Cam Skattebo
19 touches a game
No injury designation. Still the lead back. Start him.
Correction to the 8:14 AM version of this report: leave your lineup alone. Cam Skattebo of the New York Giants stays at your second running back spot. The earlier call to start Brian Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons was wrong, and the reasoning under it was wrong too.
LordHaveMRSA (1-3)
7.00
UndisputedGiant (4-0)
2.90
Thursday night only. Thirteen of your fourteen players have not kicked off.
Keon Coleman
23.6 last week
One of the ten most-added players in fantasy football this week.
Chris Godwin
7.00 Thursday
Eighty-nine percent of the snaps. Three targets. Three catches.
1. Where the matchup stands
You lead 7.00 to 2.90 - and you did nothing to earn it
One game has been played since Week 5 opened. Tampa Bay beat Dallas 24-16 on Thursday night, and it broke your way for a reason that has nothing to do with your roster. Thirteen of your fourteen players have not kicked off yet, so treat this lead as a rounding error with a very large asterisk.
CeeDee Lamb (Dallas Cowboys) - 2.90 points for your opponent
The single best player on UndisputedGiant's team bruised his quad in the second half and played one snap in the fourth quarter. He finished with two catches for nine yards on five targets. He had been averaging 28.0 points a game and had put up 41.3 in Week 4. UndisputedGiant now has 2.90 points banked from its best player and cannot get them back. The injury is reported as not serious, which matters next week but not this one. This is the biggest break you have caught all season.
Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) - 7.00 points
Three catches, 37 yards, one carry for three. He was on the field for 89 percent of Tampa Bay's offensive plays (that is his snap share) and ran 77 percent of the pass routes, and the Buccaneers threw at him three times all night - 12 percent of the team's targets. This is not a bad-luck game. He is averaging 7.9 points a game in a format that gives a full point per catch, and he is the weakest spot in your starting lineup. His 7.00 is locked in your FLEX slot (the seventh starting spot, which can be a running back, receiver or tight end) and there is nothing to do about it today. He should not be in the lineup next Sunday.
The schedule is doing you a favor
Four of your players and two of UndisputedGiant's are in Monday night's Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Rams game, which carries the highest point total on the board at 54.5. This matchup will not be decided until late Monday. Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Davante Adams of the Los Angeles Rams are the two he has in that game, and Josh Allen is averaging 28.9 points a game, so do not expect to coast.
Nothing else is decided. Your matchup runs through Monday night, and so does his.
2. Leave the lineup alone - a correction
| Slot | Player | Status |
|---|---|---|
| QB | Drake Maye (New England Patriots) | Start - home, favored by 3.5 vs Las Vegas, 27.2 last week |
| RB | Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) | Start - 22.4 per game, 36.7 last week, Monday night |
| RB | Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) | Start - NO CHANGE. No injury designation, lead back |
| WR | Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) | Start - groin is off the injury report, 27.7 last week |
| WR | Keon Coleman (Buffalo Bills) | Start - 23.6 last week, DJ Moore hurt, Monday night |
| TE | Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) | Start - Detroit allows the most passing yards in the league |
| FLEX | Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) | Locked at 7.00 - already played Thursday |
What the earlier version got wrong
It led with a call to start Brian Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons over Cam Skattebo of the New York Giants, and it justified that with the claim that Robinson had been the correct start in Weeks 2, 3 and 4. That claim is false. Cam Skattebo outscored him 9.5 to 8.7 in Week 2 and 13.0 to 11.0 in Week 3. Robinson was the better running back in exactly one week out of four - Week 4 - and that is the week the earlier report built its whole argument on.
Why Week 4 was not the signal it looked like
Brian Robinson's 25.7 points came from 14 carries for 62 yards, three touchdowns and one catch for five yards. Eighteen of those 25.7 points were the three touchdowns. His rushing yardage by week reads 31, 51, 50, 62 - he has never cleared 62 yards in a game. That is not a volume trend, it is a flat line with one lucky afternoon on top of it. Strip the touchdowns and he is a four-to-eight point player. Yesterday's report projected him at 5.25 and called him a sit. Yesterday was right.
Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) - start him
He carries no injury designation for Sunday. The shoulder that had him limited Wednesday and Thursday is settled - he practiced fully Friday and described it as a little muscle tightness, and the Giants' own site reports his status is no longer in question. He has 76 touches in four games, which is 19 a game, and he remains the lead runner. He is averaging 11.1 points with a worst game of 7.6. Against a backup running back whose floor is four points, the 19 touches win.
Bijan Robinson is healthy, which settles it
Brian Robinson is the handcuff - the backup who would inherit the job if the starter went down - and Bijan Robinson carries no injury designation for tonight. With Bijan healthy, independent Week 5 previews describe Brian Robinson as a bench or touchdown-dependent flex. That is the right description. He is not a start in a 12-team league while the man in front of him is fine.
The one thing that would flip this
Inactives are published 90 minutes before kickoff, so roughly 6:50 PM Eastern tonight. If Bijan Robinson appears on that list, Brian Robinson becomes a must-start immediately and is worth every point of the swap. Short of that, do nothing. Yesterday's report framed it the same way and framed it correctly: sit him unless Cam Skattebo is ruled out.
No moves. Your lineup as it sits this morning is the lineup to run.
3. Starters to leave alone
Keon Coleman (Buffalo Bills) - hold
He went 4.7 then 23.6 and is now one of the ten most-added players in all of fantasy football over the last two days. DJ Moore of the Buffalo Bills is hurt and listed questionable, which concentrates the targets on Coleman, and Buffalo plays at the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night in the highest-scoring game on the board. Cooper Kupp of the Seattle Seahawks (8.4 per game) and Tre Tucker of the Las Vegas Raiders (11.1) are not arguments to bench him.
Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) - hold, with eyes open
He has gone 24.5, 18.1, 16.5, 10.1 - a steady slide, and 10.1 from a tight end you are counting on is a disappointment. But Arizona is a 5.5-point home underdog to Detroit in a game with a 54.5 point total, and Detroit has allowed more passing yards than any defense in the league. Trailing teams throw. This is the week the slide stops.
Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) - hold
The groin that gave you two zeroes in Weeks 2 and 3 is off the Week 5 injury report entirely. He answered with 27.7 last week. Monday night, Rams favored by 3, highest point total on the slate. No decision here.
Drake Maye (New England Patriots) - hold
27.2 last week, home and favored by 3.5 against Las Vegas. Geno Smith of the New York Jets scored 8.8 the one week you started him over Maye. Do not do it again.
4. Injuries and dead weight
DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) - questionable, undisclosed
Already on your bench, so no action needed. His absence is the reason Keon Coleman is worth starting. If Moore is cleared late, Coleman's ceiling drops a little but the start still holds.
Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) - bye week
Kansas City and Carolina are off this week. He scores nothing today no matter what. He is also averaging 8.3 points a game, which is the bigger problem.
Tyrone Tracy (New York Giants) - cut candidate
Minus 0.6 points in Week 1 and he has not registered a fantasy point since. He is not on the Giants' Week 5 injury report at all, which means he is healthy and simply not being used. He is the roster spot you free up for a waiver claim.
Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) - shoulder
Limited Wednesday and Thursday, full Friday, no game designation. He will play. He just should not play for you.
5. Waivers - you have $53 left
| Player | Why | Bid |
|---|---|---|
| Darius Cooper (Philadelphia Eagles, WR) | Became a red-zone target with DeVonta Smith out with a hamstring injury. Defined role, cheap, and a better FLEX bet than Chris Godwin right now. | $4 |
| Roschon Johnson (Chicago Bears, RB) | In line for real volume at Green Bay if either back ahead of him is limited. Insurance plus upside. | $3 |
| Austin Ekeler (Washington Commanders, RB) | A full-point-per-catch punt with Rachaad White out with a shoulder injury. Floor only, no ceiling. | $1 |
| Dameon Pierce (Philadelphia Eagles, RB) | Do not chase. He leads the trending-adds list but he was just promoted off the practice squad and Will Shipley is the actual beneficiary in that backfield. | $0 |
You have spent $47 of your $100 season budget for bidding on waiver pickups - that budget is called FAAB - leaving $53. You sit at waiver position 12, dead last, so a tie goes to everyone else and money is your only lever. Drop Tyrone Tracy of the New York Giants to make room.
Worth knowing what is already gone: Roman Wilson of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the most-added player in fantasy football this week by a wide margin, and Free Jacobs already has him. Will Shipley of the Philadelphia Eagles, the pickup every national column is pushing because of Saquon Barkley's hamstring, is on that same roster. The four above are what is actually available to you.
6. The real reason you are 1-3
| Week | You started | Best lineup | Left on the bench |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 108.62 | 109.52 | 0.90 |
| 2 | 74.52 | 83.32 | 8.80 |
| 3 | 88.36 | 95.36 | 7.00 |
| 4 | 95.36 | 161.96 | 66.60 |
| Total | 366.86 | 450.16 | 83.30 |
That is 83.30 points left on your own bench in four weeks - almost 21 a week. Your team has scored 366.86. The best lineup available to you each week would have scored 450.16. The gap, not bad luck, is your record. This number is solid; it comes from comparing what you started each week against the best legal lineup from the same roster.
Week 4 is where almost all of it lives. You started Geno Smith of the New York Jets for 8.8 while Drake Maye of the New England Patriots scored 27.2 on your bench, and you started Jauan Jennings for 1.8 while Keon Coleman of the Buffalo Bills scored 23.6. Brian Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons added another 25.7 from the bench. The optimal lineup scored 161.96, which would have been the highest score in the league that week. You won anyway, 95.36 to 79.50.
One correction to how the earlier version of this report told that story: the losses were at quarterback, receiver and flex. They were not at your second running back spot. Cam Skattebo was the right start in Weeks 2 and 3 and you made it both times. Week 4 was the exception, and one exception is not a pattern to build a lineup on. You have already fixed the real mistakes - Drake Maye is starting, Keon Coleman is in, Jauan Jennings is gone. Keep doing that and leave the running backs alone.
Standings through Week 4
1. UndisputedGiant 4-0 (548.36) · 2. Zynning 3-1 (450.62) · 3. Free Jacobs 3-1 (441.58) · 4. Heisenberg 3-1 (435.12) · 5. Gridiron Guru 23 2-2 (464.64) · 6. vargy 2-2 (409.86) · 7. chaseelson30 2-2 (399.48) · 8. markc1281 2-2 (383.56) · 9. honeybadgerr1 1-3 (385.06) · 10. The Daddies 1-3 (374.10) · 11. LordHaveMRSA 1-3 (366.86) · 12. WhoottieBoys 0-4 (302.30)
You have the fourth-most points scored against you in the league at 450.52, so the schedule has not been kind. But you are also eleventh in points scored with the roster to be sixth, and six teams make the playoffs. The trade deadline is Week 13.