Week 5 Start 'Em Sit 'Em: Ryan Mathews and the 3 Best Running Backs to Start

It is the first round of bye weeks, so getting the players with the best matchups into your starting lineup is more crucial now than it has been for the first month of the season. 

There are a lot of quality starts out there, so let's take a look at the guys that could be in for some major fantasy production...

Ryan Mathews

Mathews has become a hybrid of LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles for the Chargers offense. He is a shifty runner that can shoulder between eight and 10 carries a game. 

He doubles as Rivers check-down target out of the backfield and can make linebackers miss in the open field. 

If you're in a PPR league, Mathews' fantasy stock is rapidly rising and it should only get better this week against the Broncos. 

Even if you aren't a big stat person, you can't ignore the following numbers:

Denver is allowing 275 passing yards-per-game and 102.8 on the ground. 

Coming off a huge game against the Dolphins, I expect Mathews to become an even more integral part of San Diego's offensive attack. 

Fred Jackson 

The Eagles allowed 164 yards on 25 carries against the 49ers last week, a 6.6 per-carry average. 

Fred Jackson is averaging 5.8 yards-per-carry and head coach Chan Gailey said they'd like to use him more this weekend. 

He'll catch passes, too, and should be involved on a variety of screen plays that Buffalo has run with great success this season. 

An all-around back against a poor defense. 

Start him. 

LeSean McCoy

As you can tell, I'm totally expecting a shootout in Buffalo on Sunday. 

McCoy and Jackson have been equally important to their offenses and McCoy will pose a huge problem for a Buffalo run defense that was ravished by Cedric Benson in the second half last week. 

I envision the Eagles essentially using McCoy very similarly to how the Bills will use Jackson. 

Lots of touches = lots of yards.