Fantasy football is all about the matchups, but sometimes even the most favorable matchup isn't enough to make a player worth starting. Four weeks into the season, we've seen plenty of unexpected performances and disappointing stars and injuries that have completely changed the outlook for certain players. And with bye weeks complicating lineup decisions, it is becoming increasingly important to know when to trust a big name and when to take a chance on someone else.
Take Jalen Hurts and Justin Herbert, for example. Both are difficult to trust in Week 5 because of offensive line concerns and challenging matchups. Meanwhile, players such as Ollie Gordon, Woody Marks, and T.J.
Hockenson are making strong arguments for starting positions, despite entering the season with significantly less fantasy appeal. That's why you can't just go off of Draft position or what happened last Sunday. Who gets into your lineup depends on defensive schemes, injuries, offensive tendencies and individual matchups.
We'll go through each Week 5 game and point out the players with the toughest start/sit decisions. We'll highlight the less obvious calls, point out the opportunities worth exploiting and help you feel more confident about the lineup you're putting out on the field. Dave Richard's Week 5 rankings: Top 150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DST The Cowboys pass rush is below average in terms of both blitz rate and pressure rate, and they have just four sacks through four games (only the Giants have fewer).
That should keep the Bucs' quick pass game going. Further downfield throws? That's a problem since Daniels completed just 3 of 9 throws of six-plus air yards for 46 yards last week against the Packers, who entered Week 4 with an even lower pass rush pressure rate than the Cowboys and still amassed three sacks versus the Bucs.
And while we're getting to that point of the season where running backs have an edge in Thursday night games, Dallas' run defense has let up only three explosive runs on 23 RB rush attempts per game and ranks sixth-best in defensive total rush EPA. Dallas' offense should do what it does because the only pass defense the Bucs have slowed in 2026 has been the Vikings with Kyler Murray and without Justin Jefferson. That means we should see another long game for a Bucs offense that scored 14 points last week and 19 or fewer points in each of its past three.
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