The first month of the 2016 NFL season is now in the books, and it has been full of surprises and disappointments.
Few probably expected the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles to be among the league’s three remaining undefeated teams after four weeks. Even fewer might have envisioned presumed contenders like the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals to be sitting at 1-3.
Naturally, the surprises and disappointments have extended to the fantasy football world as well. Adrian Peterson is on injured reserve and Todd Gurley is averaging a mere 2.6 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the winless Cleveland Browns are producing surprise fantasy studs in the form of running back Isaiah Crowell and wideout Terrelle Pryor.
All this general wackiness has created a clouded fantasy landscape. Some disappointing players could be on the verge of bouncing back, while emerging stars could be about to fall off a proverbial cliff. Add in some tough matchups and there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding some of fantasy’s top stars in Week 5.
With this in mind, we’re going to examine just how comfortable you should be starting some of the top fantasy stars this week.
For this list, we’ll be looking at players who have been fantasy stars in the past, as well as top-25 positional scoring leaders from this season, according to NFL.com. We’ll be looking at murky situations and at challenging matchups to provide a comfort level for each.