Week 5 Stock Up, Stock Down: It's getting worse for Justin Herbert

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Week 5: It was a week of terrible plays and a week of terrible plays that immediately were forgotten as more terrible plays happened. Here are the instant takeaways, including a lot of Texans thoughts and some young players getting major upgrades due to injury.

Stock Up

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Woody Marks, Houston Texans

I’ve mostly ignored the idea that Marks would be some sort of league-winner with David Montgomery as the lead back. It conflicted with my priors, for one thing. But for another: Nobody on this team can run the ball anyway.

There were a pair of events that took place in Sunday’s 26-3 Texans win that changed my mind. One of them is that Montgomery was ruled out with a groin injury – ominous, at best, news. Marks would seem likely to assume a major role in the running game if Montgomery were sent to injured reserve. Even if Montgomery wasn’t, though, Marks would get a little added value. DeMeco Ryans said after the game that Montgomery could miss some time.

The other is … The Texans didn’t give a single carry to another back after Montgomery left. Dare Ogunbowale wasn’t used at all. I don’t think Marks will get 100 percent of the carries again next week; nobody does that. But he has to be regarded as a favorite for at least 70 percent of the Texans backfield touches, if not more. Even given the bad situation, Marks probably walks into a low-end RB2 role for the short-term.

Germie Bernard, Pittsburgh Steelers

Bernard was already going to be heavily involved after Michael Pittman hit injured reserve, but you know how Aaron Rodgers treats rookie wideouts. It was hard to believe that Bernard would be the one to buck the trend.

However, Rodgers and Mike McCarthy had their hands forced in Week 5. Roman Wilson got hurt. Ben Skowronek got hurt. And Bernard responded by leading the team with nine targets and converting it for 6/80.

Does that mean Bernard is a WR3? Probably not, though with bye weeks coming and the general state of the receiver position as down bad as we’ve seen it, there’s probably not much separation between WR3 and WR4 right now anyway. But somebody must be a reliable short-area target here, and Bernard has a chance to be that while Pittman, Skowronek, and Wilson heal up.

Kendrick Bourne, Arizona Cardinals

With Marvin Harrison Jr. now sent to the Texans – we’ll get into that in a second – the Cardinals have space for another fantasy option. If you’ve seen any Arizona Cardinals football this year, you’ll recognize that a) their defense is so bad that they’ve made the Jacoby Brissett fantasy football conversation relevant weekly and b) that hasn’t meant much for Harrison.

But that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case for Bourne, who was a priority free-agent target for Mike LaFleur and had an 8/75 game in the opener with five first downs. Clearing out Harrison’s target share should get Bourne involved enough to be a reasonable FLEX play going forward.

And hey, bye weeks are about to hit big. I don’t know that we need to have higher expectations than that for Bourne – who has shown some fantasy use with Mac Jones last year – but the Cardinals have enough fantasy volume to feed a third wheel. Especially if they’re going to run the ball as poorly as they did against the Lions on Sunday.

Ollie Gordon II, Miami Dolphins

It’s been a few weeks since De’Von Achane tore his ACL. Let’s check in on the snap counts and production for Gordon and fellow Dolphins runner Jaylen Wright since then:

Week 4
Wright: five carries, seven yards, 12 offensive snaps.
Gordon: nine carries, 100 yards, one touchdown, 22 offensive snaps

Week 5
Gordon: 18 carries, 88 yards, one touchdown, 43 offensive snaps
Wright: six carries, 11 yards, nine offensive snaps

Is some of that about the fact that Wright re-injured his foot in practice this week? Probably. But is it also true that the Dolphins, with Malik Willis, seem to always generate good rushing lines and that Gordon is now heavily entrenched as the head of a committee? I think so. In fact, I think he’s closer to a low-end RB2 than a FLEX play now. So for the second time in two weeks, Gordon’s stock climbs.

Stock Down

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

Here’s the thing about Justin Herbert, and it really can be as simple as this: They started four rookies and Cole Strange on the offensive line in Week 5.

You might be thinking “ah, another person making excuses for Herbert, how convenient.” And that’s fine. I wouldn’t exactly say he’s played well this year. He barely threw for 100 yards today! But what we thought would be a good situation with a healthy Rashawn Slater, Joe Alt, and Tyler Biadasz in the preseason has now devolved into something that’s unworkable for any NFL quarterback. Yes, Mike McDaniel is struggling. Yes, Herbert has made some dumb mistakes while pressing. But it’s the offensive line that is the straw that stirs the Herbert stick over the past four years. When it died last year, his fantasy prospects went with them.

And so … yeah, he’ll be a reasonable QB2. I’m not advocating anybody to flat out drop him in a superflex league or anything. But whatever talent is here is in such a poor situation that it’s just impossible for anything good to come out of it right now.

Marvin Harrison Jr., Houston Texans

I have done every Texans game for Rotoworld’s blurb team this year, which means I am privy to some things about how dumb this team is.

One of those things is that they have weirdly split playing time between the wideouts in a way that has nerfed fantasy value for everyone. It’s not uncommon for Nico Collins to play 70 percent of the snaps and for everybody else to not even reach that. Kayshon Boutte led all non-Collins Texans wideouts with 39-of-65 snaps on Sunday.

So here comes a wideout in the middle of the season with no past with this offense. Is he going to suddenly be featured? I don’t think so. I thought there was at least a chance he’d bounce back to long-term relevance with the Cardinals. But if he’s going to be out here for 60 percent of the snaps and not be a focal point of the offense, well, I don’t know that there’s a lot to be optimistic about here.

I’m not completely down on Harrison’s talent. I think there’s a chance he turns it around in Houston at some point. But the short-term value here looks bleak enough that I don’t think I’d recommend holding him.

Chase Brown, Cincinnati Bengals

Good running backs don’t lose carry battles to Samaje Perine. Maybe this was kind of a weird game – it is a game against an opponent that has given up on fielding a real team this year right before a bye week – but on the heels of last week’s nine-carry, 10-yard thud against the Jaguars, I’m a little concerned.

Perine has always siphoned off just enough usage from Brown to be an interesting FLEX play at times, but this isn’t exactly an endorsement to use FAAB on Perine. This is an anti-endorsement of Brown, who probably is falling into the high-end RB2 ranks at this point.

The Bengals have overcome it by sitting on the Texans in Week 2 and turning over Baker Mayfield and Malik Willis several times, but their run offense moving under center has not worked in any real way. I’m curious if they’ll come out of the break with a new game plan.

Cam Skattebo, New York Giants

Skattebo left Week 5’s game with 13 carries to Najee Harris’ nine, but between his backbreaking fumble and what feels like an incredibly open running back room, it’s hard to feel like this is running out well for him. Skattebo played 56 snaps, while Tyrone Tracy played 17 and Najee Harris played 16. That’s two straight weeks where Skattebo has ceded at least 10 snaps to both of his backups.

The Giants have played enough plays in those games that Skattebo’s overall lines still look decent, but Skattebo hasn’t cracked 60 yards since Week 1. His PPR value, after 32 targets in just eight games in 2025, is in the dumps. He enters Week 6 with 12 targets in five games. He's fumbled four times in five games.

I don’t think Skattebo is in any danger of losing his RB1 job here – John Harbaugh said he had a “hell of a game” before the fumble. But the walls have closed in on this role enough that it simply isn’t worth as much as we thought it could be in the preseason. No Dart, no receiving value, and the running room has not been delivered either. It’s a tough scene.

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