Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, punctuated by a Monday Night Football shootout. These are the 10 takeaways you need to know heading into Week 6 of the fantasy football season.

1) Browning v. Flacco

The Bengals traded for Joe Flacco as their Jake Browning replacement on Tuesday. The case of Browning v. Flacco will ultimately be decided on the field, but we can at least speculate on whether or not Joe Flacco will be an upgrade for the downtrodden Bengals. Through a month of football, the jury is still out.

Flacco has fared worse in the advanced metrics, though the play-charting data from Pro Football Focus views him in a more favorable light than Browning. The fact that Flacco looks better in some lights than Browning should give Bengals fans and fantasy managers some hope. Flacco going from a team with Jerry Jeudy as its lead wideout to a Ja’Marr Chase-led receiver room might be the most important datapoint. Flacco is second in the NFL in drops (11) and fifth in drop rate (10.6 percent). Browning’s sure-handed receivers have combined for one drop, giving him the lowest drop rate in the league. I doubt Flacco can turn the tides in the win-loss column, but he could be a meaningful upgrade for the fantasy prospects of Chase and Tee Higgins.

2) Drake Maye has arrived

The 2024 No. 4 overall pick continues to look more and more like a superstar with every passing game. In a Sunday night bout that featured Drake Maye and Josh Allen, Maye wound up looking more Allen-like than Allen himself.

Maye is “only” the QB7 in fantasy this year, but his advanced numbers are even better.

He ranks sixth in EPA per play, third in completion rate over expected, and fifth in PFF’s accurate throw rate. His ascent has also come in tandem with Stefon Diggs’ resurgence over the past two weeks.

Coming off back-to-back 100-yard games, Diggs is up to 2.9 yards per route run, the third-highest mark in the NFL. Diggs earned target shares north of 40 percent in both of those games, bringing his season total to a healthy 24 percent after a dreadfully slow start. Diggs is flirting with WR1 fantasy output while Maye is eying top-five quarterback numbers if they keep this up.

3) Jacory Croskey-Merritt finally takes over

Bill leads all running backs in:

• Rush yards over expected per carry - 2.17
• Yards per carry - 6.6
• PFF rushing grade - 90.1

He was leading or among the league’s best in all three categories over the first month of the year, but the Commanders were shockingly hesitant to put more on his plate. That change finally happened in Week 5 with a season-high 14 carries, which he turned into 111 yards and two scores. Bill earned 61 percent of the team’s carries and ran 38 percent of the routes. He also played on half of the team’s offensive snaps. All three of those marks were new high-water marks for the rookie. Kliff Kingsbury has finally seen the light, putting Bill in the RB2 ranks going forward.

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4) Rico Dowdle blows up

The title says it all here. Dowdle’s 206 yards versus the Dolphins on Sunday were the most for a running back this year. He put a 37-yard gap between himself and second-place, Derrick Henry. The same is true of his 169 yards after contact. The Cowboys are more susceptible through the air than on the ground, but opponents have faced little resistance on either front. The Cowboys rank 23rd in EPA per rush attempt allowed and have given up the sixth-most fantasy points to running backs. Chuba Hubbard looks truly questionable for Week 6 versus Dallas. If he is out once again, Dowdle will push for an RB1 ranking.

5) Rookie running back woes continue

The rookie running backs have started to find their footing over the past two weeks as a whole, but that couldn’t be further from the truth for two of the most hyped newcomers. TreVeyon Henderson was blocked by Antonio Gibson and Rhamondre Stevenson again on Sunday. Both backs put the ball on the ground, as they tend to do, and it didn’t matter. Henderson was stuck at 30 percent of the team’s carries, roughly matching his season-long mark. Gibson’s fumble came on a kickoff that saw him go down with a season-ending knee injury. That could be Henderson’s path to more playing time, but he hasn’t entirely earned more opportunities. Henderson is averaging a pitiful 2.4 yards after contact per carry and has yet to break a run for 15+ yards. He needs to both play better and get the ball more to be part of the fantasy picture.

RJ Harvey, on the other hand, has looked good. He is averaging 4.5 yards after contact per attempt, the highest mark in the NFL. Has that earned him any additional playing time? Of course not. He is coming off a season-low snap share of 21 percent. Third-stringer Tyler Badie was back in the mix last week with a season-high 37 percent route rate. Sean Payton’s mercurial backfield split has no end in sight.

6) Eagles pass, it backfires

After weeks of fantasy managers bemoaning the Eagles’ run-only approach, Nick Sirianni called an audible versus the Broncos and went full air raid. Philly threw the ball on first and second down at a 75 percent clip. That mark trailed only the Rams. They logged a mind-boggling pass rate over expected of 19 percent.

It’s unclear if this strategy worked out for them, though I’d lean no. Most importantly, they lost at home while putting up 17 points. Digging deeper, Jalen Hurts ranked 19th in EPA per play, 24th in CPOE, and 26th in success rate on the week. Facing a lackluster Giants squad on Thursday, I expect a return to pure ground-and-pound football.

7) Patrick Mahomes in playoff mode

Patrick Mahomes has always been famous for his ability to find another gear in the postseason. A large part of that has been his increased rushing output in January (and February). With the Chiefs still delivering mixed results through the air, Mahomes is back in playoff mode on the ground.

Those are his per-game numbers, with the “Career” column being all of his regular-season games before 2025. He is actually doing more on the ground right now than he has historically done in the postseason. This will likely trail off if the passing game improves. It should do just that once Rashee Rice is active after Week 6. However, that means the Chiefs either improve drastically through the air, keeping Mahomes at the top of the QB1 ranks, or he keeps getting the job done on the ground, keeping Mahomes at the top of the QB1 ranks.

8) Emeka Egbuka’s breakout marches on

Bucs rookie wideout is currently the PPR WR3 with 445 yards and five touchdowns. He is also the WR3 in fantasy points through a rookie’s first five games in NFL history, trailing only Puka Nacua and Randy Moss. Ja’Marr Chase and Malik Nabers are right behind him on the list. Egbuka’s efficiency is also on the rise. He was skating by on touchdowns early in the season but is now up to 2.5 yards per route run on the back of consecutive 100-yard performances. Egbuka is already a WR1 in dynasty formats. He’s dangerously close to cracking the top five.

9) Geno Smith can’t catch a break

Nothing is going right in Las Vegas, and the buck stops with Geno Smith. He has thrown nine interceptions and taken 16 sacks through five weeks. Since 2000, 16 other quarterbacks have thrown nine interceptions in the first five games of the season. Only seven have gone on the start 15 or more games that year. Geno’s sack total ranks fifth among those 16 quarterbacks. None of the players above him on the sack list survived the season. The advanced numbers aren’t any kinder to Smith. He ranks 36th in PFF passing grade and 30th in EPA per play. A home game versus the Titans makes Week 6 a now-or-never spot for Geno.

10) Jonathan Taylor continues to dominate

Jonathan Taylor scored three touchdowns on Sunday, marking the second time he has done so this year. Taylor has three such games since Shane Steichen took over as the head coach in 2023. Josh Jacobs is the only other player with multiple three-score games on the ground over that span and he only has two. Taylor has the third-most games with 150 rushing yards (four) and the third-most games with 30 fantasy points (three) among running backs. Taylor’s single-game upside is unmatched by all but two or three backs in the league. With the Colts’ offense firing on all cylinders under Daniel Jones, we are going to see that upside hit increasingly often.