Fantasy Football: Packers players to start in Week 5 vs. Lions
Start ‘Em
The stars have aligned correctly to showcase exactly why Aaron Jones should be starting on your fantasy roster this week. Not only is Mike McCarthy giving him more touches, but Aaron Rodgers agrees that Jones needs the ball more often.
Luckily for Jones this week, the Detroit Lions have the worst run defense in the entire NFL. Green Bay is well aware of this, and if Rodgers is given the opportunity for a run-pass option, he most likely will elect to feed the ball to Jones.
Every week it appears the synergy between Jimmy Graham and Aaron Rodgers increases a bit more. Graham recorded the only receiving touchdown from Rodgers last week against the Buffalo Bills, which we can assume means that Rodgers is actively searching for Jimmy in the red zone.
The Packers receivers are pretty banged up with Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison being ruled out. Graham will receive more volume of targets due to the injuries, which raises his fantasy value this week.
Aaron Rodgers
One of the bigger questions this week is what Matt Patricia’s game plan is to stop Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The last time Patricia had to face McCarthy and Rodgers was in 2014 when the New England Patriots lost at Lambeau Field.
Although Patricia hasn’t had success as the defensive coordinator with the Patriots, he does have pieces to work with in Detroit. While the Lions looked impressive against Patricia’s former team earlier this season, they have struggled to find wins for the most part.
Rodgers is due for a big game very soon. His knee must be healing better than fans had hoped as he was cleared from the injury list earlier this week. Being able to roll out of the pocket and create confusion on the defense is Rodgers’ forte.
History has also shown every time Rodgers has been upset with his previous performance, he comes out the following week locked and loaded. Even if this isn’t his week to go off for 400 yards and four touchdowns, he’s consistently put up around 20 points in fantasy. Even a “down” week for Rodgers still isn’t that bad for fantasy value.