Fantasy football takeaways from Week 5: Stefon Diggs joins the elites

Croskey-Merritt recorded season-high marks in snaps (28), touches (16), total yards (150) and touchdowns (two) against the Los Angeles Chargers. He touched the ball on 57.1% of his snaps and finished the game with 27.0 PPR points. It will be hard for Washington to keep Croskey-Merritt off the field going forward. 

Michael Carter is the Arizona RB to own

Emari Demercado was the most popular waiver claim ahead of Week 5, but it was Michael Carter who owned the Arizona Cardinals' backfield in Week 5. Carter played 39 snaps to Demercado's 19, rushed 18 times for 51 yards and a touchdown and added five catches for 22 yards against the Tennessee Titans. 

Arizona prefers to use Demercado as a pass-catching RB on third downs, so Carter will continue to see the bulk of the early-down work as long as Trey Benson is out with his knee injury. After Demercado inexplicably dropped the ball at the goal line to let Tennessee steal a comeback win, the Cardinals will likely feature Carter even more in the coming weeks. 

Stefon Diggs enters WR1 tier

Welcome back, Diggs. After a quiet first three weeks of the season, the New England Patriots wide receiver is starting to look like his old self again. Diggs caught six passes for 101 yards against the Carolina Panthers in Week 4 and sliced up the Buffalo Bills for 146 yards on 10 catches in Week 5. He's scored 40.7 PPR points over the last two weeks. 

Through five games, Diggs ranks 20th among wide receivers in PPR points, and he still hasn't found the end zone yet this season. This passing game is humming, and Diggs' connection with quarterback Drake Maye is the biggest reason why. He should be ranked as a top-12 WR for the rest of the season.

The Ravens are a mess without Lamar Jackson

If you have any Baltimore Ravens players on your roster, it might be time to send them to the bench until Jackson returns to the field. In Cooper Rush's first start of the season in Week 5, only one Ravens skill player — Zay Flowers, who luckily caught all five of his targets for 72 yards — scored double-digit PPR points. 

Running back Derrick Henry was held to just 33 rushing yards on 15 carries. Tight end Mark Andrews finished with just two catches for 22 yards. The offense as a whole managed only 207 yards and 10 points against the Houston Texans. Henry is the only must-start Raven while Jackson sits out, and we don't even have confidence in him putting up RB2 numbers.