Dynasty Fantasy Football Six Pack: Week Five Storylines to Watch

Corey Spala

Five weeks into the NFL season. Four weeks of information to pull and look forward to, or not. Three more jokes to make this one-bit end. Okay, looking onto week five. I will look at six storylines that are noteworthy for the NFL season and your dynasty needs. Let’s jump right into it.

Aaron Rodgers‘ new WR1?

Romeo Doubs has scored touchdowns in back-to-back weeks while having three more receptions than Allen Lazard. It may seem Rodgers has found trust in a rookie. Christian Watson is slowly being implemented into the offense after suffering a minor injury in camp. Randall Cobb is doing his job as a veteran and WR3 for the team.

Sammy Watkins headed to injured reserve and an opportunity opened to claim a top target in the passing game. Lazard will be a consistent contributor for this team, and we may have found the second receiving option who is not a running back.

Detroit Lions #1

The Detroit Lions have the NFL’s number-one scoring offense. Jared Goff is the QB5 and flashed without his two star players in week four. Players are stepping up when asked and you can tell they love playing for head coach Dan Campbell.

Goff is playing to keep this starting job moving forward – I am talking about next year. He will have a zero dead cap hit but he may just be buying himself another year. The Lions have two first-round picks to work with, Goff may make it easy for general manager Brad Holmes to surround this team with more talent.

D’Andre Swift has been ruled out for week five and Amon-Ra St. Brown has missed practice this week heading into Friday. The Lions do have a week six bye and it may be a driving factor to rest both of these players, if they rule out St. Brown after I have submitted this article. Jamaal Williams and Josh Reynolds have stepped up in their absence and this team will look to keep on rolling against the New England Patriots.

For Pitts Sake

Arthur Smith has shown us, and told us, that he truly does not care about your fantasy football teams. Last week he wanted to run the ball in the second half and gave Caleb Huntley and Tyler Allgeier 10 carries each. If you could not tell, this is my Kyle Pitts truther status being down bad. He has not come through in the fantasy scores, but he has notable signs like air yards and being targeted on a higher percentage of routes run compared to his rookie season.

It will come down to getting his number called. The Falcons have exceeded expectations this year and have not found themselves in passing situations. A tough matchup against the Buccaneers may finally be the big game we have been waiting for from Pitts. Unfortunately, he has missed the Wednesday and Thursday practices with a hamstring injury. This could be his first career game missed.

DJ Mooooooooore

The extra o’s stress how much more I want to see DJ Moore involved. It would be great to see another 10+ target game, the problem is how accurate will those targets be coming from Baker Mayfield. Sam Darnold returns “in a week or two” according to the head coach. Alas, this week is a tough matchup against the 49ers who are allowing the second-fewest passing yards and are averaging 3.75 sacks per game.

Hopefully there will be schemed-out touches or we may be in for another frustrating game. I hate to double up on a player in these articles, it just feels warranted. This is probably a Mayfield paragraph twisted for Moore. The QB has completed just 54.7% of his passes and thrown for 186.8 yards per game

We are still waiting for the talented Moore to get a talented quarterback.

Stay on Your Feet

We lost Javonte Williams to an ACL tear, Rashod Bateman had a walking boot, Tua Tagovailoa had a serious concussion, and Cordarrelle Patterson is on the injured reserve for four games. There are other injuries, but the important takeaway is to be ready on your feet. In other words, you need to react to these injuries and make dynasty decisions.

  • Are Mike Boone or Latavius Murray realistic options? On Thursday we saw Boone garner 11.5 PPR points and Murray was out
  • Does Devin Duvernay step up with Rashod Bateman missing a few practices?
  • Are Caleb Huntley or Tyler Allgeier realistic fill-ins?

This portion is a reminder to adjust to what is happening in the NFL and transact accordingly for your dynasty team. If you are losing players – such as Trey Lance and Javonte Williams – it may be time to retool for next year. I did this and sold Davante Adams for Rashod Bateman and a 2023 first and then James Robinson for DJ Moore. Winning is the goal but there are certain situations, for a dynasty outlook, you may need to accept defeat.

Sell off aging assets. Acquire young-proven talent with suppressed values. Make long-shot waiver claims. Sometimes the fantasy gods are in your favor, sometimes they are not.

Discussion

Five weeks is enough time to understand the scope of your team for the year. If you have not suffered the injury bug, likely another team has. This is an opportune time to get a jump start on the retooling or contending process. It will be important to note which talented players are having down years – Kyle Pitts, Elijah Moore, and DJ Moore. These make great trade targets before the one game that rises their value.

Storylines are important to use in your favor. Javonte Williams may be sold at a lower value because a contending team wants to win still. It should be understood Williams may not be ready for the start of the 2023 season. There is risk to acquire Williams too. Working the ‘stock market’ will find you with wins and losses. That is just how it goes. Use reasoning and logic when making moves, do not make moves just because.

Cheers to week five.

corey spala
Dynasty Fantasy Football Six Pack: Week Five Storylines to Watch