5 DFS Strategies for Week 5 on Underdog and DraftKings: Justin Fields Highlights Jets Game Stack

With four weeks under our collective belt, we have a decent sample size to help us understand how these teams want to operate. Of course, injuries and bye weeks will always keep us on our toes.

Here's the rundown for the Week 5 DFS column:

A condensed slate
Do we have to eat the Jets chalk?
2 RB values on DraftKings
A contrarian stack
Sleeper WRs on Underdog

5 DFS Strategies on Underdog and DraftKings for Week 5

For more DFS analysis in video form, be sure to check out the Week 5 DFS jam on the Fantasy Life Youtube channel where I'll answer questions, draft teams and discuss strategy for the week.

Macro: The Bye Weeks Hit

The days of 12-game slates and multiple games with totals over 47 are long gone. Welcome to Week 5, where the bye weeks have hit, injuries have piled up and the attractive game environments have dwindled:

Week 5 byes: Falcons (no Bijan Robinson or Drake London), Packers (no Jordan Love or Josh Jacobs), Bears (no Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze) and no Steelers (we won't miss you).

Week 5 games with totals over 47: Raiders/Colts, Lions/Bengals, Commanders/Chargers

Week 5 injuries: Lamar Jackson, Chuba Hubbard, Bucky Irving, Trey Benson, Jayden Daniels, Braelon Allen, Miles Sanders

On slates like this, things can condense quickly. Players tend to gravitate to the 2-3 good game environments and jam the best values that have opened up due to recent injuries. This presents savvy DFS players with the opportunity to get creative and find some overlooked spots.

The J-E-T-S Are C-H-A-L-K

One spot that isn't going to be overlooked, however, is this pristine matchup for Justin Fields ($5600) and the Jets.

They get to host the Dallas Cowboys, who are making every QB look like 2007 Tom Brady this year. Check this out (h/t Mattew Freedman):

Jalen Hurts (Week 1): 24.3 points | 152 yards passing | 14-62-2 rushing
Russell Wilson (Week 2): 31.3 points | 450 yards, 3 TDs passing | 3-23-0 rushing
Caleb Williams (Week 3): 29.1 points | 298 yards, 4 TDs passing | 5-12-0 rushing
Jordan Love (Week 4): 26.3 points | 337 yards, 3 TDs passing | 3-28-0 rushing

As you can probably infer, they allow the most fantasy points to QBs (28.2) and give the largest fantasy boost of any defense to opposing QBs (9.6).

This is particularly exciting because Fields, as expected, has been doing most of his damage on the ground this year (3 rushing TDs compared to only 2 passing TDs). This matchup, though, provides the opportunity for plenty of scoring through both the air and the ground.

Of course, this will hardly be a sneaky angle in DFS. Fields will likely be the most popular QB on the slate. Garrett Wilson ($6100) and Breece Hall ($5600) will also be fairly popular. If using Fields, you'll want to find a unique way to deploy him.

One idea to do so? How about stacking him with TE Mason Taylor ($2800)? Taylor's Utilization popped in Week 4 as he earned 26% of the team's targets, which was barely behind Wilson.

2 RB Injuries Open Up Value

There are some really strong RB plays this week, including the aforementioned Hall, Jonathan Taylor ($8000), De'Von Achane ($7300), Jahmyr Gibbs ($7700) and Omarion Hampton ($6500).

The key to the slate, however, will likely be getting the value RB correct. Choose your fighter:

Rachaad White ($4700); no Irving.
Michael Carter ($4000); no Benson.

Pros for White: He will likely face very little touch competition here (he's out-touched Sean Tucker 31-1 on the year), is a very solid pass catcher and has the trust of the coaching staff.

Cons for White: The Bucs offensive line is banged-up and Seattle's rush defense has been stout. He also lacks any big-play ability.

Pros for Carter: He costs the stone minimum on DraftKings, will likely own all of the early-down and goal-line work for the Cardinals and gets a great matchup as 7.5-point home favorites vs. a miserable Titans squad.

Cons for Carter: He's barely played this year and could easily be in a bigger touch split with more than just third-down specialist Emari Demercado.

I think the popularity will ultimately tilt more toward White than Carter, but I do think White is the better play if both are over 10% (which I expect).

Bonus: If Chuba Hubbard can't go, Rico Dowdle ($4300) would be the best play of all three vs. Miami as the lead back for the Panthers.

A Contrarian Stack

For whatever reason, the field is never interested in playing Jared Goff. Admittedly, he is expensive this week at $6500, but this is setting up as the perfect contrarian stacking opportunity on DraftKings (he's less sneaky on Underdog as the QB3).

As Ian noted here, the Lions are the top-ranked scoring offense and are implied to score more points than any other team this week (29.25).

The field is likely to play this spot primarily through Jahmyr Gibbs (who is distancing himself from David Montgomery) and maybe a little Amon-Ra St. Brown ($7900), but I like going back to the Jameson Williams ($4900) well here at low ownership.

Williams had a season high in targets (7) and air yards (176) in Week 4, but it didn't translate to anything in the boxscore (5.7 points).

But coming off a game with a 32% target share vs. a defense as bad as the Bengals is impossible for me to ignore. I'll be looking to pair Jamo with Goff and likely mix in one or two more of ARSB, Gibbs and Sam LaPorta this week.

A Great Week To Scroll At WR

We normally highlight all of the great scroll-down options at TE on Underdog in this spot, but it's worth shouting out some of the awesome sleeper WRs you can draft this week:

Michael Pittman Jr. (ADP: 34.4): The Colts offense has sputtered after their Week 1 explosion, but Pittman is still the lead WR here (it's also a great matchup vs. the Raiders):

Ladd McConkey / Keenan Allen (ADP: 35.1 & 35.4): Yes, Quentin Johnston (ADP: 19) is operating as the No. 1 right now, but I don't think that is necessarily going to be sticky for the entire year. These are the exact opportunities I like to exploit on Underdog. I'll be largely fading QJ at 100% ownership and mixing in both Ladd and Keenan.

Chris Olave (ADP: 35.6): His targets finally dipped down to 6 after three straight weeks in the double digits, but I'm chalking it up to playing on the road in Buffalo. This is a nice spot back in the dome vs. the Giants.

Chris Godwin (ADP: 35.6): Godwin scored only 5.6 fantasy points, but he immediately returned to a full-time role in Week 4 (91% route participation and 26% target share). The Seahawks aren't the easiest matchup, but it's impossible to ignore that volume at this cost.

Players Mentioned in this Article

5 DFS Strategies for Week 5 on Underdog and DraftKings: Justin Fields Highlights Jets Game Stack

5 DFS Strategies on Underdog and DraftKings for Week 5

Macro: The Bye Weeks Hit

The J-E-T-S Are C-H-A-L-K

2 RB Injuries Open Up Value

A Contrarian Stack

A Great Week To Scroll At WR

Players Mentioned in this Article

5 DFS Strategies for Week 5 on Underdog and DraftKings: Justin Fields Highlights Jets Game Stack

5 DFS Strategies on Underdog and DraftKings for Week 5

Macro: The Bye Weeks Hit

The J-E-T-S Are C-H-A-L-K

2 RB Injuries Open Up Value

A Contrarian Stack

A Great Week To Scroll At WR

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