Sit/Start Week 5: Reviewing All Fantasy Relevant Players In Every Single Game

Game Info

Kickoff: Monday, October 9, at 8:15 PM EST

Location: Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, NV

Betting Odds: Packers -2  O/U 44.5 Total via PFF.com

Network: ABC, ESPN

Writer: Matt Prendergast (@amazingmattyp on X/Twitter)

Green Bay Packers

Quarterback

Jordan Love (Start, QB2)

My love for, uh, Jordan Love has become a bit more conditional after watching some continued hurdles in development last week. I still think Love has all the tools, and he handles himself with enough poise to keep him in this job for quite a while. However, the accuracy just isn’t there, and I’ve seen him struggle for a month to get himself dialed in. From a fantasy standpoint, it hasn’t mattered that he’s been piling on points late in the games against the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints; that’s what you have him in for. But the overthrows and underthrows that plague his first halves are troublesome. Perhaps more seasoning and time with this incredibly young team will work out some of those kinks, but I don’t trust Love to make a leap this week against a Las Vegas Raiders passing defense currently ranked 20th in yards allowed (202.8 per game), a unit that held Justin Herbert to only 167 yards last week.

Last week, we did see a jump in Love’s accuracy, which rose to 63.9 percent (23 for 36). However, Love was on the run a lot with a suddenly porous offensive line that doesn’t look to be getting healthier soon. Those line troubles force me to downgrade him a bit. Love has still been piling up points regardless, so maybe that doesn’t matter too much for fantasy purposes, but it feels like that will catch up to him sooner rather than later. I dig him as a SuperFlex option regardless, and will probably start him over Justin Fields again in my main money league.

Running Backs

Aaron Jones (Start, RB2), AJ Dillon (DROP)

Let’s just forget last week happened and think positive thoughts. Aaron Jones‘ first week back from a hamstring injury was forgettable, much like the overall effectiveness of the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay was so thoroughly outmatched by Detroit so early, I’d imagine the game plan was hurled like an old Brett Favre fourth-quarter comeback attempt that landed in Lake Michigan and sank to the bottom. Jones had a total of five carries for 18 yards, and one reception for -4 yards. YEEEEEEESH. Thankfully this week, Jones rolls up on a Raiders run defense that’s allowed the seventh most yards per game to opposing run attacks (134.3 per game) and is currently riding at 18th in yards per attempt at 4.3 (comparatively, the Lions are currently ranked #1 and #2 in those categories). Green Bay should have the opportunity to establish a run game early with Jones. Ride him as an RB2, close your eyes, and forget last week’s aberration.  Oh, remember that Aaron Jones stat line from just a couple of sentences back? It was still better than the work of AJ Dillon, who rumbled to a majestic ELEVEN YARDS on the same 5 attempts and failed to grab his lone target in the passing game. In summary, Aaron Jones lost four yards on his one reception, and still had a combined output that beat out Dillon. The dream is over. Let the quads go.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Romeo Doubs (Start, WR2) Christian Watson (Start, WR3), Jayden Reed (Start, Flex), Luke Musgrave (Sit, TE2)

Romeo Doubs will continue to be the drum I hammer this season; he leads the team with a 25.6 percent target share, which continues to increase. It’s clear to the eye that he and Love are on the same page at a much more accelerated rate than any of the other developing weapons. As this season continues and Love’s accuracy improves (hopefully), I expect even more from Romeo, with the understanding this whole offense is still a work in progress. Regardless, I expect WR2 output in a PPR from Doubs consistently, but considering his ADP, you’ll likely have enough other options where he could slip into your WR3/Flex spot and just blow that up.

As for Christian Watson, his four targets last week brought fantasy owners a score, but I’d imagine the Packers are taking their time getting him back into the flow of things so as to not aggravate his injuries. Until I see him involved a little more, he’s a lower-end WR3 for me.  I don’t imagine that will be the case for long, but this team has shown caution with Watson to date, so I’m hedging bets on him until his usage increases. Jayden Reed continues to be a regular contributor, even with a weekly drop or two. He’s averaging 3 catches a game for an average of 50.75  yards per contest. Those aren’t game-breaking numbers, but with our first bye week upon us and quite a few regular options from the Tampa Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns, and Los Angeles Chargers unavailable, Jayden gets the nod as at least a flex play this week via an exception process via a sliding scale. I’m not putting stock in Luke Musgrave this week, primarily because of last week’s concussion, which even if cleared by game time, lends me to think he’ll have limited usage even if active, as Green Bay tends to lean towards long-term player health over immediate need. Backup TE options Tucker Kraft and Josiah Deguara are not established producers, with Degaura mostly a role player, and Kraft brand-new, so don’t think of either as some super-sleeper option if Musgrave cannot go.

Las Vegas Raiders

Quarterbacks

Jimmy Garoppolo (Sit, QB2), Aiden O’ Connell (Sit, QB2),

Assuming he passes concussion protocols this week, Jimmy Garoppolo will return to his spot as a starter for these Las Vegas Raiders, but there’s no real reason he should be starting on your fantasy team. Historically, Jimmy G has always been a good-looking fella first, and an at best slightly above-average quarterback second, the perfect guy to have running the helm of a team that has more critical players to pay first without having to resort to a Blaine Gabbert to get through a week.

Garoppolo is a run-of-the-mill fantasy performer coming up against a Packer passing defense that is currently eleventh in yards given up, averaging 197.3 per game.  Combined with the Raiders’ focus on using primarily only three weapons – Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, and to a lesser extent, Jakobi Meyers, I’m not thrilled with Jimmy G’s chances at any kind of a breakout game. Jimmy currently holds a QBR of 49.5 in the three games he’s started and sits in the 20s in most passing categories. This isn’t an ideal matchup in the first place, as Las Vegas should be pounding the Packers with the run to take advantage of their biggest defensive weakness via the 2022 NFL rushing champion.  Fantasy managers likely have better options, even in this bye week, so I’d let Jimmy sit pretty on that bench. On the off chance that Jimmy sits, we didn’t get enough exposure To Aiden O’Connell in last week’s game to recommend him starting either. The rookie from Purdue showed some intriguing traits in the preseason and wasn’t terrible against the Chargers last week, but he’s not taking Jimmy’s job yet, so we aren’t running him out there, either.

Running Backs

Josh Jacobs (Start, RB1), Zamir White/Ameer Abdullah (Sit) 

To date, for most of this first month, Josh Jacobs wasn’t earning that draft spot you spent on him, nor his consolation one-year deal that all the hullabaloo and holding out was for. Well, not immediately, at least: his pure rushing numbers were a bit slow out of the gate, but Jacobs has been balancing out with contributions in the receiving game as well. Last week’s effort against the Chargers (17 carries for 58 yards and a score, plus 8 catches on 11 targets for 81) was a lot more of what we’ve been expecting. Las Vegas is going to need to lean heavily on Jacobs to make a clean snap on their current three-game losing streak. What good fortune he will be following up last week’s efforts against the Green Bay rushing defense, which is third from the bottom in yards given up total (621 so far), 26th overall in yards per carry (4.6), a unit that got demolished by a David Montgomery (who was still technically in the broken toy pile up to about an hour before game time). Jacobs will have a terrific game against Green Bay as long as Josh McDaniel doesn’t try to overthink things.  Zamir White is Jacobs’s primary backup for running plays and has a total of eight carries on the year. Ameer Abdullah (hey, he’s still around!) has none, though he does participate in passing downs. But I remember him!

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

Davante Adams (Start, WR1), Jakobi Meyers (Start, WR3*), Hunter Renfrow (Sit), Michael Mayer/Austin Hooper (No Sir)

“REVENGANCE GAME!!!” He said, with the highest degree of sarcasm allowed (next to none) when typing words for the internet. Last week, I thought Green Bay would struggle greatly with pass defense without Jaire Alexander (and they did, amongst many other basic defensive principles). This week, I don’t even need the qualifier, at least not for Davante Adams. Missing a chunk of last week with a shoulder injury, and still finishing with eight catches for 75 yards (on 13 targets) in the second half alone is great stuff with a rookie quarterback thrown into the tale as well. I don’t put any credence in ‘he’s playing his old team, HE’S GONNA BE FIRED UP’ nonsense; it was an amicable breakup, and Davante is always locked in, no matter who he’s facing. As per Jakobi Meyers, this recommendation has everything to do with the anticipated return of Jimmy G under center. If there’s any unexpected hang-up and Garoppolo isn’t cleared for this game, I don’t like him at all. Let’s assume that isn’t the case though: Meyers put up lines of 7 catches/12 targets/85 yards, and 9/10/81 in his two previous games with JG, and those are low-end WR2/high WR3 stats for PPR. If you can run him in the flex, that’s gravy. The good news is that the Raiders have found three viable receiving options recently! Unfortunately for Hunter Renfrow, the actual WR3, he isn’t the third one; Josh Jacobs is. Hunter has a total of five catches on seven targets. No thank you.

Additionally, the Raiders haven’t, or willfully don’t, opted to use their Tight Ends in the receiving game, so I wouldn’t bother with either Michael Mayer (two targets in four games) or Austin Hooper (five targets!) in a lineup, on a bench, or taking up valuable brain space. Their third-string guy is named Jesper Horsted, and I think I speak for all of us when I say: YOU GOTTA LET JESPER SPREAD HIS WINGS, CAPTAIN VISOR! They also have additional tight ends on the practice squad named Cole Fotheringham, a name reminiscent of a family who owns several small islands and a mansion in the Hamptons, and John Samuel Shenker, which is a name reminding us of…irrelevance. The point: all three of these guys have even less fantasy relevance than the first two, so please pass them all by.