It is Week 5 already, and if you have a losing record, it might be time to mix it up. What better way for fantasy football managers than going for high upside and popping a potential sleeper into your starting lineup. Here are some sleepers to keep your eye on this week.
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Fantasy Football Sleepers for Week 5
Zach Wilson, QB, New York Jets
It might be scary to start Zach Wison, but the combo of teams on a bye, a “breakout” game last week, and the best matchup you could find in Week 5 should push you to consider him. Wilson looked like a competent QB against the Chiefs, and if you had just looked at the box score, you would have said the man in green and white was more talented than the QB in red.
Last week, Wilson had 245 passing yards, two TDs, and 14 rushing yards. The better he played, the better the team played, defense included. This week, he takes on the Denver Broncos, who have allowed the most fantasy points to QBs this season, not to mention it is a Nathaniel Hackett revenge game. You might have to close your eyes when you slide him in your lineup, but he has upside.
This Zach Wilson throw was legit stellar. pic.twitter.com/nMaIvzfQeJ
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 2, 2023
Tyler Conklin, TE, New York Jets
With Wilson as a Week 5 sleeper comes his TE Tyler Conklin along for the ride. The TE landscape continues to be sparse, and it is even worse with the bye weeks hitting. Teams can beat the Broncos with the TE, as Cole Kmet can attest. Last week, Kmet was the TE1 with 85 yards receiving and two TDs. The Commanders were also good in Week 2 against Denver. Logan Thomas was TE6 that week.
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Conklin has been averaging 5.5 targets over the last three weeks, and last week he had 58 receiving yards. Without a TD, he was TE15. If you are streaming TEs, you want a player who will get targets in a good matchup. Conklin is that TE in Week 5.
Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Tee Higgins is officially out for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Higgins has said that he would play if he could handle the pain tolerance, so clearly, it is too much to play through.
With Higgins out, that will push Tyler Boyd into the WR2 position behind Ja’Marr Chase, giving him more opportunities to be relevant in fantasy. He has delivered without Higgins in the past — Boyd had 13 catches for 154 yards and one TD in two games in 2021 without Higgins.
Boyd’s success depends on Joe Burrow and whether he can turn around the tepid Bengals offense. But even if he isn’t classic Burrow, the uptick in targets is enough to put Boyd into the flex conversation. So far, he has averaged close to seven targets a game for 127 yards.
Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Tyler Allgeier surprised everyone in Week 1 when he finished as RB4, with 75 yards on the ground and two TDs, with the rookie sensation Bijan Robinson on the team. Allgeier’s carries have gone down the last three weeks, and he hasn’t played more than 44% of the snaps in any of those three games.
That being said, Arthur Smith will always want to run the ball, and the Falcons play a Houston Texans defense that allows the seventh-most points to the RB. Throw in that four teams are on bye and RBs are getting injured left and right, Allgeier could be perfectly competent. Hopefully, Allgeier can get back up to double-digit carries, and if he gets in the end zone, he will prove a great Flex start.
Michael Wilson, WR, Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals’ offense has been much better than expected this year, and QB Josh Dobbs has shown that he can support fantasy options outside of James Conner. Rookie Michael Wilson was not talked up much during the draft process, but Arizona beat writers kept saying how great Wilson performed in camp and how important he was to the Cardinals’ plans.
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In Week 4, Wilson came into his own, catching all seven of his targets for 77 yards and two TDs. Over the season so far, Wilson is averaging an 88% catch rate. The Cardinals play the Bengals this week, and Cincinnati has been middle of the road in passing defense. Dobbs trusts him, “He likes to do the dirty stuff that most wide receivers don’t like to do. And that puts him in a position to be a viable target.”
Michael Wilson scored 26.6 PPR points against the San Francisco 49ers in his 4th career game
— Jeff Bell (@4WhomJBellTolls) October 1, 2023