RADIO
Matt's running back (RB) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 5 of 2025. His RB lineups advice for Week 5 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who are the fairest running backs of them all? If you look at Week 4 of the NFL season, those backs were Ashton Jeanty, Josh Jacobs, and Kenneth Gainwell, who all posted 30-point fantasy performances. Justice Hill, not Derrick Henry, was right behind the pack with 28.7 fantasy points.
Every year, every week, surprises happen. We attempt to predict the unpredictable. We comb through the matchups and break down the weekly numbers to help you make the best-informed decisions for your fantasy football lineups.
Here are the RotoBallers must start and sit options for Week 5 at the running back position.
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Week 5 Starts - Fantasy Football Booms
Tony Pollard - RB, Tennessee Titans at Arizona Cardinals
As bad as the Titans' offense has looked at times, Tony Pollard has quietly been, once again, putting together a respectable season. Heading into Week 5, the Titans' running back sits 13th in rushing yards with 261 and is currently averaging 10.4 fantasy points per contest after back-to-back double-digit fantasy performances.
For Pollard, the yards haven't come easily. Of the 261 rushing yards, 169 have come after contact, the sixth-most. However, the yards should be easier this week as the Cardinals have allowed 505 total yards to the position through four weeks. When you add the 23 receptions to the total yards, Arizona allows 24.38 fantasy points per contest, the eighth-most.
Last week, against Seattle, Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combined for 120 rushing yards, 34 receiving yards, a touchdown, and 24 fantasy points. For Pollard, last week's game against the Texans was encouraging. Pollard averaged 4.6 yards per carry in a contest in which the Titans lost 26-0 and finished with a rush EPA of 2.4 and a 42.9% success rate.
Pollard's 316 total yards are right with Henry, who has churned out 320 of his own thus far.
David Montgomery - RB, Detroit Lions at Cincinnati Bengals
Last week, David Montgomery was on the "Sit List" facing a daunting assignment with the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland limited Montgomery to just 12 yards rushing on nine attempts, a 1.3 yards per carry average in that Week 4 contest. While Jahmyr Gibbs would find success, Cleveland is still ranked second in fantasy points against this season.
Cincinnati is not Cleveland. Before J.K. Dobbins and the Broncos stepped on the field to face the Bengals on Monday Night Football, Cincinnati had already allowed 331 rushing yards, 131 receiving yards, five touchdowns, and 30.07 fantasy points per game to opposing backs.
In Week 3, Jordan Mason ran roughshod over this Bengals defense for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns on his 16 carries. The previous week, it was Travis Etienne Jr. who had 89 total yards and a touchdown, while Dylan Sampson had eight receptions and 64 receiving yards during the opening weekend.
With how the Detroit Lions have been playing on both sides of the ball, we could see Montgomery getting plenty of touches in this one as the Lions build up and lead early and bleed the clock. One thing we've seen Dan Campbell do repeatedly is get his backs right after an off week, and Montgomery is setting fantasy managers up for a get-right kind of game this week.
Woody Marks - RB, Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens
Okay, let's dig deeper and look back. There have been numerous questions about whether fantasy managers should start them. On Monday, we received word that Joe Mixon (foot) remains without a timetable for when or even if he returns this season. If Marks is still floating out there on the waiver wire, he needs to be added to your roster and thrust into your starting lineups this week.
MAKE IT 2️⃣ FOR THE ROOK 😤
📺: @nfloncbs / @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/MAHDH3j7Zu
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) September 28, 2025
Last week, Marks earned a 56% snap share and finished with two touchdowns—one on the ground and the other on one of his four receptions. In total, Marks finished with 119 total yards and 27.9 fantasy points. Chasing fantasy points seldom benefits fantasy managers, but the rookie's utilization is intriguing, especially considering his 21 touches were six more than Nick Chubb's.
This week, Marks faces a Ravens defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points to the quarterback position, the fifth-most to opposing receivers, the 10th-most to tight ends, and the 34.38 per game that Baltimore is allowing to the running back position is the most in fantasy by a considerable margin.
In four games, not only has Baltimore conceded seven touchdowns, but they have also been gouged for 464 yards on the ground and 201 additional yards through the air on 29 receptions.
Week 5 Sits - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Jordan Mason - RB, Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns
With the return of Aaron Jones Sr. potentially looming, this is one of the last games fantasy managers may get a workhorse load from Mason. The problem is that the Cleveland Browns have allowed an average of 14.60 fantasy points per game, most of which were courtesy of Gibbs last week. In four contests, Cleveland has allowed just 242 rushing yards and 83 receiving yards.
Last week, in Dublin, Mason managed just 57 yards on the ground on 16 attempts against a Steelers team that ranks 20th in rushing yards allowed per game with 122.0. Cleveland they are the top-ranked run defense, allowing 70.3 rushing yards per game, and is the only team to allow fewer than 300 rushing yards and 900 total yards of offense this season.
Explosive run rate versus stuff rate makes Mason one of the best backs in the league, but in a matchup against the best defense in the league, you have to give the edge to the defense and fade Mason this week.
Isiah Pacheco - RB, Kansas City Chiefs at Jacksonville Jaguars
No one wants Isiah Pacheco to be a thing more than we do. However, a 12.8 fantasy performance after three weeks of being held to six or fewer isn't enough to earn trust, especially after you look beyond the box score. Against the Ravens, Pacheco was outproduced on the ground by Xavier Worthy, whose 38 rushing yards were three more than Pacheco had on five more rushing attempts.
We are still looking at a back who only had nine touches, while Kareem Hunt had 13 carries and Brashard Smith caught three Patrick Mahomes passes.
Pacheco is neither the lead back nor the third-down back at this time, which is unfortunate, as he was ascending into elite territory before fracturing his fibula. Further compounding complications this week, the Jacksonville Jaguars are an opportunistic bunch, forcing four fumbles through four games and limiting the running back position to 19.10 fantasy points per game this season, the 10th-fewest.
Even if we split the touches evenly among the three Chiefs backs, that works out to 6.3 fantasy points, give or take, for Pacheco this week.
Omarion Hampton - RB, Los Angeles Chargers vs. Washington Commanders
What do we make of Omarion Hampton heading into Week 5? Hampton broke out against the Broncos for 70 yards rushing and 59 yards receiving, followed up that performance with a 128-yard outing against the Giants last week, where he found the end zone and averaged 10.7 yards per carry. That's two weeks of solid data after watching the rookie get his feet wet the first two weeks of the season.
With Hampton, fantasy managers should be cautiously optimistic. While the production has been there recently, the matchup this week against the Commanders could be more difficult than first thought. During the season, Washington is allowing the 11th-fewest fantasy points to the position, having allowed 324 rushing yards and 160 receiving yards, which averages 19.60 fantasy points per game.
However, over the last two weeks, when facing Jeanty and Bijan Robinson, they have reduced that number to 14.95, although Robinson did what he wanted to do to that defense on Sunday.
Omarion Hampton could not be tackled 😤
LACvsNYG on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/tQLrvATbGU
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
This week, fantasy managers must ponder whether Hampton is more Jeanty than Robinson or more Robinson than Jeanty. Hampton could have a great week or be setting fantasy managers up for disappointment. If you include Hampton in your lineups, be sure to have some safer options in as well.
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