NFL Week 5 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Thursday’s game

Fantasy Sports

add

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2025.

San Francisco 49ers @ Los Angeles Rams

The 49ers rely on journey veteran receivers: The 49ers relied entirely on recent additions at wide receiver due to injury.

The 49ers have been without three of their eight wide receivers from last season. Brandon Aiyuk is on the PUP list, and Jacob Cowing and Trent Taylor are on injured reserve. Starting receivers Jauan Jennings (ankle, rib), Ricky Pearsall (knee) and fourth-round rookie Jordan Watkins (calf) were all inactive.

San Francisco added Demarcus Robinson early in the offseason, knowing Aiyuk might not be ready at the start of the season. He was suspended for the first three weeks of the season but mixed in as a backup last week. Most of the 49ers’ wide receivers who are now injured were also dealing with injuries during training camp, leading the team to look elsewhere for wide receivers. The 49ers traded for Skyy Moore on August 21st, signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling to the practice squad after the Seattle Seahawks released him on August 28th (and later to the active roster on September 3rd) and signed Kendrick Bourne after the New England Patriots released him on September 9th. These were the 49ers’ top four wide receivers on the depth chart this week.

Bourne and Robinson were the two starting receivers, playing the normal amount of snaps for a 49ers starting receiver. Bourne led the room in production, thanks to his three years of experience catching passes from Mac Jones in New England. While Bourne has experience playing both outside and in the slot, he was primarily an outside receiver in this game.

In two-receiver sets, Valdes-Scantling was Robinson’s backup, and Moore was Bourne’s backup. Valdes-Scantling was surprisingly the slot receiver in three-receiver sets. In Week 3, when Pearsall and Bourne were the outside receivers, Moore was consistently the third receiver in three-receiver sets over Valdes-Scantling.

While Bourne put up a great stat line, it’s best to leave him on the waiver wire. Ideally, with some extra rest, Jennings, Pearsall and tight end George Kittle may all be back next week. Bourne will be part of the offense even when those receivers are healthy but not enough to trust him for fantasy purposes. Even if some of the receivers aren’t back for Week 6, the 49ers also have a rough matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Blake Corum barely sees the field: A combination of factors led the Rams to stick almost entirely with Kyren Williams.

Corum’s playing time was slowly but surely on the rise this season. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry in the first three weeks. This led Los Angeles to use a two-man committee over the first three drives last week. Williams was outplaying Corum during those three drives, leading Williams to return to his usual role for the rest of the game.

Williams played every snap on the first drive and the first seven plays of the second drive, which was normal for him at the start of the season. Corum ran 13 yards for a first down on his first snap but then did not correctly handle a pitch from Matthew Stafford on his second play, leading to a turnover. Statistically, the fumble was credited to Stafford because Corum never had control of the ball. The 49ers dominated time of possession in the first half, so the Rams only had one more drive in the half, which fully went to Williams.

Generally, when a team is playing from behind and has a starter and a backup rather than an early-down back and a receiving back, they are more likely to play their starter more than usual. When they have a lead, those teams tend to be more willing to use their backup. Williams played the first drive of the second half, which was also normal, and then Corum played over half of the plays on the following drive. Corum dropped a pass on that drive. The team went with Williams for the rest of the game.

Corum’s hands in this game will likely make it harder for him to fight for more playing time, but he’s been explosive with the ball in his hands, including his one play in this game.  Williams also dropped a pass and lost a fumble in the last two minutes of the game. Corum remains a solid handcuff for fantasy purposes, and his snap count from this game likely doesn’t mean much going forward, given that both running backs have ball security problems.

Terrance Ferguson makes a case for a bigger role: Ferguson made a 21-yard reception for his first NFL catch.

The Rams spent a second-round pick on Ferguson to be their tight end of the future. Most rookie tight ends who were drafted in the first five rounds have already carved out a decent role in their offense. Out of the 10 tight ends selected in the first five rounds, nine have caught four or more passes in the first four weeks. Ferguson has been the one exception as the fourth tight end on the Rams’ depth chart.

Tyler Higbee has led the Rams’ tight end rotation this season, followed by Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and Ferguson. When all four have been healthy, Ferguson has been a healthy inactive. However, Parkinson missed Week 2, allowing Ferguson to be the third tight end, playing four snaps. This week, Higbee was inactive due to a hip injury.

The Rams generally used a rotation by drive at tight end, led by Parkinson. Ferguson played on some, but not all, third downs. He similarly played most of his snaps on third downs in Week 2. While Ferguson’s work was entirely on an impressive 21-yard catch, that was a better receiving performance than Parkinson or Allen in any of the first four weeks.

It’s too early to consider picking up Ferguson in fantasy leagues, and it’s possible no Rams tight end is fantasy relevant this season, but there is at least a chance Ferguson is active next week, which would be a good sign for his dynasty value.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Rams wide receiver Tutu Atwell played more offensive snaps than Jordan Whittington for the first time this season. This was potentially thanks to his 88-yard game-winning touchdown catch last week. It’s unlikely either wide receiver can be fantasy-relevant this season unless there is an injury to Puka Nacua or Davante Adams.
• 49ers Brock Purdy was inactive this week due to a toe injury. He didn’t practice all week. Adrian Martinez was signed to the 53-man roster to be the backup quarterback this week.
• 49ers wide receiver Malik Turner was a practice squad call-up due to several wide receiver injuries, but he wasn’t involved on offense.
• Fourth-string running back Jordan James was a healthy inactive, as he’s been all season.
• Tight end George Kittle has spent the last four weeks on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury. He is eligible to return next week.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.

This news was originally published on this post .

Tagged as:
Fantasy

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

MLB roundup: Cam Schlittler (12 K’s) pitches Yankees past Red Sox

Sports

Next

trending_flat

MLB playoffs 2025: Led by Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs get back to their strengths to eliminate Padres, advance to NLDS vs. Brewers

Sports