A number of players who were drafted high have been major disappointments through the first four weeks of the season. For example, Bengals running back Joe Mixon has recorded just 149 rushing yards and zero rushing touchdowns through his first four games of 2019. Should you move him down your Week 5 Fantasy football rankings? Falcons running back Devonta Freeman has also struggled mightily thus far, carrying the ball 47 times for 157 scoreless yards. San Francisco tight end George Kittle, who was among the first tight ends taken in many leagues, has just 165 receiving yards and also been shut out of the end zone. But can these players rekindle their magic and fly up the 2019 Fantasy football rankings for Week 5? Fans everywhere know that having a reliable set of Fantasy football rankings is the key to knowing which players are set to explode and which players should be left on your bench. That's why you'll want to use SportsLine's Week 5 rankings before locking in any Fantasy football picks.
When it comes to ranking players, their model beat human experts in Fantasy football last season when there were big differences in ranking. And the model was closest to the hole overall, meaning it best pinpointed where every player would finish each week. Over the course of a season, that could literally be the difference between winning your league or going home empty-handed.
Last week, the model advised owners to bench Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, saying he'd finish outside the top 25 at his position. The result: Thielen recorded just two catches for six yards. Anyone who benched him dodged a major bullet.
Now the model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, has revealed its Week 5 Fantasy football rankings. One player the model loves this week: Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald has long been a staple of Arizona's offense, made evident on Sunday when he passed Tony Gonzalez for second all-time in career receptions during Arizona's 27-10 loss to the Seahawks. Now in his 16th season, Fitzgerald has quickly become a security blanket for rookie quarterback Kyler Murray, who's targeted the veteran wide receiver 36 times through the first four games.
Fitzgerald has secured at least five catches in every game this season and now will look to exploit a Bengals defense that is being shredded for 27.5 points per game, which ranks 28th in the NFL. Cincinnati has given up eight receiving touchdowns this season and the Cardinals will be without No. 2 wideout Christian Kirk (ankle), funneling even more targets Fitzgerald's way. That's why SportsLine's Week 5 Fantasy football rankings list him as a top-10 wide receiver, ahead of players like Odell Beckham, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Brandin Cooks.
And a massive shocker: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 422 yards and two touchdowns last week against the Eagles, stumbles big-time and doesn't even crack the top 15.
Rodgers had a strong showing in Green Bay's home defeat against the Eagles last week, completing 34-of-53 passes for 422 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He was also able to find success running the ball too, rushing five times for 46 yards.
However, Rodgers and the Packers now travel to Dallas to face a Cowboys defense that hasn't given up a passing touchdown in their last two games. In fact, the Cowboys' defense ranks in the top 10 against the pass, allowing opponents an average of just 221.8 yards through the air. Rodgers is a player to consider putting on the bench in Week 5 and squarely out of the QB1 conversation.
The model is also calling for a surprising quarterback you aren't even thinking about to finish in the top 10 of its 2019 Fantasy football rankings for Week 5. This pick could be the difference between winning big and going home with nothing.
So who should you sit and start this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 5 Fantasy football rankings for every position, plus see which QB will come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big time last season.
