Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 5
Good Morning, FootClan, and a very warm welcome to Week 5 of The Fantasy Footballers’ Saturday Morning Mailbag! As always, I am here bright and early on a Saturday morning to select a handful of your questions from The Fantasy Footballers’ Discord server, answer some of the hot topics that didn’t quite make it to that week’s edition of The Footcast. The Ballers’ Discord is home to the biggest and best online fantasy football community in the world, and is your go-to if you’re looking to talk about all things fantasy football. Head over today and get involved with thousands of members across dozens of dedicated channels for start/sit questions, trade advice, and waiver wire insights, as well as exclusive areas which are only available to members of the Footclan.
Please make the injuries stop! After losing James Conner, Najee Harris, and Joe Burrow for the year heading into the weekend, Week 4 saw fantasy superstars Malik Nabers and Tyreek Hill add their names to the list of players who won’t be back on the field until the 2026 season. Waiver wire darling and James Conner understudy Trey Benson also finds himself on the IR (the team does hope he will return this year), with Bucky Irving and Chuba Hubbard also making their way out of your starting lineup and onto your bench due to injuries picked up last time out. It’s not all doom and gloom, however – if you were the lucky winner of the Woody Marks sweepstakes, congratulations – you have snagged yourself a legitimate RB2 with upside moving forward.
We have a lot to cover this morning, including just what to do with a slew of underperforming or injured WRs, and exactly which TE is the biggest dog out of two relative fantasy pussy cats on the season. We’ve also introduced a little bit of Rapid Round to cover some of your start/sit questions – so without further ado, let’s dive in!
Question #1 – Waiver Wire (Sadd McConkey Special)
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Hey Ballers!
Would you drop Ladd McConkey to pick up Rashee Rice to see if he can return after his suspension & pick up where he left off last season? – negativeforce31
Answer: If you’d have asked me at the start of the season – “would you drop the overall WR57 for Rashee Rice heading into Week 5?” – the answer would be a resounding yes…however, when that WR57 happens to be last season’s overall WR12 and a guy I most likely invested a late 2nd/early 3rd round draft pick into – things get a little murky.
Let’s not beat around the bush – despite the Chargers’ passing offense entering the week with the 5th most passing yards – it’s been a disastrous start to the year for our favorite little Ladd. He is a distant 3rd on his own team in terms of targets and yards – well behind Quentin Johnston and veteran Keenan Allen – and of the seven TDs Justin Herbert has thrown in the opening month of the season, Ladd has caught a grand total of zero.
Every week has been tinged with the air of this is the week…right before Quge drops another 90-yard game as he continues to perform his best Randy Moss impression for this offense. Week 4’s defeat to the Giants saw McConkey fail to record multiple catches in a game for the first time in his short career, as he hauled in only one of six targets for 11 yards, ending the week as the overall WR99.
While this may be grim reading, and the temptation to full-on drop Ladd to the waiver wire is real…you can’t cut that guy, at least not yet. Don’t hear what I’m not saying – this is in no way an endorsement to start McConkey this week – but dropping a player of his calibre and name power just doesn’t make sense. Rice should slot in as Patrick Mahomes’ number one guy when he returns from his suspension in Week 7 – but there’s no guarantee that a WR who hasn’t played competitive football in over a year makes an immediate contribution for the Chiefs or your fantasy team.
If you are dead set on picking up Rice (which you 100% should be) then take a good look at your roster to see who may be a more suitable cut candidate ahead of the Chargers’ sophomore superstar – and after all that, if you still feel that Ladd is the guy you want to drop, try to trade him away as part of a package to free up the roster spot for Rice. My best advice – try to make a roster move that results in both of these WRs calling your roster home – the league-winning upside they possess will be near impossible to find on waivers, especially as we enter the bye weeks.
Question #2 – Keeper League Strategy (Injured WR Edition)
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Is Malik Nabers worth holding onto in a keeper league for a 4th round pick next year? It’s a Full-PPR league with no IR spot – KyleLee90
Answer: You had me right up until “no IR spot”. There’s no doubting Malik Nabers’ season-ending ACL tear is a catastrophe for fantasy managers – but for those not playing in re-draft or dynasty formats, the question of what to do with the Giants’ sophomore WR is a real head-scratcher.
Nabers went down after a non-contact injury midway through the 2nd quarter of the G-Men’s 21-18 over the previously undefeated Chargers last Sunday afternoon. After being carted off and almost immediately ruled out, fantasy managers’ worst fears were later realized as it was confirmed the second-year WR had indeed torn his ACL and would be set for an extended period on the sidelines. The good news (if we can call it “good”) is that early indications point to a relatively clean tear, which should allow the Giants’ playmaker a relatively straightforward recovery, with the hope of being ready for Week 1 in 2026 – but how does this impact your fantasy team for this season moving forward?
For me, this is totally dependent on the number of teams in your league as well as the size of your bench. In any league consisting of 10 teams or fewer, I’m holding on to him no matter what – smaller leagues are all about being able to roll out difference makers on any given week – and a fully fit Nabers is one such player. Unless that bench is only three spots or less…I’m taking the hit for the remainder of the year.
How about if you’re in a 12-team league? Well, coming off such an impactful injury – Nabers is likely to go anywhere between the middle of the 3rd and early 4th rounds come draft season – so you’d be getting him at a relative value should you hold on to him…but this is where roster construction starts to come in. A deep bench makes the decision a no-brainer, but if you are only allowed to roster an additional five players or fewer in your bid for a #FootClanTitle and you are a competing team, I may be tempted to offload him to another manager who is willing to give me market value for the second-year stud.
Players like Nabers don’t come along too often, so I’d be doing everything I could to hold on to him for his return in 2026 – but if you are in win now mode, it may be best to sell-high if you can and hope whoever you get in return can have a breakout season to soften the impact of losing a top-5 player at the position.
Question #3 – Trade Advice (WR Special)
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Yo yo yo Ballers! I’m in a 10-team Full-PPR league. Would you trade Brian Thomas Jr and Emeka Egbuka for CeeDee Lamb? – Ron Burgundy
Answer: It’s crazy to think that right now, arguably the most valuable fantasy asset out of this trio of WRs is the rookie Emeka Egbuka…what a world!
As I mentioned above, being in a 10-team league is all about finding those absolute superstar difference-makers that elevate your roster to a place that gives you a weekly advantage at the position in your matchups. In that vein, CeeDee Lamb is absolutely one such guy, and I am trying to buy-low on the Cowboys’ franchise WR everywhere right now in the hope he can be not just a WR1 on his return, but the WR1. That said…Egbuka and BTJ are a lot to give up for a player who may not see the field for another 2-3 weeks, even if that player is CeeDee Lamb.
Much like fellow sophomore Ladd McConkey, it’s been a very rough start to the season for Brian Thomas Jr, with last year’s overall WR4 currently sitting just inside the top-50 at the position after finishing as the WR36, WR62, WR42, and WR38 in the Jaguars’ opening four contests. Unlike McConkey, BTJ is seeing plenty of relative opportunities from Trevor Lawrence, with the former 23rd overall draft pick leading the team with a healthy 23% target share through four weeks – he just can’t seem to do anything with them. BTJ currently sits tied at WR15 alongside Amon-Ra St. Brown and the aforementioned Emeka Egbuka in total targets on the year with 32…but unlike the Sun God, who has over 300 yards and six TDs, and the Bucs’ rookie who can boast 282 yards and four TDs – BTJ has just 164 scoreless yards on his 12 receptions thus far – that’s barely above A.J. Brown, and we all know how bad that has been!
As we enter Week 5, we still have no concrete idea just when we can expect CeeDee Lamb to re-take the field for the Cowboys – and with every week he misses, that ROS value takes another hit. If you have another strong WR option alongside Egbuka, then I would at the very least consider entertaining conversations about this trade…but only after the weekend’s games are in the books. While we have yet to see Egbuka on the field with both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the longer he gets to establish himself in 2WR sets can only mean positive things for his value as a fantasy asset – and if CeeDee were to miss another two or more weeks, the rookie could even be worth more as a stand alone piece than the former overall WR1. Stay the course with the rookie, and if you can get anything of worth for BTJ, move him on.
Question #4 – Season-long Strategy (Cat v Dawg TEs)
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Hi Ballers! Who would you rather have ‘Rest of Season’: Mason Taylor or David Njoku? – shane
Answer: I’m more of a cat lover than a dog guy, so Meowson Taylor would be my choice based solely on those principles…but given we are a fantasy football show, I guess we should probably look at the on-field outlook for both of these guys before making any rash decisions.
To say it’s been a disappointing campaign so far for David Njoku would be somewhat of an understatement. Confidence was high surrounding the 29-year old veteran as we entered the season – with the return of his old buddy Joe Flacco at QB, fantasy managers were understandably excited at the prospect of seeing more of the connection that led to Njoku being the overall TE1 during the back-half of the 2023 season – but just four games in and a season high weekly finish of TE17 back in Week 2…Njoku truthers are already moving on in their droves.
Njoku’s lacklustre output is in-part the fault of Joe Flacco finally falling off the age cliff at 40-years old (he has officially been replaced as the starter by Dillon Gabriel entering Week 5), but also the emergence of rookie TE Harold Fannin Jr. We discussed Fannin in this column back in Week 2 and how it’s possibly no surprise that the overall NCAA leader in receptions and yards for 2024 has somehow carved a role for himself early-on in this Browns offense.
Fannin’s fellow rookie wasn’t quite as prolific in college (he ranked 198th in total receiving yards) – but Mason Taylor’s second-round draft capital and lack of any real competition have seen him secure his spot atop the Jets’ depth chart at the position. After a relatively slow start, Taylor has seen his target share skyrocket to a very promising 17% and 26% in recent weeks. Sure, it may only be the Jets and a passing game led by Justin Fields – but those are solid numbers for a rookie TE in only his third and fourth career start.
The outlook for either of these guys isn’t exactly one tinged with excitement – in Taylor, we have the clear leader at the position on an offense ranked 30th in total passing attempts, yet in Njoku, there’s a sense of a once great option slowly fading off into relative obscurity. We have at least seen the Browns’ big target man do it before, but with a new rookie QB under center and Fannin only eating into his workload, I’m taking the upside of Meowson Taylor…whatever that may end up being.
Question #5 – Trade Advice (Stud TE or Stack Attack)
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What it is, Ball Boys?
Should I trade Trey McBride for Hunter Henry & another piece? I’ve got Drake Maye as my QB & would love to have the stack. Much love! – Rome Built in Odunze
Answer: As great as Hunter Henry and Drake Maye have been so far this season, there’s a zero percent chance I am moving a bona fide stud like Trey McBride for anything other than a top-tier RB or WR – and I doubt you’re getting one of those packaged along with Henry in a trade.
Sure, Henry leads all TEs through the opening four weeks of the season, but almost 55% (fifty-five!) of his total points tally came in that career-best outing in the Pats’ Week 3 loss at home to Pittsburgh – a game which saw the veteran garner 31% of the team’s total targets. For all his efforts, Henry is still only 4.5 fantasy points ahead of McBride on the year – and it could be argued we haven’t seen anywhere near the best of T-McB so far in Arizona’s opening matchups. This is undoubtedly Henry at his ceiling, but this is McBride at his floor.
Better days are almost guaranteed for Kyler Murray’s number one guy – it could be all downhill from here for Henry. Keep the faith in Maye, but don’t chase the stack for the sake of it – hold onto McBride and enjoy the second half of the season, which offers some generous matchups at the position for the Cardinals.
It’s time for Rapid Round…
Hello Ballers, Quentin Judkins or Kenneth Walker ROS – Russ
Answer: Cleveland is reportedly looking to give their rookie RB “more opportunities” moving forward – Judkins had 25 total opportunities in Week 4 – I’m taking Quentin.
Quentin Johnston or Tetairoa McMillan ROS? – jesster
Answer: As I traded Quge away in my main League of Record, I’m really hoping this purple patch comes to an end and vindicates my decision to move him on early – it’s McMillan for me as a top-15 guy ROS.
Michael Carter or TreVeyon Henderson this week? Full-PPR – Rougarou Skattebo
Answer: Only because this is a Full-PPR, I’ll go with the Pats’ rookie – I expect Emari Demercado to see a lot of targets out of the backfield with Carter being the main ball carrier.
Kyle Pitts or Darren Waller for the rest of the season? – Jeffy T
Answer: It’s only been one game for The Wallerus, but here he is in this type of conversation. Tua will lean heavily on his TE, particularly with Tyreek Hill out for the year – but Kyle Pitts has been too involved in Atlanta for me not to take him here. I fully reserve the right to change my mind in a couple of weeks, however!
That will do it for this week, FootClan – good luck in Week 5!