In an ongoing series, PointAfter will break down both the highest-scoring and all-bust fantasy football lineups in the NFL from week to week. If you started the perfect lineup from Week 5, or were unlucky enough to play all of the week’s biggest busts, this is what it looked like.
Note: Each lineup will be updated if a Monday Night Football performer puts up more points or busts more egregiously than the players from Thursday and Sunday. The fantasy scoring system used is from Yahoo Sports leagues.
Versions of this article also appear on Yahoo Sports.
Highest-Scoring QB: Josh McCown
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 35.48
How mediocre is Baltimore’s defense, you ask? Well, apparently the answer is “bad enough to make Josh McCown look like an elite QB.” The 36-year-old veteran, who has notched nearly as many career interceptions (60) as touchdowns (67), unleashed 51 throws in Cleveland’s overtime win over the Ravens. All told, he passed for a team-record 457 yards to complement two touchdowns and a rushing TD.
Highest-Scoring RB1: Doug Martin
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 33.80
Injury troubles over the past two seasons have really hindered Martin’s career path. In a closely-fought 38-31 win over Jacksonville, however, the Boise State product brought back the flashes of brilliance he showed throughout his rookie campaign in 2012. The 26-year-old ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns. He was a difference-maker in the passing game as well, catching three passes for 35 yards and a score.
Highest-Scoring RB2: Devonta Freeman
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 25.70
If Freeman isn’t yet considered an NFL star, he’s knocking on the door. This marks Freeman’s third consecutive week as a member of fantasy’s highest-scoring lineup. In Atlanta’s 25-19 win over Washington, the young running back rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes for an additional 44 yards. There’s no reason not to start him with confidence for the remainder of the fantasy campaign.
Highest-Scoring WR1: Andre Johnson
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 19.70
To be clear, it isn’t 2009. Johnson is no longer the fantasy stud he once was — he entered Week 5 with just seven receptions for 51 yards and wasn’t even targeted in Week 4. Nevertheless, Johnson clearly had a little extra motivation going up against his former team. In the 27-20 win over the Texans, the veteran wideout caught six of seven targets for 77 yards and two scores.
Highest-Scoring WR2: Allen Robinson
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 19.20
It would have been silly to predict that the Bucs vs. Jags matchup would yield some of fantasy’s highest scorers, but here we are. Robinson, who has become a reliable fantasy option following a dud of a performance in Week 1, caught seven passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay.
Highest-Scoring TE: Tyler Eifert
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 21.00
Cincinnati needed overtime to stay unbeaten against the Seattle Seahawks, but the Bengals improved to 5-0 thanks in part to their talented tight end. Eifert caught eight passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. If A.J. Green didn’t have a 72-yard touchdown catch negated by a holding penalty, he would have usurped the top spot among Bengals playmakers. Interestingly, though, Eifert was targeted more often than Green. That’s a great sign for Eifert’s fantasy owners moving forward.
Highest-Scoring Flex: Justin Forsett
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 23.00
Forsett is among the guys who got out to a slow start this season, but his last two performances are signs that his fortunes are set to turn around. After not eclipsing 15 carries through the first three weeks of the season, Forsett has received more than 20 touches in each of the past two contests. In the letdown loss against the Browns, the Cal product ran for 121 yards and a TD. He added four catches for 49 yards to buff his fantasy output.
Highest-Scoring D/ST: Packers
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 23.00
When fans think about Green Bay, they think about MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his ability to dominate games. But don’t overlook the Packers defense. This unit allowed just 10 points against the Rams and forced Nick Foles into a truly ugly performance. Rookie defensive back Quinten Rollins had himself a career day, collecting two of Green Bay’s four interceptions and bringing one back for a TD.
Highest-Scoring K: Caleb Sturgis
Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 16.00
In what has truly been a rough campaign for kickers, broadly speaking, fantasy has seen its share of solid performances throughout the year. This week, it’s Sturgis who gets the nod after he made three out of four extra point attempts and all four of his field goals in a blowout win over the Saints.
Final Tally: Highest-Scoring Lineup
Here’s the final recap of the perfect fantasy lineup from Week 5 of the 2015 NFL season:
Josh McCown: 35.48
Doug Martin:33.80
Devonta Freeman: 25.70
Andre Johnson: 19.70
Allen Robinson: 19.20
Tyler Eifert: 21.00
Justin Forsett: 23.00
Packers D/ST: 23.00
Caleb Sturgis: 16.00
Final Score: 216.88 points
All-Bust QB: Matt Ryan
Projected points (position rank): 18.8 (3rd)
Actual points (position rank): 8.2 (26th)
After a strong first four weeks of the season, Ryan had his first truly bad game. And yet, the Falcons still came away with a win over the woeful Redskins. Ryan had no touchdowns for the first time this year, and his 57.1 completion percentage was his lowest since Week 6 of last season.
Ryan has been fairly reliable throughout his career in terms of taking care of the football and having a high completion percentage. He’s averaged over 28 touchdown passes per season since 2010 and has been consistent with his accuracy.
Ryan just barely saved Peyton Manning from making a repeat appearance on this list, and a big reason for that was the questionable overruling of what would have been a 13-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Freeman with 51 seconds left. Freeman rushed for a touchdown two plays later, and the Falcons went on to win in overtime after Kirk Cousins threw a pick-six to Robert Alford.
All-Bust RB1: Ameer Abdullah
Projected points (position rank): 11.0 (14th)
Actual points (position rank): 0.6 (T-65th)
Sunday was another awful day in what’s been a truly awful season for the Lions. The NFL’s lone winless team was blown out by the Cardinals, and the talented rookie Abdullah had some issues holding onto the football, with two fumbles on the day.
Abdullah was benched in favor of fellow rookie running back Zach Zenner for much of the second half following his two first half fumbles. Abdullah finished with seven touches on offense, tied for his lowest of the season. This marks his second appearance on the All-Bust lineup, which makes his stellar debut seem more and more like an outlier.
All-Bust RB2: Jamaal Charles
Projected points (position rank): 18.6 (1st)
Actual points (position rank): 8.4 (26th)
Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Kansas City on Sunday. The Chiefs lost their fourth game in a row, this time to the lowly Bears at home, and Charles suffered what is believed to be a torn ACL in his right knee during the third quarter.
This would be the second season-ending injury for Charles, who tore his left ACL in Week 2 of the 2011 season. This is a crushing blow for the Chiefs, who have little experience on the roster to replace the three-time All-Pro selection. Knile Davis has averaged just 3.4 yards per carry in his career and Charcandrick West has just five total carries under his belt as a pro.
Fantasy owners who used a top-three pick for Charles are now left scrambling for replacements in a very thin crop of free agent running backs.
All-Bust WR1: Randall Cobb
Projected points (position rank): 11.8 (6th)
Actual points (position rank): 2.3 (T-62nd)
Cobb makes his second consecutive appearance on the All-Bust lineup thanks to his season-worst 23-yard performance. For the second time this season (and first since Week 1), Cobb did not lead the team in targets, though he still maintains a sizable lead as Aaron Rodgers’ go-to option in the red zone.
Despite the presence of James Jones, Davante Adams and Ty Montgomery, Cobb owners should still feel comfortable with him in the starting lineup. The Packers will continue to throw the ball plenty with Rodgers calling the shots, and Cobb will get his touches.
All-Bust WR2: Percy Harvin
Projected points (position rank): 7.4 (30th)
Actual points (position rank): -0.1 (N/A)
There were several options for the second wide receiver spot on the All-Bust team, but Harvin’s inability to gain positive yardage during the entire course of a 60-minute football game earned him the nod.
With both Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy inactive for the second straight week, it seemed like Harvin would play a bigger role in the offense. He lost a yard on his lone rushing attempt, and while he was targeted a team-high four times, he finished with zero catches.
Amazingly, Harvin is owned in 61 percent of leagues, though that number might drop after this week. Even more amazingly is the fact that Harvin leads all Bills wide receivers in targets, with nearly double the amount that Robert Woods has on the season.
All-Bust TE: Jason Witten
Projected points (position rank): 8.2 (3rd)
Actual points (position rank): 1.3 (27th)
The Cowboys offense was no match against the Patriots defense on Sunday, and Witten had his worst performance of the season. He had a season low 33 receiving yards and lost a fumble for the first time since 2010.
Witten is averaging just nine yards per catch this season, the lowest season average for his career. Last season, he finished with 703 yards, his lowest total since his rookie year. Perhaps it’s finally time the trusty veteran starts to experience a decline.
All-Bust Flex: Eddie Lacy
Projected points (position rank): 13.7 (7th)
Actual points (position rank): 3.5 (44th)
Few players have disappointed more this season than Lacy. After rewarding owners with a strong debut against the Bears, Lacy has just 224 yards from scrimmage in his past four games with no touchdowns. In his third NFL season, he’s seen his average rush attempts and yards per game decrease each year.
Lacy has yet to have a run of longer than 16 yards this season, and with James Starks seeing virtually the same number of touches on offense so far (70 touches for Lacy vs. 63 for Starks), Lacy fantasy owners can feel free to hit the panic button if they haven’t already.
All-Bust D/ST: Texans
Projected points (position rank): 8.7 (14th)
Actual points (position rank): 0.0 (23rd)
For the second straight week, the Texans defense finds itself on the All-Bust lineup.
Led by the incomparable J.J. Watt, Houston was supposed to have a strong defense this year, but that has not been the case so far. The 10th-highest owned defense seemed to have a favorable matchup on Thursday night against the Colts and 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck, but instead the team put up a goose egg, allowing 27 points and forcing no turnovers.
The Texans face the Jaguars, Dolphins and Titans in their next three games, all of which should be good matchups for the defense. But after two straight awful performances, fantasy owners shouldn’t feel too comfortable slotting Houston in their starting lineups.
All-Bust K: Dan Carpenter
Projected points (position rank): 7.0 (26th)
Actual points (position rank): 2.0 (26th)
In a 14-13 win over the Titans, the Bills did not attempt a single field goal, so Carpenter really isn’t to blame for his two-point performance. He did his part, making both of his extra point attempts. He’s owned in 67 percent of leagues despite having just seven field goal attempts on the season.
Final Tally: All-Bust Lineup
Here’s the final recap of the most disappointing lineup from Week 5 of the 2015 NFL season:
Matt Ryan: 8.2
Ameer Abdullah: 0.6
Jamaal Charles: 8.4
Randall Cobb: 2.3
Percy Harvin: -0.1
Jason Witten: 1.3
Eddie Lacy: 3.5
Texans D/ST: 0.0
Dan Carpenter: 2.0
Final Score: 26.2 points