We’re nearly a quarter of the way through the NFL regular season, but it already feels like we’ve had a full season’s worth of injuries. Lamar Jackson was the biggest name to go down in Week 4. He exited early vs. the Chiefs—taking roughly 19% of remaining Guillotine Leagues™ teams with him—and he’s expected to miss 2-3 weeks with a hamstring injury. Trey Benson held the Cardinals’ starting RB job for less than a week before landing on IR, while Malik Nabers suffered a devastating season-ending injury in Jaxson Dart’s first career start.

If you rostered one of those players in Week 4, it would’ve been tough to avoid the chop. However, it wasn’t impossible. If you make smart decisions with the rest of your lineup, it’s possible to overcome a down performance even from some of your best players.

That’s the focus of this piece. Each week, we’ll look at a few options that carry a bit more risk than their weekly ranking suggests. We’ll also look at a couple of other guys who are a bit further down the list who provide a bit more safety. Finally, Guillotine Leagues creator and guru Paul Charchian will give some of his thoughts, too. Without further ado, let’s dive into Week 5.

Guillotine Leagues™ Strategy For Week 5

Sit: Nick Chubb at Ravens

The Texans finally got on the board in Week 4, picking up their first win of the season. All it took was a matchup vs. the lowly Titans. Their offense put together its best performance of the year, rattling off 26 points and 353 total yards, and their much-maligned offensive line mostly did its job.

Now, the Texans get another suddenly promising matchup in Week 5 vs. the Ravens. Not only has the Ravens’ defense been a disaster this season, but their offense looks much less imposing without Jackson at QB. If they’re not going to score 30+ points on a weekly basis, their defense could look even worse moving forward.

However, it appears we’ve witnessed a changing of the guard in the Texans’ backfield. Rookie Woody Marks has taken on a larger chunk of the workload each week, culminating in 58% of the snaps and 52% of the carries last week. He also played on 60% of the short-yardage and 90% of the long-down-and-distance snaps, so he’s getting the majority of the high-value touches. Marks responded with his best game vs. the Titans, finishing with 119 total yards and a touchdown on 17 carries and five targets.

It leaves Chubb’s workload as a bit of a question mark moving forward. Chubb hasn’t been bad this season, averaging 4.0 yards per attempt and 0.34 yards over expectation per attempt, but he’s plummeted from 80% of the carries in Week 2 to just 39% last week.

With Marks’ role only continuing to grow, it’s possible that Chubb is left with something like 10 low-value carries between the 20s vs. the Ravens. If he’s not particularly efficient with those opportunities, he could easily put you on the chopping block.

Charch says: The injury-ravaged Baltimore defense is going to struggle against both Woody Marks and Nick Chubb. The Ravens could be missing six (!) defensive starters on Sunday. In particular, last week’s loss of DT Nnamdi Madubuike crushes a run defense that had already allowed the fifth-most rushing yards and second-most rushing touchdowns. 

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Start: Emari Demercado vs. Titans

This one is a bit of a layup, but I’m taking it nonetheless. With Benson now out for the next handful of weeks, the coast is clear for Demercado to take on a much bigger piece in the Cardinals’ backfield. He likely won’t be a true workhorse, with Michael Carter also factoring into the equation, but Demercado figures to operate as the lead back. He opened the year at No. 3 on the depth chart, while Carter wasn’t added to the mix until after James Conner went down with an injury.

Demercado has started two games in his career, and he’s turned in two unspectacular performances. However, his 11.5 and 8.9 PPR points in those outings were useful. At this point in the season, guys who can get you around 10 PPR points have plenty of value, especially with bye weeks now starting to factor into the equation.

The matchup is the cherry on top. The Titans are 30th in the league in rush defense EPA, and they allowed the weak Texans’ rushing attack to pile up 129 yards and a touchdown last week. Overall, they’ve allowed the fourth-most PPR points per game to opposing RBs this season.

Add in the fact that the Cardinals are nearly 10-point favorites, and it’s a clear spot to look for value. Take advantage if he’s still out there in your leagues.

Charch says: As the full-time starter, Demercado is an RB2-level starter against Tennessee. It’s easy to envision the Cardinals getting ahead early (doesn’t everyone against the Titans?) and settling into a consistent run game spearheaded by Demercado. He’s a smooth, natural receiver and he’s going to lend a lot of help in PPR formats. 

Sit: Ladd McConkey vs. Commanders

McConkey has shown up on the “most-chopped players” list in back-to-back weeks, and he’s simply too risky to trust at the moment. It has nothing to do with his talent. He’s still getting solid separation, and the Chargers’ offense is throwing the ball at a much higher frequency than they did last year. With Justin Herbert playing some of the best football of his career, McConkey should be putting up numbers.

Unfortunately, the rest of the receivers on the roster are much better than they were during McConkey’s breakout rookie campaign. Quentin Johnston has seemingly made a leap, with the former first-round pick averaging 84.3 receiving yards with four receiving touchdowns through four weeks. Keenan Allen also joined the fray after spending last year with the Bears, and he’s still capable of getting open at 33 years old. He’s had at least seven targets in each game this season, and he’s gotten to double-digit targets in two of them.

It has left McConkey as the No. 3 option in the passing attack to start the year. His target share approached 30% as a rookie down the stretch, but he’s sitting at just a 19% target share in 2025. His target share has decreased in each subsequent week, culminating in just a 16% mark vs. the Giants in Week 4. He also has just 19% of the team’s air yards, giving him an underwhelming 55 Utilization Score for the year.

It’s too early to write McConkey off completely, especially with how productive he was as a rookie. That said, I’m going to need to see it before I put him back in my starting lineup. You may not have a better alternative with 14 teams still alive in standard Guillotine Leagues, but like Tee Higgins last week, I’d try to find one if possible.

Charch says: Ladd’s a very good player in a surprisingly difficult position. Is he going to have good games? Absolutely! Will you know when they’re coming? Often, no. And this probably isn’t the week to roll the dice, considering the ragged state of the Chargers offensive line. Joe Alt, Rashawn Slater, and Mekhi Becton are slated to miss this game. The Commanders secondary has been hit hard by Drake London and Tre Tucker the past couple of weeks, but I still don’t love the matchup.

Start: Darius Slayton at Saints

Slayton is someone who should be available in most Guillotine Leagues, and he shouldn’t cost too much to acquire. However, he’s poised to step into essentially an every-down role for the Giants with Nabers out for the year.

Slayton has already been on the field a ton, running a route on 89% of the team’s dropbacks, but he unsurprisingly saw a boost in targets without Nabers last week. He saw a season-best 20% of the targets, and he racked up 50% of the team’s air yards. Slayton saw 11 targets in the two games that Nabers missed last season, and he finished with a combined 14 catches, 177 yards, and one touchdown.

Slayton is going to have to catch passes from a rookie quarterback, and Dart threw for just 111 yards in his first career start. However, that came against a tough Chargers defense. Things should be a bit easier for him vs. the Saints, who currently rank 29th in pass defense EPA. I wouldn’t expect to lean on Slayton for long, but he can definitely be started in Week 5.

Charch says: Against almost any other opponent, I’m not sure I’d trust Slayton in Jaxson Dart’s second-ever start. In his debut last week, Brian Daboll asked Dart to throw almost entirely short passes, averaging just 5.6 yards. 10 of his 13 completions were nine yards or shorter. Still, maybe Slayton can find his way to the end zone. The Saints have allowed a wide receiver touchdown in every game.

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