2024 - Week 5 Kings and Peasants

 The UK based LOC Fantasy Show is here to help you win your Week 5 matchups! If you haven’t watched or listened to our flagship Week 5 Preview show yet, go check it out on YouTube or on your podcast app. We do things a little different here in the UK, so instead of starts and sits, we naturally have Kings and Peasants. If you want to see who our Kings and Peasants of Week 5 are, look no further!

What we’re trying to do here is not just pick who we think the highest scoring players will be and who the lowest scoring players will be. For the Kings we’re trying to identify who is outside the highest ranked players on the week, or who has been in a poor run of form, that we think will perform well and have a good score. Conversely, for the Peasants we’re trying to identify someone either highly ranked or reasonably highly ranked, or has been in a good run of form, that we think will bust on the week. 

Each week, myself and Chris compete to see who’s King and Peasant team wins (using our league of record’s scoring). We add up our King scores, and subtract our Peasants scores.

Chris: 3-1

Naith: 1-3

Chris is busy with a family wedding at the moment, so just my picks this week!

QB King: Geno Smith SEA (vs NYG)

Geno has been playing at an improved level this year, and the Seahawks are the prime beneficiary. He slung the rock over 50 times last week in a loss, but it was a competitive game with the Lions. This week, a far easier opponent - one that may be without their star offensive weapon. The only risk with this play is Geno might not be needed to do much against the Giants - but assuming they make it rain on the G-men he should be able to put up a decent amount of points in the process. 

QB Peasant: Kyler Murray ARI (@ SF)

What we were sold with the Cardinals this year was a leaky defence that would need its great offence to pile up points. Well, the defence has held up their side of that relationship. The offence? Outside of a pointgasm against the Rams, not so much. This culminated with them largely being shut down the Commanders, who do not have one of the better defences in the league. Now going to San Francisco, a team they historically get owned bye? I’m out on Kyler this week. I’d avoid if you can find a reasonable streamer.

RB King: De’Von Achane MIA (@ NE)

It was tough picking an RB king this week, there aren’t a lot of great options outside of the widely accepted good ones this week. Enter Achane. Much hyped coming into the year (and the first couple weeks certainly delivered), his production has gone down the loo with the rest of the Dolphins offence. Matchups and game script have been against him. So, now enter the Patriots. Both  teams are in very similar places right now. I’m still very alarmed at how little Mike McDaniel has done to try and get this offence on track, but in what should be a game the Dolphins actually have a chance of winning I fancy him to lean heavily on Achane in that endeavour. So, stick with him if you have him. 

RB Peasant: Zack Moss CIN (vs BAL)

Moss has been a reasonable fantasy option for you so far, having a decent week against the Panthers last week. However, he was outshone by fellow running back Chase Brown last week. Now he goes up against the stout defence of their divisional rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. I’m not enthralled with that, even less so as I think the Bengals could be playing from behind in this one. If you have a better option I’d suggest sitting Moss this week.

WR King: Dontayvion Wicks GB (@ LAR)

I was a big fan of Wicks as a late round dart throw this season. Unfortunately, our fears about him being buried on the depth chart came to fruition, and the injury to Love of course didn’t help matters. But now Love is back, and Wicks climbs the depth chart with Watson’s injury. Hooray (unless you’re Watson, heal up soon pal)! What’s better is Wicks has an absolute cake matchup against the Rams this week. If the Packers keep the scoring party going from the second half of last week Wicks will need to get in on it early before the Packers salt the game away, but he’s got a good shot at doing just that, so stream with confidence.

WR Peasant: Tyreek Hill MIA (@ NE)

When I made this pick this week I thought I was being a bit edgy. Then a lot of the fantasy community proceeded to announce the death of Tyreek Hill. Typically, this will be the week he re-emerges. Which I genuinely hope he does, as I have him in my league of record - and he was also wide open multiple times last week but just didn’t get the ball. For as good as Hill is (he’s pretty brilliant, let’s be honest), he does unfortunately still require someone to throw him the ball accurately. Let’s hope another week as the starter enables Huntley to do that, but I wouldn’t count on it, so I’d play it safe and just bench hill if you’ve got a better option. 

TE King: Taysom Hill NO (vs KC)

Similar to running back, it feels hard picking a king TE this week outside of the consensus good options. It’s pretty dire in tight end land right now. So, I’m going to deploy my get out of jail free card. Taysom Hill! He returned from injury last week, scored two TDs, and then left with injury. The Taysom ride is a wild one. But this was actually quite a positive for me - as his usage in the first two weeks was good, but OC Kubiak wasn’t using him in the gimmicky ways prior Saints offences have - which is what gave him a lot of his TD value. Well, Kubiak deployed it last week. This could be tied to their offensive struggles the last couple weeks, possibly due to some O line health issues. Still, that’s encouraging for Hill’s fantasy prospects. So if you’re in a jam at tight end this week, look no further than Taysom Hill! *UPDATE* Hill has been DNP Thursday and Friday, if he sits my king TE is Jake Ferguson.

TE Peasant: Dalton Kincaid BUF (@ HOU)

And here lies the latest victim of the tight end curse this year. Kincaid hasn’t been an abject disaster, but he certainly hasn’t lived up to expectation, and he certainly hasn’t taken a step forward like everyone hoped he would. I’ve seen enough to think this is probably just going to be how it is for him this year. The Bills should have a better go of it this week than they did against the Ravens, but I’m not sure how much that’s going to aid Kincaid’s case. *UPDATE* with Shakir out this does help Kincaid’s case - however the Texans may focus in on him more accordingly. I’d still temper my expectations for him. 

K King: Jason Myers SEA (vs NYG)

This pick feeds into my blurb above on Geno. The Seahawks should be playing with this game comfortably in hand. They should be able to move the ball well, be fairly conservative, and play with a lead. All of that bodes well for a kicker. So, look no further than Myers.

K Peasant: Evan McPherson CIN (vs BAL)

And again, similar to my concerns on Moss above, I fear McPherson could get game scripted out against the Ravens. He could have some involvement, but I just think there’s likely to be higher upside options at kicker this week. 

DEF King: Denver Broncos (vs LV)

Don’t look now but the Broncos may well have a winning record after this week. That was hard to imagine after the first two weeks of the season. But the defence is playing great, the offence is still a work in progress but possibly showing signs of growth. Most importantly though, they play the Raiders this week. The Raiders are also 2-2, but have the feeling of a team that could implode at any moment. Minshew and the offence haven’t played particularly well, Crosby is missing time on D, and - oh yeah - Adams has requested a trade which his head coach liked a post online about. Going into Mile High this week the Broncos could make it a very long day for them. 

DEF Peasant: New York Jets (@ MIN, London)

The pro of playing the Jets this week is that some International game weirdness could come in to play. The con is that Sam Darnold and this Vikings offence have been great and they’ve not lost a game yet. The Packers did get some joy against Darnold in the second half last week, but the Jets just failed to fully capitalise on the Broncos. I think some revenge motivation will help Darnold do all he can to stick it to the Jets this week, so I don’t think they’re the best upside defence on offer this week.

Kings and Peasants summary

QB: Geno Smith K, Kyler Murray P

RB: De’Von Achane K, Zack Moss P

WR: Dontayvion Wicks K, Tyreek Hill P

TE: Taysom Hill K, Dalton Kincaid P

K: Jason Myers K, Evan McPherson P

D: Denver Broncos K, New York Jets P