Fantasy Football Week 5 QB Who Should I Start? Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, and More

All last week, I was telling fantasy owners to stay away from Jaxson Dart. He was named the starter for New York's Week 4 game against the Chargers with similarly tough matchups against the Eagles and Broncos over the ensuing month.

Well, Dart went out and put up a QB11 performance in his debut, showing what will likely be continued fantasy prowess when the schedule lightens up. He gets a one-week reprieve from those brutal defensive teams to face the Saints this week, one of the worst teams in football.

That has owners buzzing around whether Dart can repeat last week's performance and if he belongs in fantasy lineups. He has been showing up all over our FantasySP start/sit tool.

Let's look at Dart and four other quarterbacks that he has been compared to often on the start/sit tool: Jayden Daniels, Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, and Bo Nix. Most stats are from NFL.com.

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Jaxson Dart, New York Giants @ New Orleans Saints

I mentioned the matchup as the reason that Dart is appealing here. New Orleans has allowed the sixth-most yards per pass attempt and the sixth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

Dart wasn't good throwing the ball last week, gaining just 111 yards on 5.6 per attempt. The Chargers are one of the best teams in the league at stopping the pass, so it wasn't a surprise to see him struggle; that's why I suggested owners leave him on the bench last week.

He is going to do most of his damage this year in both real and fantasy football with his legs, though, a big reason for Dart's fantasy intrigue. The Saints have also been vulnerable in that area, allowing 38 rushing yards to Kyler Murray in Week 1 and 45 yards and a TD to Josh Allen in Week 4.

The loss of Malik Nabers for the season hurts, but this is a good matchup that may allow for Dart to rack up both passing and rushing yards. While he will be off the fantasy radar again the next few weeks, Dart is a reasonable guy to consider in Week 5.

Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders @ Los Angeles Chargers

Daniels missed the past two games with a knee injury, but he returns here against a tough Chargers team that I mentioned above. Dart's poor performance was overshadowed by New York lucking into a win, but Los Angeles shut him down they way they have every passing game they have faced.

Running is another story. The Chargers have allowed at least 20 rushing yards to the opposing QB in all four of their games, with an average of 41 yards and two total touchdowns. That's why LA has allowed the second-fewest yards per pass attempt but are in the middle in fantasy points given up to quarterbacks.

Daniels is up to his top-tier fantasy level because he runs the ball so well. He ran for nearly 900 yards last season with six touchdowns and averaged 42.5 rushing yards in the first two weeks of the season.

The injury might limit him a bit, but if Daniels is on the field, I'm assuming that he's ready to go and will be doing everything, including running the ball. With a matchup that will allow for fantasy points in that department, Daniels is at least in the middle this week despite LA's tough defense.

Advice: Start Jayden Daniels over Jaxson Dart. Daniels is just too good of a fantasy quarterback. It's intriguing to go with Dart because of the better matchup, but you might be outsmarting yourself with that move; go with the smart play, which is Daniels.

Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts vs. Las Vegas Raiders

Jones has played strong football through the first month of the season against both easy and tough matchups. He ranks third in passing yards (1,078), and his 8.9 yards per attempt are third among starters behind just Lamar Jackson and Sam Darnold.

Jones has been good all season, with last week being the first time he has faltered at all: Jones threw two interceptions in the team's 27-20 loss to the Rams. He still threw for 262 yards on 7.9 per attempt, and Jones has added 54 yards and three touchdowns on the ground this year, all coming together for a QB7 ranking.

The Raiders offer a decent matchup, as they have given up the 11th-most yards per pass attempt while ranking right in the middle in terms of fantasy points given up to quarterbacks. They have allowed close to 25 rushing yards per game to QBs while facing four mobile guys in Drake Maye, Justin Herbert, Marcus Mariota, and Caleb Williams.

Jones is very close to must-start fantasy territory. He had a few phenomenal games to open the season, including a QB2 performance in Week 1, and the matchup here points toward more good things possibly coming.

Advice: Start Daniel Jones over Jaxson Dart. Jones has looked so good to start the season that it's hard to take him out of the lineup unless you have a top QB.

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Seattle Seahawks

Mayfield has persevered through injuries all around him, losing multiple wide receivers and offensive linemen both before the season and early in 2025. Through it all, he ranks as QB8, averaging 20 fantasy points per game.

The Seahawks offer a tougher test, allowing the sixth-fewest yards per pass attempt and ninth-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. Seattle has good players at all three levels of the defense (including plenty of talent in the secondary) and makes everything tough.

Mayfield had a few quieter games in tougher matchups against the Falcons and Texans, and while he was near 300 yards last week against the Eagles, it took him 40 attempts to get there, just 7.2 per attempt. He has played well, but Mayfield is also compromised with his current surroundings.

Advice: Start Jaxson Dart over Baker Mayfield because of the matchups.

Bo Nix, Denver Broncos @ Philadelphia Eagles

We can pretty much copy/paste the “tough matchup” stuff from above and drop it here. Philadelphia has allowed the eighth-fewest yards per pass attempt and 10th-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.

Nix does work with his legs, but the Eagles have mostly been good in that department: other than Patrick Mahomes running for 66 yards in Week 2, Philly has allowed just 16 QB rushing yards in the other three games combined. That limits what Nix does best from a fantasy perspective.

Nix is below average throwing the ball; he was last year too. He can do enough to make it work when factoring in his running and the Denver defense, but it makes him susceptible to slow fantasy games. With a tougher matchup and Nix starting the season by struggling a little, he's probably a better player to leave on the bench this week.

Advice: Start Jaxson Dart over Bo Nix.