FanDuel NFL picks, Week 5: Best DFS fantasy football lineup
FanDuel NFL picks and advice for Week 5 of the 2021 NFL season to help you build the perfect DFS fantasy football lineup.
Welcome back to another installment of FanDuel DFS advice, this time for Week 5 of the NFL season. Personally, Week 4 was my most profitable week of DFS yet, as I was on the right side of Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill stacks. While I also, unfortunately, played a decent amount of Travis Kelce, other plays like D.J. Moore, Sam Darnold, and Jonathan Taylor helped keep me in the green.
Looking ahead to Week 5, players from the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, and Baltimore Ravens will all be unavailable on the main slate this week.
This means that a lot of high-powered offenses will not be present this week and some of the safest and most expensive plays will be unavailable. So while you may have to play some players on teams you are not used to rostering, you also should be able to fit more studs into your lineup due decreased salaries across the board.
When talking about players I will reference the salaries and salary cap of a typical FanDuel tournament. I will also show a complete sample lineup, which consists of nine positions: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, and DEF. Note that your individual strategy should change based on the type of contests you enter, though I will reference different strategies for both cash and tournament formats.
Without further ado, here are picks and advice for every position for Week 5 of the NFL season!
FanDuel NFL Week 5 picks and lineup advice: Quarterback
Without quarterbacks like Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson on the slate, your options are much more limited than usual. Kyler Murray ($8,500) has yet to post a dud this year and is certainly playing at an MVP level, but I worry about him a bit this week in a game that I could see being closer and lower scoring than Vegas projects it to be. Regardless, with the limited options at quarterback this week, I can not blame you if you want to pay up for Murray.
My favorite expensive quarterback play of the week is Aaron Rodgers ($8,000) against the Cincinnati Bengals. Their pass defense has yet to face a quarterback like Rodgers, and I could see this game quickly turning into a shootout, especially if the Bengals are unable to rush the ball without Joe Mixon.
Additionally, Justin Herbert ($7,700) is becoming an incredibly consistent quarterback whose immense talent gives him strong upside with low bust probability. Though he draws a tough matchup against Cleveland, I think you could play him in your cash game lineup and know you are getting at least 275 yards and two touchdowns.
Kirk Cousins ($7,500) is coming off a tough game in Week 4, though I will give him a pass due to his tough matchup against Cleveland. Now he gets to face the pitiful Detroit Lions in a must-win game for the Vikings. While there is certainly the chance this is a Dalvin Cook game, Cousins is a great value at $7,500.
As for the cheaper quarterbacks, Trey Lance ($6,900) is going to be a popular play, and with his rushing ability he is certainly enticing, even for cash formats. However, with the lower salaries across the board this week, I would rather pay up for my quarterback and not go down the same path as we did with Justin Fields in Week 3.
If you find yourself running low on salary, Joe Burrow ($7,000) at only one hundred dollars more is a safer option for your lineup.