Fantasy football busts are a sad, but important aspect of fielding a consistent winning team across the length of the long and sometimes arduous season.
The first month of the NFL season is always full of surprises, and moving with the tide of the season is important. With four weeks in the book, it’s common for fantasy managers to begin overly panicking about some players.
*More from Fantasy Football Week 5: Dead Weight Report*
On the other hand, there’s no reason to continue rolling out players who are underperforming only to watch the score sit close to zero while he continues seeing nominal utilization. Below, we are going to run through every fantasy roster position and find some Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts that should remain on your bench or find themselves on the waiver wire.
More from Fantasy Football Week 5: Players to Buy, Hold, and Sell.
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Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts: Quarterbacks
Derek Carr, QB – Saints – Carr is either still dealing with an injury, isn’t trusting his offensive line, or a heavy mixture of both.
With Alvin Kamara back in the mix, the quarterback would end up targeting him 14 times for a league-record 33 yards. No one in the history of the NFL has achieved such a low mark on 13 catches.
Carr’s paltry 3.43 yards per attempt last week weren’t even that much lower than his previous two games (6.33, 5.72).
Ryan Tannehill, QB – Titans – Ryan Tannehill had a great Week 2 against the Chargers defense, but in his three other games, he has averaged an unfathomably low 6.4 fantasy points per game.
Even in positive game scripts, the team would much prefer running the offense through Derrick Henry, making Tannehill expendable in every fantasy league type.
Get the full Week 5 Fantasy Football QB Rankings!
Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts: Running Backs
Kendre Miller, RB – Saints – Alvin Kamara’s presence turned Kendre Miller back into a pumpkin going from 10 touches last week to just two against the Bucs in Week 4.
Even with Jamaal Williams on the shelf, Miller was still fifth in touches on the New Orleans offense and the veteran will return to see his ground-and-pound volume in several weeks. Miller is talented and will get his flowers, but it’s not looking like it will be this season.
Antonio Gibson, RB – Commanders – This one hurts as I had high hopes for Antonio Gibson with Eric Bieniemy calling the shots in Washington this season. The 25-year-old back has put the ball on the ground three times through four contests and is currently sitting as the RB64 in half-PPR scoring with a measly 4.1 per tilt.
He’s riding the bench for 57% of Yahoo managers and has no fantasy value without an injury to Brian Robinson. If you need wins now, swap Gibson out for Jaleel McLaughlin or Jaylen Warren.
Get the full Week 5 Fantasy Football RB Rankings!
Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts: Wide Receivers
Elijah Moore, WR – Browns – As polarizing as Elijah Moore was heading into this season, he’s been a disappointment—along with the rest of the Browns’ offensive pieces. He’s posting a dismal 5.1 yards per target, which ranks 70th among WRs.
His 7.2 half-PPR points per game is 71st. It’s becoming clear this offense can’t support multiple fantasy pass-catchers, with or without DeShaun Watson under center, so send Moore packing for a wideout on a more predictive offense like Romeo Doubs.
K.J. Osborn, WR – Vikings – Despite being on the field for 56 more snaps and running 29 more routes than rookie Jordan Addison thus far, K.J. Osborn has yet to eclipse three catches or 36 yards in any contest.
He’s the WR60 in half-PPR scoring on a per-game basis and is only there due to a pair of touchdowns in Weeks 2 and 3. With the league’s No. 1 WR along with the highest-targeted TE and a talented rookie who’s had three solid outings all in the same offense, Osborn is getting lost in the mix.
Get the full Week 5 Fantasy Football WR Rankings!
Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts: Tight Ends
Kyle Pitts, TE – Falcons – We have to face the fact that Pitts is a disappointment in the fantasy space, currently sitting as the TE31 in half-PPR scoring per game.
He’s being out-targeted and out-produced by fellow Atlanta TE Jonnu Smith thus far in 2023. As long as Pitts is a member of the Falcons with HC Arthur Smith in charge, he’s unplayable as a fantasy football TE.
Mike Gesicki, TE – Patriots – Even with an end zone target in Week 4, there’s no reason to keep Gesicki around.
He now has a one-catch game in back-to-back performances and it’s going to be impossible to guess when his touchdowns are going to come in a very flat offense.
Get the full Week 5 Fantasy Football TE Rankings!
Week 5 Fantasy Football Busts: Defenses
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Packers – Life without David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins came to a head in Week 4, as the Lions’ pass rush made life difficult for Jordan Love on Thursday Night Football. Detroit would land five sacks while forcing pressure on 41.5% of the quarterback’s dropbacks, leading to a dud of a fantasy performance for everyone not named Romeo Doubs (9-95 on 13 targets).
The Raiders will certainly look to move Maxx Crosby and his league-leading 27 pressures around the formation to terrorize Love, but behind him, the team doesn’t have a single other option with double-digit pressures through the first four weeks of the season.
Maybe more significantly, left guard Elgton Jenkins returned to practice early this week, leaving the door open for his availability after he’s missed the last 2.5 games with a knee injury.
Tennessee Titans @ Colts – The Tennessee Titans’ defense showed up in Week 4 against a woefully hobbled Joe Burrow and an underperforming pass-protection unit, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still a defense we should be targeting in fantasy football.
This week, they’ll take on rookie Anthony Richardson, who looks anything but hobbled after he returned to the field (concussion) to finish last week as the overall QB2, rushing for 56 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
Richardson himself is a must-start in practically any situation, but the sad box scores from his pass-catchers are likely to be a recurring theme throughout this season. In Week 4, the Colts’ leading fantasy pass-catcher was Andrew Ogletree, who caught three of his four targets for 48 yards and a touchdown.
It’ll be a rough click for managers this week, but we should expect a bounce-back performance for Michael Pittman, who has accrued 154 air yards over Richardson’s two full starts while accounting for a 25.8% target share.
Get the full Week 5 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings!
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