This season we’ve seen a myriad of underperformers each and every week, enough that some of our fantasy teams have suffered despite being fantastic on paper. While sitting a high draft pick or superstar is a tough pill to swallow for most fantasy managers, it’s a necessary step sometimes in order to maximize your roster’s output.
Week 4 was another success for me in this column, as all of my suggested players didn’t produce to the level we are accustomed to. Julio Jones didn’t play so he doesn’t count, but Brandin Cooks and Adam Thielen finished as WR56 and WR63 in half-PPR points respectively, while Chuba Hubbard was RB37, and Lamar Jackson’s QB15 performance wasn’t up to his usual production.
Here is this week’s crop of players who could falter and ruin Week 5 from a fantasy perspective.
After two straight 100-yard games to commence the 2021 season, Allen’s production tapered off to just 86 yards and one touchdown on 15 receptions in his past two contests. He’s still fourth among WRs in targets per game which is certainly encouraging, but this week will be a difficult one for him to return to his regular high-producing ways.
The Cleveland secondary has played well against opposing wideouts this season, yielding the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to the position, and allowing only 45 total receptions among all WRs they’ve faced so far in 2021. I’m certainly not saying to sit Allen, but don’t count on a fantasy WR1 performance from the 29-year old on Sunday.
CEH has been up and down this season and is coming off two games with over 100 rushing yards, so you’re probably excited about inserting him into lineups for Week 5. However, you may want to pump the brakes a bit. The Bills are allowing the third-fewest half-PPR points to the RB position so far in 2021, with a measly 11.5 per contest. In four games, Buffalo has only allowed a total of 205 rushing yards and zero touchdowns on the ground to RBs.
CEH has found the end zone the last few weeks via the air, but that’s not something we can count on for fantasy purposes. Darrel Williams’ role is becoming something we can’t ignore either, as he saw 10 carries last week and vultured a goal-line TD. If you have better options at RB you may want to debate giving them the start, or just consider CEH a volatile RB2/3.
Normally we chase volume for fantasy football purposes, but this week it may not be enough for Johnson. Fresh off a knee injury, the 25-year old saw 13-of-39 targets from Ben Roethlisberger, which he translated a 9-92-1 line last week.
However, Johnson is facing a few obstacles that could work against him in Week 5. Roethlisberger has some sort of hip injury, on top of the fact that he’s struggled to get the ball downfield. This game currently boasts the lowest over/under of the week at 40 points, with Pittsburgh slotted to put up only 20.5. Denver has played well against the pass thus far, only allowing a combined 30.2 half-PPR points to the entire WR corps per game this season. Consider Johnson more of a WR3 than his usual WR2 status this week.
Those who drafted Beckham were probably fired up to have him back as an option in Week 3, but it hasn’t exactly been a return to glory, as he’s only posted 15.3 total half-PPR points through two contests. Baker Mayfield has not played well, at all, and this week should be a rough outing for Mayfield and his WR corps.
Beckham will face a Chargers defensive unit that has allowed the second-fewest receiving yards and second-lowest fantasy points per game to wideouts in 2021, holding Terry McLaurin, Amari Cooper, and Tyreek Hill to single-digit half-PPR points when facing each of them.
Trusting Miles Sanders is becoming increasingly more difficult as the weeks go on, and this is not the game to hope he bounces back. Aside from the fact that the 24-year old has yet to find the end zone and he’s only crossed 100 combined yards once this season, Kenneth Gainwell’s workload continues to increase in the passing game which doesn’t bode well for Sanders’ upcoming usage. There’s also a banged-up offensive line to worry about.
This week’s opponent, the Panthers, have only surrendered a total of 41.80 fantasy points to opposing backfields all season, which is pretty slim. While Sanders remains the lead-back in this Philly offense, at least for now, the injured o-line and difficult matchup make him a player to contemplate benching if you can swing it.