Welcome to Week 5 of the fantasy football season. Week 4 gave us some tight end touchdowns, but not many yards, as no tight end went over 70 yards. But, we did get Darren Waller back and he hauled in two touchdowns on a Dolphins team that needed to find a capable red zone target. It sure didn’t look like Waller was going to truly be able to come back to form after missing so much time and dealing with so many injuries, but the results are good so far.
Week 5 byes
Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Tight ends on bye
Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Kyle Pitts, Tucker Kraft, Jonnu Smith, Pat Freiermuth
TE injuries
Ja’Tavion Sanders, Panthers
Sanders suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 3 and will miss multiple weeks. Tommy Tremble ended up putting together a good fantasy day in his place against the Patriots with five receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown, but he will likely remain touchdown dependent, but does have a good matchup with the Dolphins this week.
Will Dissly, Chargers
Dissly continues to miss time with a knee injury. Without Dissly, Oronde Gadsden has taken on a bigger role, but the talent at the wide receiver position pushes any Chargers tight end pretty far down the pecking order.
Noah Fant, Bengals
Fant suffered a concussion against the Vikings in Week 3 and missed their Week 4 game. The odds are he’ll be able to clear protocol ahead of their Week 5 game, but without Joe Burrow, this offense has hit hard times.
Week 5 odds
Highest point totals
Patriots at Bills (50.5)
Lions at Bengals (48.5)
Commanders at Chargers (48.5)
Raiders at Colts (47.5)
Cowboys at Jets (47.5)
Lowest point totals
Vikings at Browns (36.5)
Giants at Saints (41.5)
Titans at Cardinals (41.5)
Highest implied individual team totals
Bills (29.5)
Lions (29)
Colts (27)
Rams (26)
Chargers (25.5)
Lowest implied individual team totals
Titans (16.5)
Browns (16.5)
Bengals (19.5)
Largest point spreads
Lions (-9.5) at Bengals
Titans at Cardinals (-8.5)
Patriots at Bills (-8.5)
Raiders at Colts (-6.5)
Streaming TEs
Darren Waller, Dolphins vs. Panthers
Waller might not be a full time tight end when taking his age and injury history into account, but he is going to get high leverage snaps, which include around the goal line. We can’t expect two touchdowns like we got in his first game back after 33 months on the shelf, but with Tyreek Hill done for the season, he sure should get good opportunities.
Mason Taylor, Jets vs. Cowboys
This may be too early to start Taylor, as his last game is the first time we’ve seen fantasy level usage for him, but I expect the Jets to throw a ton in this game while trailing. Justin Fields very much needs a target other than Garrett Wilson and last week it was Taylor. The rookie tight end caught 5-of-7 targets for 65 yards, which was second to Wilson in targets, receptions and yards. The Cowboys have been decent against tight ends, but we know they are very weak against the pass.
