Fantasy Football Week 5 Rankings: Latest Position-by-Position Rundown

If you've been reading my rankings thus far this season, you know I've tried to emphasize determining how smart it is to start a given player and not how many points that player will score that week. 

My philosophy in fantasy has always been that sometimes the right decisions go wrong, and that overreacting to one bad performance or one breakout showing can get you in trouble. 

Still, heading into Week 5, we have a better idea of which fads may actually be sustainable and which struggling players could be in for a very long year. This week's rankings take them all into account. With that in mind, let's break down the smartest fantasy plays this week.

Notes: For a full explanation of the rankings, go here. Abridged version: "Ability" measures a player's overall talent, proficiency at his position and ability to produce fantasy numbers. "Offense" measures how much that team's offense improves his fantasy stock. The overall "startability" grade is weighted. All point totals and points-against statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues. 

Schedule

Sunday, Oct. 5	Time (ET)
Monday, Oct. 6	Time (ET)
Chicago at Carolina	1 p.m.
Cleveland at Tennessee	1 p.m.
St. Louis at Philadelphia	1 p.m.
Atlanta at NY Giants	1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at New Orleans	1 p.m.
Houston at Dallas	1 p.m.
Buffalo at Detroit	1 p.m.
Baltimore at Indianapolis	1 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville	1 p.m.
Arizona at Denver	4:05 p.m.
Kansas City at San Francisco	4:25 p.m.
NY Jets at San Diego	4:25 p.m.
Cincinnati at New England	8:30 p.m.
Seattle at Washington	8:30 p.m.

Quarterbacks

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Drew Brees	49	19	14	9	A+ (91)
2	Peyton Manning	50	11	15	10	A (86)
3	Philip Rivers	43	23	11	8	A (85)
4	Russell Wilson	43	23	10	7	A (83)
5	Matt Stafford	48	12	13	8	A - (81)
6	Andrew Luck	48	10	13	9	B+ (80)
7	Matt Ryan	46	13	12	8	B (79)
8	Cam Newton	47	15	8	8	B (78)
9	Ben Roethlisberger	41	24	7	5	B- (77)
10	Nick Foles	40	13	14	7	C+ (74)
11	Colin Kaepernick	44	13	10	6	C (73)
12	Jay Cutler	41	14	13	4	C (72)
13	Joe Flacco	39	15	8	4	D+ (66)
14	Andy Dalton	40	8	11	6	D (65)
15	Eli Manning	39	12	8	4	D (63)

Unless your regular starter at quarterback has a really brutal matchup—and most of the top guys don't have terrible matchups this week—you should stick with your regular QB1 this week. Seeing as Derek Carr and Ryan Tannehill are the only quarterbacks on bye, there's no need to get creative at the position this week.

The one player you might want to consider promoting from QB2 to QB1 given a tasty matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars is Ben Roethlisberger, however. In fact, here's a new hard-and-fast rule when a team is facing the Jags: Start everyone on that team you can.

The punter? Start him. Who cares if there isn't a slot for punters—start the punters against the Jags. The coaches? Start all of them, even the obscure ones like "Coordinator of Game Film," which I'm not sure is an actual coaching position but sounds like it could be. Start the commentators calling the game. Start the wives of the players. 

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Because here's the thing—the Jags are terrible. They literally give up massive amounts of points to opponents at every position in fantasy. Here's how they rank in points-against at every available slot:

• Quarterback: 32nd
• Running Back: 30th
• Wide Receiver: 31st
• Tight End: 30th
• Defense/Special Teams: 32nd
• Kicker: 32nd

That's just an uncanny level of consistency. I'm not sure there's ever been anything more certain in fantasy football than the likelihood of players facing the Jaguars having huge fantasy weeks. This isn't even that tiny of a sample size—we're a quarter of the way through the season!

At some point, the Jags will appear to be playing a bit better on defense, likely when they face teams like the Tennessee Titans. But then a good offense will come to town and, lo and behold, fantasy owners will rejoice.

But I digress. The quarterback section here was hijacked by the "Jaguars stink!" section. I apologize. This is what happens when nobody important is on a bye and most of the top options should be started. The belabored point is this: Big Ben is a great start this week and has huge upside. 

Given his inconsistency in the past for fantasy owners, he's not as safe a start as a Peyton Manning or a Drew Brees, but don't be surprised if he's close to those guys in points scored this week.

Running Backs

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Le'Veon Bell	47	23	13	9	A+ (92)
2	Matt Forte	48	17	14	10	A+ (89)
3	DeMarco Murray	48	13	14	10	A (85)
4	Rashad Jennings	41	24	12	8	A (85)
5	Giovani Bernard	44	20	12	8	A (84)
6	Marshawn Lynch	49	7	15	10	A (81)
7	LeSean McCoy	49	11	12	9	A (81)
8	Arian Foster*	45	10	13	8	A- (76)
9	Jamaal Charles	49	2	14	10	A- (75)
10	Zac Stacy	38	19	9	7	B+ (73)
11	Andre Ellington	41	15	10	6	B+ (72)
12	Alfred Morris	44	5	13	9	B (71)
13	Doug Martin*	40	18	7	5	B (70)
14	Frank Gore	42	8	12	8	B (70)
15	Darren Sproles	41	11	12	6	B (70)
16	Ben Tate*	38	17	7	5	B- (67)
17	Chris Ivory	38	12	9	7	B- (66)
18	C.J. Spiller	43	10	8	5	B- (64)
19	Montee Ball	40	4	12	7	C+ (63)
20	Reggie Bush	43	5	9	6	C+ (63)
21	Ahmad Bradshaw	38	7	9	8	C (62)
22	Bishop Sankey	32	24	3	3	C (62)
23	Jeremy Hill	35	20	4	3	C (62)
24	Chris Johnson	37	12	6	5	C (60)
25	Joique Bell	40	5	9	6	C (60)
26	Fred Jackson	38	10	8	5	C- (59)
27	Trent Richardson	36	7	9	5	C- (57)
28	Justin Forsett	35	11	5	5	D+ (56)
29	Khiry Robinson	35	10	7	4	D+ (56)
30	Pierre Thomas	36	10	6	4	D+ (56)
31	Shonn Greene	28	24	2	2	D+ (56)
32	Steven Jackson	31	12	4	4	D (55)
33	Stevan Ridley	36	7	6	4	D (53)
34	Shane Vereen	36	7	6	4	D (53)
35	Donald Brown	33	1	10	5	D- (49)

Such is the state of the running back position that players like Montee Ball (he faces an Arizona defense that has allowed a total of 142 rushing yards and 29 fantasy points to opposing running backs in three games), Darren Sproles (he has nine total fantasy points in the last two weeks), Ben Tate (he hasn't played since Week 1 and could be stuck in a committee situation) and Reggie Bush (one week of double-digit fantasy point production) find themselves in the RB2 conversation. 

This is the new NFL, folks.

Chances are, if you own Ball, you can't really afford to sit him, while Sproles should bounce back against St. Louis. Tate might have the biggest upside of the bunch against a suspect Titans defense, though his usage for this week remains a mystery given his injury history and recent return from his latest ailment. And then there's Reggie Bush and Joique Bell, both of whom have been amongst the most disappointing players in fantasy football and are very close to the point where they simply can't be trusted. 

There's a good chance you'll need to start one of these players if you own them, and I have good news! All have RB2 upside. Unfortunately, all have displayed RB3 consistency thus far this year, and Ball at least is hampered by a brutal matchup. 

Sometimes in fantasy, you have to look at the best possible outcome and ignore the probability that something far less appealing is likely to occur. A similar principle exists in the dating world, so perhaps you are familiar with the concept. 

At running back this week, hope for the best. Maybe we'll all get lucky. 

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Antonio Brown	47	24	12	10	A+ (93)
2	Julio Jones	49	14	13	8	A (84)
3	Dez Bryant	49	12	13	9	A (83)
4	Demaryius Thomas	47	10	14	8	A- (79)
5	Jeremy Maclin	42	15	14	8	A- (79)
6	A.J. Green	49	5	13	10	A- (77)
7	Vincent Jackson	44	20	7	6	A- (77)
8	Alshon Jeffery	44	14	12	6	B+ (76)
9	Keenan Allen	38	22	10	5	B+ (75)
10	Kelvin Benjamin	40	17	11	7	B+ (75)
11	Brandon Marshall*	37	14	14	10	B+ (75)
12	Percy Harvin	44	16	10	5	B+ (75)
13	Victor Cruz	43	14	10	7	B (74)
14	Steve Smith	41	11	12	8	B (72)
15	Emmanuel Sanders	40	10	15	7	B (72)
16	Calvin Johnson*	35	13	14	10	B (72)
17	Reggie Wayne	40	18	8	6	B (72)
18	Brandin Cooks	37	24	7	3	B- (71)
19	DeAndre Hopkins	43	13	7	7	B- (70)
20	Michael Crabtree	40	13	10	6	C+ (69)
21	Roddy White	38	10	11	6	C+ (69)
22	Wes Welker	38	10	14	7	C+ (69)
23	Michael Floyd	41	11	5	6	C+ (68)
24	Larry Fitzgerald	41	11	5	6	C+ (68)
25	Terrance Williams	39	12	10	6	C (67)
26	T.Y. Hilton	37	18	8	4	C (67)
27	Marques Colston	32	24	7	3	C (66)
28	DeSean Jackson	45	5	10	5	C (65)
29	Eddie Royal	30	22	10	3	C (65)
30	Andre Johnson	40	13	5	6	C- (64)
31	Julian Edelman	39	6	10	7	C- (62)
32	Pierre Garcon	40	5	11	6	C- (62)
33	Golden Tate	35	13	10	4	C- (62)
34	Brian Quick	36	20	3	3	C- (62)
35	Malcom Floyd	28	22	9	3	C- (62)
36	Torrey Smith	38	11	6	3	D (58)
37	Allen Hurns	33	15	5	4	D (57)
38	Markus Wheaton	26	24	3	2	D (55)
39	Anquan Boldin	34	13	5	3	D (55)
40	Sammy Watkins	41	3	5	5	D- (54)

I'm worried about the health of Brandon Marshall and Calvin Johnson this week, so they took a hit on the rankings. Still, if either player is out on the field, you pretty much have to start them. I don't expect Megatron to be as much of a decoy this week, for what that's worth. 

We can't pretend like this whole Steve Smith Sr. resurgence is a fad, can we? He already has 25 receptions for 429 yards and three touchdowns, and his 42 targets are twice that of Torrey Smith. He doesn't have less than five receptions in any one game or less than 70 yards, either, so his production seems highly sustainable. 

Something beautiful is happening between he and Joe Flacco, even as Torrey Smith shoots jealous glances their way in the huddle. Chemistry is chemistry, Torrey, and the Ravens aren't going to start messing with a good thing. Fantasy owners shouldn't either—Smith is hereby declared a weekly WR2 with WR1 upside. Enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts. 

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Smith's huge start to the year might remind folks of another guy who surprised everyone by blowing up last year: Eddie Royal. That comparison simply isn't apt, if only because at the height of his powers Smith was one of the league's best receivers, whereas Royal has always been a decent player but nothing beyond that.

Speaking of Royal, we've seen this movie before, haven't we? Folks are probably jumping back on the Royal bandwagon after snagging nine passes for 147 yards and four touchdowns in the past two games, but do you remember what he did a year ago?

In the opening two games of the season, he caught 10 passes for 114 yards and five scores. He had three touchdown receptions the rest of the way, and his highest receiving total in any one game down the stretch was 87 yards. 

Royal can be brilliant in bursts, sure, and he has a solid matchup this week, but you simply can't trust him to produce consistently. He's one heck of a lottery ticket when he pays off, sure, but like most lottery tickets, he's more pipe dream than anything else.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Jimmy Graham	50	15	15	10	A+ (90)
2	Julius Thomas	46	17	14	9	A (86)
3	Rob Gronkowski	47	9	10	8	A (74)
4	Martellus Bennett	41	9	13	8	A- (71)
5	Jordan Cameron	42	12	10	7	A- (71)
6	Vernon Davis*	35	18	10	8	A- (71)
7	Delanie Walker	39	15	9	6	B (69)
8	Greg Olsen	41	10	11	7	B (69)
9	Jordan Reed/Niles Paul**	38	15	10	6	B (69)
10	Larry Donnell	37	8	13	7	B- (65)
11	Zach Ertz	40	11	9	5	B- (65)
12	Antonio Gates	37	13	9	5	C+ (64)
13	Jason Witten	40	7	5	6	C (58)
14	Travis Kelce	40	2	9	6	C (57)
15	Dwayne Allen	37	3	10	6	C (56)

In years past, tight end could be a tough position to get production from if you didn't have one of the top guys. This year has not followed that script. 

Delanie Walker has been the one bright spot on Tennessee's weak offense. All Larry Donnell does is catch touchdowns. Travis Kelce has established himself as the one weapon Alex Smith has down the field. Zach Ertz has started living up to his big potential. Jay Cutler loves him some Martellus Bennett in the red zone. Dwayne Allen is better than Coby Fleener, and he's consistently been showing it. 

The tight ends are alive and well, folks. You can't really go wrong at the position right now.

Defense/Special Teams

Rank	Defense
1	Seattle Seahawks
2	Cincinnati Bengals
3	Detroit Lions
4	San Francisco 49ers
5	San Diego Chargers
6	Philadelphia Eagles
7	Chicago Bears
8	Pittsburgh Steelers
9	Carolina Panthers
10	Houston Texans

Kickers

Rank	Player	Team
1	Shaun Suisham	Pittsburgh Steelers
2	Cody Parkey	Philadelphia Eagles
3	Adam Vinatieri	Indianapolis Colts
4	Nick Novak	San Diego Chargers
5	Justin Tucker	Baltimore Ravens
6	Dan Bailey	Dallas Cowboys
7	Greg Zuerlein	St. Louis Rams
8	Chandler Catanzaro	Arizona Cardinals
9	Steven Hauschka	Seattle Seahawks
10	Dan Carpenter	Buffalo Bills

Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than a Jay Cutler Fumblerooski.