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Fantasy football Week 5 rankings for RB, WR, TE, QB from the #2 most accurate ranker in 2025 Jamie Calandro. Read his fantasy rankings analysis and outlooks.
RotoBaller writer Jamie Calandro shares his Week 5 fantasy football lineup rankings for RB, WR, TE, and QB. After three weeks, Jamie's is second on the leaderboard at FantasyPros among the most accurate player rankings in the industry! The following includes analysis that will hopefully help you make some tough decisions when it comes to sit/start. Jamie is also on X @jac3600 and in our RotoBaller Discord channel, answering questions.
Regular starting options are included to highlight that some of your must-start players have a good chance of supplying winning totals. Much of the analysis helps fantasy players make the tough decisions between two or more similarly valued players.
The rankings are updated as news breaks until the full slate begins on Sunday. Following the positional advice below, you can consult the player rankings tables. The fantasy football lineup rankings analysis is based on half-PPR scoring rules.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
- Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
- Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
- Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
- Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
- FLEX fantasy football rankings
- Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
- Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
- Dynasty fantasy football rankings
Running Back Rankings – Fantasy Football Week 5
Bucky Irving is not expected to suit up for Tampa Bay, leaving Rachaad White and Sean Tucker to handle the backfield duties. Tucker is exciting some folks, but he has one touch so far this season, and White excels in pass pro. White can be started in all formats, but Tucker is a desperation FLEX at best.
It's hard to justify starting Chase Brown now. He's averaging 2.3 YPC, and the Bengals have a team total of 19.5. His volume is still unquestioned, but he's not an autostart anymore. I'd start White and Rico Dowdle (provided Chuba Hubbard actually sits) over him this week, for example.
Michael Carter is fully startable as the expected lead back for Arizona. Tennessee has allowed 5.1 YPC and six rushing TDs. ... Kendre Miller is a FLEX play against the Giants, who have allowed a whopping 6.0 YPC. He played on 49% of snaps last week and looks poised to take over if/when Alvin Kamara gets traded.
Kendre Miller Ascending in Big Easy https://t.co/21pcjO8mNl
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) September 29, 2025
R.J. Harvey broke out with 18 touches last week, but temper expectations as it was in a blowout against the Bengals. J.K. Dobbins is still crushing it, averaging 6.3 YPC over the past three games. This should be his show against the Eagles. ... Quinshon Judkins has top-12 upside in London against the Vikings after getting 21 carries last week.
Woody Marks! He's seemingly surpassed Nick Chubb as the lead back after getting a 59% snap share and 18% target share last week. He's excelling in pass protection, which gives him the added opportunities for checkdowns. Start Marks with confidence in all formats this week.
Every Week 4 touch for Woody Marks https://t.co/UMvWrmT8w1 pic.twitter.com/d11Sg5t6kH
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) September 29, 2025
Wide Receiver Rankings – Fantasy Football Week 5
Tee Higgins is only startable if you're in a pinch. This entire Bengals offense has cratered without Joe Burrow, and Higgins has six catches on 13 targets with Jake Browning passing him the ball. ... Darius Slayton IS startable if you're in need. He led the Giants' WRs in yards from Jaxson Dart, and played over a 90% snap share in Week 4.
Despite the good matchup and high team total, Josh Downs should remain on your bench as his snap share is just shy of 55%. ... Until further notice, Ladd McConkey is the WR3 on the Chargers, but he should still be started without question. It helps that Washington has allowed the fourth-most receiving yards to slot WRs.
George Pickens has top-5 WR upside this week, even against Sauce Gardner. The Jets' star CB has been middling on the whole this year, and Pickens had a 50% air yards share in his first full game without CeeDee Lamb. ... Jaylen Waddle is in the same mold, as Tyreek Hill's target and air yards share should spill to him the most.
Well, Chris Godwin was supposed to be "eased in", but that clearly wasn't the case as he had an 80.3% snap share and 10 targets. The matchup is terrible against Seattle, but Tampa leans heavily on its pass game. Bucky Irving sitting out this week should shift the balance to the air even more.
Tre Tucker's box scores for the last three weeks are 4.9, 23.9, and 4.2 in PPR formats, showing how truly volatile he is. However, he's playing on 94% of snaps and ranks in the top ten in target separation according to PlayerProfiler. ... Rashid Shaheed is a firm sit despite a solid matchup against the Giants. Spencer Rattler's 5.2 YPA severely limits Shaheed's field-stretching ability.
Quarterback Rankings – Fantasy Football Week 5
| Name | Team | Opp |
| Josh Allen | BUF | vs NE |
| Jalen Hurts | PHI | vs DEN |
| Patrick Mahomes II | KC | @ JAC |
| Justin Fields | NYJ | vs DAL |
| Justin Herbert | LAC | vs WAS |
| Kyler Murray | ARI | vs TEN |
| Jayden Daniels | WAS | @ LAC |
| Jared Goff | DET | @ CIN |
| Drake Maye | NE | @ BUF |
| Daniel Jones | IND | vs LV |
| Baker Mayfield | TB | @ SEA |
| Dak Prescott | DAL | @ NYJ |
| Sam Darnold | SEA | vs TB |
| Bo Nix | DEN | @ PHI |
| Matthew Stafford | LAR | vs SF |
| Jaxson Dart | NYG | @ NO |
| Spencer Rattler | NO | vs NYG |
| Bryce Young | CAR | vs MIA |
| Jake Browning | CIN | vs DET |
| C.J. Stroud | HOU | @ BAL |
| Trevor Lawrence | JAC | vs KC |
| Geno Smith | LV | @ IND |
| Tua Tagovailoa | MIA | @ CAR |
| Mac Jones | SF | @ LAR |
| Carson Wentz | MIN | @ CLE |
| Dillon Gabriel | CLE | vs MIN |
| Cooper Rush | BAL | vs HOU |
| Cam Ward | TEN | @ ARI |
This could be Bryce Young's last hurrah. He's just not making any progress as an NFL-caliber QB despite his team adding a legit WR1 for him. Still, I'd start him in 2QB leagues, as Miami has allowed a 125.1 passer rating (highest in the NFL), and we just eviscerated through the air and on the ground by Justin Fields.
Dart made headlines by winning his first game against the 3-0 Chargers, but be careful going all out. He took five sacks and no longer has Malik Nabers as a threat in the passing game. Dart is startable in 2QB leagues thanks to his running ability, but stay away in 1QB leagues.
Jaxson Dart takes it in himself for the TD!
LACvsNYG on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/uO4uK3jxvO
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
Without Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa is no longer startable in fantasy, even in 2QB leagues. ... C.J. Stroud has been hit-or-miss this year thanks to a patchwork offensive line, but he's playable this week against Baltimore, as weird as that sounds. Baltimore has allowed 133 points this year, most in the league.
Tight End Rankings – Fantasy Football Week 5
| Name | Team | Opp |
| Trey McBride | ARI | vs TEN |
| Tyler Warren | IND | vs LV |
| Brock Bowers | LV | @ IND |
| Jake Ferguson | DAL | @ NYJ |
| Sam LaPorta | DET | @ CIN |
| Zach Ertz | WAS | @ LAC |
| Hunter Henry | NE | @ BUF |
| Travis Kelce | KC | @ JAC |
| Juwan Johnson | NO | vs NYG |
| Brenton Strange | JAC | vs KC |
| Mark Andrews | BAL | vs HOU |
| Dalton Kincaid | BUF | vs NE |
| Dallas Goedert | PHI | vs DEN |
| Dalton Schultz | HOU | @ BAL |
| Jake Tonges | SF | @ LAR |
| Mason Taylor | NYJ | vs DAL |
| T.J. Hockenson | MIN | @ CLE |
| Darren Waller | MIA | @ CAR |
| Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE | vs MIN |
| Theo Johnson | NYG | @ NO |
| David Njoku | CLE | vs MIN |
| Tommy Tremble | CAR | vs MIA |
| Evan Engram | DEN | @ PHI |
| Chig Okonkwo | TEN | @ ARI |
| Mike Gesicki | CIN | vs DET |
| Isaiah Likely | BAL | vs HOU |
| Oronde Gadsden II | LAC | vs WAS |
| Cade Otton | TB | @ SEA |
| AJ Barner | SEA | vs TB |
| Elijah Arroyo | SEA | vs TB |
| Austin Hooper | NE | @ BUF |
| Noah Gray | KC | @ JAC |
| Dawson Knox | BUF | vs NE |
| Davis Allen | LAR | vs SF |
| Colby Parkinson | LAR | vs SF |
| Gunnar Helm | TEN | @ ARI |
| Luke Schoonmaker | DAL | @ NYJ |
| Luke Farrell | SF | @ LAR |
| Drew Sample | CIN | vs DET |
In two games with Jayden Daniels, Zach Ertz went 9-90-2 on 13 targets, while going 5-59-0 on seven targets from Marcus Mariota. Terry McLaurin, Noah Brown, and Austin Ekeler are all out, and Deebo Samuel Sr.'s status is iffy, too. Ertz should be a target monster.
With 13 targets and a 68% snap share the past two weeks, Mason Taylor has fully entered streamer territory. Dallas has allowed the most yards per play. ... If you're really desperate, Darren Waller is streamable with Tyreek Hill out, but keep in mind he only played 28% of snaps. His two TDs make him look a lot more enticing than he is.
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Check out all of RotoBaller's fantasy football rankings. Staff rankings are updated regularly for all positions and include standard formats, PPR scoring, tiered rankings and dynasty leagues.
