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"Thunder" Dan Palyo of RotoBaller.com provides his top fantasy football running backs and wide receivers to anchor for DFS lineups for Week 5 of the fantasy football season.
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This piece looks at the top running backs or wide receivers to build your cash or tournament lineups around. Most weeks, I will recommend two running backs and two wide receivers who you can use as building blocks, but occasionally, a tight end sneaks in here, too.
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RBs and WRs to Build Around - Week 5
Welcome back, RotoBallers, to our premium DFS coverage of the NFL! Each week, my team and I try to give you every possible edge that we can when you build your DFS lineups for Sunday's main slate.
Week 4 Review
CMC-Hampton-Nacua-Meyers
The first three guys predictably smashed, but Meyers was a bust for the second straight week. He no longer deserves our trust as a cash game option, and I think the Raiders offense, in general, is going to be all over the place this season with Jeanty, Bowers, and Meyers all trading good weeks, but it's not good enough to sustain all of them every week.
Week 5 Strategy
It's a weird slate in that we have no Puka Nacua, McCaffrey, or Bijan Robinson. I honestly am struggling a little with how much I lean into the projected chalk or go with my own evaluations. In cash games, the safest thing to do is follow the chalk, but this feels like a good GPP slate to me, as there's some shaky chalk at both RB and WR in my opinion.
DFS Anchors - Running Backs
Jahmyr Gibbs (DET) at CIN
The Lions have the highest implied team total as 10-point road favorites and are facing a Cincy team that just continues to get run over by opposing backs. They were hammered by Jordan Mason a few weeks ago and then trounced by J.K. Dobbins last week.
The Lions are a run-first offense, and they have to be licking their chops when they look over and see the wounded Bengals limping into this game. Gibbs and Monty are going to get fed early and often, and a game script where they lead throughout certainly favors the running game as well
It certainly doesn't hurt that Cincy has been the worst defense to opposing backs as receivers, too, which is where Gibbs can do some real damage.
I am strongly entertaining locking in Gibbs and ARSB (more on him in a minute) into cash games to secure a large chunk of the Detroit output and prevent myself from getting caught with the "wrong one" if one of them goes off for 3 touchdowns and 100+ yards.
Jonathan Taylor (IND) vs. LV
Here's my conundrum this week. I was able to get away with a Taylor fade last week, but this week he is projected to be highly owned, and I love the spot for him at home as a touchdown favorite against the Raiders.
The Colts have one of my highest rushing matchup grades this week, and Taylor's massive volume of touches gives him an incredibly high floor. He's third is opportunity percentage behind only Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley.
He's also found the end zone three times already in four games and is a good bet to score again this week. We can survive a fade if he finishes with something like 75 yards and a touchdown at his price, but if he goes over 100 with multiple scores, as he did in Week 2, he's going to be in the optimal builds.
Right now, I lean towards Taylor over Gibbs IF I have to pick, but I haven't given up on trying to fit them both into lineups yet either.
Honorable Mention: De'Von Achane at Carolina, Breece Hall vs. Dallas
DFS Anchors - Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Amon-Ra St. Brown (DET) at CIN
The Detroit matchup in the passing game is as good (actually better) than the running game. And lately, ARSB has been unstoppable. He had a clunker in Week 1, but has been fantastic three weeks in a row - posting DK scores of 42, 21, and 26 points.
St. Brown is an elite route runner who is a tough cover for any corner. He has the third-best matchup rating of any receiver going this week, and one of those guys ahead of him is Puka Nacua, who isn't on the slate.
My gut says pay up for St. Brown in this spot as he's been an absolute PPR monster and has been getting a ton of red zone looks this season, too. He has 6 touchdowns in his last 3 games, and while he can't sustain that pace, I think his odds of scoring at least once in this one are pretty damn good.
The Bengals have been so bad on defense that it might make sense to load up Detroit's top two weapons against them. I will most assuredly have one of them, and if I have to decide between them, I may follow the rostership, which should consolidate around St. Brown more than Gibbs, since there are a lot of good backs on this slate.
Garrett Wilson (NYJ) vs. DAL
The competition for this spot as my second WR anchor was pretty tight, but Wilson edged everyone out with the combination of a top-notch matchup and his continued massive usage.
Let's talk about some of that usage. Wilson has played 89% of the snaps for the Jets, the fourth-most of any WR in the league this year. He has a 99% route participation mark, meaning he's involved in a route in just about every play that he's on the field for.
His first-read target share is 21% (right ahead of St. Brown at 20%), and his overall target share of 32% is behind only Puka Nacua.
The Jets simply don't have any other receivers whom they trust to get the ball to, and Wilson has been getting funneled targets as a result. What the Jets do have going for them on offense is a pretty strong running game with Breece Hall and Justin Fields, which has created some open looks for Wilson on play-action.
I know it's hard to trust Justin Fields, but he's played pretty well in two of three starts, and I think the Buffalo game is more of an outlier than the other two.
The Cowboys allow the most production in the league to opposing receivers (and to WR1s) this season. They rank dead last in passing defense (DVOA). The Jets moved the ball quite easily against Miami last week; they just shot themselves in the foot (or head, according to Breece Hall) with some bad turnovers on fumbles.
This game should be high-scoring and is easily one of the top targets for DFS on Sunday. Playing Fields with Wilson in cash is going to be a nice correlation play, and I plan to deploy that combo, who happen to be relatively affordable as well.
Honorable Mention: Quentin Johnston vs. Washington, Jaxon Smith-Njigba vs. Tampa Bay
Good luck to everyone in your contests! Don't forget that you can chat with me and other NFL analysts in our new premium RotoBaller DISCORD at any point during the week or hit me up on X @ThunderDanDFS.
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