Week 5 Start/Sit Calls

Five players to start this week, led by Javonte Williams on Thursday night, and five to bench, including Jalen Hurts, Zay Flowers and Saquon Barkley.

Every week our model ranks each player twice: once for this week alone, and once for the rest of the season. When those two ranks are far apart, that's a start or sit call. A start is a player who ranks much higher this week than he usually does. A sit is a player you might be thinking about starting who doesn't make a 12-team lineup this week.

Rankings are half PPR for a 12-team league, from Thursday morning's update, and they include tonight's Buccaneers at Cowboys game. Injury news is as of Wednesday's practice reports, so check the live rankings before you lock anything in. They update every day.

Start

Javonte Williams, Cowboys (vs Buccaneers, Thursday night). He's RB4 this week and RB10 for the rest of the season, with 17.1 projected points. Dallas is expected to score about 28 points based on the betting total, third-most this week. Tampa Bay ruled out Baker Mayfield with a dislocated thumb, and rookie Jalon Daniels starts again. The model has Williams at about 17 carries and 4 targets.

Jacoby Brissett, Cardinals (vs Lions). He's QB4 this week and QB14 for the rest of the season, at 19.3 projected points. Cardinals vs Lions has the highest betting total of the week, tied with Bills at Rams, and the model has Brissett throwing about 37 times. If you're streaming a quarterback, he's the one.

Garrett Wilson, Jets (vs Browns). He's WR5 this week and WR11 for the rest of the season, at 15.0 projected points. The model gives him about 12 targets, and about 4 of those are looks that would normally go to hurt teammates. Adonai Mitchell is still week-to-week with a finger injury and so is Breece Hall with his quad.

Davante Adams, Rams (vs Bills). The model has him at WR8 this week, up from WR16 for the rest of the season, with 12.3 projected points. The Rams are expected to score about 29 points, second-most this week, in that same high-scoring game.

Tyler Higbee, Rams (vs Bills). Same game, same reason. He's TE8 this week and TE16 for the rest of the season, at 8.9 projected points on about 6 targets. If your tight end is on bye or hurt, he's a good fill-in.

Sit

Jalen Hurts, Eagles (at Jaguars in London). He's QB8 for the rest of the season but only QB19 this week, at 14.8 projected points. The Eagles are expected to score about 17 points, second-fewest this week. His tight end Dallas Goedert has missed two games with a knee sprain, and DeVonta Smith sat out Week 4 with a hamstring injury. If you have another starter close to him, play that guy.

For the hurt players below, we rank them by what the model expects if they do play. Even then, they don't make a 12-team lineup this week.

Zay Flowers, Ravens (at Falcons). He's WR19 for the rest of the season. If he plays, the model has him at 8.6 points, WR36. He was limited in Wednesday's practice with a foot injury, per the team's injury report. Lamar Jackson sat out Wednesday with a sprained ankle, and Tyler Huntley would start if he can't go.

Saquon Barkley, Eagles (at Jaguars in London). A league source told the Inquirer he's unlikely to play because of his hamstring. If he does, the model has him at 8.7 points, RB33, in the same low-scoring Eagles offense as Hurts.

Tony Pollard, Titans (vs Texans). He's RB24 for the rest of the season. If he plays, the model has him at 9.1 points, RB31. He sat out Wednesday's practice with a foot injury, and the Titans are expected to score about 16 points, the fewest of any team this week.

Terry McLaurin, Commanders (vs Giants). He missed Week 4 with a hamstring injury and was only working on the side Wednesday. If he plays, the model has him at 8.0 points, WR42.

Injured Bengals to Start If They Play

Ja'Marr Chase (concussion) and Tee Higgins (groin) rank low on the page this week only because they might sit. If they're cleared, start them. If he plays, Chase is WR7 and Higgins is WR11. Check the final injury reports before kickoff and have a backup ready.

Where to Find the Rest

Every player's rank for this week and the rest of the season is on pigskinprojections.com, and it updates every day as injury news comes in. Our free Saturday email puts the start/sit calls up top.