After week 4 most teams have an idea of who their weekly starters are. If you were hit with the injury bug across your defensive line, here is the weekly streamer article to help you succeed.
Defensive lineman are a premium and hard to come across guys who can produce on a weekly basis. I have been putting in weekly work for those who decided to forego drafting talented defensive lineman and were stuck with the bottom of the barrel. By looking at the match-ups with the poorest offensive lines in the league, I have been pretty successful in selecting players who you can plug in weekly to come up with some defensive line production. Without further ado here are the week 5 defensive line streamers.
Edge
Whitney Mercilus - Houston Texans
2020 Stats: 12 tackles (7 solo), 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and 2 QB hits.
Week 5 Match-up: Jacksonville Jaguars
Run Blocking Rank: 7th averaging 4.67 yards per carry with a stuff rate of 13%
Pass Protection Rank: 29th giving up 13 sacks with a 8.7% sack rate
Whitney Mercilus is your prototypical streamer. There are plenty of games where he is going to put up duds, but in plus match-ups Mercilus can be a week winner. He is coming off of a two week stretch in which he put up nine tackles, three for a loss, two sacks and two QB hits. He gets the Jaguars in his next game who have the leagues 29th ranked offensive line in pass protection. There are only four teams in the league who have given up more sacks than the Jaguars. This leaves Mercilus as a one of the better week 5 defensive line streamers.
Haason Reddick - Arizona Cardinals
2020 Stats: 10 tackles (8 solo), 2 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 2 passes defended and 2 QB hits.
Week 5 Matchup: New York Jets
Run Blocking Rank: 26th averaging 3.88 yards per carry with a stuff rate of 17%
Pass Protection Rank: 22nd giving up 12 sacks with a 8.1% sack rate
The Cardinals have been trying to find ways to get Haason Reddick on the field since they drafted him. He was used off the edge his rookie season, though came up with only 2.5 sacks. The next two years the Cardinals experimented with him at inside linebacker, not a great result. Now he is back to the edge but backing up Devon Kennard and playing around 50% of the team's snaps. The rotational role seems fitting for Reddick though, as he has two sacks in four games. Devon Kennard is out for week 5 with a calf injury and Reddick is in line to start in his place.
He gets the Adam Gase led Jets who have proven to have a less than stellar offensive line, though Sam Darnold's scrambling ability has limited the sacks some. Week 5 they are starting Joe Flacco who is one of the least mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. Reddick will start opposite of Chandler Jones who will garner most of the attention. Reddick is one of the better week 5 defensive line streamers.
Defensive End
Deatrich Wise - New England Patriots
2020 Stats: 11 tackles (6 solo), 0.5 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 3 QB hits and a touchdown.
Week 5 Match-up: Denver Broncos
Run Blocking Rank: 29th averaging 3.54 yards per carry with a stuff rate of 26%
Pass Protection Rank: 24th giving up 13 sacks with a 8.3% sack rate
Deatrich Wise has been a very good depth defensive lineman for the Patriots since coming into the league but 2020 he has seemed to make a bit of a leap. He is playing on 45.8% of the team's defensive snaps and has shown to be a good pass rushing partner to Chase Winovich. Wise gets to play the Broncos with unexperienced signal caller Brett Rypien. The Broncos have given up more than three sacks per game and I fully expect this trend to keep going against the Patriots. Wise could be the benefactor against this lackluster offensive line and unexperienced quarterback making him one of the top week 5 defensive line streamers.
Defensive Tackle
Mike Purcell - Denver Broncos
2020 Stats: 13 tackles (9 solo), 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit.
Week 5 Match-up: NewEngland Patriots
Run Blocking Rank: 5th averaging 4.80 yards per carry with a stuff rate of 12%
Pass Protection Ranking: 13th giving up 7 sacks with a 5.9% sack rate.
Now going up against the Patriots offensive line does not necessarily seem like a recipe for success for opposing defensive lineman. The Patriots historically have a great offensive line and 2020 is not any different. What the Patriots do though, is run the ball with the fourth most frequency of any team in the NFL, 50.91% of the time. Mike Purcell has two different games this season already with five tackles. He also has played on 61.25% of the Broncos defensive snaps. The Patriots have a more smash mouth running style now with Damien Harris healthy and Purcell mans the middle of the defense. There is a good possibility that he can rack up some volume tackles in week 5.
Trysten Hill - Dallas Cowboys
2020 Stats: 10 tackles (6 solo), 1 tackle for a loss and 2 QB hits.
Week 5 Match-up: New York Giants
Run Blocking Rank: 32nd averaging 2.61 yards per carry with a stuff rate of 28%
Pass Protection Ranking: 27th giving up 14 sacks with a 8.3% sack rate
The Giants woes across the offensive line continue. They have one of the worst, if not the worst offensive lines in the NFL. As much as I am not a fan of Hill after his gator role, his ability to be disruptive has not gone unnoticed. He has not shown up in the box score as much as you would hope for somebody to stream but there is upside. Hill has played on 63% of the Cowboys defensive snaps. The Cowboys have Demarcus Lawrence and Aldon Smith coming off of the edge and will funnel nervous Nancy Danny Dimes up the middle into the arms of Hill making him one of the sneaky week 5 defensive line streamers.
Sleeper
K'Lavon Chaisson - Jacksonville Jaguars
2020 Stats: 7 tackles (4 solo), 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 2 QB hits.
Week 5 Match-up: Houston Texans
Run Blocking Rank: 21st averaging 4.07 yards per carry with a 10% stuff rate
Pass Protection Rank: 32nd giving up 16 sacks with a 10.9% sack rate
Lets try this one again. I had K'lavon Chaisson pinned as a sleeper last week and he only came up with a single solo tackle...my bad. I'm going for it again though in a great match-up. The Texans have the worst pass protection in the league giving up an NFL most 16 sacks, four per game. They are also the only team in the NFL with a sack rate over 10%. Chaisson is coming off of a game where he played over 50% of the teams snaps, a number that has been increasing every week since week 2. Josh Allen is banged up this week and Chaisson may be the Jaguars primary pas rusher. When looking at week 5 defensive line streamers you could do worse, hopefully Chaisson does not prove me wrong again.
Summary
There plenty of solid edge matchups this week if you play in leagues that use the edge designation. The defensive end side does not have many great match-ups for players to stream, as most of the good match-ups have players who should already be rostered. Defensive tackle has some streamable appeal and could see some production with solid match-ups. Tune in weekly and lets see if we can help you win your games!
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