Five weeks into the season, and I’m starting to think the NFL enjoys our pain.

Josh Allen is a high-end RB2. Matthew Stafford has apparently decided that throwing the ball 50+ times a game is a fun new hobby. The Vikings are turning opposing quarterbacks into pumpkins. And the Browns are averaging fewer than 275 yards of total offense per game. Woof. We’re not even halfway through October, and I’m already tired.

At this point, I’ve stopped asking why and started asking whether any of this is going to make sense by next Sunday. Probably not. But that’s never stopped us from spending six days convincing ourselves we’ve figured it all out, only to watch our carefully constructed fantasy lineups fall apart by 1:15 p.m.

Anyway, I’ve got plenty of numbers to throw at you this week, ranging from genuinely useful trends to stats that made me stop and stare at my screen for a minute. Let’s get into it, because apparently we haven’t suffered enough.

The NFL Numbers Game Week 5: The Stats You Need to Know

George Pickens: When the Cat’s Away

While dealing with a quad injury in Week 5, CeeDee Lamb ran a season-low 25 routes while hauling in only 2 passes for 9 yards on 5 targets. Meanwhile, George Pickens earned 13 targets for 9 receptions, 130 yards, and 1 TD.

In 2025, when Lamb missed time, Pickens averaged 8.7 targets (up from 7.9), 6.3 receptions (up from 5.3), 117.7 air yards (up from 85.3), and 1.3 TDs (up from 0.4) per game. I only counted FULL games that Lamb missed for this, not any times where Lamb left early/wasn’t on the field.

Kenneth Gainwell: Empty Promises

For all the talk by the Tampa Bay coaches about “we want to get Kenneth Gainwell more involved,” Gainwell had his lowest snap share of the season in Week 5 with 36.9%. He also had one fewer rushing attempt than Sean Tucker (4 to 5), while both gained 18 yards on the ground. Gainwell led all Tampa Bay RBs in routes run for the first time all season, with 13 routes to Bucky Irving’s 9, while Tucker added 1.

Saquon Barkley: Send Help

Over 36 rushing attempts in 2026, Saquon Barkley is averaging 5.1 yards/carry for a total of 182 yards. All other Philadelphia RBs are averaging 2.6 yards/carry over 59 carries. For the season, all non-Saquon rushers (which includes Hurts) combined are averaging 3.37 yards/carry. QB Jalen Hurts is 2nd on the team with 106 rushing yards on 18 combined scrambles and rushing attempts for a 5.89 average between the two.

Brian Thomas: Stranger Things

Meanwhile, Brenton Strange earned 5 total targets over the first two games, never exceeding 3 in a game, and from Week 3 onward has earned a total of 21, never earning fewer than 5 targets in a game.

Rome Odunze: Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

In Weeks 1-3, D’Andre Swift had a 65% snap share, with no single game below 57% (I excluded Week 4 because Swift was benched after his 2nd fumble of the game). In Week 5, which Kyle Monangai missed due to injury, Swift registered a 58% snap share. 

For the 2nd consecutive game, Rome Odunze led the Bears in non-RB targets (9), while Luther Burden (6) and Colston Loveland (5) rounded out the top 3. 

Green Bay Packers: Selling the Run

In Weeks 1-3, Green Bay’s WRs had an average depth of target (aDOT) of 10.9 yards, with a high of 11.6 in Week 1. In Weeks 4 + 5, Green Bay’s WRs had an aDOT of 14.3 yards. 

In Weeks 1-3, Green Bay ran play action on 19.7% of their passing plays. In Weeks 4 + 5, Green Bay ran play action on 64.1% of their passing plays.

Jaylin Noel: Earning His Stripes

In Week 5, Jaylin Noel had 2.2 yards/route run, compared to Nico Collins’ 1.8 yards/route run. On the season, Noel is getting 2.3 yards/route run, good for 2nd on the team behind Collins’ 2.6 yards/route run. Noel’s 2.3 is enough to tie him for 23rd in the NFL among players who have played at least 75 snaps.

Cam Ward: The Definition of Insanity

For the 4th time this season, Cam Ward threw at least 30 passes in a game, the only exception being Week 2 against Philadelphia. Ward is averaging 5.78 yards per attempt on the year so far. He’s exceeded the league average of 7.08 YPA twice this season (9.15 in Week 2, and 7.16 in Week 4), and failed to reach 5 YPA twice (Week 1 and Week 5).

Joe Burrow: Rarely Disappointing

Joe Burrow failed to throw for at least 200 yards for just the 14th time in his career. Of games where he played at least 60% of the snaps, that works out to a 17.5% failure rate (14 of 80), and he averages just over 2 per year. The rest of the NFL has a 30.6% failure rate, with a minimum of 32 games with at least a 60% snap share.

Ollie Gordon: Wright Off the Other Guy

Since De’Von Achane’s Week 3 injury (heal up well, King), Ollie Gordon has outgained fellow RB Jaylen Wright on the ground 229 to 18 and outcarried him 44 to 11. Through the “air” (I use the term loosely here), Gordon has earned 5 targets and caught all 5 for 14 yards to Wright’s 1 target that he didn’t catch.

Dylan Laube: Not Just Garbage Time

For the first time this season, Dylan Laube exceeded a 15% snap share, logging 40.4% of the Raiders’ snaps. For those wondering if it was a “scoreboard” issue, he played 14 of his 23 snaps prior to backup QB Fernando Mendoza entering the game for the Raiders’ final 10 plays of the day. Mike Washington played 4 snaps, rushing 1 time for 5 yards and earning 1 target for 5 yards.

Drake Maye: Maye I Have Your Attention Please?

Since playing Buffalo in Week 4, Drake Maye has a 9.05 YPA from 643 yards on only 71 attempts. Weeks 1-3, Maye had a 7.31 YPA. In 2025, Maye led the NFL with an 8.93 YPA.

Minnesota Vikings: Welcome to the Shadow Realm

Over the full season, the Minnesota defense has limited opposing QBs to 45.7% of their non-Minnesota production. In similar fashion, the Minnesota defense has limited opposing RBs to 64% of their normal production in non-Minnesota games.

Tyler Shough: Minnesota's Latest Casualty

Tyler Shough was on the opposite side of the Minnesota matchup in Week 5, throwing for only 96 yards and two interceptions. Since 2020, there have been 13 other games where the QB failed to pass the century mark for passing yards, for a 0.5% rate across 2,783 games where a QB played at least 60% of snaps and threw at least 25 passes.

Cleveland Browns: Offensive Output Not Included

Through 5 games, the Cleveland Browns are averaging 273.6 yards/game. That’s total yards. From 2020-2025, there have been 6 times teams have failed to meet that mark, 4 of which were in 2025 (Tennessee, the New York Jets, Las Vegas, and Cleveland). 

Kenyon Sadiq: 15 Minutes of Fame

In Week 3, Kenyon Sadiq earned 8 targets, turning them into 7 receptions, 105 yards, and 1 TD on his way to a TE4 finish for the week.

Outside of that week, Sadiq has earned a total of 13 targets, turning them into 7 receptions for 41 yards and 0 TDs receiving, although he added 1 rush for 3 yards and 1 TD. His average finish in those games is TE40, with his highest finish as TE12 in Week 1.

Daniel Jones: Deeply Unreliable

For the 2nd consecutive week, Josh Downs was 4th in line for targets (6), behind Keenan Allen (9), Tyler Warren (9), and Laquon Treadwell (8). Downs was 2nd in air yards with 97 behind Treadwell (128).

Daniel Jones is 36th in completion percentage on throws of 10 air yards or more among all passers (excluding Efton Chism and his single completed passing attempt) in the NFL. 

Aaron Rodgers: Time Is a Flat Circle

Aaron Rodgers’ time to throw (TTT) is 2.82 seconds so far in 2026, ranking 19th in the NFL. If Rodgers finishes with this number, it will be his highest since 2019, when Rodgers had a TTT of 2.88, which tied for 6th in 2019 with Dak Prescott.

Jameis Winston: Chaos Is a Ladder

QB Jameis Winston is QB7 over Weeks 4 and 5, when he averaged 288 yards passing, 3 passing TDs, and 1.5 turnovers (a required stat when talking Winston). 

Over the same stretch, Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely are 3rd and 4th in targets…in the NFL. Nabers is WR2, and Likely is TE1 over the past two games as well.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt: The Curious Case of JCM

I promise, I won’t talk about the end of the game.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt played his fewest number of snaps in a game this season with 21, although it was only his 2nd lowest snap share at 35% (34.3% is the season low). It was the only game of the year where JCM averaged over 4.0 yards rushing, and his first time in 2026 as a top 20 RB. In more dubious fashion, it was the first game of the season where JCM didn’t earn a single target.

RJ Harvey: The Payton Bait-and-Switch

Sean Payton took over as playcaller in Week 5. Don’t blame the messenger.

In Week 5, RJ Harvey tied his season low for snaps played (20) and earned his fewest number of targets on the year with 1. Harvey averaged 7 targets/game coming in. Harvey ran 12 routes in Week 5, compared to an average of 16 in Weeks 2-4.

Since setting a season high in Week 2 with 10 targets, Jaylen Waddle has seen his targets decrease every week from 7 in Week 3 to 6 in Week 4, and 5 in Week 5.

Los Angeles Chargers: Is Anyone Actually in Charge Here?

Charlie Kolar made his ‘triumphant’ return to the Chargers and tied for the team lead in targets. Sadly, 4 targets were good enough for the team lead in Week 5, and he shared that pinnacle with Keaton Mitchell and Tre Harris. 

For the second week in a row, Omarion Hampton was 3rd in snap share among RBs (31.7%) and hasn’t led the team on his own since Week 2 (64.5%).

Jameson Williams: The Boom-or-Bust Express

Jameson Williams ran the fewest number of routes that he has all year (26), and tied his season low with 4 targets. Williams has hit that season low in 3 of 5 games so far this year. He turned those 4 targets into 2 receptions for 2 TDs, propelling him to a WR14 finish for Week 5.

Michael Wilson: Nothing to See Here

In Week 5, the first game (sorta) post-Marvin Harrison, Michael Wilson saw his lowest target share, 14.6%, of the season, although his air yards were in line with his season norms with 102 in Week 5, compared to an average of 105.5 in Weeks 1-4.

Trey McBride also saw his lowest target share, 20.8%, of the season, but everything else was right in line with “normal Trey McBride” with 10 targets, 9 receptions, 66 yards, and 1 TD. His season averages sit at 11.5 targets /8.25 receptions /60.5 yards /0.5 TDs across the same four metrics.

Mike Evans: Old Reliable

Mike Evans has either led the team in targets or been within one of the leaders in every game of 2026.

Of the four players who have managed this in every game, Evans is 3rd in fantasy points/game played at 12.9. Of players who have accomplished this feat in every game they’ve played (they missed at least one with injury), Evans is 7th in fantasy points.

Sam Darnold: Seeing Ghosts Again

In the 3 games that Sam Darnold finished, he’s hit 200+ yards passing only once, in Week 3 vs. Washington. On the year, Darnold has 7.7 YPA. Excluding the Washington game, he has a 7.09 YPA. 

Derrick Henry: Long Live the King

Without Lamar Jackson in Week 5, Derrick Henry secured his second most productive rushing output of the 2026 season with 102 yards rushing on 24 carries. For the first time all year, Henry didn’t score a rushing TD, but in a similar “this hasn’t happened before!” style, Henry did add his first receiving TD since 2024.

Drake London: Open for Business

Michael Penix has improved his weekly finish among fantasy QBs every week, going from QB26 in Week 3 to QB22 in Week 4 and QB16 in Week 5. 

Over that same stretch, Drake London is tied for 10th in the NFL among WRs in targets with 27, and is tied for WR6 in HPPR with CeeDee Lamb at 17.1.

Josh Allen: Somebody Tackle Josh Allen

Josh Allen has rushed for 239 yards with 8 rushing TDs and 1 fumble, good for 69.9 points. That puts him at RB15 in total points, right between Bucky Irving and Aaron Jones. In terms of points/game, his 13.98 gets edged out by Kyle Monangai to knock him down to RB16.

Oh yeah, Allen is also 10th in the NFL in passing yards (1,249) and tied for 16th in passing TDs (7). 

Matthew Stafford: Permission to Launch

After his first two games of 2026, Matthew Stafford was averaging 28 passing attempts/game. In Weeks 3-5, Stafford averaged 53.3 passing attempts/game. That’s almost an additional full game’s worth of passing attempts over the first 2 weeks of the season every game.

FIN:

Lou Brunson serves as a Senior Analyst and designer of the Two Rivers, GUTS, and Injury Response Protocol projection systems used across Optimus Fantasy.