For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated and educated charting professionals to ensure that we can get statistics posted on the website both accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will obviously form opinions about what they saw, given that we have to watch every play multiple times.
Every week, we’ll select the most notable observations and back them up with the objective data we’ve become known for.
Here are our top observations for 2025 NFL Week 5.
Week 1 Data Charter Observations
1. “Drake Maye continues to build on a breakout season. Every week it seems like he played his best game, and Week 5 was a statement game that Maye has arrived. Maye crushed on off-script throws, constantly breaking the pocket, particularly to his right, to extend plays and pick up huge first downs. He also hit some big-time throws, including an absolute dime between the corner and safety on the game-winning drive. Every time it looked like the Bills were going to seize control of the game, Maye answered with a key drive at crucial times. His passing has really taken a step forward this year.”
The Patriots went into Buffalo and picked up a huge win over the division rival Bills by a score of 23-20. QB Drake Maye led the way with 273 passing on 22 completions with no touchdowns and no interceptions. With the game in the balance in the second half, Maye played some of his best football completing 13 passes on 14 attempts for 184 yards while leading two crucial touchdown drives that ended with short touchdown runs by RB Rhamondre Stevenson. For the season, Maye is playing at an elite level ranking top 5 in passing yards (1,261), CPOE (10.5%), ADJ COMP (84.6%), ACC ( 62.1%), and CATCH (81.0%).
Facing his former team, WR Stefon Diggs played his best game of the season with 10 catches for 146 yards. Diggs is still ramping up from an ACL tear by playing on just 48.2% of snaps in Week 5, but he did look great on his playing time posting an excellent 0.200 ASS and a 20.0% win rate. The Patriots have a favorable schedule with the Saints, Titans, and Browns on tap for the next three weeks.
2. “If you need any more proof that Kyle Shanahan is a world-class play caller, look no further than Thursday Night Football. Kendrick Bourne and Jacob Tonges have plugged right into the lineups over the last few weeks due to injuries and arguably produced at least 80% of the starters' expected performance, possibly more. Kendrick Bourne stepped into the Jauan Jennings role (one that showed as a top matchup in the data suite) and absolutely thrived. This offense funnels everything inside, until the 49ers get healthy, Bourne and Tonges are consistent fantasy/betting plays.”
Week 5 kicked off with the 49ers upsetting the Rams 26-23 on Thursday Night Football. Despite entering the game severely short-handed on offense, HC Kyle Shanahan called a great game, which led to QB Mac Jones throwing for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. With starter Brock Purdy missing his third game, Jones has played well, posting a 3-0 record while throwing for 905 yards and 6 touchdowns to just 1 interception, while most importantly owning just a 1.6% turnover-worthy throw rate. Jones’ favorite target in Week 5 was WR Kendrick Bourne as Bourne turned in a great performance of 10 catches for 142 yards. The veteran WR took advantage of his opportunity by registering 32.8% air yards share, 22.4% target share, 62 yards after catch, and 8 first downs.
RB Christian McCaffrey continues to be the focal point of the 49ers’ offense with another 30 touches for 139 total yards and a score in Week 5. Even with injury concerns from previous seasons, the 49ers have leaned heavily on CMC as he leads the NFL in touches with 131 through 5 games. The 49ers will likely need CMC as they travel to Tampa to take on the Bucs in Week 6.
3. “Ryan Flournoy plugged right into the KaVontae Turpin role and showed great chemistry with Dak Prescott. Flournoy primarily won on crossers/go routes, areas where he was able to use his speed. Until they get both CeeDee Lamb and KaVontae Turpin back, Flournoy looks like a legit flex play in most fantasy formats. He is also a big, more physical target than Turpin. At 6’1”, 200+ pounds, he is in that ideal WR body type in today’s day and age. He can learn to be more physical at the catch point, and he struggled in contested situations, but you have to be able to keep up with him in order to make it contested.”
The Cowboys improved to 2-2-1 on the 2025 season following a 37-22 win over the now 0-5 Jets in Week 5. Without WRs CeeDee Lamb and KaVontae Turpin, the Cowboys turned to Ryan Flournoy to lead the way in their passing game. Flournoy nearly doubled his career receiving yards total with 6 catches on 9 targets, good for 114 yards. Where Flournoy excelled was on go and crosser routes by posting a 33.3% and a 25.0% win rate, respectively, on those routes.
Another bright spot in the Cowboys passing game was TE Jake Ferguson as Ferguson scored twice on 7 catches and 49 yards. QB Dak Prescott relies on Ferguson as his safety valve, which has led to Ferguson ranking second in the NFL in catches with 41 so far this season. Week 5 brings the Cowboys a road matchup with the Panthers, who rank 10th in passing yards allowed (1,058).
4. “Rico Dowdle looked like a superstar in this game, shedding arm tackles and blowing by LBs and DBs in the 2nd level. I don’t see how he hasn’t earned more opportunities even when Hubbard comes back.”
RB Rico Dowdle took over in Week 5, helping the Panthers pull out a 27-24 win over the Dolphins. With starting RB Chuba Hubbard out for this game, Dowdle stepped in and ripped off 206 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground with another 3 catches for 28 yards through the air. Week 5 was a game for the ages for Dowdle as he posted 137 yards on explosive runs while forcing 10 missed tackles and averaging 6.61 YACO/ATT.
Prior to missing Week 5, Hubbard had been struggling on the ground as he failed to produce an explosive run or to force a missed tackle en route to just 217 yards on 53 carries through the first four games of the season. That leaves the Panthers in a position where they likely need to give Dowdle some extended playing time moving forward. The Panthers have another good matchup on the ground in Week 6 against the Cowboys defense that has allowed the 10th most rushing yards on the season (637).
5. “The amount of heavy personnel for the Cardinals was wild to me. I guess being down their top two RBs, they wanted to give them as much help as possible. I was more impressed with Marvin Harrison Jr. than I usually am in this game. Not a lot to say about Arizona other than they played down to one of the worst teams in football. Kyler Murray stayed erratic in this one. The Cardinals ran the ball three times with the game on the line, needing a first down without a starting RB, and ignored their highest-paid TE, first-round WR, and big-money QB. Epic meltdown.”
In what will likely go down as the most bizarre collapse of the 2025 season, the Cardinals blew a 21-3 lead on their way to a 22-21 home loss to the Titans in Week 5. The Cardinals failed to score in the final 40+ minutes of the game, including RB Emari Demercado dropping the ball as he crossed the goal line in the second half. QB Kyler Murray started off the game playing well with 102 yards on 6/7 passing and a rushing touchdown in the first quarter, only to finish the game with 220 total passing yards and no touchdowns and a fumble lost. Murray’s accuracy was middling as he ranked 7th in ACC (64.5%), 15th in CATCH (77.4), and 12th in OFF (12.9%) in Week 5.
TE Trey McBride is off to a slow start to the season with 275 yards on 29 catches and 1 touchdown. McBride continues to be utilized in the short area passing game with a 6.6 aDOT, which limits his ability to make big plays. The Cardinals will need to get their passing game going next week as they head to Indy to face the Colts’ high-powered offense.
6. “Trevor Lawrence is showing command of the offense. He hit some nice throws, including a beautiful sideline throw to Brian Thomas Jr. on the game-winning drive. Maybe his best attribute on Monday Night was his running ability. He took off to pick up critical first downs with his legs and turned what looked to be an embarrassing sack into the game-winning touchdown.”
Week 5 was capped off with the Jaguars beating the Chiefs in an exciting game, 31-28. QB Trevor Lawrence finished the game 18/25 passing for 221 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 interception while adding 54 yards on the ground and 2 touchdowns. Lawrence led three scoring drives in the second half and displayed good decision-making, especially using his legs to scramble for 2 touchdowns on broken plays, where he made some quick decisions to find the end zone.
Jaguars’ WRs Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter finally started to show some life with 4 catches for 80 yards and 3 catches for 64 yards, respectively. They both also posted win rates above 10.0% with Thomas registering a 12.9% win rate and Hunter registering a 16.7% win rate. The WR duo will look to take another step forward in Week 6 in a home matchup against the Seahawks, who have allowed the 6th most passing yards (1,289) through 5 games.
Bonus Observations
Titans WR Calvin Ridley — Calvin Ridley was much more involved in the offense and looked better than he had all season. He had multiple route wins and was getting open more than he previously had been. Ridley erupted for 131 yards on 5 catches, including a promising 32.1% 1READ.
Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers — The Raiders offense looked sloppy and atrocious. Players crashing into each other, multiple players tripping. In the first two games, Meyers had 22 targets, but has seen just 18 in the last three games. With the offense playing poorly as of late, Meyers’ production has suffered.
Giants TE Theo Johnson — Theo Johnson popped as a redzone threat, but was a little quiet elsewhere. In fact, Daniel Bellinger was often the TE used on these dump-off passes or bootleg plays where the TE shows as the easy button target. It is fantastic that Johnson is a red-zone threat, but it’s not sticky for fantasy. I am hoping to see more action in between the 20s. Johnson scored twice on 6 catches for 33 yards while seeing 6 1READ targets.
Saints TE Taysom Hill — The Taysom Hill Experience is back! Love him or hate him, you can’t deny him. In his first game back, he had a limited role, primarily at TE/WR. He mainly played as a wildcat QB with short yardage situations and the one pass attempt on a seam route because the defense sucked up thinking he would run. Is there much fantasy relevance? Probably not. But just from a pure football perspective, it’s interesting to wonder if we will ever see another like him. Hill played on just 12.9% of snaps in his first game back and posted 18 total yards, but had little room to run with -1 yards on 6 carries.
