Fantasy football: RB sleepers and stinkers for week 5
By Matt Kobold
Fantasy football week 5 RB sleeper 1:
Kenyan Drake ESPN Week 5 Consensus RB17
Kenyan Drake has not been good this year. The second round pick in many drafts is sitting at just RB35 on the season. He’s found the end zone just once this year while averaging 3.8 yards per carry.
Kyler Murray actually has more rushing yards through the first four games. The volume is there for Drake. He’s 7th in the league in carries, but he hasn’t gotten the passing down work we all thought he would coming into the year. This is a guy who caught 50 and 53 balls the last two years. This year? 5!
DeAndre Hopkins (3rd NFL targets) has come in and rightfully commanded a healthy share of Kyler Murray’s looks. But eating into Drake’s fantasy outlook even more is Chase Edmonds. He’s third on the team in targets and receptions, just one each behind Hall of Famer Fitzy for second on the team. Drake has actually only outscored Edmonds by 0.2 fantasy points on the season.
With all that said, I think Drake gashes the Jets on Sunday. New York has allowed the 7th most points to opposing running backs while allowing 129.0 yards per game on the ground. Over the last three weeks, the running back rooms of the Broncos, Colts, and 49ers all scored over 29 fantasy points. If Chase Edmonds continues to carve himself a bigger role and if Drake doesn’t wake up in this sexy matchup against the Jets, you’ll have to slap him on the trading block. I’ll take Drake in my top 12 this week.