5 fantasy football waiver wire replacements for Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase

Fantasy football waiver wire replacements for Ja’Marr Chase: 3. Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts

Pierce was held in check by the Tennessee Titans in Week 7 (three catches for 37 yards, on four targets). But before that, he had a touchdown or over 60 yards in four straight games.

The Colts have benched Matt Ryan in favor of Sam Ehlinger, for the rest of the season they say (check out Ryan’s guaranteed for injury 2023 contract implications for the reason why). How their passing game will look with Ehlinger is unclear, but it’s fair to assume Parris Campbell’s recent target share (23 over the last two games) is going to fall with a young, mobile quarterback in place.

That said, Campbell (32 percent rostered on Yahoo!, 26.8 percent rostered on ESPN) is also on the waiver wire radar to some degree–his stock has just taken a solid hit as a short area guy with the move to Ehlinger.

Pierce is a big (6-foot-3) downfield target (381 air yards in six games and on 33 targets this season) who seems to match Ehlinger’s skill set well. If Ehlinger extends plays and lets it fly downfield, Pierce can win those contested situations more often than not.

The Colts also have a late bye (Week 14). So Pierce could be a viable lineup fill-in as a WR3 most weeks during Chase’s absence, notably for favorable matchups in Week 8 (Washington Commanders), Week 10 (Las Vegas Raiders) and Week 12 (Pittsburgh Steelers).

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