DraftKings Top Week 5 Value Plays

Week 5 is here, bye weeks are here, and I’m back to help us think through the best ways to save some dough in the DraftKings Sunday slate. Let’s dive into some players at the $5,000 salary or less to target to supplement the stars and try and win some cold hard cash!

Spencer Rattler

Spencer Rattler has honestly been pretty solid so far this year in fantasy. He’s kept the turnovers down, he’s throwing a decent clip of touchdowns, and he scrambles a bit as well. Against a rookie quarterback without his top weapon, there’s a realistic chance this game is back and forth, even if the Giants’ D is more talented on paper.

Bryce Young

We’re back with Bryce Young in the value section of this article this week, and the matchup with Miami’s atrocious defense is quite juicy. Bryce has been pretty disappointing overall, as he seems to have reverted closer to the player he was pre-benching last year vs post-benching. However, he still has a top weapon in Tetairoa McMillan, and the Dolphins will push them offensively to force Young to have to put up points if he can to keep pace.

Rachaad White

The Seattle defense does scare me a bit this week, but Bucky Irving looks very likely to miss this game, which just leaves White and Sean Tucker in the backfield. Rachaad has the safe floor of the pass-catching game built-in to his profile, and if he splits or even has the lions’ share of the rush work, White projects as perhaps the best price per dollar play on the entire slate.

Kendre Miller

There is a solid possibility that Kendre Miller’s production last week was because they faced the Bills, an absolutely terrible run defense. However, it is worth noting that he did get a lot of work in a competitive game against one of the best offenses in football. Miller has sneaky upside to inherit more and more work from Alvin Kamara as time goes on, and he seems to have taken a strong hold on red zone work as well.

Michael Carter

Let it be known that against my best wishes, I am an Arizona Cardinals fan since birth. Emari Demercado has been the waiver wire hotness in redraft this week with Trey Benson going on IR. However, from what I know about the Cardinals offense under Drew Petzig, and from asking one of their top beat writers on Bluesky straight out, I would expect this to be a running back room by committee truly. While Demercado does project for some passing work, Michael Carter is more explosive and talented as a runner, and he has the better touchdown upside against a putrid Titans defense (and will be much less owned in DFS).

Jameson Williams

Jameson Williams is a must-play in DFS basically every week because of the potential he has to break the slate on low targets. He becomes even more interesting when his price drops below $5k like this, especially in a plus-matchup against the Bengals hapless defensive unit. Jamo could earn 3 targets, or he could earn 8. Either way, it may not matter if he gets the 80 yard bomb touchdown that he’s good for 3-4 games a year.

Troy Franklin

Something that seems to have flown under the radar so far this season is that Troy Franklin has 27 targets through four weeks. He has very clearly established himself as the second option in Denver, and already has 1 game of 24 DraftKings points in a week so far this year. To get that type of target share on a solid offense for only $4k feels fantastic, regardless of the defense he’s facing. Franklin is a must-play for me this week.

Jalen Tolbert

Jalen Tolbert has quietly earned 6 targets each of the past 2 weeks without CeeDee Lamb on the field, and he might have an opportunity for even more targets if the Jets have Sauce Gardner shadow George Pickens in this game. Tolbert has shown in the past that he can put up solid numbers as a secondary option in a pass-heavy offense, and Dak seems to trust Tolbert whenever he’s called upon to play a lot of snaps.

Zach Ertz

In the 2 games that Zach Ertz has played with Jayden Daniels, he’s scored 30 fantasy points exactly on DraftKings. In the 2 games he played with Marcus Mariota, he scored 12.9 points. Jayden Daniels should be back in this game, and I am going to chase the points here with Ertz. At $3,800, I don’t have to spend up very much either to chase it, and to me he’s the best tight end on the slate under $4k.

Mason Taylor

The Jets said aloud that they are going to make an effort to involve Taylor more in the offense, which did play out last week in their game. Taylor is a talented rookie, and the reality for the Jets is that they still only have Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall as realistic target earners in this offense. I like the cheap play of Taylor here against a bad Cowboys’ defense.