Welcome to the DFS Playbook for NFL Week 5!

As if we weren't expecting it already, this past week, once again, has turned into COVID Watch 2020. The Tennessee Titans have garnered the "stupid is as stupid does" label for holding illegal practices and workouts at a local high school after being told to completely shut down following a couple of positive tests and now, their game against Buffalo carries tremendous risk. The NFL has moved that game to Tuesday pending zero positive tests between now and then. While everyone rejoices over zero positives on Friday, people should remain cautiously optimistic. In addition to that, the New England/Denver game has been moved from Sunday to Monday in an effort to give the Patriots additional time to practice after they were shut down for a few days. At least we dodged a bullet with the Jets false positive which means Arizona stays on the board.

What does this all mean for DFS?  It means we lose players like Josh Allen , Stefon Diggs , Derrick Henry , Melvin Gordon and Jerry Jeudy. To make it even tougher, Detroit and Green Bay have their scheduled bye, so we also lose Aaron Rodgers , Matthew Stafford , Kenny Golladay , Davante Adams , Aaron Jones and yes...everyone's new favorite tight end, Robert Tonyan . Oh yeah, and the Seahawks, Vikings, Saints and Chargers play in prime-time so this main slate is now just 10 games chock full of a lot of mismatches a nd ginormous point spreads.

But fear not, #FANation! We got this. We took care of business last wek and we fully intend to do so again this week. Before we get to the actual players in the Playbook, a few reminders for those who may be joining us late, here is your three-step process to lead you up to going through your favorite Playbook plays:

Step 1: Check out the DFS Position Coaches

QB Coach -- James "Babyface" Grande (@The_Real_Grande)

RB Coach -- Justin Vreeland (@JustinVreeland)

WR Coach -- Colby Conway (@colbyrconway)

TE Coach -- Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco)

D/ST Coach -- Dan Malin (@RealDANlanta)

Step 2: Check out the rest of the relevant DFS content

In addition to the positional coaching pieces, you also have things like the DFS Watch List, where I provide you with a list of players I am looking at throughout the week. We have the NFL DFS Podcast with me and Jon Impemba (@jimpemba777), who also does the Contrarian Corner video and check out the DFS Bargains from Jen Piacenti (@jenpiacenti). Our Master of Tools, Matt Selz (@theselzman), supplies you data junkies with the Weekly Match-Up Report and everyone should also be reading the Weekly Game Previews and WR/CB Match-Up Report from Ryan Hallam (@fightingchance).

Step 3: Make your own list of players

It's real easy to just sit and wait for the Playbook, but as you are doing your research throughout the week, it is important to make notes and list the players who interest you the most. Maybe they end up in the Playbook and maybe they don't. If they're there, then great, it should mean we are honing in on the same things that make him a strong play. If not, maybe you're onto something else that someone overlooked. We aren't perfect and if you uncover something different, maybe you're right. I would be careful of routine groupthink and hype from beat writers, but often times someone will tell me something they saw about their local team that I missed and I am always looking to investigate more if its there. If you do, then say something in the chat. Talk it out and see what the rest of the #FAmily thinks.That's why the chat is there, isn't it?

With those three steps complete and discussions are in progress, you are ready to look at the Playbook players, make comparisons and finalize your list for lineups, so let's get to it.

UPDATE: About 80% of the way through writing up the Playbook, this popped up on my Twitter feed:

We will keep you posted on any potential changes, so please keep checking back here for additional updates.

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