Fantasy Football Week 5: Emmanuel Sanders over Jordy Nelson?

Both Emmanuel Sanders and Jordy Nelson face porous defenses in Week 5, but who’s the best fantasy football play? One player is likely to be contained.

There were some big surprises during Week 4 of the fantasy football season. Players like Brian Hoyer and John Kuhn dominated, not that anyone would have been starting them in normal leagues. Meanwhile, stars like Todd Gurley and Odell Beckham were non-factors, with the latter possibly losing many owners their matchup since he was playing Monday night.

Moving forward, it’s misguided to attempt to find the next John Kuhn performance. That was simply a fluke. Rather, avoiding the failed-star performance and replacing him with a serviceable option is key. Owners don’t need 30 points from their flex spot as long as everyone is scoring in double figures.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, discuss Fantasy Football Week 5 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

For Week 5, that star to avoid is Jordy Nelson. Name Emmanuel Sanders as his replacement in lineups. Nelson is ranked as the No. 5 wide receiver by expert consensus rankings for Green Bay’s matchup this week against the New York Giants. Sanders sits down at 17th at his position with a game against Atlanta pending.

Nelson has looked pretty darn good in his 2016 return from an injury that sapped him of his entire 2015 season. However, his fantasy numbers are inflated by scoring four touchdowns in three games. He has 17 catches on the year, which is a good number, but no one scores touchdowns 24 percent of the time. That is unsustainable.

This week against New York, the Packers will surely find room, but it may be everyone but Jordy who goes off. The Giants are weak in the secondary because of injury. Depending on who is healthy enough to go, they may only have one reliable corner at full strength, Janoris Jenkins, and he will cover Nelson. Even if Nelson could ordinarily get the better of Jenkins, there won’t be much need for Aaron Rodgers to test the matchup if everyone else is roaming free, a la Kyle Rudolph and Charles Johnson last week.

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Sanders is set to face a much worse defense in Atlanta and he happens to be sixth in the league in targets through four games. No matter who is quarterback for Denver, they are looking often in Sanders’ direction and he has produced. And while Demaryius Thomas leads opponent scouting reports (much like Nelson), Sanders is the one garnering the attention when the ball is in the air. Though he hasn’t had a big game each week, he has yet to see fewer than eight targets any week. That level of opportunity is hard to match, and it will result in production against the Falcons.

Dan Salem:

This is an epic Would You Rather for Fantasy Football, this week especially. Ideally you can start both players, considering the Falcons and Giants are each giving up loads of points to opposing wide receivers. But I agree that only one is likely to dominate in Week 5. However, I’m not nearly as quick to pounce on Emmanuel Sanders over Jordy Nelson. Doesn’t a rookie quarterback playing for the Denver Broncos scare you even a little bit?

Quarterback Trevor Siemian has been practicing for Denver this week, but if he is unable to go and Paxton Lynch gets the start—then I must at least pause and take notice. The Falcons score a lot and will continue to do so, even against the vaunted Denver defense. That means the Broncos will have to keep pace, which shouldn’t be hard considering their opponent. Since Lynch seemed to look for Sanders first last weekend, I too believe he continues to get double-digit targets here in Week 5. No slow roll intended, but I love Emmanuel Sanders to have a monster fantasy week.

Lynch under center scares me, but with Atlanta forced to single cover Sanders, I like the duo’s chances of having a huge passing game. The flip side in Green Bay is a bit more unclear. While the New York Giants have not played well on defense overall, their ability to at least stop a team’s best player, or one of them, is without question. The Giants made a relative non-factor out of Stefon Diggs of the Vikings last week.

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If New York is able to stop anyone, it’s Jordy Nelson. I don’t think they can actually eliminate him, but they will likely slow him down. This makes Emmanuel Sanders the better play in fantasy football Week 5. He’s going to put up more points, the better of two greats if you will.

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