Fantasy football waiver wire: Best bye week streaming defense replacements in Week 5

The NFL has reached Week 5 and it’s bye week time. Plenty of people plan their fantasy drafts around bye weeks, and plenty just draft their best options and hope for the best come bye weeks.

This coming weekend will see the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers, and Tennessee Titans all sitting at home enjoying a weekend off. For team defenses in fantasy football, the Chargers have been the best unit of that group, but plenty of folks might have drafted the Lions or Eagles and just forgotten about their defense.

Here are a few options to consider in Week 5, with all three rostered in less than 30% of fantasy leagues.

They entered Week 3 as a top ten fantasy scoring defense. We’ll see how they perform against the Lions, but it’s worth looking ahead to Week 5 vs. the Giants. New York has seen Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson putting up big fantasy totals, but the offense as a whole is still working to get on track. Daniel Jones is playing well enough, but he’s due for a stinker of a game.

They’ve managed double digit points three of the first four weeks this season. They’ve forced five turnovers this season and have secured 12 sacks the past two weeks combined. Now they get a Raiders offense that has some upside but is woefully inconsistent. A shot at Gardner Minshew is always a plus for what is currently a top ten fantasy defense.

They’re facing a Dolphins squad that has scored 13 points total in Weeks 2 and 3, and will be without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. They’ve dealt with an assortment of injuries and are struggling to get anything going. The Patriots are a perfect streaming option this week given the matchup.