Week 5 Waiver Wire (Fantasy Football)
Another crazy week of fantasy football is in the books along with the first bye week of the season. With notable injuries to key players, we are seeing the fall of early draft picks and the rise of players who were barely on our fantasy radars. Week 4 was not immune to the injury bug with Devante Adams going down with turf toe and Mitch Trubisky exiting the game early with a shoulder injury, to name a few. For a full break down of Week 4’s injuries and their implications, check out Week 4 Fantasy Football Injury Recap.
These injuries impact more than just the injured player but the surrounding pieces on their offenses, especially when it comes to new quarterbacks. Week 5 will bring us another week of rookie and backup quarterbacks and yet another round of byes with the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. So, you’re really looking to replace your Lions players considering you shouldn’t have anyone from the Dolphins on your roster anyway.
Below are the top waiver wire options for Week 5 from The Fantasy Footballers. Make sure you check out the Week 5 Waiver Wire episode to get the full breakdown of each of these players below, plus their QB and DST streamers for the week.
WR
If you’re in need of a wide receiver, good news. New offenses, new play-callers, and new injuries have brought new names to fantasy relevance such as A.J. Brown who exploded last week with three receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Golden Tate is coming off of his four-game suspension and the Giants’ QB Daniel Jones isn’t shy about slinging the ball around to his receivers.
An interesting name to consider is rookie WR Diontae Johnson for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers don’t traditionally use a rookie wide receiver, but that had to change with Ben Roethlisberger out for the season. Mason Rudolph has no issue targeting the young player who has scored a touchdown in each of his past two games.
NE Phillip Dorsett (60% owned)
2/10/0 on 9 targets — 1/9/0 rushing
@WAS, NYG, @NYJ
DEN Courtland Sutton (54% owned)
6/62/2 on 9 targets
@LAC, TEN, KC
NYG Golden Tate (49% owned)
MIN, @NE, ARI
GB Marquez Valdes-Scantling (66% owned)
3/47/0 on 7 targets
@DAL, DET, OAK
GB Geronimo Allison (24% owned)
3/52/1 on 4 targets — 1/7/0 rushing
@DAL, DET, OAK
NYJ Robby Anderson (63% owned)
Week 4: Was on Bye
Week 3: 3/11/0 on 5 targets
@PHI, DAL, NE
PIT Diontae Johnson (5% owned)
Week 3: 3/52/1 on 6 targets
Week 4: 6/77/1 on 6 targets
BAL, @LAC, BYE
CIN Auden Tate (0% owned)
Week 4: 4/50/0 on 6 targets
ARI, @BAL, JAX
BUF Cole Beasley (12% owned)
Week 4: 7/75/0 on 13 targets
Week 3: 8/48/0 on 10 targets
@TEN, BYE, MIA
TEN A.J. Brown (10% owned) / Corey Davis (47% owned)
Brown – 3/94/2 on 3 targets
Davis – 5/91/1 on 6 targets
BUF, @DEN, LAC
RB
It may be possible that the ageless one, Frank Gore is available on your waiver wire, and if he is, you should scoop him up. Even against the formidable New England defense, Gore still rushed 17 times for over 100 yards finishing with 11.9 points in half PPR. Another player to scope out is Jordan Howard who had himself a game against Green Bay. Head coach Doug Pederson isn’t afraid to utilize multiple backs, including Howard who saw the end zone three times in that matchup.
Jaylen Samuels is another intriguing name to consider if he’s available. He is much more valuable this year as more than a backup running back to James Conner. The Steelers aren’t afraid to use both backs as we witnessed during Monday night’s matchup against the Bengals and Conner is listed as questionable as of this article date.
PIT Jaylen Samuels (30% owned)
10/26/1 — 8/57/0 on 8 targets
BAL, @LAC, BYE
BUF Frank Gore (58% owned)
17/109/0
@TEN, BYE, MIA
PHI Jordan Howard (56% owned)
15/87/2 — 3/28/1 on 4 targets
NYJ, @MIN, @DAL
HOU Carlos Hyde (67% owned)
12/58/0 — 4/6/0 on 5 targets
ATL, @KC, @IND
KC Darrel Williams (52% owned)
8/13/2 — 3/43/0 on 4 targets
IND, HOU, @DEN
TB Ronald Jones (44% owned)
19/70/1 — 1/12/0 on 1 target
@NO, CAR, BYE
IND Jordan Wilkins (2% owned) / IND Nyheim Hines (19% owned)
Wilkins – 4/17/0 — 1/11/0 on 1 target
Hines – 3/6/0 — 6/39/0 on 6 targets
@KC, BYE, HOU
SF Tevin Coleman (64% owned)
Hasn’t played since Week 1
SF Raheem Mostert (33% owned)
Week 4 Bye
Week 3: 12/79/0 — zero catches on 1 target
CLE, @LAR, @WAS
SEA Rashaad Penny (58% owned)
Did not play in Weeks 3 and 4
LAR (Thurs), @CLE
WAS Chris Thompson (66% owned)
4/4/0 — 4/56/0 on 5 targets
NE, @MIA, SF
TE
I’m not quite sure what to think about the tight end landscape so far this year. It seems like the position has been a fantasy disaster for so long, it’s hard to believe we have eight options to target for Week 5. If Tyler Eifert is still available, pick him up immediately. He faces the Arizona Cardinals this week whose defense has yet to realize that the tight end position exists.
If you have been keeping your eye on the Jets’ tight end, Chris Herndon, this may be last week you can get him for cheap. He was on a bye in Week 4 and still has one more week left on his suspension so he may be off of your league’s radar.
GB Jimmy Graham (36% owned)
6/61/1 on 9 targets
@DAL, DET, OAK
NYJ Chris Herndon (18% owned) (Back Week 6)
Was on bye, one week left of suspension
@PHI, DAL, NE
NE Ben Watson (2% owned)
Suspension over
@WAS, NYG, @NYJ
CIN Tyler Eifert (15% owned)
Week 4: 2/27/0 on 5 targets
ARI, @BAL, JAX
IND Eric Ebron (71% owned) / IND Jack Doyle (20% owned)
Ebron – 1/48/1 on 5 targets
Doyle – 4/22/1 on 8 targets
@KC, BYE, HOU
DEN Noah Fant (11% owned)
2/31/1 on 4 targets
@LAC, TEN, KC
BUF Dawson Knox (14% owned)
3/58/0 on 3 targets
@TEN, BYE, MIA
Don’t forget to listen to the Week 5 Waiver Wire episode to get The Fantasy Footballers opinions on these available waiver wire targets. Also, remember after the waivers process, check out who your league mates dropped. You may find some gems from tilt dropping or needing to cover the bye week.