The Seattle Seahawks will host the New York Giants on Sunday in Week 5. The spread currently stands at Seahawks -6, with a game total of 41.5. The Giants’ implied points are 17.8, and the Seahawks’ implied points are 23.8.
Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Seahawks skill player who has the potential to make an impact during the game.
Geno Smith, QB
Geno Smith produced career highs across the board on a fun Monday nigher in Detroit; as a result, he leads the league in passing yards through four weeks (1,182). The QBs who pile up yardage at that level aren’t always super aggressive downfield, but they rarely own an aDOT that is 14.7% below the league average like Smith’s.
I’m tempted to say that the past four weeks are the best month of Smith’s 2024 season (three top-10 finishes while getting there in a variety of ways). Despite the low aDOT, he’s been remarkably productive down the field – it’s he and Brock Purdy as the only players with at least three deep completions in all four weeks this season.
Despite my long-term worries, Smith is a top-12 QB for me this week against a Giants defense that has allowed the third-highest opponent completion percentage (72.6%).
Kenneth Walker III, RB
Kenneth Walker missed consecutive games with an oblique injury, furthering the narrative that he might be a little bit of a fragile player. You can call him fragile all you want — I call him one of the more explosive players at the position.
Both things can be true, but fantasy football is a war that is won by earning victories in a bunch of small battles, and as long as Walker is getting his 15+ touches, he’s going to be winning you those battles on an awfully consistent basis.
- 1,287 rushing yards
- 270 receiving yards
- 17 touchdowns
Those are Walker’s numbers over his past six games if you extend them for an entire season. Those rushing and touchdown totals would have both ranked top three at the position for 2023, which is the level of upside we are looking at with him (top-10 producer in both of his games this season).
Of course, I’m not thrilled with the short week for Walker after a couple of DNPs, but if he looked at all hindered to you on Monday night, we aren’t watching the same game. Walker is a true threat to lead the position in scoring in Week 5 as he faces the league’s worst run defense in terms of yards allowed to running backs after first contact thus far in 2024.
Zach Charbonnet, RB
After playing 85% or more of the snaps in consecutive games as the lead in Seattle’s backfield, Zach Charbonnet saw his participation (41% of snaps) trend toward what we saw in the first week (33.3%) with Walker at full strength.
Charbonnet has totaled 17 touches in those two Walker games, usage that puts him on the fringe of usable in deeper formats. The rushing efficiency hasn’t been there (3.7 yards per carry this season with none of his 42 carries gaining more than 13 yards) on the ground, but with 15 catches on 17 targets for 115 yards and a score, there’s a level of versatility that is interesting.
In most leagues, Charbonnet is more of a strong handcuff than a Flex option. However, with carnage continuing to happen at the position and the Seahawks’ offense proving capable of scoring, that could flip sooner than later, especially in a positive game script.
I’ve got Charbonnet ranked in the mid-30s at the position, putting him alongside the likes of Jaleel McLaughlin and Chase Brown.
DK Metcalf, WR
DK Metcalf has finished two weeks this season as a top-12 option at the position and two outside of the top 25, a level of volatility that keeps him out of my rest-of-season top tier.
That said, we are in the business of winning Week 5, and in that world, he is a Tier 1 receiver for me as he faces a secondary that has had all sorts of problems defending WR1s.
In four weeks, the opposing alpha facing the G-Men has averaged six catches and 8.5 targets. Terry McLaurin struggled to be efficient, though that could have been more the result of Jayden Daniels’ second career start. The other three WR1s have all averaged at least 2.3 PPR points per target, highlighted by deep touchdown receptions by both Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb.
We saw Smith fire four of his first eight passes on Monday night toward Metcalf, solidifying my thought that this offense, much like the Giants, wants to establish its best receiver and go from there. This season, he ranks fifth in total air yards, a role that carries tremendous upside given his physical tools, and the quality of those downfield opportunities is helped by Walker threatening defense on the ground.
He might be chalky in the DFS streets this week, but that’s why you have an entire roster – you can differentiate elsewhere. Metcalf is my WR7 this week, and I think there is a real path for him to lead the position in scoring on this slate.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR
There are few receivers that will post a four-game run like what Jaxon Smith-Njigba has done to start this season.
- Week 1 vs. Broncos: two targets
- Week 2 at Patriots: 16 targets
- Week 3 vs. Dolphins: three targets
- Week 4 at Lions: 12 targets
So … which is it? Is he one of the game’s finest target earners or is he an afterthought?
The fact that the question needs to be asked skews in favor of the latter more than the former, but I think it’s safe to say that the truth is somewhere in the middle. Smith-Njigba has just one top-30 performance this season, but I do think he has a chance to double that total in a matchup against the Giants, the owners of the third-lowest opponent aDOT when targeting receivers (8.4 yards).
We are 21 games into JSN’s career, and while we have been teased on occasion with vertical routes, his ability to win quickly is currently his greatest asset (7.0 career aDOT with a 76.3% catch rate on balls thrown less than 10 yards downfield).
He’s a fine Flex play in this matchup, ranking in the same tier as the chain mover on the other sideline in Wan’Dale Robinson – their mean projections are eerily close to one another, though there is no denying that the wider range of plausible outcomes certainly sits with Smith-Njigba.
Tyler Lockett, WR
Tyler Lockett remains heavily involved (at least seven targets in three of four games this season), but without a touchdown or a 30-yard gain on his ledger, Lockett is firmly off of my Flex radar. Supporting three receivers and a running back is a tall task for any offense, especially if they control the game at the level that the spread would suggest.
Lockett still has some juice, and I don’t doubt that he’ll make chunk plays now and again this season, but I’m going to struggle to ever get him inside of my top 40 (he’s finished outside of the top 40 on three occasions this season) given the depth at the position (he’s currently ranked in the same tier as Jerry Jeudy and Jordan Addison).
Noah Fant, TE
Noah Fant only has one top-25 finish on his résumé this season, and the fact that a 4.6-point PPR week is possible in a game in which Smith threw 56 passes puts him off of my radar as far as tight end streamers go.
That’s hard to do. It’s easy to look for favorable matchups and simply plug in a tight end. Don’t.