Fantasy Football Start or Sit: Week 5 QBs

We are roughly a quarter through the fantasy football season. Week 5 is our last week for a while with a full slate of games and no bye weeks to navigate, so enjoy having your entire roster to decide amongst this week. As a reminder, this article is not here for the obvious plays, so if you have Josh Allen, Kyler Murray or Patrick Mahomes, you know what to do. This article will look at QBs on the fringe of QB1/Streamer status to help you make the tough choices.

Welcome back to our weekly fantasy football start or sit article and our ever-popular player-based fantasy team names, just in case a change may be in store for your squad.

RB Fantasy Football Start/Sit

WR Fantasy Football Start/Sit

Fantasy Football Start or Sit: Week 5 QBs

Start: Trey Lance at Cardinals

Team Name: Sir Lancelot

Whether you drafted Trey Lance or just picked him up via waivers this week and you are without a top-end QB option, the time is now to get him in your lineup. Last week after Jimmy Garoppolo exited the game in the second half, Lance came in and went 9/18 for 157 yards with two touchdowns and 41 yards on the ground, good for 20.4 fantasy points. That means that with less than a half, Lance was the QB14 last week! That is the type of explosive upside that makes fantasy football owners salivate. This matchup is not going to be easy as the Cardinals only give up 16.6 fantasy points per game (fppg), but as long as Trey Lance is starting, he belongs in lineups as a mid-low QB1 with upside.

Start: Kirk Cousins vs. Lions

Team Name: First Cousins

Last week, after being featured in this same spot, Kirk Cousins proceeded to have his worst game of the season, going only 20/38 for 202 yards with a touchdown and interception, good for only 11.1 fantasy points. To be fair, it was not entirely his fault, as the Browns controlled the clock for 35:32 with a run-heavy game. This week, with a matchup against the Lions, look for Cousins to right the ship and return to QB1 status. Over his last five starts against the Lions, Cousins has thrown three-plus touchdowns four times and has averaged 27 fppg. Last season, he had games of 23 and 38.4 in their two meetings. You can safely start Cousins this week as a low-end QB1.

Check out our FREE NFL fantasy football stats! Including snaps, targets, usage and more!

Sit: Derek Carr vs. Bears

Team Name: Carrvana

Sitting at QB11 after four weeks, Derek Carr has thrown at least two touchdowns in every game this season. But coming off his worst game of the season, 15.4 fantasy points, he has another tough matchup against the Bears this week. The Bears are only allowing 17.1 fppg to opposing QBs on the season, good for 10th in the league. The Raiders are passing the ball on 64.8% of their plays, so there should be a solid enough floor for Carr based on sheer volume, but there are other QBs with upside for more this week. Derek Carr is more of a middle-of-the-road QB2 this week.

Sit: Taylor Heinicke vs. Saints

Team Name: Washington Fantasy Football Team

Since taking over for Ryan Fitzpatrick over the last three weeks, Taylor Heinicke is the QB8, averaging 23.8 fppg. That puts him ahead of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson. Now for the bad news: this week brings a matchup with the Saints coming off a tough home loss to the Giants and giving up an average of 14.8 fppg, good for sixth in the league. In addition to the tough matchup, Heinicke will also be without TE Logan Thomas and possibly rookie WR Dyami Brown, as well as Pro Bowl guard Brandon Scherff. These combine to make Heinicke more of a middling QB2 this week.