Week 5 Fantasy Football preview: Ravens vs. Steelers

Start:

RB – Mark Ingram

If you have Ingram you are probably starting him already. He has been the RB5 so far in Fantasy Football this year in .5 PPR formats. He’s had two monster games and two underwhelming games. Last week versus the Browns was an underwhelming performance as he only produced 7.6 Fantasy Football points. It was a tough game script for Ingram as the Ravens were trailing the entire game pretty much. Ingram also put the ball on the ground with his first fumble or the season.

For this game versus the Steelers I see Ingram bouncing back to deliver another monster performance for Fantasy Football. The Steelers defense is vulnerable on the ground as they rank 26th versus running backs in Fantasy Football so far. They let up 122.8 rushing yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry. Ingram is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and see him continuing that trend on Sunday. I think they is a very good chance Ingram finds the end-zone in this one as well. Fire up Ingram this week as a strong RB2 with upside for more if he scores.

RB – Jaylen Samuels

Samuels had break-put performance on Monday Night versus the Bengals as he was swiss-army knife for the Steelers. The second-year running back did a little of everything. He had 10 carries, 8 receptions and technically had 3 passes while playing the “Wildcat” quarterback position. His 18 touches accounted for 83-yards and one touchdown and he had 31-yards passing. Conner will still get his touches on Sunday but Samuels will certainly be a big part of the game-plan too.

Another big reason to start Samuels is the Ravens defense has not been good versus running backs the past two weeks. Nick Chubb absolutely went off last week for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns. The week prior versus the Chiefs, both LeSean McCoy and Darrel Williams had very solid performances. I believe the Steelers will continue to feature both Samuels and Conner like they did last week. Which makes Samuels definitely worthy of a RB3/Flex play on Sunday.

Sit:

WR – JuJu Smith-Schuster

It maybe hard to sit a guy that was draft to be a stud WR1, but JuJu could be in for a very rough Sunday. He certainly hasn’t lived up to his draft price yet this season. Currently JuJu ranks WR37 for Fantasy Football in .5 PPR formats. Only averaging 10.0 Fantasy Football points per game, Smith-Schuster hasn’t even cracked 100 yards yet.

JuJu also missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday with a toe injury. It looks like he will play Sunday, but on a wet field that might be tricky for him to play at less than 100%. The main reason why JuJu could be considered a sit in this game is because he will be followed by shut-down corner Marlon Humphrey.

The Ravens defense has struggled the past two weeks, but it has been no fault to Humphrey. He has been an absolute stud and looks like a Pro-Bowl cornerback this year. Last week Humphrey put OBJ in his back pocket, as he held Beckham to a career low 20-yards on two catches. I can see a very similar situation this week for JuJu going against Humphrey. If you don’t have a better option you can still start him, but I don’t envision JuJu getting more than 10.0 Fantasy Football points in this game.