backfield split.
Jordan Mason (RB, MIN) at Cleveland (London)
Throughout the broadcast on Sunday morning, Jordan Mason was referred to as the bellcow - a word spoken by head coach Kevin O'Connell. An asterisk should have accompanied the quotes. He's a bellcow, but only on the ground.
Backup Zavier Scott took half of the third-down snaps and played heavily in two-minute drills. He ended up with six receptions, double Mason's total, and a receiving touchdown.
Mason was mediocre without extra touches in the passing game. Offensive line woes led to little running room against the Steelers. Mason's longest run was nine yards, and he averaged 3.6 yards per attempt. It's only getting worse.
Christian Darrisaw took his weekly day of veteran rest, so a very thin O-line today. Too early to know Jurgens' prognosis, but Blake Brandel had/has been slated to start at LG. So if Brandel has to play C on Sunday, the Vikings would be down to C3, LG3 and RT2 (Justin Skule). https://t.co/ARnEZmc27e
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 1, 2025
Cleveland's run defense is significantly better than its AFC North counterpart. The Browns allow the second-fewest rushing yards and fantasy points to opposing running backs. Plus, they rank inside the top ten against running backs in the passing game.
A.J. Brown (WR, PHI) vs. Denver
It's been a hot minute since we've had cryptic social media messages from an alpha wide receiver. It's good to be back.
A.J. Brown took full accountability for his postgame posts here. Adds this below. Says he wants the ball to get the #Eagles’ offense going, not for stats. https://t.co/8euFNBgG5t
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 1, 2025
The Eagles are 4-0, but off-kilter on offense. They've had one successful passing effort, a game they trailed by 19 points and were forced to get A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith involved. Dallas Goedert was the TE1 last week, yes, but it was due to two short touchdown catches. He only had four receptions for the game, all in the first half. In fact, the Eagles didn't complete a single pass in the second half.
Brown is getting the target volume, at least in the last three games: eight, 10, and nine targets, respectively. Nothing about that is translating. He caught just two passes for seven yards against Tampa Bay.
They're undefeated, but not perfect. Philadelphia will want to fix the problems in the passing game, and a squeaky wheel usually gets extra looks. However, that won't happen against All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain II. This isn't the bounce-back game we're looking for.
Zay Flowers (WR, BAL) vs. Houston
Does Derrick Henry have one more Houston dominance in him? The veteran running back averages 105 rushing yards against his former division rival, including four over 200 and 147 on Christmas Day last season.
The Texans are slim road favorites, but their offense isn't explosive enough to run away with a game. Henry's struggles have come in games where Baltimore is playing catch-up (and Cleveland, but that's a different story). With Lamar Jackson out of the lineup, the Ravens should lean heavily on Henry to get them back in the win column.
#Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (hamstring) is not currently expected to play this Sunday vs the #Texans, nor next week vs the #Rams (outside of faster healing, which still can be deceptive). The bye week is after that. That’s a good safe window to help better ensure the hamstring issue… pic.twitter.com/G2KCwmeSNh
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) October 2, 2025
The target volume may not be there for Flowers. A run-heavy approach could hinder the Baltimore receivers, a.k.a. Zay Flowers, the only one (other than maybe Mark Andrews) who is being started in fantasy football.
Flowers isn't necessarily a must-sit. Cooper Rush can support a WR1. We saw it last year with CeeDee Lamb in Dallas, but Baltimore should take the football out of his hands more and into the waiting arms of Henry, limiting the opportunities for Flowers.
Jerry Jeudy (WR, CLE) vs. Minnesota (London)
Avoid all Cleveland Browns except Quinshon Judkins. That's the strategy I'm following with third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel taking over the offense.
We've named Dillon Gabriel the starting quarterback
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 1, 2025
The NFL is rewarding the dedicated fans in England with a thrilling defensive battle. Oddsmakers think this could be the lowest-scoring game of the season, with an over/under of 36.5 at the time of this writing.
Young quarterbacks struggle against Brian Flores' defenses. The Browns are doing a disservice by throwing Gabriel into the fire against the Vikings. While it may work out in the long run, and Cleveland obviously wants to see what they have in the rookie, it won't help Gabriel or Jerry Jeudy this weekend.
Jeudy has been getting the target volume. He's 22nd among wide receivers at 30 (7.5 per game) and got nine a week ago. The catch rate, however, is abysmal (43.3%), and he doesn't have a strong catchable target rate (63.3%), either. The Jeudy-Joe Flacco experiment wasn't working, so it's difficult to get worse with Gabriel under center.
The Vikings allow the fewest fantasy points to wide receivers this season, even after D.K. Metcalf's big game last week.
T.J. Hockenson (TE, MIN) at Cleveland (London)
We'll flow right into tight end T.J. Hockenson for nearly identical reasons as Jordan Mason.
The Vikings will need extra protection against the Cleveland Browns' pass rush. They can't afford a repeat of last week when Carson Wentz was sacked six times. The obvious strategy is to keep tight ends on the line as an extra blocker. Hockenson can't score fantasy points there.
Jordan Addison made his season debut in Dublin last week, pushing Hockenson down the target pecking order. He was fourth last week (although I wouldn't expect backup running back Zavier Scott to outtarget him again). He was woefully uninvolved until Minnesota went into pass-every-down comeback mode. Five targets on 46 attempts from Wentz won't cut it.
Outside of the pass rush, the Browns allow the fourth-fewest receptions and yards to the position. There are several waiver-wire tight ends (Brenton Strange, Mason Taylor, even Tommy Tremble) that I'd trust over Hockenson in London.
Hunter Henry (TE, NE) at Buffalo
The tight end matchup against the Buffalo Bills didn't initially worry me. After three weeks, the only notable tight end they had faced was Andrews. Juwan Johnson was considered for this column last week, but I opted to see how the Bills fared against a tight end with a high usage rate. They passed the test.
Johnson saw three targets - well below his previous three-game average of 9.3 - and gained just 28 yards. Now, the Bills are allowing the fewest yards and second-fewest receptions and fantasy points to the position. They've allowed one score (to Jeremy Ruckert of all people).
Hunter Henry is still a TE1 in the rankings this week, but his floor is lower than in previous games.
Jayden Daniels (QB, WAS) at Los Angeles Chargers
Jayden Daniels is back in the Washington starting lineup. But what version of Daniels will we see on Sunday against the Chargers?
If the Washington coaching staff has a say, he's running less in his first game back from a knee injury. It's all about protecting their franchise quarterback for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations.
Brace or no brace?
Jayden Daniels wore a knee brace during today's practice.
I asked him if he plans on wearing the brace for Sunday's game.
Jayden told me, "I'm not the biggest fan of it, but if I have to wear it, I'll do anything possible. We'll see on Sunday." pic.twitter.com/eH1GgFpjwR
— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) October 1, 2025
That's the benefit of rostering Daniels. He's all but guaranteed to give you a four-point or more bonus through scrambles or designed runs. Take that away, and he's a low-tier QB1.
Daniels will also be without his top wide receiver, Terry McLaurin (quad). The other starting wide receiver, Deebo Samuel Sr., popped up on the injury report with a heel issue and didn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday.
The Chargers are allowing the fourth-fewest points per game (17.8). Daniels is still a QB1 and not a sit, but there's a realistic path to a less-than-stellar game from one of the league's best young quarterbacks.
Bo Nix (QB, DEN) at Philadelphia
Going from the Cincinnati defense to Philadelphia's can cause some whiplash.
Bo Nix torched the Bengals on Monday Night Football, throwing for 326 yards and two touchdowns, while adding a third on the ground, which was good for the QB5 finish (26.7). He shouldn't get anywhere near those numbers on Sunday.
The Eagles have lined up against Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, and Baker Mayfield so far this season. That's a lot of quarterback firepower. Mayfield is the only one to throw for over 200 yards, on the heels of a long (some would say fluky) touchdown to Emeka Egbuka.
EMEKA EGBUKA TD! WOW.
PHIvsTB on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/6Rt4dP7jGc
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
Week 4 was Nix's first game with over 210 passing yards. Defenses have been focusing on taking away the short stuff, Nix's preferred area, and he's struggled to adjust so far. A championship-caliber defense won't make it any easier for the second-year signal caller.
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