With another week of football in the books, tonight’s Monday Night Football game notwithstanding, it’s time to wipe away our tears, or lower our victorious fist pumps back to our sides, and take another moment to look back at this past week.
Let’s take a collective breath and learn from our Week 5 mistakes and our triumphs. Collect that information and apply it to moving forward as we wave goodbye to a Week 5 full of ups and downs, groans and glee.
And can we please cue the “I am The Wallerus” drop?
Here is what we learned in Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season:
Jump Ship with Jameson?
Like with every football season, there have been major disappointments for fantasy this year. Some due to injuries, some due to coaching or team changes, but some just don’t seem to make sense. For Jameson Williams, it feels like it doesn’t make sense. Sure, Ben Johnson left for Chicago, but the Lions still have the highest-scoring offense in the league (174 total points through five weeks). Jared Goff – QB10. Jahmyr Gibbs – RB5. David Montgomery – RB11. Amon-Ra St. Brown – WR2. Sam LaPorta even had a big game this week (five catches for 92 yards and a TD). Jameson Williams – WR41…Take out his Week 2 performance, and he has 11.6 total points in four games. He had only one target on Sunday. There is a silver lining, however. He is still playing the majority of snaps, and Goff is still looking his way on deep shots. They just haven’t been able to connect. There should be brighter days ahead, but fantasy managers were hoping for more consistency this year. Instead, Williams still ranks as a C in our consistency metric and is looking like a boom-or-bust option.
Seattle’s Backfield Bugaboo
In a game that ended with a combined 73 points, the fact that Ken Walker saw just 11 opportunities and failed to score is baffling. Moreover, Zach Charbonnet scored again and played more snaps. This is a classic 50/50 RB split, a dreaded scenario for fantasy managers who now have to bank on their player scoring the TD that week. Walker managers have to be frustrated. He’s looked like the better ball-carrier this season, averaging 5.6 yards per carry compared to a 2.8 average for Charbonnet. Yet, Charbonnet keeps getting the ball in high-leverage situations. Barring an injury or a trade, this is going to be a headache for fantasy managers all season long.
Wheels Up for Waller
Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images
In his long-awaited return to the football field, Darren Waller played just 16 snaps in Week 4, but made the most of it with two TD receptions. The messages started flooding my phone. “How much should I bid on Waller?” “Is Waller a top 5 TE rest of season?” I was hesitant to put a stamp on his return. Then in Week 5, Waller doubled his snap count to 32 and was targeted five times. He caught all five targets for 78 yards and a TD. I think it’s safe to say, especially with Tyreek Hill‘s season-ending injury, that Waller is going to be a focal point of Miami’s offense moving forward.
TE Roulette in Full Effect
On the subject of TEs, it’s fair to say five weeks into the season that the landscape of the position isn’t turning out how the fantasy community predicted. The “Big 3” has been anything but, with Trey McBride the only player in the top 10 currently from that trio. Brock Bowers has been a huge disappointment (Waller has 1.5 fewer fantasy points than Bowers in just two games), and George Kittle has been on IR, eyeing a Week 7 return. Instead, it’s been the likes of Jake Ferguson (TE1), Dalton Kincaid (TE2), Hunter Henry (TE4), and Dallas Goedert (tied for TE6 despite missing a game) leading the way at the position. Even players who were off the fantasy radar in redraft leagues at the start of the season, like AJ Barner, Juwan Johnson, and Theo Johnson, have been putting up startable numbers. In years past, fantasy managers who locked in one of the top TEs early in the draft didn’t have to worry about playing the weekly streaming game. That’s not the case this season.
Theo Johnson Standing Out
One more TE spotlight before we turn our attention elsewhere – Theo Johnson is fantasy relevant. In last week’s column, I recommended Johnson as a flier for managers in need of help at the TE spot. I wanted to see how the target share played out with Malik Nabers out, and Jaxson Dart once again continued to look Johnson’s way, especially in the red zone. The second-year TE caught six of seven targets for 33 yards and two TDs on Sunday. He’s led the team in target share since Nabers got hurt (tied with Wan’Dale Robinson at 21.6%). Johnson should be rostered and viewed as a streaming option until we see otherwise.
Baltimore in Trouble?
44-10. The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Houston Texans 44-10 on Sunday. I know, Lamar Jackson didn’t play, but the Ravens’ defense has been atrocious this season. Baltimore has given up 177 combined points this season, the most in the league and 20 more points than the 0-5 Jets. A bad defense can equate to good things for fantasy; however, Derrick Henry has been abysmal aside from Week 1, and Jackson could miss more time. It’s tough to start any Baltimore player at the moment. I think better days are ahead, though. If Jackson returns after the bye, the Ravens could build momentum playing against the Bears, Dolphins, Browns, Jets, and Bengals. And it’s not like the Browns, Bengals, and Steelers pose much of a threat in the AFC North. It feels iffy right now, but hang tight if you can with the Ravens.
Dobbins Goes, Harvey Slows
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
RJ Harvey finally came alive last week against the Bengals. He garnered 19 opportunities, which turned into 98 combined rushing and receiving yards, plus a receiving TD. He played a season-high 33 snaps after seeing 34 snaps combined in the previous two games. But the Broncos were blowing out the Bengals, and a lot of that work came in the second half. Still, there was hope that Harvey’s breakout was near. Well, things came crashing back to earth in a competitive game against the Eagles this past Sunday, as Harvey saw just four carries and three targets. He not only took a backseat to J.K. Dobbins, but also was out-snapped for the first time this season by Tyler Badie. Five weeks into the season, it’s fair to say that Harvey is looking like a backup option in case Dobbins were to miss time. Otherwise, he should probably remain on fantasy benches.
The Return of Rico Suave
I can picture it – The FF Hitman rocking a bandana and leather jacket, grooving to Gerardo’s 1990 hit single. This week’s RB1 (minus a Chiefs or Jaguars RB going nuclear on MNF) is none other than Rico Dowdle. The 27-year-old RB had already been seeing a fair amount of work in the backfield, averaging a 65-35 split with Chuba Hubbard. But with the keys in his hand, Dowdle showed he could be the engine, posting 206 rushing yards and a TD on 23 rushing attempts. That’s a 9.0 yards-per-carry clip on 23 carries! The Panthers came back and beat the Dolphins in a feel-good win, and Dowdle already said his former team needs to “buckle up” next week.
Rico Dowdle next gets to face his former Cowboys team: “They gotta buckle up. I think they know.” pic.twitter.com/7PHBHwZsK9
— Joe Person (@josephperson) October 5, 2025
Buy into Bill?
The Jacory Croskey-Merritt breakout finally arrived in Week 5. The rookie RB broke through for 111 rushing yards and two TDs, plus 39 yards in the air. He played close to 50% of the snaps while Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez Jr. split the other 50. The Commanders play the Bears and Cowboys the next two weeks – this looks sustainable for Bill in the short term. But the schedule gets tougher after, so now is a good time to take a stand on Bill for a season-long outlook. Can he be a confident weekly RB2 play, a flex option, or perhaps even more?
White and Carter Step into Major Role
With Bucky Irving out for the Buccaneers and the Cardinals’ backfield in disarray, Rachaad White, Sean Tucker, Emari Demercado, and Michael Carter became the talk of the waiver wire heading into the weekend’s games. Pundits were split on who would see the bulk of the work for each team, but after one week, things played out pretty much how the Ballers foresaw. White had 82% of the backfield carries and saw all the work within the 10. He scored twice and caught all four of his targets. Tucker was involved, but was a suggested stash this week, just to see how things played out. The fellas also let the FootClan know way before any news broke that it would likely be Carter who would get the bulk of the work in Arizona. That came to fruition as well. Carter had 72% of the rushing attempts and played 20 more snaps than Demercado. Plus, with Demercado’s costly screwup that began the Cardinals’ downfall on Sunday, Carter could get even more work in the coming weeks.