NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 5: Quarterbacks

A lot of fantasy enthusiasts (myself included) hyped Murray this year as the next Lamar Jackson, and we haven’t been disappointed. (Funny those complaining about consensus picks never seem to use him as an example.) Murray’s not as prolific as Lamar last season, but he’s still the QB5. He’s scored at least 21 fantasy points in every game this year. His 66.3 rushing yards per game leads all quarterbacks. And to really know how good he is, just ask anybody who selected Kenyan Drake this year. Because he’s stealing a lot of the production. I would look for Murray to air it out a little more this week. The Jets have allowed seven touchdown passes to quarterbacks this season. That’s tied for eighth in the league.

Well, if you get a chance to start/stream a quarterback against the Falcons who are coming off a short week, you just have to do it. The Falcons have allowed the most fantasy points to the quarterback position this year, with 33.47. And that’s in leagues with four points for touchdown passes. Teddy hasn’t been great in fantasy. He’s currently the QB21. And that’s after he did pretty well against the Cardinals last week with 26.24 fantasy points. But, again. It’s the Falcons, whose defense is about as formidable as the bad guys in the opening minutes of a James Bond movie.

The Rams didn’t look sharp last week against the Giants. They moved down the field with ease on the first drive of the game. And then it seemed like they mailed it in harder than Bruce Willis in Cop Out after that. (Or maybe Bruce Willis in anything post-Whole Nine Yards.) The matchup certainly isn’t easier, being on the road this week. Lamar Jackson did most of his damage running the football against this defense last week. I’m going to just assume Goff does not do that this week. But the FT has allowed three rushing touchdowns to quarterback this year. Despite that, the FT is good against the run. Even with the Rams running the ball a lot, I expect this to be a heavier passing game script for the Rams this week to take advantage of some matchups. And when it’s good for Goff, he’s good, having scored at least 23 fantasy points in two of his last three games. The FT has allowed seven touchdown passes on the season.

Jones was one of our preseason sleepers this year and to be honest, we didn’t expect much in the first quarter of the season when he was playing some of the best defenses in the NFL. He’s got the Dallas Cowboys now. The Cowboys allowed 49 points for the first time since 2013. They have allowed 126 points in the last three games. The worst stretch in club history. They gave up 508 total yards to the Browns. And, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to think of this, but it’s a Jason Garrett REVENGE GAME. Look, if Danny Dimes is going to be a thing this season, he turns up in this contest. Otherwise, you should never be fooled into starting/streaming him again.

Listen, Herbert has played great. I mean, was the fumble at the end of the first half the most Chargers thing that has ever happened? It was. But Herbert is really starting to put up some fantasy points and it’s making those around him even better. And with Austin Ekeler out for an extended period of time, I would like to believe the Chargers will be throwing the ball a lot more. Herbert has scored 22-plus fantasy points in two of his last three, while the Saints have allowed an average of 22.25 fantasy points to quarterbacks this year.

Look, I have your back, Eagles fans. Check out my latest Unpopular Opinions. In that, I share that Wentz makes some amazing football plays. But he also doesn’t have a great supporting cast. It’s like if you cast Ocean’s 11 and you had George Clooney with 10 other actors from a high school drama department. It’s not going to be quite the same. Wentz has been running for touchdowns, which is great. He’s had a rushing touchdown in three consecutive games, the longest streak for an Eagles quarterback since Mike Vick in 2010. So I love Wentz. Love the Eagles (despite the double-doink), but the Steelers have allowed the fifth-fewest points to quarterbacks this season.

Fitzy was fine on Sunday against the Seahawks. Funny how polarizing it was. Because those who started Fitz were all, “see, not too bad thanks to that late rushing TD.” And the haters were all, “See, he’s not that good.” Fitzpatrick is what he is. It’s why we love him. Don’t love the matchup against the 49ers, though. The 49ers have a lot of injuries. I mean, a lot. But still have allowed the second-fewest yards per game. I’m curious to see how they hold up against some of the elite quarterbacks later this season. But this is one where I’m going to avoid him.

Again, check out my Unpopular Opinions column where I talk about how much I love Joey B and what he’s bringing to Cincinnati. I really do believe (and I wrote this in the preseason), the Bengals are going to be that team to finish strong and be the darling, sleeper playoff pick for next season. I’m not starting him this week, though. The Ravens have been tough on every non-Patrick Mahomes quarterback this year, leaving those quarterbacks to average 14.47 fantasy points. I love the swagger of Joey B. Maybe he comes out and deals against the Ravens. I wouldn’t be surprised. But if I’m streaming a quarterback, I’d much rather take a chance on Bridgewater this week. And I have Burrow just one spot ahead of Goff this week, so it’s close.

Again, this is not a damnation on Baker as a quarterback, because he looks a lot better this season. Growing in Kevin Stefanski’s offense. But it hasn’t resulted in fantasy points so far. He’s currently the QB27. He’s had fewer than 16 fantasy points in every game this season, unusual when your teams puts up 49 points against the Dallas Cowboys. I really don’t like this matchup against the Colts this week. The Colts have allowed fewer than 200 passing yards in three of four games this year and have allowed the fewest points to quarterbacks (9.48). This isn’t a knock on Baker as a quarterback, but I’m avoiding him the next two weeks (he has the Steelers in Week 6). So if you grabbed him for a one-week stream, you can probably put him back on the wire unless your league puts an absolute premium on quarterbacks.