Week 5 Monday Night Start Decisions | Are Xavier Worthy, Rashid Shaheed Good Starting Options? Should You Play Kareem Hunt and Others?

Week 5 of the NFL regular season wraps up with a fun Monday night battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints.

As we do before every primetime game, let’s look at the top fantasy options from the contest. We’ll provide rankings for all offensive players at the end of the story.

Looking for start/sit help? Be sure to check out the FantasySP Who Should I Start tool.

Quarterbacks 

New Orleans’ Derek Carr and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes will lead their teams into battle.

Mahomes has 904 passing yards through four weeks, along with six touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s been more of an average fantasy QB through the first month than a top-end fantasy talent, like he was drafted.

Carr was great in weeks 1-2 and fell back to earth in weeks 3-4. He has 824 passing yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions, along with a rushing score.

The matchup favors Carr. Kansas City’s defense allows opposing quarterbacks to score 16 points per week, while New Orleans surrenders just 10 points. Mahomes is still the higher-projected fantasy option at 18 points, while Carr is at just 12 points.

You can play matchups all you want, but I’m not starting Carr over Mahomes if I had that choice. Mahomes is simply too good to keep out of fantasy lineups, while Carr is more a streaming option. The final numbers could be close, but I’m trusting Mahomes with the start over Carr.

Running Backs

Kareem Hunt looks like he’ll lead the Kansas City backfield in week 4. Samaje Perine, Carson Steele and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (he’s doubtful) could also factor in.

Alvin Kamara should dominate the touches in the Saints’ backfield. Kendre Miller is doubtful to play, and Jamaal Williams hasn’t done much across four games so far this season.

Kamara has 362 rushing yards and five scores on 80 attempts, while adding 174 yards and a score on 17 receptions. Williams has 87 rushing yards and a score on 23 attempts, while tacking on 21 receiving yards on four catches and six targets. Miller has been on the injured reserve list and appears to not be ready for game action yet.

Hunt played his first game in week 4, tallying 69 rushing yards on 14 attempts. He's added 16 receiving yards on two catches. Carson Steele was put in the doghouse and limited to three touches after fumbling last week. Perine had 67 total yards on 16 touches, while Edwards-Helaire is still working into game shape after missing the first four weeks while on IR.

The matchup for Kamara is brutal, as KC’s defense allows opposing backs to score just 15 points per week. The matchup for Hunt and other KC backs is only a touch more favorable, with New Orleans’ defense allowing 20 points per game. Kamara is projected for 19 PPR fantasy points, while Hunt is at 13.

Despite the tough matchup, Kamara is still the RB to play from this game, especially in PPR setups. He’s the team’s workhorse, and that alone makes him a great fantasy option, even if he’s held in check most of the night.

Hunt is the KC back I like most this week, but I’m not super high on him and would prefer to avoid him in standard leagues. He’s a good deep league option. Perine has a little PPR value, but I’d try to avoid him outside really deep leagues. Steele is one to avoid in all league types this week.

Even if Miller and Edwards-Helaire were to play, I wouldn’t want to start either. It wouldn’t change too much for the other backs in the contest either.

Wide Receivers

With Rashee Rice out, Xavier Worthy is now the top Chiefs’ receiver going into week 5. Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman (questionable for the game) are other options.

Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are the Saints’ top wideouts. Cedrick Wilson, Mason Tipton and Bub Means are distant backup options.

Worthy had nine catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns on 15 targets. Watson has 87 yards on six catches and eight targets, while Smith-Schuster is at 17 yards and a score on two catches and four targets. Moore has no catches on two targets and Hardson has only played 14 snaps and not been targeted.

Shaheed leads the Saints with 25 targets, coming down with 15 for 252 yards and two scores. Olave is at 265 yards and a touchdown on 20 catches and 24 targets. Tipton has 23 yards on four catches and five targets, Wilson has three yards on his lone catch/target and Means has just one target across 18 snaps played.

The Saints’ defense allows opposing wideouts to score 31 points per game, while the Chiefs allow 29. In the week 5 wideout projections, Olave is projected for 14 PPR points, while Shaheed is at 12 and Worthy 11. Nobody else in this game has a projected mark high enough to crack the top 61.

I’d roll with Olave as my top option in this game, but it also wouldn’t surprise me to see Shaheed and Worthy outperform him with a big play or two. I just trust Olave’s game more than the boom-or-bust nature of Worthy and Shaheed.

I like Worthy over Shaheed, but think both are pretty solid final wide receiver starters in standard formats. Both are better deep league options.

There’s no other wideouts in this game that I’d want to start, even in deeper leagues. You’ll see why in a second.

Tight Ends

Foster Moreau and Juwan Johnson are the Saints’ top tight ends, while Travis Kelce leads Kansas City. Noah Gray should also play quite a bit for the Chiefs. Taysom Hill is out for the Saints.

Kelce had his best game in week 4 and now is up to 158 yards, but no scores, on 15 catches and 21 targets. His best game came after Rice was out, and I expect Kelce to serve as the Chiefs’ No. 1 passing option for a while now. Gray has 90 yards on eight catches and nine targets.

Moreau has 45 yards, a touchdown, five catches and six targets on the season across 180 snaps played. Johnson has 39 yards and a score across four grabs and six targets across 125 snaps. Johnson played 50 snaps in week 4, while Moreau was at 42.

The matchup for Moreau and Johnson is the best you can get, as KC allows 18 points per game to tight ends. The matchup for Kelce and Gray is average, as New Orleans allows 10 points per contest. Kelce is projected for 15 PPR points and is the only one from this game in our week 5 projections.

Kelce is definitely the TE to start tonight, but Johnson and/or Moreau might not be half bad plays in deeper leagues. If you have a big deficit to overcome, Kelce could definitely do enough to make a rally possible. I wouldn’t play Gray outside insanely deep leagues.

I prefer Johnson over Moreau, but wouldn’t feel great about starting them in a standard league. At a weak position though, I could understand a fantasy owner trying to take advantage of the matchup and playing one of the Saints’ TE. Both are pretty solid deep league options.

Kickers

Blake Grupe kicks for the Saints, while Harrison Butker does the kicking for the Chiefs.

Butker is 8-of-9 on field goals, with his miss being from over 50 yards. He’s also 8-of-9 on extra points. Grupe has made all eight of his field goals and 13 of his 14 extra points.

Butker is projected for seven points, while Grupe is at five. I too prefer Butker in this game, but also think Grupe is a pretty solid option given his accuracy. 

Defense/Special Teams

New Orleans’ offense averages 349 yards and 31.8 points, although the points are boosted by a crazy amount in weeks 1-2. Kansas City’s offense averages 328 yards and 23 points.

The Saints’ defense allows 330 yards and 17.5 points per game, while the Chiefs average 326 yards and 18 points. KC has three takeaways to eight for New Orleans. The Saints have turned the ball over five times to seven for the Chiefs.

Both defenses are projected for seven points. This is a tough call for me, as I could see the game being really low scoring or an absolute shootout. I’d lean toward playing the Saints first, but wouldn’t feel great using either one really. 

Overall Rankings

1. Alvin Kamara

2. Patrick Mahomes

3. Travis Kelce

4. Chris Olave

5. Xavier Worthy

6. Rashid Shaheed

7. Kareem Hunt

8. Derek Carr

9. Juwan Johnson

10. Justin Watson

11. Foster Moreau

12. Samaje Perine

13. JuJu Smith-Schuster

14. Carson Steele

15. Skyy Moore

16. Jamaal Williams

17. Mason Tipton

18. Noah Gray

19. Mecole Hardman

20. Cedrick Wilson 

21. Bub Means

Miller would slot in 12th if he’s able to play. Edwards-Helaire would take over where Steele currently sits if he plays and move Steele behind everyone else on this list.