Another week of fantasy football action is in the books, as owners everywhere scour the waiver wire to find the best available defense streams. Looking around the league shows that defenses like the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots offer the best chance of positive performance in the upcoming week.
Note that in order to be eligible for this list, the defense needed to be available in at least 50% of fantasy leagues. Obviously, there is some variation from league to league, so make sure to peruse all available players before making your claims. There could be a better streaming option available in your specific league that didn’t qualify for this list. Also, for the sake of clarity, I’m including the New England Patriots since I expect them to be widely available after their Monday night faceoff against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Week 5 Waiver Pickups: Running Back – Wide Receiver – Quarterback
Denver Broncos, New England Patriots Highlight Fantasy Football Week 5 Defense Waiver Wire Streams
New England Patriots
God, this game is going to be ugly. Drew Lock won’t be back for Week 5, which means it’s another week of the Brett Rypien Show. Much like Hoyer (more on him later), Rypien is a quarterback you’d never want to start under normal circumstances. This may not be the same dominant unit from 2019, but it doesn’t need to be. The Patriots defense should have plenty of opportunities for takeaways and keep scoring to a minimum.
Denver Broncos (if Cam Newton doesn’t play)
Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, which means he faces long odds of being ready for Week 5. This means that one of Brian Hoyer or Jarrett Stidham will start against the Broncos, which means you can start the Broncos defense. This article is being published before the Patriots take on the Kansas City Chiefs, but we’ve seen enough from Brian Hoyer to know exactly who he is. Hoyer simply isn’t capable of sustained success without a great supporting cast, and New England’s is one of the worst.
The Broncos don’t have the most talented defense by any stretch of the imagination, but they should be able to handle this passing attack. Nobody is afraid of Brain Hoyer, Julian Edelman, N’Keal Harry, and Sony Michel, and you shouldn’t be either.
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals face the New York Jets – what more do you need to know? While Sam Darnold and company performed surprisingly well against the Denver Broncos, it still wasn’t a great performance. This offense is hopelessly lost, as Adam Gase continues to ruin everything he touches. The Cardinals should have at least one or two interceptions, and it’s hard to see the Jets scoring any more than 21 points against a league-average defense like this one.
Week 5 Waiver Pickups: Running Back – Wide Receiver – Quarterback
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