Michael Florio’s Week 5 Fantasy Football Positional Rankings!

I am not one to toot my own own horn, but I did write up that Taylor Gabriel is a nice streaming option last week and discussed him on Wide Right Fantasy Football, which is exactly why you should listen to myself and Matt Modica every week! With that being said, Week 4 is now behind us and we need to look ahead to Week 5. If you are 1-3 or 0-4, I would highly recommend listening to this week’s podcast as we went in depth on what you can do to turn things around. On to my positional Rankings!

Week 5 Fantasy Football Positional Rankings

• The biggest news this week to me, is Mark Ingram is returning from suspension. So far this season Alvin Kamara has played 82 percent of the snaps. However, last year he did not play more than 64 percent in any game. Ingram on the other hand played in fewer than 50 percent just four times. Sean Payton will have his work cut out for him trying to get both these guys properly utilized. I do think this is a blow to Kamara’s value, but he is still fully entrenched as a Top 5 RB, until we see otherwise. Ingram comes in for me as an RB2 this week, but the volume will be something to monitor.
• Julian Edelman also returns and while we haven’t seen him in a real game in over a year, people are excited. I do think this hurts Chris Hogan who has ran 81 of his 135 routes from the slot this season. To me, Hogan has to be benched, and can even be dropped in shallower leagues. Josh Gordon is just a boom-or-bust WR until he proves otherwise. He only ran nine routes in Week 4, but was targeted twice, which is once more than Hogan.
• Stop trying to talk me into Kenyan Drake. I was off him last week but all the talk of the positive game script led me to bump him up my rankings. Well this is how the workload broke down between him and Frank Gore: Drake- 45% of snaps, 3 carries, 10 routes ran, 2 targets, 1 catch.
  Gore- 51% of snaps, 11 carries, 11 routes ran, 3 targets, 2 catches. It doesn’t matter that it is the coaches fault, we cannot trust Drake right now.
• I am in on the Redskins offense this week. That is not a hot take by any stretch, but the Saints have allowed by far the most fantasy points per game (FPPG) to WRs and the second most to QBs. Alex Smith is a fine streaming candidate this week. I also like Jamison Crowder, as the Saints have allowed four touchdowns to players in the slot, which bodes well for him and Jordan Reed. Paul Richardson is also a nice sleeper, as he leads Washington in air yards, and I expect a few deep shots down field in what should be a high scoring affair.
• The same can be said for Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz this week, as the Vikings have allowed the second most receiving yards and TDs to players in the slot this season.
• I am fading Quincy Enunwa this week. Enunwa is the apple of Sam Darnold’s eye, largely in part because he runs in the slot and Darnold hasn’t thrown downfield too often. In fact, Enunwa has ran 82 of his 124 routes from the slot this season. He will be lined up often with shut down slot corner Chris Harris. Hard pass this week.
• The 49ers have allowed a TD to a TE every game this season. They are the new Giants this year. Fire up Ricky Seals-Jones, who will be in a great position to score.
• If you need to stream tight ends, you can do worse than Austin Hooper. The Steelers have allowed the most PPR points to tight ends this season. Additionally, the Steelers not only score a ton of points, they give up a bunch, which means all the Falcons have a good chance of scoring this week… except Julio Jones of course.
• Speaking of tight ends, C.J. Uzomah played 70 percent snaps and ran 26 routes in Week 4. That is compared to just 27 percent of snaps and four routes for Tyler Kroft. Uzomah is the TE to stream in Cincinnati.
• Dede Westbrook is coming off a nice game and I would bank on him to follow it up nicely this week. Not only are the Chiefs a team you can stream all wide outs against, but they have allowed 348 yards and a TD to slot receivers. That bodes well for Westbrook, who leads the Jags in routes out of the slot.
• David Johnson continues to be misused. He ran just two routes out wide, none from the slot and 18 out of the backfield. In 2016 he lined up all over the field. He remains a low-end RB1, but do not expect him to be higher than that unless his usage changes.
• Marvin Jones is tied for the league lead in end zone targets and has a history of success against the Packers. I expect him to have him best week of the season so far.
•  The Packers RB situation is still in flux as Aaron Jones played 38 percent of snaps and had 11 carries, while Jamaal Williams played 37 percent of snaps and also had 11 carries. The Lions get torched by the run and I have Aaron Jones ranked inside my Top-24 running backs. I can take the L on Williams. Also, Ty Montgomery is a nice sleeper given how banged up the Packers receivers are.
• Like fetch in Mean Girls, we have to stop trying to make Rashaad Penny a thing. I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it works! Penny had just nine carries with Chris Carson out, while Mike Davis had 21, including all three red zone carries, turning two into TDs. Maybe Penny will hit later this season or next, but right now he is nothing more than an upside bench stash.
• If you need to stream any of the Colts WRs, I rank them: Chester Rodgers, Ryan Grant and Zach Pascal. The absence of T.Y. Hilton also gives Nyheim Hines and Eric Ebron a huge boost.

As always, best of luck this week and if you have any flex questions just ask on Twitter, @MichaelFFlorio!