NFL Week 5 sure was crazy! The morning London game set the tone, with the Eagles letting the game slip away in the exact only way it could slip away. The rest of the slate delivered on that craziness, with the Vikings and 49ers moving to the league’s only 5-0 teams. Week five gave us some interesting questions to consider going forward, and we are going to take a look at a few of these as we turn the page on this week of action.
Will Trading Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Texans Fix His Fantasy Prospects?
I suppose it really depends on what you mean by “fix.” Marvin Harrison Jr. cannot be as bad as performed so far this season, where he’s unequivocally been one of the worst wide receivers in the NFL. He ranks in the bottom tenth percentile in yards per route run, targets per route run, separation score, route win rate, catch rate, and yards after the catch per reception. He’s WR91 on the season, and has done nothing of note this year.
With the trade to Houston, many hope/pray/cope that this means that Marvin Harrison Jr. will get back to business. Except, what business is he getting back to, exactly? In his first two years in the league, he was not an elite player in any regard, and mostly coasted on reputation and draft pedigree. In his first couple years in the league, he showed that he was a decent, but not great player. He ranked 84th percentile in route win rate, and 77th percentile in explosive play rate, but he was not good on a down-to-down basis. He ranked 46th in yards per route run, and 40th in targets per route run. Per FantasyPointsData.com’s Similarity finder, his rookie and sophomore campaign’s most similar two-year spans are 2022-23 Courtland Sutton, 2022-23 Jerry Jeudy, and 2023-24 Amari Cooper. Those three players were WR39, WR41, and WR38 in fantasy points per game in those spans.
So, that’s what we are “getting back to?” That’s the Marv that we are “unlocking” in Houston? A team with a league-average neutral pass rate? Personally, I’m not enthused. Doubly so when you consider the history of wide receivers traded mid-season. He will continue to not be a startable wide receiver.
Is Ollie Gordon A Must-Start Running Back?
Cover up the team name, cover up the player, and consider this three-game average: 15 rush attempts (76 yards per game), and two catches for five yards per game, while scoring a touchdown in three straight. Those sound like some straight Quinshon Judkins or Chuba Hubbard numbers, but they’re not. They’re Ollie Gordon since he took over as the team’s RB1 for De’Von Achane following Achane’s season-ending Achilles tear in week three. His basic numbers are nice, but his advanced numbers are out of control.
Gordon is RB12 over the last three weeks, thanks to the touchdowns, but his carries are also showing some incredible numbers. He’s seventh in EPA/rush over the last three games; he’s second in yards after contact per rush attempt, and tenth in yards before contact per rush attempt. He also is averaging two carries inside the ten per game, which explains his touchdown production.
But (and there has to be a but), he is just cracking off long runs, as evidenced by ranking 35th-of-40 qualifying running backs in success rate, and 33rd-of-40 in run stuff rate. Per FantasyPointsData.com, his most similar running backs are 49ers Jordan Mason, 2024 Tank Bigsby, and Prime Rachaad Penny. So, what we see is a running back who has a great boom-bust profile and who is best-suited as a wildly great flex or backend RB2. At this point, you’ve found gold, but I would trade him in for something a bit more reliable at this point.
Is Omarion Hampton a Fantasy Football Bust?
Omarion Hampton finished week five with 4.9 fantasy points, the second time in the last three weeks that he finished with fewer than six fantasy points, and the Chargers played him on just 30% of their offensive snaps, fewer than his ostensible backup, Keaton Mitchell. This marks the third straight week that Hampton saw his snap share drop, as he peaked at 63% in week two, and it dropped to 42%, 35%, and now 30%. Mitchell isn’t really taking over, either; his snap share stayed in the same range, averaging between 34% and 37% of snaps.
It’s just that the Chargers don’t want to use Omarion Hampton, probably because he’s a one-dimensional banger who doesn’t catch passes, and who isn’t getting the same output as he did last season. The Chargers are a mess, but Mike McDaniel and Hampton are also a mismatch. This is something I warned about over the offseason on the Football Absurdity Podcast, as Omarion Hampton does not, in any way, approximate De’Von Achane, whose pass-catching and big-play threat skills kept him going in Mike McDaniel’s offense. So, you subtract the pass-catching (dropping from a 47% route share to a 20% route share), and what does that leave you? A two-down banger on an offense that isn’t conducive to two-down banging.
Hampton is within a few percentage points of last season’s totals in stuff rate, explosive run rate, success rate, missed tackles forced, and yards after contact per attempt. Instead, the problem comes in that the Chargers’ scheme (or skill) up front just doesn’t work for Hampton, as he went from 2.18 yards before contact per attempt in 2025 to 1.26 in 2026.
But the question isn’t, “why is Omarion Hampton disappointing?” It was, “Is Omarion Hampton a bust?” I think it goes a bit far to call him a bust, at least at this point. He’s incredibly disappointing, as a lack of production on the ground and targets have left him as a touchdown-or-bust RB2. Unfortunately, the upcoming schedule is not conducive to Hampton shining as his team collapses around him. He’s not a bust yet, but with the Chiefs, Rams, Texans, and Ravens on the docket, it’s looking like he will get that label before the season is out.
