NFL Week 5 Recap: Instant fantasy football takeaways from Bills-Rams

• Colby Parkinson returns for the Rams: With three healthy veterans, Los Angeles is back to using 13 men as its base offensive formation.

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Buffalo Bills @ Los Angeles Rams

The Bills deal with two of their top four receivers: DJ Moore (shoulder) and Josh Palmer (shoulder) are both inactive for Buffalo.

Buffalo began the season with Moore at one outside receiver spot, Keon Coleman and Palmer rotating at one, and Khalil Shakir playing in the slot in 11 personnel. Shakir also rotated through 12 personnel, playing about one-third of those snaps. All four receivers played in 13 personnel, and Buffalo’s frequent use of that grouping meant that no receiver typically played more than 70% of the offensive snaps. Moore missed significant time in two of the first four games, with Coleman and Palmer only taking on bigger roles in those contests.

The only other receiver to play an offensive snap this season is running back Greg Dortch, who logged 11 snaps. Fourth-round rookie Skyler Bell was a healthy inactive for each of the first four weeks. With Moore and Palmer sidelined, Bell was active for the first time, while Trent Sherfield was elevated from the practice squad.

Shakir’s role remained completely unchanged in this game. He played every snap with 11 personnel but only a fraction of the snaps with other personnel groups. Coleman took over Moore’s role, lined up at the X more often than usual and rarely left the field in 11 or 12 men. Bell leads the rotation with Sherfield at the other outside receiver spot. Despite the wide receiver injuries, Buffalo hasn’t increased its use of multiple-tight end sets compared to previous weeks, even though all four tight ends are healthy.

Buffalo lost the time-of-possession battle and spent most of the game running the ball. When the Bills passed, dump-offs to third-down running back Ty Johnson proved effective. Coleman scored a touchdown late in the third quarter, and Shakir had a 57-yard reception in overtime, but the receivers combined for just two other catches. It’s a tough matchup for Buffalo’s receivers, and the rest of the schedule offers little relief. Moore remains the only Bills wide receiver worth considering.

The Rams keep changing their WR3: Tutu Atwell is the latest Rams receiver to join Puka Nacua and Davante Adams on the 11 personnel.

Los Angeles entered the season with the same group of wide receivers as last year, with Nacua and Adams firmly established as the top two options. They were followed by Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, Xavier Smith and Atwell, with all four backups running between 150 and 250 routes on the season.

Whittington opened the season as the third receiver in Week 1, but he and Nacua missed time with injuries. Mumpfield moved into the starting role, while Smith took over as the third receiver in Weeks 2 and 3. Whittington returned to that role in Week 4, as Smith was released. Through four weeks, Mumpfield has played 145 snaps, compared to 88 for Whittington and 30 for Atwell.

This week, Atwell started and played more than half the snaps among 11 personnel. Neither of these receivers will likely offer significant value in redraft leagues, but whoever holds down the third receiver spot should make some big plays this season, making that player a potential DFS option.

Colby Parkinson back to the Rams: One of Los Angeles’ top tight ends returned after missing last week’s game with knee and shoulder injuries.

The Rams opened the season with Parkinson as their early-down tight end in 11 personnel and Terrance Ferguson as their third-down tight end. Both played 100% of the snaps on 12 personnel in Week 1, while Davis Allen joined them on 13 personnel. Tyler Higbee is clearly fourth on the depth chart.

Since then, Ferguson has been on injured reserve, and Parkinson missed last week’s game. That prompted Los Angeles to lay off 13 personnel. Higbee and Allen split the early-down snaps among 11 personnel, while Higbee handled the third-down duties.

This week, Higbee led a two-man rotation with Parkinson on 11 personnel in both early and late downs. In 12 men, Los Angeles paired Parkinson with Allen almost every time. The Rams also return 13 personnel, including three tight ends on the field.

Higbee had a solid game, catching five passes for 83 yards. Normally, a tight end who doesn’t play in 12 man is hard to trust in fantasy, but the Rams’ frequent use of 13 man makes Higbee safer than most rotational tight ends. Los Angeles faces the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders in the next two weeks, and both rank among the six most favorable matchups for opposing fantasy tight ends this season. Higbee’s fantasy value will likely drop once Ferguson returns, but until then, he’s a solid waiver wire target.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Los Angeles kept its old rotation at running back, started Kyren Williams, rotated Blake Corum through the drive and used Williams in two-minute drills. Corum scored his first rushing touchdown of the season and enjoyed the best receiving game of his NFL career, catching three passes for 53 yards. Once the Rams’ schedule loosens up, Corum could also be a viable fantasy option.

• Dalton Kincaid saw slightly less playing time than usual, largely because Buffalo often ran out of 12 men with Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes serving as blockers. His route participation was higher than most weeks, but his targets per route run continued to decline.

Table Note

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, such as offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three statistics do not include these plays.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely difference is from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL can give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.

• Carries are only in design plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.