Week 5 Fantasy Football Rankings Analysis - Laghezza vs. Mariano Rankings Comparisons

October 3, 2025

Week 5 fantasy football rankings analysis for 2025. John compares his custom fantasy football rankings and projections to identify players he's higher or lower than consensus.

Thank goodness it's Friday. Not only is football and a lovely ten-hour date with my couch fast approaching, it’s also time for another round of RotoBaller’s Week 5 Rankings: Clash Of The Titans! Like I always say, you want to be the best? You have to beat the best — so all season long, I'll be putting my own custom work up against our own living legend, Nick Mariano. Last week, nailing a pair of quarterback calls (Justin Fields, QB5; Daniel Jones, QB 27) boosted my early confidence through the roof, only to come crashing down in a pile of flames. Score one for the goat, Mr. M.

Sure, we have our dust-ups in these little skirmishes. Mariano and I are like family. And just like real family, we don't always agree — but healthy disagreement sharpens both sides. Generating custom player projections lands me personally in a bubble at times. Since so much work goes into forming those opinions; they can become overly rigid, but not anymore...

Every single week, I'll conduct a comparative analysis by scraping resident expert Nick Mariano's on-site consensus projections and pitting them against my own for any major differences. Enjoy our little fantasy clash, and feel free to let me know what you think on social media @JohnLaghezza.

Week 5 Ranking Disputes: Quarterback

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (vs TEN)

I got some good news and some bad news. Let's start off positive for once. Kyler Murray's shown a sustained level of accuracy (66.9% completion, 9.2% off-target) with quick-release tendencies (2.63 average throw time) and a strong willingness to take off with the ball (9.5% scramble rate, 35.0 rushing yards/game). All of these traits boost fantasy floor projections, creating Murray's incredibly steady QB15 pace — he's yet to score below 14 or above 18 fantasy points this season.

Put me down for K1's first breakout game of 2025 against who else but the lowly Titans. Not to contradict myself too publicly as I've come around on the TEN offense a little, but that's another story for a different day. Brian Callahan and the Titan's defensive woes become more obvious each week, starting with schematics.

Tennessee's currently bottom-3 in stacked box (40.0%), blitz (10.4%), and sack per pressure rates (9.1%). Kyler's always been significantly better working to his wideouts with time to operate, so I'm expecting a nice combo of deep shots and ground gains to finally land Murray in the weekly QB1 conversation.

Kyler Murray to Marvin Harrison Jr.!

We have a one-score game in Arizona.

SEAvsAZ on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/rihmRe0STr

— NFL (@NFL) September 26, 2025

I'm Lower On Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (vs DEN) 

Never easy expecting anything less than the best from Jalen Hurts, who just hung an overall QB1 finish on the ledger like ten days ago. Also, Denver's usually stout defense struggled in back-to-back narrow losses against quality teams in Weeks 2-3. We don't generally expect consecutive +300-yard passing games allowed from this Broncos' secondary. With that, DEN's underpinning defensive metrics still stand strong enough to go to bat for, especially given the talent, track record and quality coaching.

Again, it's not to say Hurts will faceplant here, as much as foreseeing a dogfight and preview to a potential Super Bowl showdown. Hurts also did just close outside the top-24 range versus the Chiefs, who play a similarly aggressive style up front. Denver's going to send the house early and often — their league-leading blitz, pressure, hit, and sack rates make every play pivotal. I'm leaning into the low 43.5-point Vegas total with bits of regression baked in on both sides.

Week 5 Ranking Disputes: Running Back

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers (vs. MIA)

Next man up replacements don't always work but this one's just screaming breakout. According to Panthers' beat writer Joe Persons, Chuba Hubbard (calf) is out, considered week-to-week, though the team doesn't plan to place him on IR. Carolina signed Rico Dowdle to a one-year $2.75M contract this offseason for precisely this reason. Viewed by the organization as essentially a lateral move from Hubbard, the two running backs compare nearly identically in terms of age, size, skillset, and general archetype. I expect almost nothing to change in approach, great news for Dowdle this weekend.

Rico Dowdle also displayed the critical ability to handle a significant workload, eclipsing 20 touches five times in just seven games down the stretch for the Cowboys last year. He's shown chops in the passing attack and already commanded more goal-to-go carries than Hubbard — so backfield TD equity should be secure. To be fair, the rushing efficiency's lacked but could easily get compensated for by matching

up against Miami's bottom-5 run-stopping unit.

RICOOOOOOO

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/vdKCCeAbqG

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) September 21, 2025

I'm Lower On Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders (vs MIN)

Good luck finding another human on Earth more excited  than I was for Ashton Jeanty's Week 4 explosion (21-138-1; 2-17-2). After a month of stats entirely too terrible for such a phenomenal player, we finally got the promised RB1 overall finish. So what's with all the doom-and-glooming? All those lovely fantasy points came in spite of the offensive line — 123 of Jeanty's 138 rushing yards came after contact. Not great.

As if things weren't bad enough for Las Vegas down in the trenches as is, the Raiders just sent OL Kolton Miller, their best blocker by a mile to the IR with a high ankle sprain. Not only did the vast majority of Jeanty's production occur to the left behind Miller, there's no viable replacement coming to the rescue. How long can we expect RB1 output behind the league's worst protection? Short answer, you can't. Sell high before kickoff.

Sources: #Raiders OT Kolton Miller received bad news on his ankle following further testing. It’s a high-ankle sprain and a hairline fracture, rather than just a sprain.

The MRI revealed the sprain, a CT scan revealed the fracture. He’s headed for Injured Reserve. pic.twitter.com/g0zQEIvbIc

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 30, 2025

Week 5 Ranking Disputes: Wide Receiver

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins (at CAR)

Besides San Francisco, who's currently starting guys from the rec center, few teams vacated more year-over-year target share at this point than Miami. Now Tyreek Hill's on the shelf for good, and the Dolphins will need to run the passing offense through Jaylen Waddle. The utilization bump should push Waddle from roughly WR30 into the top-10 with room to blow up against a beatable Panthers' defensive unit.

Two fun stats before we go. In the lone game Jaylen Waddle's played without Tyreek Hill, he not only went (8-142-1), but earned a remarkable 80% of the team's air yards that game. Wow. Then, I noticed lots of buzz surrounding Malik Washington — yet it was actually Nick Westbrook-Ikhine who played twice the snaps and six times the routes in 2-WR sets. Food for thought.

Tua finds Jaylen Waddle for six!

NEvsMIA on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Mbvz4RbAU4

— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025

I'm Lower On Darius Slayton, New York Giants (at NO)

Obviously there's a mad dash anytime a Malik Nabers-esque route share opens up. Most instantly ordained Wan'Dale Robinson the heir apparent in New York's passing offense, with Darius Slayton behind him. I'll sign off on the first part but not the second. For starters, the Giants' pass rate plummeted to 43% without Nabers, at a mind-blowingly short 1.2 air yards per attempt. That's off the charts.

Think about the type of vertical routes Slayton runs, the time they take to mature, and how those would be the very ones sacrificed in a military academy style offense — not to mention a career-long lack of target earning abilities. Don't look now, it was actually tight end Theo Johnson pushing up as Jaxson Dart's second option. After Nabers exited, Big Blue's fourth-round sophomore earned twice as many targets as Slayton on fewer routes, including one high-value red zone look for a TD. Bold call... give me Johnson over Slayton straight up as a desperation flex this weekend.

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