Friday afternoons are my opportunity to connect with FantasyPros readers and the FantasyPros Discord community. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to join our Discord to get answers to your questions. I host weekly AMAs on Fridays, and other analysts also routinely answer questions. Below were three standout topics from Friday’s busy Week 5 AMA.
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Discord AMA: Week 5
Is Rachaad White a Stellar Starter Without Bucky Irving?
Bucky Irving was, predictably, ruled out for this week. Sean Tucker flashed big-play potential, especially when he trounced the Saints for 136 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, three receptions, 56 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in Week 6 last year. However, it didn’t result in him carving out a substantial role.
Instead, when Irving was limited by an injury in Week 14 against the Raiders last year, Rachaad White handled 17 of the backfield’s 24 rush attempts, rumbling for 90 yards and a touchdown. White also had three targets, two receptions, 19 receiving yards and a touchdown in that game, and receiving is White’s special sauce.
Tucker hasn’t played an offensive snap in the previous two weeks and logged only three this season, versus 89 for White. At worst, White should split early-down work and handle the passing-game work in a game that the Buccaneers are road underdogs. At best, the veteran running back is a workhorse. He’s the RB21 in expert consensus rankings (ECR) in half-PPR this week, and I think he slightly outproduces that ranking.
Is Rico Dowdle Usable This Week?
The Dolphins have allowed the eighth-most half-PPR points per game (22.1) to running backs this season. The game script shouldn’t get away from the Panthers, either. Carolina is only a 1.5-point underdog at home.
The setup is excellent for Rico Dowdle, with Chuba Hubbard ruled out. Rookie Trevor Etienne will likely spell Dowdle. However, according to the data suite at Fantasy Points, Dowdle has outcarried Etienne 37-5, and the veteran has a 22.6% route participation rate versus 3% for the rookie.
Dowdle has had an underwhelming start to his tenure with the Panthers. Nevertheless, he’s a year removed from tallying 1,328 scrimmage yards, 39 receptions and five touchdowns in 16 games for the Cowboys last year. Dowdle is an excellent Flex option and a borderline RB2. He’s the RB31 in half-PPR ECR, but I would rank him ahead of Tony Pollard, Chase Brown, TreVeyon Henderson, Rhamondre Stevenson, Zach Charbonnet, RJ Harvey, Nick Chubb and Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who are ranked from RB22-RB30.
Which Streaming Tight End Stands Out From the Pack?
When gamers can pair streaming a tight end with the potential for them to stick on rosters, that’s an ideal situation. Mason Taylor is an intriguing streamer with the potential to emerge from this week as a low-end TE1. Taylor had only three targets, two receptions and 25 scoreless yards through his first two games.
Taylor might have struggled with the adjustment to playing professional football. Alternatively, Taylor was also banged up at the end of training camp. He popped up for six targets in Week 3, resulting in four receptions for 18 scoreless yards. Obviously, his Week 3 showing wasn’t fantasy-friendly, but he blew up for five receptions for 65 receiving yards on seven targets in Week 4.
According to the data suite at Fantasy Points, Taylor is 12th among tight ends in route participation rate (72.5%), which is a decent starting point. Since Week 3, Taylor has a 20.6% target share, 0.24 targets per route run, a 14.7% air yards share, nine receptions, 83 receiving yards, 1.51 yards per route run, 6.4 half-PPR points per game and 10.2 expected half-PPR points per game. The Cowboys can’t stop anyone, which could lead to a shootout in New Jersey this week. Taylor is an enticing streamer with the potential to come out of this week as a player to hold.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
