Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes: WR & TE (Week 5)

Welcome to another week of wide receiver and tight end waiver wire stashes for fantasy football. This week’s edition will feature a few repeat players (aka victory laps), as some players featured earlier in the season have already begun to break out. We also have a few new faces, including a tight end only for those of you in insanely deep leagues. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes: Week 5

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Stashes

Xavier Legette (WR – CAR): 19.5% Rostered

I’m going to keep this one short, as it’s more of a victory lap than anything else. I recommended Xavier Legette as a stash after Week 1 and again last week after Andy Dalton took over for the Panthers. With Adam Thielen on injured reserve (IR), the first-round rookie posted a career-high 87% snap rate in Week 4. He saw 10 targets, catching six for 66 yards and a touchdown (he also carried the ball twice for 10 yards). With the way Dalton has elevated the Panthers’ offense, Legette is starting to push the boundary between stash and Flex play.

Ja’Lynn Polk (WR – NE): 12.4% Rostered

This is also not Ja’Lynn Polk’s first appearance in this article, as he joined his fellow rookie in the Week 2 article. However, Week 4 brought a big development for Polk, which earned him another feature.

After averaging just a 55% route participation rate over the first four weeks, Polk skyrocketed to 82% on Sunday, easily leading the Patriots. He also led the team in targets with seven, although he caught just three for 30 yards.

Polk isn’t a startable player yet in most formats as he’s averaging just 15 receiving yards per game. But as a rookie with high draft capital seeing his role expand on a team desperate for playmakers, he’s a perfect stash candidate. There’s also the chance Drake Maye eventually takes over and elevates this offense to another level, which would be huge for Polk’s value.

Josh Downs (WR – IND): 14.4% Rostered

Here we have another victory lap, as I mentioned Josh Downs in Week 3 before he returned from his ankle injury. However, unlike Legette, I don’t think Downs has graduated from stash territory just yet.

This may seem like a hot take for a guy who is second to only Cooper Kupp with an insane 36% target per route run rate. It’s also not like Downs hasn’t produced yet, as he just put up an eight-reception, 82-yard, one-touchdown performance on Sunday (hence the victory lap). However, there’s one key reason why Downs can’t be plugged straight into your lineup: All of his production has come without his starting quarterback.

Of Downs’ eight catches on Sunday, seven came from the arm of Joe Flacco, as Anthony Richardson exited early with a hip injury. Strange as it may seem, Flacco is probably the better quarterback for Downs’ fantasy value at this point. Richardson ranks first among starting quarterbacks by a country mile in off-target throw percentage at 28.6%. It’s bad for any receiver, but that’s a particularly bad fit for Downs as a slot specialist who thrives on volume and underneath routes. Until we see he can produce with his team’s starting QB, Downs is best held on benches.

Jordan Whittington (WR – LAR): 3.4% Rostered

The only receiver in this week’s column not to be featured previously, Jordan Whittington may be this year’s Puka Nacua. A sixth-round rookie out of Texas, Whittington first earned comps to Nacau during the offseason, as he generated plenty of buzz from Rams beat writers. However, he started the season low on the Rams’ depth chart, still fighting for snaps even after both Nacua and Cooper Kupp went out with injuries.

That changed in Week 4, as Whittington led all Rams receivers with an 87.5% route participation rate. He also led the team in targets with eight, catching six for 62 yards. Obviously, he’s not going to follow in Nacua’s footsteps and set rookie receiving records. Still, Whittington has plenty of upside as the potential No. 1 WR for a team led by Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay.

Fantasy Football Tight End Stashes

Tucker Kraft (TE – GB): 3.2% Rostered

Tucker Kraft has been a viable stash since Week 1 (this is the last victory lap, I promise) when it became clear he was the Packers’ lead tight end over Luke Musgrave. This week made that more clear than ever, as he finished as the TE2 for the week with six catches for 53 yards and a touchdown on nine targets.

Kraft also finished second on the Packers with an 84% route participation rate, a huge jump from his average over the first three weeks of just 51%. That second number is why Kraft can still be considered a stash more than a true TE1. Unless you’re desperate for TE production (which, to be fair, many managers are), wait another week to see how Kraft’s Week 5 usage looks before sticking him in your lineup when making fantasy football start sit decisions.

Taysom Hill (TE – NO): 33.1% Rostered

Taysom Hill has always been an outlier at the TE position. Usually, his sporadic usage makes him too hard to trust compared to other players who see consistent volume, even if his weekly ceiling is one of the best available. This year, things may be different.

For one, almost no tight ends are actually producing, making Hill’s boom-or-bust profile more appealing. For another, the Saints’ offense is better, which means more opportunities in the red zone, where Hill thrives. And, most importantly, Hill has seen decent usage. He didn’t do much in New Orleans’ Week 1 blowout win, then exited Week 2 early with an injury.

This Sunday, however, he was used early and often. Early in the game, he played on 15 out of 25 possible snaps and carried the ball six times to Alvin Kamara‘s seven, including two goal-line touchdowns. However, he then exited the first half early with a rib injury. We’ve hardly gotten to see Taysom healthy in a normal game script for the Saints this season. Given the state of the TE position and his flashes of touchdown upside, he may be worth holding until we do.

Erick All (TE  CIN): 0.7% Rostered

This is a stash only for truly deep leagues, as the fourth-round rookie has just a 22.8% route participation rate through four weeks of his NFL career. However, he is making the most of his time on the field, posting a massive 35% target per route run rate.

Erick All also posted a new career-high 60% snap share on Sunday, although he still posted just a 28% route participation rate as Mike Gesicki often replaced him on passing downs. Still, All racked up four targets on his limited routes, catching all four for 28 yards. If Gesicki were to get injured or the Bengals were simply to decide they want the rookie in a full-time role, he could quickly find himself as a fringe TE1.

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Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasyPros.com. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.