Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 5: Last-Minute Fantasy Football Advice for Sunday

Rest easy, fantasy football owners—the tough part is over. 

Week 5 is here, which is the critical juncture where worthwhile trends and developments can be fully leaned on to sound effect in most cases. Things are more predictable now when it comes to a start 'em, sit 'em sense, which is nothing but a good thing.

Even better, six teams sat out on bye a week ago. Only two sit out this week, and one of them happens to be Oakland.

Now that the turning point of the season is here, let's take a look at a fresh batch of start-sit decisions.

QB

Start 'Em: Ben Roethlisberger, PIT (at JAC)

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With the exception of a Week 2 gaffe in Baltimore, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has done right by owners, scoring 15 or more points in three games thus far.

That number will rise to four after Week 5 and perhaps surpass his season-best total of 22 set last week against Tampa Bay.

Roethlisberger has an elite No. 1 wideout in Antonio Brown. A reliable tight end in Heath Miller. A strong ground game led by Le'Veon Bell. A big-play threat and sound No. 2 in Markus Wheaton.

Add a matchup against Jacksonville to that. The Jaguars surrender a laughable 23.3 points per game to the position, almost a full three points worse than the next defense on the list. The Jaguars have surrendered a minimum of two touchdown passes per game so far, with three or more coming in half.

Call it another streak Roethlisberger will extend.

Sit 'Em: Tom Brady, NE (vs. CIN)

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At this point, most owners should have already dropped Tom Brady. 

For those holding out hope, which is ever so slightly difficult to blame them for, Week 5 is not exactly the time to throw him in lineups as a sign of good faith.

Not against a Cincinnati defense that held him to 197 passing yards, no touchdowns and one interception last year. Not a Cincinnati defense that allows just the second-fewest points to quarterbacks this season, including silencing acts of Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan.

Brady has point outputs of nine, nine, 13 and four so far, so about 10.7—the average the Bengals surrender to the position—sounds about right.

RB

Start 'Em: Bishop Sankey, TEN (vs. CLE)

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A rookie is always a gamble, but a number of trustworthy factors say this is a smart play.

It took some time and a brief batch of fantasy relevancy for Shonn Greene, but the rookie has slowly worked his way into coach Ken Whisenhunt's favor after a strong showing in each of the past two weeks.

"You will see (more reps for Sankey). That's coming," Whisenhunt said on his radio show at 104.5-FM, per John Glennon of The Tennessean. "And I think you'll see more of that earlier in the game this week."

Sankey had his first double-digit production last week with six carries for 34 yards and a score, good for a cool 11 points. Now he gets to increase his workload against Cleveland, a unit that gives up the second-most points to the position. The Browns allow an average of 27.3 per game and a minimum of 20, with two of the three going for 30 or more.

Normally it makes sense to shy away from a rookie but not in this case.

Sit 'Em: Alfred Morris, WAS (vs. SEA)

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Look, Alfred Morris is the sixth-highest scorer at his position for the time being, but the numbers show a rather disturbing trend:

WK	OPP	ATT	YDS	TD	PTS
1	@Hou	14	91	0	9
2	Jac	22	85	2	20
3	@Phi	23	77	0	7
4	NYG	12	63	1	14

An outburst against a bad Jacksonville defense skews the numbers, and had Morris not lucked out with a 20-yard touchdown last week, things would look even worse.

Now Morris encounters the Seattle Seahawks, a defense that gives up the third-fewest points to backs so far this year.

Morris is an early-down back only at this point, with Roy Helu serving as the pass-catcher out of the backfield. With that in mind, combined with erratic production and against an elite defense, he needs to ride the pine for at least one week.

WR

Start 'Em: Kelvin Benjamin, CAR (vs. CHI)

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Pop quiz time—Name the No. 7 overall scorer at wideout this season.

Calvin Johnson? Dez Bryant? Brandon Marshall? Reggie Wayne? Victor Cruz?

Nope. It's Carolina Panthers rookie Kelvin Benjamin, and he's outscored all of those players so far.

In fact, the big-play threat is slowly but surely entering matchup-proof territory. In three out of four games this season, Benjamin has posted a minimum of five receptions and 76 yards with a touchdown in each for a minimum of 13 points.

Chicago, a team that surrenders the sixth-most points to wideouts, travels to Carolina this weekend. SiriusXM Fantasy puts it best:

Benjamin is the No. 1 wideout for the Panthers in what used to be a run-first attack before loads of injuries plagued the backfield. Strangest of all, the drop issues he showed at Florida State have mostly evaporated.

Sit 'Em: Eric Decker, NYJ (at SD)

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While it sounds as if the questionable tag slapped on New York Jets wideout Eric Decker is just precautionary, he is not exactly in a favorable matchup to begin with anyway.

Those who proclaimed Decker would not thrive without Peyton Manning have been proven mostly correct, as Decker has just two scores on the year and has only once cracked the 70-yard mark.

Now, he has been hobbled and a quarterback controversy seems to be simmering, but the Chargers have turned things around in a major way against the pass this season and as a result give up all of 14 points per game to wideouts, ranking them No. 3 overall.

Potentially bum hamstring and quarterback issues aside, that is enough to sit Decker for a week.

TE

Start 'Em: Garrett Graham, HOU (at DAL)

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The weekly ritual continues—go down the list, see which starting tight end draws Dallas, profit.

Now, Garrett Graham is not all that encouraging. He has yet to score more than four points in a fantasy game this season, nor has he found the end zone.

But again, the Dallas defense, one year removed from being laughably bad against tight ends, is still laughably bad against tight ends:

WK	OPP	REC	YDS	TD	PTS
1	SF	4	44	2	16
2	@Ten	10	142	1	20
3	@StL	13	104	1	15
4	NO	10	105	2	19

Let's be honest, the tight end position is an unpredictable joke more often than not, and the scoring margins outside of the top two players is normally of little significant difference.

Graham is a high-upside gamble, sure, but at worst he produces like the average Joe.

Sit 'Em: Larry Donnell, NYG (at ATL)

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Larry Donnell has been the biggest surprise at tight end this season.

Even though his production is a result of a miserable offensive line and a jittery Eli Manning under center, it still counts all the same. Donnell has a minimum of five receptions in each game so far and has four touchdowns, although three came in a single game.

The only problem is that his production has to slow at some point, and this week is as good as any. Atlanta ranks in the top 10 against tight ends, has yet to allow more than eight fantasy points (and the eight went to Jimmy Graham, so we can let that slide) and has kept all of them out of the end zone.

Oakland and Miami are on bye. All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.