Fantasy football Week 5 Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: Stafford due for breakout week

Three players who were busts through the first three weeks of the season showed up in Week 4 with Drake Maye, Malik Nabers and Colston Loveland. It was fun to see them perform like the Fantasy options we hoped to see all season.

For Maye, he scored 32.2 Fantasy points at Buffalo, and you should feel somewhat confident starting him again in Week 5 against Las Vegas. Nabers finally connected with Jameis Winston in a great matchup against Arizona for 23.2 PPR points, and I’m excited to start him again in Week 5 at Washington. And Loveland scored 11.7 PPR points against the Jets, and I’m willing to trust him again in Week 5 at Green Bay.

There are still flaws for all of them — Maye doesn’t have A.J. Brown (back) yet, Nabers missed practice Wednesday with a knee injury (he should be fine) and Loveland has to prove he can succeed with Caleb Williams (hamstring) — but no one should be complaining. You drafted those players to be stars, and they finally delivered after a slow start.

This week, we hope to see some other early disappointing Fantasy options perform well, including Jayden Daniels (elbow), Chase Brown and George Pickens, among others. All three are due for big games, and I hope we’re talking about all three of them as winners when Week 5 is over.

This should be a fun scoring period, with lots of moving parts due to injuries. But it’s always better when our stars show up, and I was thrilled to see that happen for Maye, Nabers and Loveland last week.

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Jaguars (vs. PHI)

Saquon Barkley (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (hamstring) are expected to be out in Week 5, and we’ll see what happens with Dallas Goedert (knee). Lane Johnson just retired, and Cam Jurgens was traded to Baltimore. The Jaguars have six interceptions this season and two fumble recoveries, and they held Cleveland and New England to 10 points or less in two games. I like the Jaguars as the No. 1 DST in Week 5.

Bengals (at MIA)
Cowboys (vs. TB)
Browns (at NYJ)

Ravens (vs. ATL)

The Falcons have scored a combined 80 points in two games with Michael Penix Jr. under center against Green Bay and New Orleans with one sack and one interception. This could be a tough week for Baltimore’s defense if Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson Jr. are dominant on the ground, and the Ravens have only two sacks and three turnovers in their past two games against Dallas and Tennessee. I would sit the Ravens DST in most leagues.