Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) – Week 5 Studs and Values

Welcome back to the latest installment of our DFS series on studs and values. This article will focus strictly on Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and more specifically DraftKings contest for the Sunday slate of games. However, typically the picks will work on FanDuel as well. Today, we’re breaking down the Week 5 slate. 

We are already a month into the 2023 NFL season. This season seems to be flying by and Week 5 brings us the first round of bye weeks. Unfortunately, last week’s picks were hurt slightly by the injury bug. Let’s check out my smashes and duds from last week’s games.

Smash

Justin Fields was the 2nd highest-scoring quarterback and had the best passing game of his career scoring 32.9 points.

Josh Jacobs was a top-four running back scoring 27.9 points.

Khalil Herbert was a tremendous value scoring 25.2 points at very low ownership.

Duds

Tee Higgins only played half the game but despite the injury, he still only scored 3.9 points.

Pat Freiermuth also only played about half the game scoring 3.7 points.

TJ Hockenson scored a season-low 4.4 points mainly due to the low passing volume of the Minnesota Vikings this week.

Last week certainly saw some highs and some lows. Let’s hope for more highs in Week 5 and jump right into the top studs and values.

Quarterbacks

Anthony Richardson ($7,000)

Richardson has been excellent to start his rookie season. His rushing ability has given him a high floor as well as a high ceiling. That has been evident as he has yet to score less than 17 points and is coming off a huge 30.6-point week in his rookie campaign.

This week, Richardson faces a Tennessee Titans defense that was able to slow down the Bengals’ offense. However, Joe Burrow was not healthy and was unable to push the ball downfield with the deep ball. Additionally, Richardson has an absolute cannon of an arm. He will put the shaky Titans secondary to the test, as they have given up the ninth most passing yards per game this season.

Daniel Jones ($5,800)

Jones and this New York Giants offense has been miserable this season. Outside of the game against the Arizona Cardinals, they have scored just 15 points in three games. However, in two of those three games Jones and company have faced two elite defenses.

Moving forward, this week Jones gets a matchup against the Miami Dolphins who have certainly not been elite. They have allowed the third most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season. Overall, this will be an excellent opportunity for Jones to put up good fantasy numbers even if it is in garbage time.

Running Backs

Bijan Robinson ($7,700)

The Atlanta Falcons need to lean on their rookie phenom to get this offense going. Last week, Robinson had three carries for 42 rushing yards on their only touchdown-scoring drive. For the game, he put together a stellar performance rushing for 105 yards also adding another 32 through the air.

This week Robinson will face the Houston Texans who have allowed 101.3 fantasy points to running backs this season. Furthermore, their five rushing touchdowns are tied for 3rd most in the NFL this season. All things considered, he has a good chance to find the end zone this week. Especially if the Falcons wise up and give him a full workload. It’s time.

Breece Hall ($5,400)

So far, Hall has shown early into this season that despite the knee injury last year, he is still very explosive. This week he gets a matchup against the Denver Broncos, who have allowed nothing but explosive plays to running backs. Furthermore, this season the Broncos have allowed running backs to score eleven total touchdowns and an average of over 200 total yards per game. Hall is the next man up to run through this miserable defense and head coach Robert Salah said this week that Hall will no longer be on a snap count. This could very well be the breakout week for Hall that we’ve been waiting for.

Wide Receivers

Michael Pittman Jr. ($6,400)

Last week, the Colts offense didn’t get much going until late in the third quarter. The offense went mostly through the tight ends and Pittman was only able to bring in one of his five targets. However, Pittman did lead the team in targets last week and in his first two games with Richardson, he was targeted  23 times.

Furthermore, this Titans secondary is still one to attack. Despite the Bengals’ struggles last week, which is a whole different story. This week, the Richardson Pittman stack has the potential to break the slate.

Rashee Rice ($3,600)

Rice and the entire Chiefs passing attack struggled against a very good New York Jets defense Sunday. This week, they are in a great bounce-back spot especially Rice who has seen a 36% target share per route run. Furthermore, his snap counts have gone up in the last two weeks compared to the first two, and he is second on the team behind only Travis Kelce in targets.

We all know, the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes desperately need a consistent number two target. Additionally, Rice has worked his way into that role in just a few short weeks. Expect much of the same and for Rice to have his best game as a pro this week.

Tight Ends

Darren Waller ($5,400)

Waller is another guy that has been disappointing in redraft leagues. Unfortunately, he has yet to score a touchdown this season. However, that could very well change this weekend. The Dolphins have been middle of the pack versus tight ends this season. However, they have been the second-worst defense against tight ends in the slot.

The Giants love putting Waller and his big frame in the slot and that should be the focus of their game plan this week. Look for Waller to have a breakout game with his new team and find the end zone for the first time in 2023.

Jonnu Smith ($2,900)

Despite being the number two tight end on the Falcons, Smith has seen just one less target than Kyle Pitts this season. If Smith can find the end zone this week, he will be a tremendous value at cost. He is coming off a 95-receiving yard game, in which he saw six targets and caught them all. The Falcons will likely go with a run-heavy approach this week resulting in Smith being one of Desmond Ridder’s top targets off of play action.

Defense / Special Teams

Detroit Lions ($3,800)

The Lions defense has drastically improved this season. The biggest reason for that has been the continued emergence of Aidan Hutchinson. More importantly, the former 2nd overall pick has consistently been drawing double teams and has still been able to wreak havoc on opposing offenses. This week should be much of the same against the Carolina Panthers.

In games that rookie quarterback Bryce Young has started, their offense has only scored a total of two touchdowns. Furthermore, Young has been sacked 11 times in those games and has three turnovers. Look for the Lions pass rush to get after Young and force the rookie into mistakes.

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