Fantasy Football Week 5 Rankings: Rounding Up Top 50 Players

By week five, you should have a fairly good idea of just how likely a fantasy playoff spot is, let alone a shot at the championship.

Maybe your team has been wracked with injuries. Maybe you found diamonds in the rough, like Mike Davis of Carolina or Jerick McKinnon of San Francisco and have ridden them to unlikely, even come-from-behind wins in your league.

Then there are the rookies out-performing expectations and household names showing promise as they further acclimate themselves with new systems or find their game shape after an unprecedented off-season.

Entering a pivotal fifth slate of NFL games, find out which players are for real, which are pretenders and who are must-start players with this look at the top 50 players destined to make an impact in your fantasy leagues, based on average scoring and stats from NFL.com, Yahoo, and Fantasy Pros.

While division foe, Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes tops the list, Chargers rookie Justin Herbert is quickly establishing himself a fantasy up-and-comer. Against a Saints defense giving up the seventh-most points to opposing QBs, he could be a better and more productive option than more prominent fantasy quarterbacks like Deshaun Watson and Matt Ryan.

1. Patrick Mahomes, QB, KC (vs. LV)

2. Alvin Kamara, RB, NO (vs. LAC)

3. Deshaun Watson, QB, HOU (vs. JAX)

4. Dak Prescott, QB, DAL (vs. NYG)

5. Russel Wilson, QB, SEA (vs. MIN)

6. Lamar Jackson, QB, BAL (vs. CIN)

7. Kyler Murray, QB, ARI (@NYJ)

8. Kareem Hunt, RB, CLE (vs. IND)

9. DeAndre Hopkins, WR, ARI (@NYJ)

10. Matt Ryan, QB, ATL (vs. CAR)

11. Jared Goff, QB, LAR (@WAS)

12. Josh Allen, QB, BUF (@TEN)

13. Dalvin Cook, RB, MIN (@SEA)

14. Teddy Bridgewater, QB, CAR (@ATL)

15. Gardner Minshew, QB, JAX (@HOU)

16. Ezekiel Elliott, RB, DAL (vs. NYG)

17. Calvin Ridley, WR, ATL (vs. CAR)

18. Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, RB, KC (vs. LV)

19. Amari Cooper, WR, DAL (vs. NYG)

20. Ryan Tannehill, QB, TEN (vs. BUF)

21. Stefon Diggs, WR, BUF (@TEN)

22. Mike Davis, RB, CAR (@ATL)

23. Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, MIA (@SF)

24. Tyler Lockett, WR, SEA (vs. MIN)

25. Cooper Kupp, WR, LAR (@WAS)

26. George Kittle, TE, SF (vs. MIA)

27. Josh Jacobs, RB, LV (@KC)

28. Justin Herbert, QB, LAC (@NO)

29. Kirk Cousins, QB, MIN (@SEA)

30. Darrell Henderson, RB, LAR (@WAS)

31. Derrick Henry, RB, TEN (vs. BUF)

32. Travis Kelce, TE, KC (vs. LV)

33. Tyreek Hill, WR, KC (vs. LV)

34. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, PIT (vs. PHI)

35. Derek Carr, QB, LV (@KC)

36. James Conner, RB, PIT (vs. PHI)

37. Jerick McKinnon, RB, SF (vs. MIA)

38. Tom Brady, QB, TB (@CHI)

39. Philip Rivers, QB, IND (@CLE)

40. Keenan Allen, WR, LAC (@NO)

41. Allen Robinson, WR, CHI (vs. TB)

42. Baker Mayfield, QB, CLE (vs. IND)

43. Devin Singletary, RB, BUF (vs. TEN)

44. David Johnson, RB, HOU (vs. JAX)

45. Justin Jefferson, WR, MIN (@SEA)

46. DK Metcalf, WR, SEA (vs. MIN)

47. Robert Woods, WR, LAR (@WAS)

48. DeVante Parker, WR, MIA (@SF)

49. Chris Carson, RB, SEA (vs. MIN)

50. Adam Thielen, WR, MIN (@SEA)

Running backs have and always been the lifeblood of any successful fantasy team. The loss of Christian McCaffrey for six-to-eight weeks due to a high ankle sprain left many fantasy owners, not to mention the entire Carolina Panthers organization, scrambling.

The cats found relief in running back Mike Davis, though, and the journeyman may be the key to a successful remainder of your season.

Owned in 88.9-percent of leagues on NFL.com, Davis has not scored under 15 points in any of his three appearances.

A strong, powerful runner, he also factors into the passing game as Teddy Bridgewater favors short- to medium-range completions. He is not a flashy player destined to dominate the highlight reel but he is gutsy and effective.

He followed up a 91 all-purpose yards and a receiving TD against the Chargers in week three with a 111-yard performance and a rushing TD against the Cardinals.

Against a Saints defense giving up 24 points to opposing running backs, he is a safer start this week than Devin Singletary of the Bills and David Johnson of the Texans.

Raheem Mostert's injury threw a wrench into more than a few fantasy teams who had projected the running back to pick up where he left off late in the 2019 season as the runner for a San Francisco 49ers offense that relies heavily on the ground game.

Since then, Jerick McKinnon has stepped in and become the bell cow for the reigning NFC Champions.

McKinnon, out of football for two years as he rehabbed an ACL injury, has been pivotal to the depleted Niners starting the season at an almost-astonishing 2-2.

Finding the end zone in each of the last three games, McKinnon exploded accounted for nearly a quarter of his team's offense in a loss to the Eagles. With no clear committal to Mostert even practicing this week, fantasy owners should move quickly to start McKinnon against a Miami Dolphins team giving up 30.63 points to opposing running backs.

McKinnon not available? Consider James Robinson of Jacksonville who, like McKinnon, is not a household name but has scored at least 14 points in NFL.com PPR leagues since week two.

Yes, Odell Beckham Jr. looked like the old OBJ when he torched the Dallas Cowboys for two receiving and one rushing TD in week four. He was a total game-changer and the player Browns fans thought they were getting when Cleveland traded for him in 2019.

The Indianapolis Colts defense, though, is not the Cowboys. They are the ninth-stingiest against opposing wide outs and one of the best in the league. The unit has give up just 507 yards to wide receivers through four weeks, second-best in the NFL.

They are not going to allow Baker Mayfield to throw at will against them, unlike Dallas, who Beckham was able to exploit for big gains and one of the most improbable rushing TDs by any player.

Fantasy owners will almost certainly start Beckham on the promise of last week's breakout game but beware, he is far more likely to look that the frustratingly average fantasy player he has been for the last year than the all-world, dynamic, big-play scorer that fans got a glimpse of down in Big D last Sunday.