Fantasy Front Runners: Week 5 Fantasy Football Picks

Mark Ingram II and Julian Edelman return from their four-week suspensions and are immediately fantasy starts. Tom Brady has missed Edelman and the New England Patriots offense has struggled without him. The New Orleans Saints are relying heavily on Alvin Kamara but now with Ingram back they can return to the devastating running attack that led the league last season. Injuries have taken more tight ends this week as we see Tyler Eifert, Will Dissly and O.J. Howard all go down. Offense continued to reign supreme and it seems as if you can't score 30 points you will lose.

The team of the week will be based on DraftKings.com’s $50,000 team budget and utilize its player pricing. Start players are for weekly picks, to trade for or maybe even grab off the waiver wire this week. 

Position Player Price

Quarterback Matt Ryan, @ PIT $6,600

Running Back David Johnson, @ SF $6,300

Running Back James White, vs IND $6,100

Wide Receiver Doug Baldwin, vs LAR $6,700

Wide Receiver Golden Tate, vs GB $6,700

Wide Receiver Nelson Agholor, vs MIN $5,300 

Tight End Jordan Reed, @ NO $5,600

Flex Aaron Jones, @ DET $4,300

Defense/Special Teams Tennessee Titans, @ BUF $4000

Start ‘em

Quarterback: Matt Ryan, @ PIT

Matt Ryan is on pace to beat his 2016 MVP numbers by a significant margin. If he continues on his current pace, he will have 5,264 yards, 40 TDs and 8 Int. He has to put up those types of numbers in order for the Atlanta Falcons to win since their defense has been ravaged by injuries.

His next three weeks are against defenses that allow a lot of fantasy points to quarterbacks. With the team's efficiency in the red zone and the emergence of Calvin Ridley alongside Julio Jones, the Falcons are primed to put up 30+ points a game. 

Running Back: T.J Yeldon, @ KC

Last week Leonard Fournette went down with an injury and T.J Yeldon made the most of his chances to score a rushing and receiving touchdown. He is a dynamic back with good hands and is utilized in the passing game as Blake Bortles’ checkdown. He looked good coming back from an injury and will have a easy matchup this week.

The Kansas City Chiefs allowed Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsay to control the game Monday night against the Denver Broncos. The Chiefs couldn't stop the run game as Freeman and Lindsay both scored and had multiple big gains. Expect the Jacksonville Jaguars to control the clock with the run game and keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes’ hands.

Wide Receiver: Corey Davis, @ BUF

Corey Davis is finally healthy and showing why he was a top ten pick in the NFL draft a year ago. Davis is the main target for Marcus Mariota and was targeted 15 times but only hauled in nine of them. He turned the 9 catches into 161 yards and a game winning touchdown. 

The Titans are 3-1 and will probably be 4-1 after Week 5 going against the Buffalo Bills who don't look good. Davis will get 10+ targets.

Sit ‘em

Quarterback: Joe Flacco, @ CLE

Joe Flacco has exceeded expectations this season and has improved in every area for the Baltimore Ravens. However, this week he is going against the Cleveland Browns and they have been great defensively. The Browns have 13 defensive takeaways, 12 sacks and are allowing only 21 points at home. Sit Flacco and pick up Andy Dalton or Blake Bortles this week.

Running Back: Dalvin Cook, @ PHI

Dalvin Cook burned owners brave enough to start him last week after the Minnesota Vikings announced he would be playing on a snap count. Cook rewarded owners with 2 yards per carry and didn't touch the field in the second half. Cook is still listed as questionable for the upcoming week and I wouldn’t risk starting him unless he has no snap count.

Wide Receiver: Tyreek Hill, vs JAX

This is a risky call since Tyreek Hill can always break a 50+ yard touchdown for the Chiefs but in the past two weeks he has failed to reach the endzone. He is used as a decoy in many formations in order to take attention away from other receivers. Going against Jalen Ramsey and A.J Bouye, I would try to find another option this week. 

Andrew Rasimas is a staff writer and can be reached at: sports@ubspectrum.com