“Shore Thing Sleepers” isn’t your ordinary fantasy football Week 5 start/sit article. Instead, our analyst duo of Seth Woolcock and Nate Polvogt highlight lower-valued players that can provide starting-caliber production for a specific week. These are usually players near the end of your bench or even on the waiver wire/free agency. You can catch an additional sleeper pick live at the end of our weekly in-season Friday podcast episode.
Rostership percentages are based on ESPN Points Per Reception (PPR) redraft fantasy football leagues.
Week 5 Start/Sit Consideration: Shore Thing Sleepers
Michael Carter (New York Jets) | 76.4 Percent
Though I’ve stood firmly in the Breece Hall camp this season, Jets’ RB Michael Carter carries some FLEX appeal in Week 5. Carter took somewhat of a backseat to Hall in Week 4, seeing a season-low 44 percent of snaps and totaling 12 touches to Hall’s 23.
A few things are going in Carter’s favor this week against the Dolphins at home, including Hall logging two straight limited practices Wednesday and Thursday due to “kicks and bruises,” according to a vague quote from head coach Robert Saleh. While I expect Hall to play this week, it’s hard to imagine him seeing anywhere near 23 touches again.
The Dolphins are also a low-key integrating option to attack against with RBs. Miami appears as one of the top-10 stingiest defenses against the position. Yet, they’ve faced the Ravens with no J.K. Dobbins, a rotating Patriots backfield featuring Ty Montogmery on 37 percent of snaps and the 2022 model of inefficiency, Joe Mixon. When they faced a more efficient Bills’ backfield, they allowed Devin Singletary and James Cook to combine for 13 receptions for 115 yards and a TD on 15 targets,
Carter still ranks top-1o amongst RBs in targets and receptions, giving a decent floor with some spot matchup upside. – Woolcock
Juwan Johnson (Tight End, New Orleans Saints) | 1.5 percent
While not an every-week play, injuries have made Saints tight end Juwan Johnson a sneaky sleeper start in a Week 5 matchup against the Seahawks. With wideout Michael Thomas ruled out for the week and fellow pass-catcher Jarvis Landry and running back Alvin Kamara questionable, this team will need all healthy hands on deck in this game.
The Seattle Seahawks defense ranks last in fantasy points allowed to the tight end position, giving up 18 fantasy points per game through the first four weeks. Last week against the Lions, they let T.J. Hockenson go off. He ended the day with 39.9 PPR fantasy points. They have also allowed tight ends Albert Okwuegbunam, Ross Dwelley and Kyle Pitts to have their best games of the season against this leaky secondary.
While he will have to compete for targets with fellow book-end Adam Trautman, Johnson’s path to a solid fantasy week is there. He has out-targeted Trautman in every game this season. He also splits his snaps between in-line and slot while Trautman is primarily an in-line blocking tight end. With Thomas, the team’s primary slot receiver, out this week, Johnson looks to be the fill-in and could be a boon for your fantasy rosters. – Polvogt
Thanks for reading. Check out more of our fantasy football and other written content here at In-Between Media, or head over to our YouTube channel to get your fix via video.