Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? Each week I’ll bring to you the best pickups to make ahead of the waiver deadline. All the players I list will be owned in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the ownership percentage coming from Yahoo.com.

Quarterbacks

Deshaun Watson, Texans (34% Owned): There’s no doubt this will be the last time Watson is on this list for a while, after scoring five total touchdowns last week in a demolition of the Titans. Watson threw for 283 yards and four touchdowns, and added 24 yards on the ground plus a TD. He has two tough matchups in his next three weeks – Kansas City and Seattle sandwich a dream matchup with Cleveland – but his ability to run the ball makes him startable against any D.

Jared Goff, Rams (23% Owned): Through four games, Goff looks like a No. 1 overall pick. He’s averaging 268 yards per game through the air, and has thrown for five touchdowns combined in his last two games. QB numbers are a down a bit in 2017, so his baseline of 250+ yards per game is very useful; he might not be a weekly must-start just yet, but with bye weeks approaching there’s no reason he can’t be a perfectly capable QB2 for you.

Tyrod Taylor, Bills (45% Owned): Taylor is a perfect fantasy backup. Yes, his ceiling is limited because he doesn’t compile passing yards like more traditional QBs, but he also averages 30 yards per game on the ground and hasn’t logged fewer than seven rushing attempts in any game in 2017. Without Sammy Watkins to throw to, Taylor doesn’t have the same week-winning explosiveness he possessed a season ago, but he’s pretty much immune to the type of duds that the likes of Jay Cutler and Joe Flacco have been turning in.

Running Backs

Latavius Murray, Vikings (18% Owned): Dalvin Cook is done for the year, meaning the workhorse role has fallen right on Murray. I was big on him in the preseason, and I’ll admit I was too low on Cook. With that said, I’m high on Murray too. He’s a RB who finds the end zone, scoring 12 times in 2016 on just 195 carries. Minnesota’s rushing offense has been good this year, and he’s in line to see 18+ carries per game with a floor of around 15. The only red flag is a nagging ankle injury. More on that further down.

Aaron Jones, Packers (11% Owned): Don’t believe the hype, because if Ty Montgomery has “multiple broken ribs” he’s not playing in Week 5. Jamaal Williams is also banged up, leaving Jones with a full workload on one of the best offenses in football. On Thursday Jones carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards and a touchdown. He was one of college football’s premier stat sheet stuffers, so I think he’s a good bet to produce with Montgomery on the shelf.

Eddie Lacy, Seahawks (20% Owned): Lacy, left for dead already this year, is back. RB Chris Carson, who looked legitimately exciting, is likely done for the year with a broken ankle. C.J. Prosise ain’t built to be a bell cow, and Thomas Rawls was a healthy scratch last week, meaning Lacy is going to be the man on early downs. Lacy chewed up 52 yards on 11 carries last week once he was pressed into duty, and has shown in the past he has receiving chops. I don’t think we’ll ever see the Eddie Lacy who was worth a first round pick again, but he has very high TD upside with the Seahawks.

Alvin Kamara, Saints (41% Owned): The window to just sneak Kamara onto your team is closed, and you’ll now need to drop some FAAB dollars. Adrian Peterson has been phased out of the offense, and Kamara is seriously eating into Mark Ingram’s value. Last week – 10 catches, 71 yards and a touchdown -- was the high end of what he can do. His floor is around five targets and 3-5 carries, so he’s a viable FLEX in any league rewarding receptions. With New Orleans on bye this week he might be overlooked, but he’s perfect for a team with a good record trying to load up.

Alex Collins, Ravens (10% Owned): Collins is absolutely the preferred Baltimore back, but I would not break open the FAAB piggy bank for him. He looks impressive, and has totaled 82 yards in back-to-back games with fewer than 10 carries in both, and is averaging an absurd 8.2 yards per carry. He’s also having some problems with fumbling, which is an express ticket to the bench. He’s also limited to early downs with Buck Allen playing in passing situations, but there’s good TD upside in Collins as long as he can hold onto the football.

Jamaal Charles, Broncos (45% Owned): Charles has proved he’s healthy, and he’s touching the rock fairly consistently. C.J. Anderson owners absolutely should own Charles, but he is start-worthy in a pinch for any fantasy owner. His 5.3 yards per carry are a reminder of his glory days.

Wayne Gallman, Giants (4% Owned): Big Blue finally got sick of Paul Perkins and Orleans Darkwa stinking it up – okay they both are hurt – but Gallman, a former teammate of Deshaun Watson at Clemson, got his shot. 11 carries and 42 yards later, the Giants probably have a starter. Gallman didn’t look amazing, and this offense has been a graveyard for RBs for years, but he should be a serviceable FLEX most weeks provided he gets all the early-down work. Shane Vereen’s presence ultimately limits the ceiling though.

Samaje Perine, Redskins (24% Owned): Perine’s useless unless Rob Kelley is out, so that means do NOT go nuts spending for him. But Kelley entered last week with a rib injury and then hurt his ankle on Monday night, so he’s not doing so hot. In any game where Kelley is out, workload dictates Perine is a safe player to start. Do not expect him to go off, but do expect him to carry 20 times or so and get useful yardage.

Giovani Bernard, Bengals (20% Owned): For the second straight week Bernard screamed for the Bengals to increase his usage. He’s now scored two weeks in a row despite fewer than 10 total carries/targets. Bernard is a damn good player and even increasing his usage to about 12-15 touches would make him a major fantasy asset the way he’s playing.

Jerick McKinnon, Vikings (3% Owned): McKinnon has done zip this year, but he is a sneaky add. Murray is going to take over as the lead back and take a large majority of the work, but he’s not 100 percent by his own admission. McKinnon will cost next to nothing now, but if Murray aggravates his ankle injury, or plays poorly because of it, what other competition is there for McKinnon in a good offense?

Wide Receivers

Devin Funchess, Panthers (26% Owned): Funchess is finally showing why the Panthers moved up to draft him in 2015 out of Michigan. He’s been targeted 19 times in the last two games, and averaged 64 yards with those looks, scoring twice. It’s risky to rely on any Panthers in the passing game, but as long as TE Greg Olsen is out, Funchess is looking like Cam Newton’s safety blanket.

Cooper Kupp, Rams (44% Owned): Kupp just keeps proving himself. He’s seen six or more targets in three of the Rams’ four games, scored in two of those games, and topped 60 yards twice. He’s no superstar, but if you’re looking for a safe plug-in for bye weeks, Kupp ideally fills that role. I won’t even say his upside is limited, because he’s seeing more targets than even Sammy Watkins is.

Will Fuller, Texans (32% Owned): We all know Fuller has insane big play potential as one of the fastest receivers in the NFL. Now he has a legitimate QB to get him the ball downfield, giving him peak DeSean Jackson type upside. Fuller may not be consistent, but he’s certainly a game-breaker. He is a perfect add for middling teams in need of a spark.

Tight Ends

Evan Engram, Giants (47% Owned): Last week Engram broke the 50-yard mark, hauling in six of his 11 targets for 62 yards. Outside of Odell Beckham Jr., Engram is the safest bet for targets in this pass-happy offense, so he should have one of the highest floors at the position.