Fantasy Football Week 5 Wide Receiver rankings: Is Cooper Kupp right back to must-start status?

Chris Towers walks you through his Week 5 WR rankings

By Chris Towers

Oct 8, 2023 at 9:01 am ET • 3 min read

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Nico Collins is a top-20 wide receiver for Week 5, which is a testament to how good he's been to open what has been a significant breakout season for him.

However, Michael Pittman, DeAndre Hopkins and Garrett Wilson are all also top-24 wide receivers in my rankings for this week too, despite pretty underwhelming starts to the season for all three of them across the board. And it's not because I love any of those three players right now, and certainly not because I view them all as must-start Fantasy options.

It's because the wide receiver position is pretty thin heading into Week 5. Injuries are a part of that, as Amon-Ra St. Brown (abdomen) and Tee Higgins (ribs) are both typical top-15 guys who aren't ranked there right now; Diontae Johnson (hamstring) and Mike Williams (knee) would be in the top-20 discussion if they were healthy too, though at least Cooper Kupp's return will help those of us who have been waiting for him since his preseeason hamstring injury.

But the bigger issue for Week 5 is clearly the bye weeks. Keenan Allen, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Amari Cooper would all at least be in the discussion for the top-24 most weeks, and they're all out this week, as are more fringe-y options like Josh Palmer, Elijah Moore, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and others. There's an awful lot of star power missing from this week's rankings.

So, yeah, Jordan Addison is still a top-36 wide receiver coming off a game without a catch. So are both Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. Robert Woods might be one too. Again, not because I necessarily think any of them are incredibly valuable Fantasy players, but because someone's gotta be ranked there. This week, more than maybe any other this season, you might be choosing from some less-than-ideal options to fill out your WR spots.

You might specifically be wondering how to handle Kupp, and I'll just say this: I haven't been waiting all this time to sit him. There are no specific plans to limit his playing time, but there's obviously some risk of playing him in his first game back from a hamstring injury that has been following him around for two months at this point. The rise of Puka Nacua could also lead the Rams to lean on him less heavily, too.

On the other hand, we're talking about a guy who has been historically productive since the start of the 2021 season, averaging 24.7 PPR points per game. There hasn't been a more reliable player at any position the past couple of seasons, and as long as he's active, he's going to be in my lineup -- though as you can see from my rankings below, I am being a bit cautious in only raking him as a top-12 guy, and now the No. 1 WR. For now.