The Game Plan For Week 5 (#FantasyFootball)

Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and in this week’s ‘Gameplan for the Week’, I will give to you some plays to make for seasonal and daily roster construction, prop bets, and dynasty evaluations. Before you make any start and sit decisions this weekend make sure you check out our weekly rankings also.

Thank you, and enjoy!

Slant Route

Just quietly:

The next month or so for Eric Ebron looks ridiculously inviting, after a start to the season that has seen his targets go up each week from two targets in Week 1 to seven targets in Week 3. Another positive is that his time on the field increased also from the season opener too. However, the best I feel is yet to come as the Steelers now face Philadelphia in Week 5, who just coughed up 183 yards and a touchdown off of 15 receptions to George Kittle last week. Now, I’m not saying that the same fate is awaiting Ebron, the Steelers offense is a lot healthier than the 49ers but still, it’s nice to know that they can be had by the position.

Another positive for Ebron is his upcoming schedule with not only the Eagles, but Cleveland (allowing 34.5 ppg to tight ends, third-most in the league), Tennessee (allowing 25.6 ppg to tight ends, 11th most in the league), Baltimore, Dallas (allowing 36.4 ppg to tight ends, second-most in the league), and Cincinnati. This week, Eric Ebron is priced at $4000, and I feel like most will opt for Mo Alie-Cox or Dalton Schultz in just about the same price range, so Ebron could be faded by the masses this week in DFS while being the cheaper alternative too.

Flat Route

My Billy, sweet Billy boy:

The Houston Texans have parted with GM and Head Coach Bill O’Brien, after an 0-4 start to the season was enough for them to pull the plug on his tenure with the AFC South outfit. I’m not the sort to kick someone when they’re down because I can’t imagine how hard it is to do either job. The hours away from family, the pressure from everyone, the brotherhood you fight for. We can spot this demise in many aspects because it was a firing that had more to with just results on the field. The Laremy Tunsil trade and the picks he lost, the David Johnson trade and inherited contract / DeAndre Hopkins trade and the lesser pick he got, the Brandin Cooks trade, the Jadeveon Clowney trade, the Duane Brown trade, the Brock Osweiler contract also. We could even bring up how the Texans have now spent $255 million in cash on their roster which is the most in the NFL and with the impending salary cap restrictions on how a winless team could justify that. We could also talk about how their first 2021 pick is currently not until the third round. And now there is even the #LetDeshaunCook trend out there as if he wasn’t already the QB13 despite being winless. The people, players, and ownership want more it seems and O’Brien simply right now cannot deliver more, while driving the team backward at the same time.

We could talk about all of that. But we won’t… I will however post the JJ Watt’s press conference after their loss to the Vikings this week, and the more you watch it, the more you feel like you wish their locker room walls could talk. For all that I won’t say and talk about, I will say this: the Texans are home favorites against the Jaguars who haven’t won since Week 1 and have had over 30 points a game dropped on them three weeks straight and two of those games (both on the road to the Titans and Bengals) went for over 58 points each. I like the Texans to break the streak, so I’m taking them with the -6 as home favorites, with the O/U of 54 going over also.

Comeback Route

On one hand, it’s a crappy situation:

If you’re Dwayne Haskins. As the former first-round pick was just dropped as the starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team four games into the season. A ‘team’ who from the outside looking in seemed somewhat divided on whether or not he was really their guy moving forward. Jay Gruden wasn’t sold on him as he leaned on Case Keenum, and it didn’t feel as if Bruce Allen was Sympatico with the idea of Haskins as the future leader either. Both were relieved of their duties with Washington last season.

Of course all of these names like Haskins, Keenum, and now Kyle Allen this offseason were all brought in to supplement in some capacity Alex Smith, who as we know suffered one of the worst lower leg injuries of modern football, to a point where he could have lost his leg completely. But for two years whether anyone wants to admit it or not, not one of the people who stepped in for Washington took a hold of the job, owned it, and ran with it. What we do know is that Kyle Allen is the starter right now and that Dwayne Haskins per reports has fallen behind Smith on the pecking order. But if Allen doesn’t take his chances? We could be witnessing the return of one of the greatest comebacks we have ever seen. Alex Smith is well worth the speculative add on dynasty rosters right now.

Screen Route

A lot of teams are 0-4 right now:

And no, oddly enough, I’m going to veer from regular NFL team talk and speak directly to your hearts and bring up you, and your dynasty teams by walking you back more than one year ago – good times when we were all free… When JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Andy Isabella, Mecole Hardman, and Miles Boykin were top 20 rookie selections – and more importantly when Terry McLaurin was not. When Justice Hill, Darrell Henderson, and Damien Harris had all the talent in the world but the landing spots just weren’t that ideal, right? I mean it’s not as if the eighth-ranked quarterback drafted in the sixth round, what was his name? Minshew something? Ah, Gardner Minshew would work out, oh wait he’s a starter and looks like (at times) the top quarterback in his draft class.

Going back to my original point; there is a lot of teams that are indeed 0-4 or 1-3 in your leagues and there are a lot of those teams that probably took a lot of rookies that have not (or are yet to) work out and that right there my friends, your brief walk through history is the launching pad to indeed buy low. We know that Tua Tagovailoa has not played a snap and Ryan Fitzpatrick has kept the Dolphins ship steady. WR10 Denzel Mims (0.0 points, injured), RB8 AJ Dillon (3.4 points), even the top three tight ends off the board in Adam Trautman (6.4 points), Cole Kmet (2.2 points), and Devin Asiasi (0.0 points) are guys who have now become more attainable due to their circumstances, performance, or… both? Again, it’s a chance to buy low from some teams who may be desperate in your leagues.

Out Route

It’s going to be hard to do:

Because of not only the bye rounds that officially start taking place this week but as we saw last week (yeah, thanks Tennessee) that COVID-19 is apparently still as real as ever, and could push games back days or even weeks. So this is what we know, it is the new normal. So saying something like ‘bench that stud this week’ seems as impractical as it does useless but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.

I’m not into the matchup for Jerry Jeudy this week against the Patriots on the road. And I absolutely hate that he is onto his third quarterback in five weeks. I particularly dislike that he is priced at $5400 in DFS (when Michael Gallup against the hapless New York Giants is the same price). And what bugs me out more… is that Tim Patrick out targetted him in Brett Rypien‘s first game under center. I need to see more from the Broncos and Jeudy to want to start him going forward.

The 9 Route

The Kareem rises to the top:

Good matchup, bad matchup, take a bishop, tomato ketchup, don’t matter: Kareem Hunt over this span of time will be a top-three overall scoring running back on a ppg basis until Nick Chubb regains health. Look I hope Nick Chubb returns from injury safely and swiftly. But this is an easy one, don’t overthink this. As I put my Captain Obvious hat on, at this point Kareem Hunt will be near untouchable until Nick Chubb gets back from injury.

Kareem Hunt before being he had plenty of success in Kansas as a lead back, but in a part-time role with the Browns and tandem with Chubb, Hunt is punching slightly under 18 ppg in PPR already, 7th best in the league at the position. The Browns have proven this year to be ‘run-first’ and have more rushing touchdowns than receiving. And before their blowout wins at Dallas this past week, Hunt was already their leading touchdown receiver. I understand that the Browns have a couple of guys that can fill in like they did this past week, I’d also like to point that out that attaining 300+ rushing yards per week won’t likely be the norm and that won’t happen again. It’ll be Hunt’s world, and at $6500 this week, I’m guessing he will be in everyone’s world this week too.

Hail Mary

Yeah, I’ll say it so you don’t have to…:

But the New York Jets in a real crappy loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football… still finished the game with two receivers in the top 25. I wish I was joking also! Jamison Crowder returned from injury with 10 targets and 104 yards, but it was Jeff Smith, second-year receiver, who also logged 9 targets for 81 yards as well. Now I understand that Breshad Perriman was missing due to injury (such has been the story for his career), and Denzel Mims is yet to debut. But what I am saying is that whether its Sam Darnold or Joe Flacco under center, they could really use a guy with speed to burn to get open quickly. They have a few user-friendly matchups for wide receivers coming up which is nice, but for now, he is nothing more than a deep league stash. The Jets fantasy playoff schedule for receivers is phenomenal, with Seattle and Cleveland between Weeks 14-16. If his teammates remain on the bench, the longer the year goes on he could be someone with potentially massive upside when you need it most.

I want to thank you for checking this article out! As always you can follow me at @TheBLeagueSays and feel free to check out my @BackRowGiants podcast out (https://linktr.ee/TheBLeagueSays) – subscribe, rate, review, share, and listen.

Let’s all get better together!

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