You Can Turn Your Roster Around in Week 5... Here's How!

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Liz Loza (0:30)

Well, first of all, we got to talk about a quarterback because this position, despite how much we talked about its depth heading into the season is really frustrating. Hey, I'm Liz Loza. This is Facts Versus Feelings. And today's fact is that things can always and often do change.

Hello, Daniel Dopp. Welcome to week five. How you feeling about it?

Daniel Dopp (0:54)

Feeling pretty good. I honestly can't believe that we are over a month into the season at this point, but we still got a lot of football left, girl. So we're going to dive in. We got a bunch of players I'm going to bring to the table. Enough of a sample size that we can start to really react to what some guys have looked like. And I want to start with one of the best running backs in the game, Christian McCaffrey. You and I had some thoughts coming into the season. Now that we got four games under our belt, how you feeling about this guy?

Liz Loza (1:18)

Well, I am feeling like his role has shifted in the 49ers offense. Now, let me be very clear. I am not telling anyone to sit Christian McCaffrey. I am, however, asking you to open your mind to a potentially new perspective because as it stands, McCaffrey's receiving work, that which he was most known for, has dried up. If you look at last year, four weeks into 2025, he was the RB1 in routes run, the RB1 in catches and the RB1 in receiving yards. One month into the 2026 season that we are presently in, he is the RB10 in routes run, the RB6 in catches and the RB6 in receiving yards. In fact, he's become a bit of a goal line gremlin and he's averaging 4.4 yards per carry and this coming off of a career low 3.9 yards per carry last season.

Daniel Dopp (2:11)

Yeah, the four touchdowns he has this year, Liz Loza, one yard rushing touchdown, one yard rushing touchdown, a one yard rushing touchdown and another one yard rushing touchdown. So it has been nothing but goal line work for Christian McCaffrey and even in that receiving game where you talk about he has not had a game with more than 45 yards receiving yet. That's just not the guy that we thought Christian McCaffrey was gonna be.

Liz Loza (2:34)

Now from a rushing perspective, I am not anticipating a bounce back given the matchup against the Seahawks. Seattle's defense is allowing the sixth fewest yards per carry right now, but maybe this is a silver lining, maybe we'll see an adjustment. The Seahawks have been fairly generous to opposing running backs through the air, allowing the fourth most receptions to the position. Also worth mentioning, Kyle Ustrich is out. He is often involved in the passing game, the receiving game, if you will. So his absence might boost McCaffrey in that regard a little bit. Regardless, I am not ranking McCaffrey inside my top five at the position for week five. He is inside my top 10 though.

Daniel Dopp (3:17)

I was gonna say not inside my top five, but not outside of my top 10 Either still an RB one, given the kind of volume he's getting. All right, speaking of volume, did you know that the Detroit Lions defense just gives up nothing but volumes of fantasy points to quarterbacks, Liz? Jacoby Brissett draws him this week. I don't even wanna be here for this conversation, but you should tell the people why it's a good idea to start him here.

Liz Loza (3:39)

Well, first of all, we gotta talk about a quarterback because this position, despite how much we talked about its depth heading into the season, is really frustrating. We've got Patrick Mahomes and Bryce Young both on a buy. Those two quarterbacks, by the way, top 10 fantasy producers at the position, which is a different kind of tilt. Also, Caleb Williams out, Jackson Dart out, Lamar Jackson out. We do have Jaden Daniels returning. We have question marks around Drake May, not so many around Justin Herbert anymore. And so now people might be scrambling for a stream, and I think Brissett can be serviceable in that regard. He has been the QB5 in red zone attempts and the QB5 in designed run, so we're seeing some rushing upside. He also leads the league in games with 40 plus pass attempts since the start of 2025