Week 5 Fantasy Football QB Start, Sit: Key Streamers and Tough Benches

Bye weeks aren't starting easy in the quarterback world: Patrick Mahomes and Bryce Young are the first two QBs taking the week off. Those two both rank in the top six in fantasy points at the position, so on top of the injured players and bad matchups, there are two other strong fantasy options out in Week 5, making streamers even more important.

Let's look at three quarterbacks to start and three to sit in Week 5 of the NFL season. Most stats are from NFL.com, and fantasy points and rankings are from FantasyPros.

Use FantasySP's start/sit tool to compare players and help make your toughest lineup decisions each week!

Start

Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals vs. Detroit Lions

Brissett became a fantasy football darling in the second half of 2025 because he was throwing the ball as much as any other quarterback in football. In 12 starts, he averaged 40.3 pass attempts per game and wasn't below 31 in any of those games. His efficiency was only average, but from Week 6 on, he was QB6, essentially looking like a weekly fantasy starter.

While he has thrown at least 35 passes in three of his four games this season (and 28 in the other), Brissett has been a below-average player, averaging just 5.4 yards per attempt with six touchdowns and four interceptions. He had a good Week 3 in fantasy (driven partly by a rushing touchdown), but Brissett otherwise hasn't been better than QB15 in any week.

This is the matchup to get him back on track, though, as the Lions have allowed the sixth-most yards per pass attempt and the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. It's a multi-year problem for Detroit that continues to undermine their spot as a prospective Super Bowl contender.

Brissett is a strong streaming option this week. Detroit makes every quarterback an intriguing fantasy player, and Brissett is a worthy fill-in if you have a guy with a tough matchup or are missing one of the two on bye.

Jared Goff, Detroit Lions @ Arizona Cardinals

Let's jump right over to the other side of the Arizona/Detroit matchup, as the Cardinals have given up the most yards per pass attempt by a wide margin; their 9.1 yards per attempt allowed are 0.7 more than the second-place Cowboys, the same as the difference between Dallas and 12th-placed Cincinnati. Arizona has also allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to QBs, making for a sparkling matchup.

Goff ranks as QB5 after the first month, reaching the top 10 twice and putting up respectable scores in all four games. Detroit's offense is still humming along pretty well even as the defense continues to struggle, and Goff is a worthy fantasy player many weeks, especially when the matchup is right.

This is one of those right matchups. The Cardinals are one of the few teams that might be worse against the pass than the Lions, and Goff is in line for a huge day on Sunday.

Jameis Winston, New York Giants @ Washington Commanders

Winston was listed here last week because of a great matchup against the aforementioned Cardinals. He came through, throwing for 250 yards on 8.6 per attempt with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Things haven't been very good for Winston since Jaxson Dart went down, but he showed that he can have success against a poor defense.

He gets another strong matchup here: Washington has been worse than average in terms of yards per pass attempt allowed while giving up the third-most fantasy points to QBs. Allowing touchdowns has been a big part of the issue, as the Commanders allowed 11 passing touchdowns over the first three weeks and let Daniel Jones run for a TD last week (even though he didn't throw for any).

This is more of a low-level play, but if you get to the weekend and realize that you don't have a good QB option, Winston is a worthy player to consider. Malik Nabers is dealing with a few maladies, and his absence would lower the ceiling, but either way, Winston can still find success against Washington.

Sit

Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers

Darnold missed essentially the entire first two weeks after going down at the end of the first series in Week 1. He has been good in the two games he has played, even though they were much different: Darnold threw 45 passes and racked up 379 yards and four touchdowns in a Week 3 loss to Washington, then he was efficient at a low volume last week, with 168 yards and two touchdowns on just 22 attempts.

Darnold doesn't run the ball much, so you're counting on his passing to accumulate fantasy points. That makes him more matchup-dependent than we might like, and the matchup isn't in his favor this week.

San Francisco has allowed the third-fewest yards per pass attempt and the seventh-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. The competition hasn't necessarily been fierce, with Miami, Arizona, and Denver their opponents over the past three weeks, but the 49ers shut down Matthew Stafford in Week 1 (though we can argue the impact of the Australia trip).

While Darnold will have plenty of chances to excel with Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the field, but this might not be one of them. I'm not keen on testing San Fran's defense right now.

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks

Just like we did with the “starts,” let's jump right to the other side of this matchup, as the Seahawks have allowed the second-fewest yards per pass attempt and the second-fewest fantasy points to QBs. There's not a team in the league I want to avoid more with fantasy players than Seattle, which has picked up right where they left off after winning the Super Bowl.

Purdy has been fantastic so far even with a new receiver getting injured seemingly every week. He is completing 70% of his passes at 8.9 yards per attempt with no sacks, 11 touchdowns, and one interception. Two of those games were easy matchups (Arizona and Miami), but Purdy has also faced the Rams and Broncos and still has the second-most fantasy points among quarterbacks.

As hard as it is to bench a guy who has been so good, this matchup is about as bad as can be, leaving a low floor. San Francisco finds a way; there's no denying Kyle Shanahan's play calling. I still am not interested in going after Seattle with anyone but the very best fantasy players, and I'm recommending benching Purdy if you have another realistic option.

Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns @ New York Jets

Watson is having his best season since 2020 in Houston, a combination of finally being on the field, being surrounded by an intriguing group of young skill players, and finding his running production again. Watson is QB12 after the first month and has been within the top 15 in two of the four weeks, not fantastic work, but enough to be a reasonable fantasy option when the matchup is right.

The matchup is NOT right in this one. As much as we like to joke about the Jets, they have looked competent this season, and they have given up the eighth-fewest yards per pass attempt and the fifth-fewest fantasy points to QBs. While they haven't faced many running quarterbacks, the Jets have only given up 28 total rushing yards to the position, possibly negating one of Watson's best fantasy features.

There will be more weeks in which Watson is a feasible fantasy option, but this isn't one of those games. He generally has a lower ceiling, and against a formidable defense, there's also a low floor in this one.