At this point in the 2025 NFL season, workloads, snap shares and more trends have been established across the league’s backfields. The fantasy RB landscape hasn’t played out as expected thanks to a myriad of injuries, leaving fantasy managers with plenty of tough decisions to make. With that in mind, let’s break down my fantasy football RB start/sit Week 5 picks.
Check out my full Week 5 start/sit article with picks at each position here!
Start ‘Em: Rachaad White (Buccaneers) at Seahawks
Let the week of backups begin!
To be fair to White, he deserves better billing than a fill-in. The versatile back is just a couple of years removed from a season in which he racked up 990 rushing yards and 64 receptions. White has plenty of talent, he’s just been forced into a change-of-pace role due to the arrival of the supremely talented Bucky Irving.
With the aforementioned Irving expected to miss Sunday’s contest against Seattle, White should immediately step into a 15-20 touch role. The 26-year-old will still have to deal with Sean Tucker slightly cutting into his workload, but he should still provide immense fantasy value thanks to his receiving upside.
Sit ‘Em: Chase Brown (Bengals) vs. Lions
It’s time. In reality, it has been time to make this call for a couple of weeks, I’ve just been holding out hope that the Bengals’ offensive line would figure it out.
That does not appear to be happening anytime soon.
After averaging an impressive 4.3 yards per carry as the lead back last season, that number has deflated all the way down to a meager 2.3 YPC in 2025. The Bengals have been falling behind early consistently, forcing them to abandon the run. Brown’s receiving upside out of the backfield isn’t significant. If you haven’t noticed, all signs are pointing down for the third year back.
Brown’s struggles should continue against the Lions, who allow the seventh-least rushing yards per game and eighth-least fantasy points to RBs. Game script will likely force Brown out of the equation early, setting the stage for another underwhelming outing.
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Start ‘Em: Woody Marks (Texans) at Ravens
Everyone’s top waiver wire target officially earns my “start of the week” nod.
After flashing potential as the change-of-pace option behind Nick Chubb in Week 3, it took Marks no time at all to surpass him last Sunday against the Titans. The rookie only saw 56% of offensive snaps but still racked up 17 carries and four catches for 119 total yards and two touchdowns. Chubb will still be a factor in the backfield, but all signs point to another 20-touch workload for Woody this week against Baltimore.
If there’s one word to describe the Ravens’ run defense, it would be abysmal. They’ve allowed the most fantasy points to running backs through four weeks, setting the stage for a second-straight dominant performance by Marks.
Sit ‘Em: Jordan Mason (Vikings) at Browns
After a monstrous first outing as Minnesota’s fill-in bellcow, Mason came back down to earth against Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old still received 19 touches, but only managed to turn them into 72 total yards, barely eclipsing the double-digit PPR point mark.
It won’t get any easier for Mason this week, as Minnesota travels to Cleveland to take on a shockingly stout run defense. The Browns are allowing the fewest rushing yards (70.3) and second-fewest fantasy points (14.6) to running backs per game. So far this season, they’ve shut down Derrick Henry, Chase Brown and Josh Jacobs. I expect Mason to be the latest addition to that list following Sunday’s contest in London. The volume may be there, but the production almost certainly won’t.
Looking for more RB start/sit Week 5 picks? Stay tuned for my MNF fantasy start/sit article! New RB start/sit picks drop weekly!
Those are my RB start ’em, sit ’em Week 5 fantasy football picks! Stay tuned for more fantasy advice throughout the week.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
