Week 5 Fantasy Football Streaming Options
The Week 4 stream had a couple of success stories, with the Packers the top-scoring fantasy defense after shutting out the Bills, and racking up seven sacks and three takeaways. Andy Dalton delivered another strong game, finishing as a top-10 quarterback in standard-scoring leagues.
For streaming purposes, 4for4’s schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA) is a metric we rely on heavily to determine weekly matchup strength. As the season continues to progress and more data is available, aFPA becomes more and more reliable, using rolling 10-week data. Targets and efficiency metrics are also considered when choosing weekly streamers.
To provide actionable advice, candidates for streaming must have ownership rates of 40% or lower in leagues on two of Yahoo, CBS and ESPN.
Quarterbacks
Blake Bortles, Jaguars at Chiefs
Bortles is ranked 11th at his position through four weeks and faces Kansas City in Week 5, a defense ranked 26th in quarterback aFPA this season. The 26-year-old seems to be hitting his stride, throwing for more than 300 yards and multiple scores in two of his last three games. Bortles is close to the 40% ownership rate which signals that he’s owned in many competitive leagues, but there’s still a decent chance he’s there for your streaming pleasure.
Derek Carr, Raiders at Chargers
Oakland got its first win in Week 4, with Carr scorching the Browns’ defense for 437 yards and four touchdowns. He’s averaging 343.3 passing yards per game in 2018, and Week 5 could be another high-scoring affair for the Raiders. They face a Chargers’ defense that ranks fifth in quarterback aFPA and 27th in wide receiver aFPA. Like Bortles, Carr is pushing the ownership rate threshold, but he’s still out there in more than six of every 10 leagues.
Week 5 Waiver Wire: Top Fantasy Football Pickups
Joe Flacco, Ravens at Browns
The Browns are coming off the aforementioned terrible game against Carr last week, and get a matchup in Week 5 with a surprisingly effective Baltimore passing game. Flacco is ranked 14th among quaterbacks in standard-scoring leagues, averaging 313 yards and two touchdowns per game. Unlike Borltes and Carr, Flacco is widely available, and is a great pivot if you need to stream a quarterback and the other two are already owned in your league.
Tight Ends
Ricky Seals-Jones, Cardinals at 49ers
With the tight end landscape such a mess this season, Seals-Jones is one of the more consistent options in the streaming class. He has 10 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown thus far, and put up a season-high 52 yards in Josh Rosen’s first start of the year. Rosen elevates the entire Arizona offense, giving every key player a fantasy boost. Arizona heads west to face a 49ers defense ranked 27th in tight end aFPA, surrendering 16.2 PPR points to the position weekly in 2018.
Geoff Swaim, Cowboys at Texans
Swaim has strung together two decent fantasy weeks and is looking like one of Dak Prescott’s favorite options in a depleted Dallas receiving corps. Prescott isn’t throwing deep nearly as often this season, with his deep-ball rate dropping to 10.3% from a combined 16.3% over the first two years of his career. That could mean even more targets for the tight end moving forward. Swaim’s super-low ownership, favorable matchup and recent play are all indicators of a potential surge for the Cowboy this week.
C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Kroft, Bengals vs. Dolphins
Tyler Eifert suffered a nasty ankle injury and is sidelined for the rest of the 2018 season. Uzomah and Kroft will step into the breach in one of the league’s most potent passing attacks. Kroft is more widley known, but Uzomah has a higher snap rate, more targets and more routes run this season. That, however, could have something to do with the way he fits alongside Eifert as a blocking tight end, making it hard to project exactly what this position will look like in Cincinnati without the starter. The Bengals get a home tilt with Miami this week, a squad that ranks ninth in tight end aFPA.
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Defenses
Tennessee Titans at Bills
Three of the four opponents Buffalo has faced this season ended among the top-six in defensive fantasy points on the week. It’s the Titans turn to face the Bills, and while they’ll certainly take the great matchup, they don’t need it. They’ve racked up 12 sacks, three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a touchdown in 2018, enough for the fifth-most fantasy points through four contests.
Dallas Cowboys at Texans
The Cowboys have gotten after the quarterbacks this season, totaling 14 sacks through four games. The Texans’ offense seemed to get right in a win over the Colts last week, but the offensive line is in shambles, and, at the very least, the Cowboys should be able to add to their sack total this week. Houston is ranked 22nd in defensive aFPA, giving up 8.5 fantasy points to the position each week.
Arizona Cardinals at 49ers
The Cardinals’ defense isn’t exactly setting the league on fire, but it has put up a respectable 19 fantasy points through four weeks of play. San Francisco is 30th in defensive aFPA, and represents a great matchup on paper with C.J. Beathard under center.
