In one-quarterback leagues, QB is generally viewed as the deepest position in Fantasy Football. Week 5 is going to put that to the test. With Justin Herbert, Geno Smith, Deshaun Watson, and Baker Mayfield on a bye, you may even be considering starting Joe Burrow or Dak Prescott despite their horrific starts. I am not. Neither one ranks as a top-18 QB for me this week. Does that make them droppable? I'm not there yet, but it's a fair question.
Burrow is the easiest call. I'm not starting him until Week 9, but I'm not dropping him. He is a must-stash player. He has no floor right now and I'm not sure he has much of a ceiling until he gets healthy. I wouldn't expect that to happen before his Week 7 bye, and I'm not starting him in Week 8 against the 49ers either. Hopefully he's himself by Week 9, Tee Higgins is healthy and the Bengals can salvage their season, and their Fantasy managers' seasons.
Prescott is more difficult. He plays the 49ers this week, which is a clear no-go. But he's at the Chargers in Week 6. I would plan on starting Prescott in that matchup. How he does in that game will determine whether he's droppable going into his Week 7 bye. As bad as Prescott has been, I could see three shootouts in the Fantasy playoffs against the Bills, Dolphins, and Lions, so I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet and I won't be moved by a bad game against San Francisco.
3.3 -- Joe Burrow is averaging 3.3 air yards per completion. The Bengals have no shot at big plays right now.
8.7% -- Among QBs with at least 100 attempts, no QB has had a higher percentage dropped than Patrick Mahomes. There is room for a wide receiver to take a big role if one of them would step up.
6 -- Daniel Jones is tied for the league lead in interceptions with six. It does not look like last year's improvements in ball protection stuck.
9.1 -- Brock Purdy is averaging 9.1 yards per attempt. He and Tua Tagovailoa are the only QBs above 8.1.
4 -- Anthony Richardson has four rushing touchdowns in nine quarters of play.
24 -- Sam Howell has been sacked a league-worst 24 times. He ranks third at 2.6 seconds per dropback.
1,206 -- C.J. Stroud has thrown for 1,206 yards and zero interceptions in his first four games.
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Sam Howell was the best streaming option at the start of the week, but he's rostered in 71% of leagues as of Thursday.. As long as Garoppolo clears the protocol, he will be a top-15 QB who I would start over both Burrow and Prescott. Garoppolo has been a new man in Las Vegas, leading the NFL in air yards per completion and taking just four sacks in his first three games. He'll be at home and likely chasing the score against the Packers.
Zach Wilson over Joe Burrow? Yes, this week I would. Part of it is that Wilson did look a lot better last week against the Chiefs. A bigger part is that the Broncos have the worst defense in the NFL. And, of course, the biggest part is that Burrow simply is not himself. Denver has surrendered at least 19 Fantasy points to every quarterback it has faced.
While Murray isn't ready to return to practice like Jonathan Taylor and Cooper Kupp, their return is a reminder that Murray is coming. This Cardinals team is much scrappier than we expected and the addition of Michael Wilson has really helped their receiving corps. Expect Murray to be a borderline top-12 QB once he's healthy.
Cousins finally had a stinker in Week 4, which you would expect to mean lower roster rate and price. But he's at home against the Chiefs in the game with the highest total on the slate. For the third straight week he's projected as a top-three QB for me, and even after last week's debacle he ranks at QB3, behind only Josh Allen and Justin Herbert for the season.
If anything, Wilson should be much less popular than he was last week. The Jets have a legitimately good defense, but Wilson looks like a legitimately good quarterback right now. I'm not sure who has more revenge motivation in this game, but I would expect Sean Payton to try to prove a point with his quarterback in this one.
QB Preview
Heath's projections
My full set of Week 5 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 5. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
