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2016 Fantasy Football: Week 5 Streaming Options

Whether you have chosen to play the waiver wire and stream quarterbacks, tight ends, defenses or all three, we have you covered. Below you’ll find a couple streaming options at each position for Week 5.

Quarterback

If Jameis Winston (@ CAR, 57.3% owned on ESPN) or Carson Wentz (vs. MIA, 63.9%) are available in your league, don’t bother reading on in this section. Both are top 10 plays for the week, with Wentz being my preferred option of the two. But the odds are good that neither is available in your league, so keep reading.

Joe Flacco — vs. WSH — 35% owned

Flacco and the Ravens are a 3.5-point favorite at home with an implied total of 24.5, and QBs on a home favorite with a team total of 24+ are ideal if you’re picking QBs on a week-to-week basis. They’ll face Washington who is a better matchup for running backs than those in the passing game, but they’re still a slightly above average matchup for Flacco. The Skins rank 18th in Football Outsiders’ pass defense DVOA, and they rank 21st against QBs in 4for4.com’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA).

Trevor Siemian — vs. ATL — 20.4% owned

Paxton Lynch — vs. ATL — 2.4% owned

Whoever ends up drawing the start for Denver this weekend will be in a good spot as Denver hosts Atlanta. The Broncos are favored by 5.5 points and have an implied total of 26.25. Atlanta ranks 30th in pass DVOA and 31st against QBs in aFPA, so this is an excellent matchup for passers. Siemian has a sprained non-throwing shoulder and did not practice on Wednesday, so Lynch seems more likely to get the start at the moment. But if Siemian ends up being able to go, the injury would not scare me off using him as a streamer in a deeper league.

Tight End

There are several options that might be available in some shallower leagues that I’ll list before getting into the lower owned options. In order of preference, make sure none of the following tight ends are available before adding someone else: Zach Ertz (@ DET, 73.7% owned), Dennis Pitta (vs. WSH, 63.4% owned), Martellus Bennett (@ CLE, 65.7% owned), Eric Ebron (vs. PHI, 62.5% owned).

Cameron Brate — @ CAR — 16.7% owned

Brate is seeing a healthy amount of volume with 26 targets on the year, which ranks eighth among tight ends. In the last two weeks Brate has 18 targets, which is the second most among tight ends in that time frame. He also has six red zone targets on the season. He has a nice matchup with Carolina who ranks 27th in DVOA against tight ends as receivers and 28th in aFPA against tight ends.

Jesse James — vs. NYJ — 17.6% owned

James has 18 targets through four weeks and is averaging a red zone target per week. Unfortunately, he’s not racking up much yardage, though that’s common for lower-tier tight ends. But he’s definitely getting enough looks to give him some potential to find the end zone in a given week (something he’s done in two weeks this season). With the Steelers being a home favorite with an implied total of 27.75 (the second highest total of the weekend), James isn’t a terrible bet to find the end zone this week for those in deeper leagues.

Defense/Special Teams

Los Angeles Rams — vs. BUF — 43.8% owned

The Rams defense has been solid in the early going as they rank 12th in DVOA. If you use FO’s DAVE rankings which still mix in some preseason projection with DVOA, the Rams rank seventh according to that metric. The Rams are a slight favorite at home against the Bills, whose implied total of 19 is the third lowest of the weekend. Buffalo isn’t a great matchup for opposing defenses as they rank 12th in offensive DVOA, and they’ve only turned it over twice this season. But the Vegas variables are all working in LA’s favor.

Pittsburgh Steelers — vs. NYJ — 28.9% owned

The Steelers defense ranks 18th in DVOA and 15th in the DAVE rankings, so they’re not a streamer because they’re a great defense or anything. But the Vegas variables are good, and their matchup with the Jets is a good one.

As for Vegas, the Steelers are a 7.5-point home favorite, and the Jets have the sixth lowest implied total. The Jets have turned it over a league-most 13 times, and while Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t going to throw six picks each week, his weak 58.8 percent completion percentage dating back to last season indicates he’ll always be prone to interceptions.

The other thing I like about the Steelers D generally speaking is how good their offense is. Defenses score fantasy points when the other team is throwing the ball (interceptions, sacks), and the Steelers offense putting up points forces their opponents to play catch up. The Pittsburgh offense ranks fifth in DVOA and first in the DAVE rankings through four weeks.

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