With injuries across the league and bye weeks looming, let’s talk waiver wire adds for Week 5.
The Week 4 stats for Khalil Shakur aren’t why he’s on this list. He caught both of his two targets for 23 yards and had not a single reception before this game. But Jamison Crowder was carted off the field on Sunday with an ankle injury and Isaiah McKenzie left the game with a head injury. Given the new precautions the NFL is taking with concussions, Buffalo may be without both of its two primary slot receivers. Shakir is a talented rookie who looked solid in preseason and will likely have the opportunity to step up in Week 5 against a struggling Pittsburgh defense.
If we learned anything from this weekend, it’s that the Giants’ receiving corps is 100% unusable. No receiver had more than one reception. The receiving corps as a whole had three total receptions. Daniel Jones was eight for 13 for 71 yards and the vast majority of offensive damage was on the ground with Saquan Barkley and Daniel Jones. Adding Kadarius Toney is a speculation hold situation. Toney was inactive due to injury and has two receptions for zero yards on the year. And I wouldn’t expect him to suit up in Week 5 since he didn’t practice at all and was declared out fairly early in Week 4. But at some point, Toney will be ready to play and the complete lack of options in the receiving corps may force the Giants to push targets Toney’s way. If you have room to hold him long term, Toney is an interesting stash considering we know how dynamic and dominating he can be when healthy.
What we want versus what we get are two very different things. We may want to see target share lean towards talented rookie Garrett Wilson dominate and Elijah Moore, who flashed major talent in 2021. But what we’re going to get just might be a healthy helping of Corey Davis. Zach Wilson is back, and his preferences are just different than Joe Flacco. In 2021, Wilson had five full starts before the Jets’ bye week. Over that time period, Davis had 36 targets. Zach Wilson just has chemistry with Davis. That was his primary target when he entered the NFL. The Jets coaching staff could certainly scheme more volume to Moore and Garrett Wilson. But Davis is worth an add to see if this trend continues.
7. Kenneth Gainwell (RB – PHI)
Adding Kenneth Gainwell this week isn’t trying to capitalize on his Week 4 touchdown. This is about grabbing a handcuff and stashing him ahead of time, so you don’t have to fight the waiver wire. Despite the increase in pass volume for the Eagles, the run game is still solid. Miles Sanders had had over 80 yards in every game this season outside of Week 3. In Week 4, he had an incredibly dominating performance of 27 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Gainwell was seen as a solid handcuff during the offseason, but his roster percentage has dipped with Sanders dominating and other more appealing options on waivers. But, if Sanders were to go down with an injury, Gainwell would likely become an instant RB2 candidate. Sanders has only played 12 games in each of the last two seasons. If you can afford to stash Gainwell, it could payoff long-term.
I typically don’t include quarterbacks on my top-10 list and like to keep streaming QBs separate. And while Jared Goff is technically a few percentage points too high to be on this list as I prefer to cap roster percentage at mid-40%, I’ll allow it because it’s a quarterback. After 26 completions for 378 yards and four touchdowns, Jared Goff has more than earned his spot on my waivers list. I was worried about Goff in Week 4 without Amon-Ra St. Brown, D’Andre Swift and DJ Chark. But Goff went off against Seattle. Goff now has 11 touchdowns on the year and showcased that even without his most dynamic weapons, he’s still a top-tier streaming option. Goff has a solid floor of around 15 fantasy points with a ceiling of upwards of 30 fantasy points. He should be the preferred streaming option moving forward.
Josh Reynolds stepped up as the WR1 for the Lions, catching seven of his eight targets for 81 yards and one TD. Before the game, I thought the lack of weapons would benefit TJ Hockenson – and that was correct, considering that Hockenson had an insane eight receptions for 179 yards and two touchdowns. But what allowed Hockenson to have such a dominating game, Jamaal Williams to have over 100 yards on the ground, and Reynolds still be very productive is that Detroit has no defense. It’s nonexistent. Their offense has to push high volume because the defense is incapable of stopping anyone. Amon-Ra St. Brown was ruled out fairly early in Week 4. And if he can’t go again in Week 5 or is limited in any capacity, you can start Reynolds in all formats.
With Javonte Williams out, it may be Melvin Gordon season. But the Broncos love rotating backs. And if this love were to continue, that puts Mike Boone in line for an increase in volume. And to say Melvin Gordon struggled on Sunday is putting it lightly. Gordon had three carries for eight yards and a fumble. If Gordon assumes a larger role, but Boone also works into the lineup, he could still have RB3 upside. It’s not a lot. But with the waiver wire very bare for running backs, Boone is worth a speculative add.
Mitch Trubisky is out, and we’ve entered the Kenny Pickett era! We knew it was coming, and it felt more likely to come after the bye week with Pittsburgh’s upcoming schedule being defensively brutal. But Trubisky’s consistently awful play forced Mike Tomlin’s hand. This is fantastic for the long-term value of George Pickens. Pickens had his breakout game with six receptions on eight targets for 102 yards. If Pickens can continue to showcase his talent and demand more target share, Pickens has the makings of a back-half league winner.
While we don’t 100% know who will be playing quarterback for the Cowboys in Week 5, Michael Gallup is a must-add. CeeDee Lamb is still the WR1, and that won’t change. But Gallup returned to action this week, catching two of his three targets for 24 yards and one touchdown – not bad for your first game coming off a torn ACL. When healthy, Gallup has been a solid WR3. And he’s now in line to be the WR2 behind Lamb in a Dallas offense that is gelling surprisingly well. The WR2 is Dallas has always been high value, and Gallup should be rostered in all leagues.
With Marcus Mariota continuing to throw for low volume, the Falcons are relying on their run game, which appears to be working. Cordarrelle Patterson just went on IR, making Tyler Allgeier a must-add. Even when Patterson returns, Allgeier will have long-term value and could play an important role in this Falcons offense through the remainder of the season. Allgeier had 10 carries for 84 yards on Sunday. Caleb Huntley also had 10 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown, but Huntley was just activated from the practice squad. Priority should lean towards Allgeier, who has been a consistent presence in the run game over the past three weeks. Huntley is certainly someone who should be added in deeper leagues in Allgeier if unavailable.
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