Perfect NFL Week 5 FanDuel Sunday DFS Lineup: Start Breece Hall and Darren Waller
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The sudden urge to dominate fantasy football is one that consumes many people on a yearly basis. Many of us may hate math class, but when you add football into the equation, we love it. Each week, you must deeply evaluate the entire NFL slate in order to achieve the best possible fantasy football outcome. This goes especially for daily fantasy football when you must play matchups based on their salary. As I do every week, I am putting in the work so you do not have to.
NFL WEEK 5 SUNDAY SLATE PREVIEW
I really love some matchups on the board this week. We have an elite display of top talent facing top talent, and some other talent facing weak defenses. Regardless of which either player falls into, the RedZone channel should have a lot of action this week.
Our top matchups of the week include the Broncos-Eagles, Buccaneers-Seahawks, and Commanders-Chargers. All three of these games display massive skill on offense and they may very well get their shine despite tough defensive matchups. I like Hurts, Egbuka, Smith-Njigba, McConkey, Keenan Allen all this week.
The Texans-Ravens is a must-win game for both. One of these teams will fall to 1-4 this week and face turmoil in the news. The Ravens have Cooper Rush at quarterback and man, are they in a bad spot. This is a high-variance game.
Jaxson Dart versus Spencer Rattler? This would have been a premier college football matchups a few years back. Now, Dart looks to go 2-0 as a starter and I expect it to happen with a new and improved Giants offense. Find yourself someone that looks at you like Brian Daboll looks at Jaxson Dart.
Will the Colts come down to earth, and/or will the Raiders come to the skies? This game could easily become an afternoon shootout in Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Dolphins are one of my best picks of the day. Despite being tight favorites, Miami matches up extremely well. Give me some Achane, Waddle, and Waller today.
The Titans may fire Brian Callahan if they lose this week and that they likely will. Meanwhile, Zac Taylor faces the same threat, although not as imminent. They should get beat by the Lions.
PERFECT WEEK 5 SUNDAY SLATE FANDUEL DFS LINEUP
Quarterback: Justin Fields ($7,700)
This week is all about upside for me. Many matchups allow the ability for massive output. The Jets are one of those teams. The Cowboys are allowing 297 Yards per Game in the air. Fields is not a stellar passer, but they will pass and he will use his armstrength to get some deep balls. Based on what I have seen, he will thrive. If the Cowboys shell up, Fields just replaces the pass with the scrambling-run.
Running Back: De'Von Achane ($8,100)
The Dolphins have a fantastic matchup today. Achane's worst game went for 12.6 Points (FanDuel) and that was against the Bills. Carolina has the 6th worst defense, per the FPI. They are 23rd versus the run and will be vulnerable to Achane in the flat. The Panthers rank 26th in tackling and 25th in linebacker coverage, which gets even harder with Waller distracting the defense. I am projecting Achane to reach 2.8x today, before upside.
Running Back: Cam Skattebo ($6,200)
On paper, this matchup is moderate for Skattebo. However, given his usage projection, he is of great value at $6,200). "Skatt" had 25 rushes in Week 4 and even better, they won the game. The Saints rank 25th against the opposing running game and so I can easily see Skattebo over 20 touches once again. He is also breaking into a dominant red zone role. Checkout our weekly piece for more on that.
Wide Receiver: Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($8,500)
This is a widely beloved pick in Week 5, which gives me some concern. However, the more hype, the more sharp the play tends to be. I am playing a ton of cheaper DFS plays this week so we can splash on Smith-Njigba and Achane. He has a 35% target share this season and is due for a breakout scoring game at any given week. This week might be it. The Buccaneers are allowing 24 Points per Game and sometimes is a simple as, Smith-Njigba is very good.
Wide Receiver: George Pickens ($7,100)
The Jets have not been visually appealing on offense by any means. Sauce Gardner has shown to get beat in the air while Brandon Stephens lacks true coverage ability. Pickens had a target share of 27% with Lamb out in Week 4, and this will remain to be the case. For $7,100, Pickens has a great value, especially as a highly targeted red zone threat. Dak Prescott is playing amazing football, too good to flop against the Jets. Pickens will get the ball whether separated from his defender, or not.
Wide Receiver: Josh Downs ($5,100)
I love Downs this week, especially if Michael Pittman Jr ends up being out. Downs is firmly a top-tier slot-receiver when his metrics are dove into. The Raiders play a heavy zone which opens up plenty of gaps to Downs. If it weren't for the Daniel Jones-Pittman romance going on, Downs would be having a much better season. Darnay Holmes is among the worst NFL slot corners this season. With Pittman hurt, opportunity arises at a cheap price.
Tight End: Darren Waller ($5,200)
I saw all that I needed to see on Monday Night. Despite limited snaps, Waller looked back to his old self. Waller had an elite Week 4 PFF rating at an 90.0. Now with Tyreek Hill out, Waller will compete with Waddle for the most targets on this team. Meanwhile, the Panthers rank 25th against opposing tight ends. This price will skyrocket in coming weeks.
FLEX - Breece Hall ($7,000)
Braelon Allen is out 8-12 weeks which makes Hall now a Top-10 NFL running back in our estimation. The Jets run game is meant to be an elite unit, and they have been relatively great so far. They should only get better as the season goes on. As the Cowboys stink on offense, Hall should have a very good game with high touchdown opportunity. Despite their 0-4 record, the Jets have 22.5 PPG. Hall is our RB6 this week.
DEF - Detroit Lions ($5,000)
The Lions have 14 sacks through three games. The Bengals have allowed 13 sacks this season. This would simply project the Lions to have 3.4 sacks in this game. Jake Browning helps the matter with 5 Interceptions on the season. It is a great matchup for the Lions.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.