2026 Week 5 Fantasy Football Breaking News: Patriots Rule Out Gonzalez, Hollins, Davis

The New England Patriots have ruled out cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis, wide receiver Mack Hollins, and fullback Reggie Gilliam for Sunday's game against the Raiders, according to ProFootballTalk (NBC Sports). Head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed the absences on Friday. The secondary situation is especially dire — on top of Gonzalez and Davis, corners Karon Prunty and Channing Canada are also out with hamstring injuries, meaning Vrabel may need to make roster moves just to fill the position group.

Mack Hollins

Hollins is out with a calf injury, and the direct beneficiary is Efton Chism. ProFootballTalk specifically notes that Hollins's absence should give Chism a chance to build on his game-winning touchdown catch in Week 4. If you have Chism on your waiver wire, he's worth a look — a Week 4 touchdown and now a clear path to expanded snaps is a real opportunity, not just noise.

Reggie Gilliam

Gilliam is listed as questionable in the player data but is ruled out per the source story — treat him as out for Week 5. As a fullback, his fantasy relevance is almost entirely limited to IDP (individual defensive player) or very deep scoring-only formats. His absence is unlikely to move the needle for most fantasy managers.

The bigger fantasy story here is on the defensive side of the ball for DFS (daily fantasy sports) purposes: four Patriots cornerbacks out at once makes Raiders receivers a potential smash spot against a thin secondary. The source story doesn't name specific Raiders receivers as beneficiaries, so monitor beat reporters for confirmation of who New England plans to start in the defensive backfield before locking in any plays.