Start’em or Sit’em: Week 5 Edition

It’s Thursday! That means the start of the football week and the fantasy football article on the Hills West Roundup. Last week, I was about 9 for 12 with my fantasy predictions, so I would pay attention if I were you!

Last week, my starters were 5 for 6, with the only poor prediction being Cameron Artis-Payne. In standard leagues, Michael Crabtree and Blake Bortles led the way with 26 points each. Allen Hurns also put up 11 and Demaryius Thomas had 15. Jeremy Maclin also had a solid outing. If your Week 4 wasn’t great, now is your time to shine, because here are the Week 5 starters:

Steve Smith Sr. – I am sold. Steve Smith’s numbers have been gradually increasing as the oldest receiver in the league continues to dominate with the Baltimore Ravens. After a 20 point outing last week against Oakland, look for similar numbers this upcoming week, as he has a high floor against Washington.
Sammie Coates – Sammie Coates is emerging as one of the NFL’s top deep threats. This gives him an extremely great matchup this week against a weak Jets secondary, one that has also been very vulnerable to the deep balls. This can be a high risk high reward scenario, but be confident in Coates this week with his limitless ceiling in Week 5.
Julian Edelman – Although he is listed as questionable, Edelman should suit up this week. With Tom Brady back and the Patriots going against a horrible Cleveland Browns defense, expect a big outing, especially in PPR leagues.
Quincy Enunwa – The Jets offense has been severely struggling as of late, but Enunwa has racked up many targets and is a bright spot on that offense. He puts up very good football numbers, so the fantasy numbers will come along. Expect them to do so this week against the weak Steelers secondary.
Devonta Freeman – This is the complete contrary to last week. I was wrong when I said to sit him. He racked up 57 yards and a touchdown last week against the stout Panthers run defense. Despite a bad matchup against a top defense in Denver, he is a good start, because Tevin Coleman is likely to be sidelined due to his sickle cell blood condition in the high altitudes of the Rockies. Freeman has a lot to prove, as a good outing can solidify his role as the lead runner in Atlanta.
Cameron Brate – Brate is hot. The tight end for the Bucs scored two touchdowns two weeks ago against a good LA defense. Even last week, against Denver, Brate had 5 catches for 67 yards in a shortened game against a top defense to opposing tight ends. He has a favorable matchup this week against a Panther defense that has surrounded 4 touchdowns to opposing tight ends in the last 3 weeks.

The bench players predicted last week were largely correct. This week, there are more players that should be sat on your team. Here is your list of sit’ems:

Terrelle Pryor – The triple threat WR, QB, and RB has had great success in the past few weeks. However, expect the Patriot’s coaching legend to figure out a way to prevent the top Browns offensive threat from finding any tricks into the end zone, especially with a solid defense.
Will Fuller V – Minnesota has had the top defense thus far in the 2016 season. Their game plan will be set on containing the rookie that has been running free all over defenses this year. DeAndre Hopkins will also obtain a ridiculous amount of targets this week, as the Texans will try and get their multi-million dollar receiver more involved this week after his 1 catch for 4 yards blunder last week. Don’t be surprised to see an overcorrection similar to that of the Falcons with Julio Jones in recent weeks.
Matt Jones – Expect a return to Earth for the mediocre Redskin running back against a stout Raven run defense.
Stefon Diggs – This week poses a tough matchup for the rising star. He still has WR2 potential, but his lack of production in the past couple of weeks should resume in Week 5 against the Texans defense.
DeSean Jackson – After 0 points against the horrendous Browns defense, there should be a limited number of targets and receptions for Jackson. He is solely a deep threat at this stage of his career, which means that he is an all-or-nothing player from a fantasy perspective.
Tevin Coleman – If you have not been paying attention to the news, Coleman will most likely play, but with extremely limited snaps, due to his sickle cell anemia in the high Denver altitudes. Coleman says he is unsure if he will go because he “doesn’t want to risk his life.” Those are very strong words. Coleman is a must sit this week.

I wish you all the best of luck in Week 5!