Dynasty Statistical Edges: Week Five

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a series of tweets I share on a weekly basis regarding player and team defensive performances, all from a fantasy lens. I’m going to be sharing some of that same information with you here.

I use this each week as I am making my own lineup and waiver wire decisions and thought you might find this valuable as well.

Note: The scoring system used for this data is always PPR with four points for passing touchdowns.

Quarterbacks

Week Five QB1s

Bears quarterback Justin Fields put on a show on Thursday night to kick off the Week Five slate, tossing four touchdowns for the second straight week. Fields commanding performance was just one of the big headlines from the quarterback position in Week Five.

Embattled Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder set new career-highs with 329 passing yards and over 26 fantasy points. The QB5 finish for Ridder is the best of his young career. Brock Purdy dominated the Cowboys defense on Sunday night, tossing four passing touchdowns even while sitting out much of the final quarter of the game. Joe Burrow is finally starting to look like his old self and finished as a QB1 for the first time this season. Panthers rookie Bryce Young still has a long way to go but notched his first QB1 finish in a comeback effort against the Lions.

Season-Long QB1s

We have a new QB1 on the season as Josh Allen moves up to the top spot formerly held by Justin Herbert, who was on bye last week. Fields’ big game boosted him from outside of the top-twelve all the way to QB3 for the season. Veteran Jared Goff is also back among the QB1s, while rookies CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson fell from the list. Unfortunately for Richardson, this is likely the last we see of him among the league’s top quarterback scorers for the full season.

Most QB1 Games This Season

Most QB1 Games Allowed

A quartet of teams have allowed four QB1 performances on the season, including Arizona, Chicago, Minnesota and Washington. This week, the Cardinals face red-hot veteran Matthew Stafford, who enjoyed his best fantasy performance of the season with Cooper Kupp back in the lineup. The Bears and Vikings are both on this list and face each other in Week Six. Both Fields and Kirk Cousins are essentially automatic weekly starts at this point but this game environment strengthens their respective resumes for this week. Finally, the Commanders face the Falcons, giving Ridder a chance to stay hot.

There are also four squads who have still not surrendered a QB1 game this year. Those teams are the Falcons (vs. Sam Howell), Ravens (vs. Ryan Tannehill), Bills (vs. Daniel Jones) and the Patriots (vs. Jimmy Garoppolo.) Outside of Howell, this group was already unlikely to see fantasy lineups, but these ugly matchups make that an easier decision.

Running Backs

Week Five RB1s

Jonathan Taylor was back on the field for the Colts, but only in a very limited role. As the team works JT back into the offense slowly, Zack Moss retained his role as the workhorse back and ran all over the Titans defense. We heard reports that the Jets were done holding back Breece Hall and that became evident as Hall rushed for a new career-high of 177 yards against the Broncos poor defense.

A trio of rookies finished the week as top-twelve fantasy scorers but this will be the last time for at least one month that we see De’Von Achane’s name on this list. The Dolphins dynamo back suffered a knee injury late in the game that has landed him on the injured reserve list. Meanwhile, both Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyjae Spears continue to make the most of limited roles, each showing they deserve a larger role in their respective offenses.

Season-Long RB1s

A week ago, Travis Etienne and Moss were not even top-twelve backs on the season. Following their impactful Week Five games, both are now among the top-six backs on the season. Josh Jacobs also joined the RB1 group for the first time this season following a slow start to his year. Derrick Henry, James Cook and Brian Robinson fell from the RB1 ranks.

Most RB1 Games This Season

Most RB1 Games Allowed

The Bears and Broncos remain atop this list, having allowed five RB1 games each on the season. This week, the Broncos face division-rival Kansas City to begin the week’s slate of games. This is an obvious boom spot for Isiah Pacheco, but could even mean good news for Jerick McKinnon and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The Bears offer Alexander Mattison and his backup, Cam Akers, a chance for a strong performance this week, also.

Six teams have yet to allow a single RB1 game on the year. Try to avoid these teams or lower expectations for their opposing running backs: Atlanta (vs. Brian Robinson), Cleveland (vs. Christian McCaffrey), Detroit (vs. Rachaad White), Kansas City (vs. Javonte Williams/McLaughlin), New Orleans (vs. Dameon Pierce) and Philadelphia (vs. Breece Hall.)

Wide Receivers

Week Five WR1s

Ja’Marr Chase went off. DJ Moore went off. Both caught three touchdowns and put up enough fantasy points to single-handedly win fantasy matchups. Still, the story of the week at the wide receiver position was the Rams. Not only did the team welcome veteran Cooper Kupp back to the lineup, but Kupp went wild. He led the team in targets, receptions and yards while playing nearly every snap. Oh yeah, rookie Puka Nacua didn’t exactly go away either. His numbers were just shy of Kupp’s but Nacua also found the end zone. This duo is going to be fun to watch for the remainder of the season.

Season-Long WR1s

As mentioned, Moore and Chase each had monster games, and those propelled them up the season-long list. Neither player was among the top-twelve scorers a week ago, but now sit at WR4 and WR5, respectively. Veteran Tyreek Hill takes the top spot due to the injury to superstar Justin Jefferson. Unfortunately, with Jefferson now on the injured reserve list, he’ll soon fall off this list altogether.

Along with Chase and Moore, Marquise Brown also cracked the WR1 group this week, while DeVonta Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Mike Evans lost their place.

Most WR1 Games This Season

Most WR1 Games Allowed

The Eagles now stand alone, giving up six WR1 games already this season. While still very strong overall, the Philly defense has taken a step back from last year and the offense typically gets their team out to solid leads. That results in opponents airing it out. This week, that’s good news for Jets receivers who could rack up numbers. Garrett Wilson and Allen Lazard get the rankings bump for Week Six. The Colts and Jaguars face each other in an AFC South battle, so Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, Michael Pittman and possibly even Josh Downs should be in fantasy lineups this week. Finally, the Titans could offer the boost that Baltimore’s receiving crew are in desperate need of this season. Rookie Zay Flowers in an obvious start but it gets dicey after him.

Five teams have yet to allow a WR1 game this year. The Bengals face Seattle, though it’s never easy to sit Tyler Lockett or DK Metcalf. The same is true of veteran Keenan Allen, who faces off against the Cowboys this week. The Texans (vs. Chris Olave) are another team to try to avoid while the Raiders and Patriots face each other. Davante Adams is a weekly must-start regardless of matchup and I like the red-hot Jakobi Meyers in a revenge game, but there’s no reason to rely on any member of the Pats’ offense.

Tight Ends

Week Five TE1s

It took much longer than expected but tight ends George Kittle and Dallas Goedert finally produced the type of games fantasy managers have been expecting. While Kittle only had three receptions on Sunday night, all went for touchdowns. This was Goedert’s first TE1 game of the season but came at the expense of DeVonta Smith, who caught just one pass. This Eagles offense isn’t quite clicking like they did last season.

Season-Long TE1s

Even after missing Week One, Travis Kelce is back near the top of the tight end list, climbing from TE7 to TE2. He racked up ten receptions, most of them coming after he returned from what was feared to be a significant injury.

Goedert, Logan Thomas and Dalton Schultz join the TE1 ranks, replacing Jake Ferguson, Tyler Higbee, Zach Ertz and Jonnu Smith.

Most TE1 Games This Season

Most TE1 Games Allowed

The Falcons (vs. Logan Thomas), Bengals (vs. Will Dissly/Noah Fant), Jaguars (vs. Kylen Granson) and Dolphins (vs. Hayden Hurst) have each allowed four TE1 games this season, making them defenses to target this week.

The Bills and Titans are still perfect on the season when it comes to allowing TE1 games. In Week Six, Mark Andrews (vs. TEN) and Darren Waller (vs. BUF) will put that streak to the test. Even in what looks like a difficult matchup, this duo remains as auto-starts at the thin tight end position.

Finally, here is the chart summarizing how teams have fared against each position. I’ve also included the schedule for this week for reference.

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Ryan McDowell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

In addition to his senior leadership role here at DLF, Ryan is also a husband, father of three and PE teacher. Ryan is the commissioner of multiple dynasty leagues, most notably the Kitchen Sink Dynasty Leagues. Here at DLF, Ryan’s focus is on identifying, monitoring and analyzing player value.

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