Fantasy Football Week 5 RB Report: Chase Brown, Cam Skattebo despite short role

We’re back for another edition of the running back report, this time breaking down the action of Week 5. While most of the backfield splits are pretty clear, we still have a lot of frustrating situations that have fantasy football managers worried as we approach the tough bye tables of eight. As always, we’ll start by breaking down some of the top commissions from Sunday and what we’ll all be doing about it moving forward.

Cincinnati Bengals

Whether the Bengal Dolphins hang in this game is another matter entirely. But in a place where everyone believed Chase Brown would break, he was somehow outwitted and thrown from behind by Samaje Perine. Fantasy managers need to set lower expectations for Brown moving forward.

Advertisement

Perine’s speed was the best part of the game, and he may have had something to do with the Bengals’ efficiency in the passing game. Miami had the ball three times and Burrow had four TDs despite throwing for under 200 yards. It was just a very wonky literary game. But again, this was a Dolphins defense that was giving out rushing TDs like candy up to this point.

After Week 5, Brown only reached double-digit fantasy points in two of the five games, and he didn’t have more than 16.3 points per game. His roof is heavily capped as they run into Cindy’s playoffs. Brown is still the RB2 but is starting to creep into the RB3 range, especially if he doesn’t put up a big first game.

If you have a brown or spot bench to spare, you can add a lot of internet league. He won’t be a player unless something happens to Brown, but he was enough in Week 5 to get on some fantasy radars.

New York Giants

Cam Skattebo almost cost the Giants this game before a huge screw by the Chiefs that ended the game tied 27-27. Skattebo was trending down for another week before anything went into overtime. He was able to get up to a somewhat respectable 59 yards before the Russian coughed up the ball, when the G-Men had a chance to seal the win.

Advertisement

Skattebo, like Brown, is another back that we believed would be a rock solid RB2 in 2026. But he didn’t have much of a ceiling; His high for the season was 14.1 fantasy points back in Week 1. Same as Brown, Skatman only has double-digit points in two of the five games, despite seeing plenty of touches in each contest.

So what is the matter?

It cannot be James Winston; which had a surprising satiety in spite of the weather on Sunday. Coming off a major injury, Skattebo still looks pretty explosive, but he’s not hitting those home runs like we saw a bit when he was a rookie. The Giants also don’t play in the red zone often. And while Skattebo gets chances, he doesn’t convert.

It’s tough because, out of practice, you have to keep playing Skattebo. Maybe we’re seeing some positive return with touchdowns and it’s still only fair; if not for a late fumble in Week 5, Skattebo would have had at least 7.1 fantasy points in every game this season. Referring to Brown’s comments, Skattebo is still a RB2/3 but without a roof at the moment. The trend looks to be more RB3/flex play unless we see a spike for a few weeks.

Advertisement

New Aurelia Saints

This was a gross manifestation of the Saints’ offense. Given against one of the better defenses in the league, but still. Kellen Moore was completely destroyed by Brian Flores and Kevin O’Connell in this one. And look at that table over there – not what you wanted to see from Alvin Kamara at this point.

The Vikings got Tyler Shoh twice, had six tackles for a loss and four other quarterback hits in the game. Nothing could reach New Orleans by land or air. To make matters worse, Moore was a cool three-back rotation and Kamara couldn’t use a PPR-scam or TDs to get there for fantasy.

This may just be the week we kick it off for a matchup. Minnesota was always going to be tough and when you have three players around in the backfield, it’s going to be hard for any of them to find value if the offense isn’t scoring. This shows you the volatile nature of this offense, especially Kamara.

Advertisement

The bright side is the Saints get the Giants next week, a team that just threw for 202 yards and three TDs with Jayden Daniels and Jacory Croskey-Merritt. Kamara will be the RB3/flex play in Week 6. Miller is a TD-dependent flex while Donaldson will remain on the rebound.

Cleveland

Personally, I thought Judkins’ strong week would be different. The Jets defense entered Week 5 giving up over 120 rushing yards per game. I was wrong.

Judkins was ripped again, not holding double-digit fantasy points for the fourth time in five games despite receiving 14+ touchdowns. Maybe we were a factor in the weather, which was very bad in New Jersey all afternoon. But this felt like the Browns could take another win and Judkins would at least find the end zone. But do not agree.

Advertisement

We’re running out of time on Judkins, but like Brown and Skattebo, the second-year role is defined, and Dylan Sampson remains. Raheim Sanders isn’t getting too many hands from Judkins and we haven’t seen any touches from Jaleel McLaughlin this week. QB Deshaun Watson was also sacked eight times against New York, three times (for a loss) and hit nine times. It is not a crime to help.

There’s still volume there, which is great with Judkins. All the rest, however, were put to the bank of the imagination. If you’re in thin shape and deep at RB, you should consider benching Judkins right now. Perhaps we see more explosive and better matchups ahead, but we could also see Watson and the offense start to tank a bit. KC Conception was left with a concussion, which means fewer receivers.

Advertisement

Judkins continues this trend as a back who we thought would be an amazing RB2, but is slowly morphing into a less reliable option. Is it time to explore the trade if you are a Judkins manager? We’ll see if Judkins can track next week against the Ravens.