Fantasy Football Week 5 Winners & Losers: Drake Maye Is Back!

Week 5 was a wild one in the NFL.

We saw just about everything. Close calls, blowouts, brutal losses. We even saw a tie. Let’s recap the week that was and highlight the fantasy football winners and losers from Sunday’s action.

Week 5 Fantasy Football Winners

Drake Maye | QB | New England Patriots

“Yeah. I’m thinking I’m back.” ~ Drake Maye, probably.

After a deeply concerning first three weeks of the season, Maye has bounced back in a massive way over the past two weeks, posting consecutive QB1 overall finishes. After a great Week 4 outing against the Bills, Maye torched the surprising Raiders defense to the tune of 374 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, while adding 25 rushing yards and 1 more score on the ground. Maye has now scored 39.5 and 27 fantasy points over the last two weeks, as someone has apparently unplugged the Patriots offense and plugged it back in. He has 8 total touchdowns during that span, while he continues to provide value with his legs, averaging nearly 40 rushing yards per game. And going into Week 5, Maye’s 9% scramble rate was one of the highest among all qualified signal-callers.

Building plenty of momentum and back to a must-start fantasy quarterback, Maye has reinforcements on the way in the form of wide receiver A.J. Brown.

Ollie Gordon | RB | Miami Dolphins

I’ll admit it. I was a bit skeptical to fully buy into Ollie Gordon following De'Von Achane’s season-ending injury. But over the past two weeks, anyone who spent a ton of FAAB on Miami’s new starting running back has to be pleased.

Gordon rushed 18 times for 88 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, giving him a touchdown in consecutive weeks. Over the past two weeks, Gordon has operated as the lead running back in Miami, handling 27 of the team’s 37 running back rushes during that span. He has only 2 catches for zero yards in that stretch, which is something you don't want to see, especially on a team that is going to be trailing in games more often than not. Gordon is also the unquestioned goal-line option, handling every running back carry from the low red zone (10-yard line and in). It was encouraging to see Gordon handle 10 third-down snaps on Sunday, compared to just three for Jaylen Wright and Carlos Washington.

The Dolphins did add recently waived Kaytron Allen, who could make some noise following the team’s Week 6 bye. Plus Jaylen Wright doesn’t appear to be 100% over his foot injury. This creates a potential sell-high opportunity, especially if you are set at the running back position. But through two weeks, he’s very clearly the Miami running back to play.

MarShawn Lloyd | RB | Green Bay Packers

This is one where I’d be cautiously optimistic, but wouldn’t go too crazy over.

Chris Brooks missed this game and Green Bay still used multiple running backs. However, all nine of Kaleb Johnson’s snaps and all 7 of his carries came in the fourth quarter of a blowout. Brooks, meanwhile, barely outsnapped Pierre Strong, while out-touching him 11-8. MarShawn Lloyd scored 2 rushing touchdowns and while his 3.1 YPC won’t wow you, this was easily the best he’s looked all year. Green Bay’s rushing attack is unlikely to morph into an impressive unit, but Lloyd is at least building some momentum. The upcoming schedule is strong, too, as the Packers get the Cowboys, Lions and Panthers over the next three weeks.

Week 5 Fantasy Football Losers

Chase Brown | RB | Cincinnati Bengals

Absolutely brutal.

Chase Brown, who had already been underwhelming to start the season, found himself in a prime get-right spot against the Dolphins. And yet, he was outscored by Samaje Perine, who tied Brown with 16 touches on the day. It was a random Bengals touchdown day outside of a long pass to Ja'Marr Chase and when the Bengals got down to the 1-yard line, they went empty and threw a touchdown to Tanner Hudson because. why not?

Brown ended up logging a season-low 60% of the snaps on Sunday, though there was some pony personnel from Cincinnati in this game. Still, Brown is averaging just 13 PPR PPG through five weeks and hasn’t found the end zone since Week 1. I don’t think the Bengals are suddenly deploying a two-man backfield with Brown and Samaje Perine when they come out of their Week 6 bye, but it is fair to question the true fantasy ceiling of a consensus early Round 2 fantasy selection.

Alvin Kamara | RB | New Orleans Saints

Alvin Kamara was limited in practice throughout the week with a back issue, and it’s very likely the injury impacted his playing time on Sunday. After playing more of the early downs last Monday, Kamara ceded that work to Kendre Miller this week. Miller outsnapped Kamara, 14-12, handling 10 carries to Kamara’s 3. CJ Donaldson, meanwhile, was on the field for third downs and plenty of two-minute situations.

Travis Etienne will miss at least the next two games while on injured reserve, but it appears no Saints running back is worth starting in fantasy for the time being. Perhaps Miller becomes more interesting if Kamara’s back issue forces him to miss any time, but even then, he wouldn’t operate as the pass-catching running back on a team that is throwing the ball as much as anyone else in the league.

Josh Downs | WR | Indianapolis Colts

I thought Downs would have a huge game in Week 4 against a weak Washington secondary, especially with Keenan Allen out. But Daniel Jones played awful, the Colts weren’t forced to throw and Downs didn’t have to do much. Poor results, but I washed my hands of it and moved onto Week 5.

Things got worse.

Against the Steelers on Sunday, Jones attempted 44 passes and Downs ran a route on 93% of dropbacks. And yet he recorded just 3 catches for 47 yards on 6 targets. Downs finished fourth on the team in targets, trailing Allen, Tyler Warren and even Laquon Treadwell. Even at age 34, Allen continues to earn targets, averaging a healthy 7.2 per game. Following the injury to Alec Pierce, I really wanted to move Downs up into the low-end WR2 range, but it’s pretty clear he’s a WR3/FLEX option until this passing attack can improve.