Fantasy News & Analysis

NFL Week 5 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Monday Night Football

2T0YFET Green Bay Packers' Christian Watson runs after a long completion during the second half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Christian Watson is back for the Green Bay Packers: Watson returned to a full-time role this week after playing less than half of the offensive snaps last week. He caught a 77-yard pass in the loss.

Davante Adams has a quiet revenge game: Adams caught only four passes for a season-low 45 yards against his former team.

Aaron Jones missed another game: A hamstring injury has kept Jones out of three of the last four weeks, leading Green Bay to center its offense around A.J. Dillon.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes


PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2023.

WR:CB Matchup Chart

Green Bay Packers @ Las Vegas Raiders

  • Jakobi Meyers: 7 receptions, 75 yards, 1 touchdown
  • Josh Jacobs: 20 carries, 69 yards, 1 touchdown; 5 receptions, 20 receiving yards

Christian Watson’s playing time increases: The Packers’ top outside wide receiver was limited in his return last week.

  • Watson missed the first three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury.
  • He played less than half of the offensive snaps in his return last week, catching two passes for 25 yards and scoring a touchdown.
  • He played the vast majority of offensive snaps in Week 5, similar to his role from last season. He caught three of his seven targets for 91 yards.
  • This did not impact Romeo Doubs’ and Jayden Reed’s playing time. Like last week, Doubs played most of the snaps. Reed played in 11 personnel and no other personnel groupings, as he has done all season. 
  • Fifth-round rookie Dontayvion Wicks had played at least 50% of the offensive snaps in each of the first four games. His playing time was greatly reduced with everyone healthy, but he was the primary backup for both Watson and Doubs.
  • Watson can be put in fantasy starting lineups going forward. Ideally, he will begin to see more targets.

Luke Musgrave was temporarily benched: Head coach Matt LaFleur chewed out the second-round rookie after the Packers’ first drive.

  • Musgrave finished as a top-13 fantasy tight end in two of the first three weeks but missed most of last week with a concussion.
  • He played all eight snaps on the Packers’ first drive.
  • Musgrave missed the following nine offensive plays, spanning the second drive and half of the third drive.
  • Backup tight ends Josiah Deguara and Ben Sims had receptions on the drive and were first and second on the team in receiving yards throughout the first half.
  • Musgrave returned after that point and resumed his usual role.
  • He should be a borderline fantasy starting tight end over the rest of the season.

A.J. Dillon starts again in place of Aaron Jones: Dillon was the focal point of the Packers’ offense throughout the game.

  • Jones (hamstring) was inactive in Week 2 and 3. He tried to play in Week 4 but ended up with only 20 offensive snaps.
  • Dillon took the majority of snaps, only leaving the field during the two-minute drill and some passing downs, as he did in other games.
  • He ran 20 times for 76 yards and a touchdown but didn’t catch a pass.
  • Patrick Taylor has been the passing-down back with Jones out. Taylor had been on the practice squad and had already been elevated to the active roster three times, so Green Bay needed to sign him to their active roster for Taylor to play today.
  • Jones’ injury will continue to be something to monitor, and it might be best to wait a week before starting him because they could ease him into action.

DeAndre Carter emerges as competition for Hunter Renfrow: Carter and Renfrow saw a near-identical amount of playing time in this game.

  • Renfrow had been ahead of Carter and Tre Tucker for the last three weeks. Renfrow played 96 offensive snaps in that time compared to 39 by Tucker and 25 by Carter.
  • Carter was used more throughout this Week 5 game, while Renfrow received a lot of his snaps during the two-minute drill to end the first half and was used sparingly throughout the rest of the game.
  • This could be a sign the Raiders are closer to trading Renfrow. There have been trade rumors around Renfrow ever since they added Jakobi Meyers.
  • Meyers has played as an outside receiver, so Meyers and Renfrow could co-exist, but Carter has been primarily a slot receiver throughout his career.
  • It’s unlikely the third Raiders receiver will have fantasy value this season, but it’s possible Renfrow could find value with a new team if he is traded before the Oct. 31 trade deadline.

Miscellaneous Notes

  • Josh Jacobs has averaged less than 4.0 yards per carry in all five games this season. He was under 4.0 yards per carry in just six of 17 games last year.
  • Second-round rookie Michael Mayer caught one pass for 2 yards in the first four weeks. He caught two passes for 39 yards in this game, but Austin Hooper remains the primary tight end in passing situations.

 


Table Notes

Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.

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