Start Raheim Sanders or Demond Claiborne? Week 5

Our Week 5 call

Start Raheim Sanders over Demond Claiborne in Week 5.

Market-based projections have Raheim Sanders at 3.9 points and Demond Claiborne at 1.8, a gap of 2.2. Demond Claiborne's number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 3.9 fantasy points for Raheim Sanders, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market has Raheim Sanders at 11.5 receiving yards and 1.5 receptions, with a 11% chance to score a touchdown (15, 16 and 15 market sources).

Player markets imply 1.8 fantasy points for Demond Claiborne, with 50 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market gives Demond Claiborne a 8% chance to score a touchdown (16 market sources).

That puts Raheim Sanders 2.2 points ahead of Demond Claiborne on the market projections.

Injury status

Raheim Sanders is listed as questionable with a hip injury.

Demond Claiborne is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 5

Through Week 4, Raheim Sanders played 33 percent of CLE snaps, took 6 percent of the carries, drew 10 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

Raheim Sanders, Week 1 against JAX: 18 of 51 snaps, 1 carry for 1 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 25 yards.

Raheim Sanders, Week 2 against TB: 11 of 58 snaps, 2 carries for 4 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Raheim Sanders, Week 3 against CAR: 30 of 70 snaps, 1 carry for 17 yards, 5 targets and 4 catches for 34 yards.

Raheim Sanders, Week 4 against PIT: 22 of 64 snaps, 2 carries for 9 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 7 yards.

Through Week 4, Demond Claiborne played 7 percent of MIN snaps, took 8 percent of the carries, drew 1 percent of the targets and had 0 percent of the red zone chances.

Demond Claiborne, Week 2 against CHI: 2 of 52 snaps, 0 carries for 0 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Demond Claiborne, Week 3 against TB: 3 of 59 snaps, 3 carries for 1 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Demond Claiborne, Week 4 against MIA: 9 of 78 snaps, 3 carries for 12 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Raheim Sanders played 4 games for CLE and scored 20.3 PPR points, 5.1 a game, finishing RB95.

He ran 27 times for 92 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 3 of 4 targets for 21 yards.

He was on the field for 12 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

How Week 5 went

Raheim Sanders scored 2.3 PPR points and Demond Claiborne scored 1.6.

The call was right: Raheim Sanders outscored Demond Claiborne by 0.7.

Raheim Sanders finished 1.6 points below the 3.9 the market projected.

Raheim Sanders, Week 5 against NYJ: 3 carries for 12 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 1 yards, 2.3 PPR points.

Raheim Sanders finished as the week's RB46 in PPR scoring.

Demond Claiborne finished 0.2 points below the 1.8 the market projected.

Demond Claiborne, Week 5 against NO: 0 carries for 0 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards, 1.6 PPR points.

Demond Claiborne finished as the week's RB53 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 5 calls

• Start Blake Corum over Raheim Sanders.
• Start Brian Robinson over Raheim Sanders.
• Start Raheim Sanders over Chris Rodriguez Jr..
• Start Isaiah Davis over Demond Claiborne.
• Start Justice Hill over Demond Claiborne.
• Start Roschon Johnson over Demond Claiborne.