Week 5 Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Texans vs Jaguars

Week 5 of the NFL season includes an intriguing AFC South showdown when the Houston Texans travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. FanDuel Sportsbook's NFL odds show the Jaguars as 7-point home favorites in what is shaping up to be a one-sided affair.

If you need some help with your fantasy lineups, here's our start 'em, sit 'em advice for this Week 4 showdown between the Texans and Jaguars.

Brandin Cooks Fantasy

Start Brandin Cooks, WR, Houston Texans: All aboard the Brandin Cooks hype train! Next stop: Jacksonville. Fantasy managers are feeling good after Cooks finally found the end zone last week, leading to 18.7 fantasy points — good for the WR14 rank in PPR leagues. While the Jaguars' defense has been strong this season, they have given up five touchdowns to wideouts (tied for eighth most). If that's not enticing enough, Cooks seems to, well, cook the Jags every time he plays them, averaging 22.5 PPR points in six all-time meetings. With him surpassing 100 receiving yards in five of those contests, the former Oregon State Beaver is a must-start this week.

Travis Etienne Fantasy

Start Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars: As PPR's RB40 through four weeks, it's understandable if you have a tough time trusting Travis Etienne. Even with James Robinson's presence, Etienne's snap share has increased from 37% to 43% to 51% over the last three weeks, indicating that bigger things could be around the corner. Fortunately, that success could come this week against the Texans, who yield the second-most rushing yards per game (172.0) as well as the most fantasy points to RBs. The Jaguars are also projected to win by a wide margin, meaning there should be plenty of opportunities for Etienne to score some points as Jacksonville runs out the clock.

Rex Burkhead Fantasy

Sit Rex Burkhead, RB, Houston Texans: Some managers might be tempted to plug Rex Burkhead into their lineup after the veteran finished Week 4 as the RB17 with 14.9 fantasy points. Having said that, he's a bit of a tough player to trust. For starters, he holds little value in Houston's run game due to Dameon Pierce's emergence, proven by Burkhead recording zero carries twice in the last three games. While his pass-catching skills do give him PPR value, he'd still need to find the end zone to be fantasy relevant (proven by last week's performance). The bad news for Burkhead is that the Jaguars have yet to allow a receiving TD to running backs this season, making Burkhead someone to leave on your bench unless Pierce gets hurt.

Evan Engram Fantasy

Sit Evan Engram, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars: The fact that Evan Engram has played 73% of snaps this season looks great on paper. The reality is that his playing time has not led to fantasy results, entering the week as the TE19 as he averages 6.2 points per game. After being targeted eight times in Week 2, Engram has only seen four passes thrown his way over the last two weeks, turning those opportunities into two catches for 25 receiving yards. That's it. Even with his playing time, it's just too difficult to trust Engram as a weekly option. Until his connection with Trevor Lawrence is rekindled, I'm more than comfortable leaving him on the bench.

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Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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