Week 5 Fantasy Rankings: Four Teams on Byes? No Bueno.

We’re back again for another installment of my Week 5 Fantasy rankings, but this time, we’re looking at a much thinner set of players to choose from because there are four teams on byes in Week 5.

We’re happy to see the return of Tom Brady, Marcus Mariota, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and the rest of the Patriots and Titans.

But it’s tough to get too excited when that also means we’re going to be without the services of all the Panthers, Dolphins, Jets and Vikings.

So our quarterbacks are not only thinner because we don’t have Cam Newton and Teddy Bridgewater in there, but we’re also likely without Andrew Luck (shoulder), as Matt Hasselbeck is expected to start in his place again.

Among the running backs position, we’re one superstar short, with Adrian Peterson gone, along with Chris Ivory, Lamar Miller and Jonathan Stewart. But the Bills are expected to be without both LeSean McCoy (hamstring) and Karlos Williams (concussion), which opens up opportunities for Boobie Dixon. Marshawn Lynch (hamstring, calf) is a game-time decision, too.

Over at the ever-changing wide receivers position, we’ll be without a few second-tier players like Jarvis Landry, Mike Wallace and Brandon Marshall, but at least we’ll get Martavis Bryant back from his four-game suspension.

Speaking of returning from suspension, the Chargers get back Antonio Gates – and we’re super happy about that, too! An interesting dichotomy in Daily Fantasy Football contests this week at FanDuel would be to play Gates in cash games against the Steelers, but using LaDarius Green in tournaments – just in case. His ownership will be super low, and he could surprise.

Kickers … whatever.

At the Defenses position, though, we’re missing out on the Panthers, Dolphins, Jets and Vikings! Those are four pretty good defenses – if the Dolphins can figure it out over the bye week, that is.

Hopefully, these Week 5 Fantasy rankings brings you wins in your league, as well as your DFS lineups!