If I had a nickel for the number of potentially league-changing waiver adds rostered in between 50 and 55 percent of ESPN leagues and thus technically can’t be put on the Week 4 waiver wire adds column because they’re over 50 percent, I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened thrice.
Welcome to waivers! I hope you took my advice and went nuts for Ollie Gordon II last week, because he managed 100 rushing yards and 18 fantasy points in a game in which the Miami Dolphins ran 37 entire plays. Imagine what he’ll do when they actually play a professional amount of football! I also hope you read the “Emanuel Wilson” part of the “Emanuel Wilson/George Holani” tab and stopped reading, because the former went off and now looks like a potential season-long value with Jadarian Price on IR. The latter looks … like a backup.
Because there are a number of important considerations with just over 50 percent rostership (is that a word? I’m making it a word), I’m temporarily suspending our <50 percent roster percentage rule in favor of a <55 percent roster percentage rule because … I literally made the rule up in the first place. You think my editors were like hey man, make sure you stick EXACTLY to sub-50 percent guys. This isn’t some kind of repressive dictatorship, and you will thank me greatly if one of these slightly over-the-cap dudes is available … starting with the very first guy on the list.
Disclaimer: All roster percentages are from ESPN. Players must be available in more than 45 percent of leagues (for this week only, back to 50 next week), with recommendations based on 10-team PPR formats.
Running back waiver wire targets
- Emanuel Wilson (Seahawks)
- Tank Bigsby (Eagles)
- Keaton Mitchell (Chargers)
In what seems to me like a sick joke designed specifically for this column, Emanuel Wilson is rostered in 50.1 percent of ESPN leagues as of this writing. I recommended picking him up last week, and after Jadarian Price was placed on IR I bet he was picked up in quite a lot more leagues. If you were that person, congratulations: you apparently lucked into the starting running back on the Seattle Seahawks, a historically ultra-valuable position. If nobody picked up Wilson, though, and he’s still available in your league, for the love of all that is holy go pick him up. Wilson got 21 carries, will be in line for 20 more at least for the next four weeks and maybe more, and gets all the goal line work. He put up 27 fantasy points and will be worth whatever you have left after I told you to spend everything on Ollie Gordon. This is like a DEFCON 1 emergency add if he’s available.
Beyond Wilson, we have one injury fill-in and one guy I think you can just straight up play. Saquon Barkley left Week 4 with an injury and his status for Week 5 is highly unclear. Tank Bigsby thus becomes a worthwhile stream even if for only one week. Finally, I must be going crazy with Keaton Mitchell, who I swear gets valuable touches every week, scores double-digit fantasy points every week and yet is still rostered in under 20 percent of leagues. I promise there are worse RBs starting in your league than Keaton Mitchell.
Wide receiver waiver wire targets
- Roman Wilson (Steelers)
- Malik Washington (Dolphins)
- KC Concepcion (Browns)
- Keon Coleman (Bills)
Very interesting week at wide receiver, and lots to discuss. First and foremost: KC Concepcion is the second of our three over-50-percent rule breakers, rostered in 50.8 percent of ESPN leagues, but I think he’s very much worth an add if available; shockingly, the Browns look like they can run a competent passing offense with Deshaun Watson, and while Denzel Boston looks like the primary beneficiary so far, don’t rule out Concepcion, who was a first-round pick this spring.
Speaking of competent passing offenses, Roman Wilson could get you some points so long as Aaron Rodgers looks like he has for the last two weeks. If he goes back to the way he looked in Weeks 1 and 2, though? I’d be much more dubious. Speaking of competent passing offen … wait, sorry, we’re not talking about a competent passing offense, we’re talking about the Miami Dolphins! Malik Washington plays for a junior varsity football team, but he is simply always going to project with the kind of target volume to PPR his way to victory even if his upside is limited by … playing for a junior varsity football team.
A word on Keon Coleman, who every other “Waiver Adds” column will tell you to go out and add immediately and spend all your FAAB on and oh my god he’s Josh Allen’s number one guy and oh my god he was a first-round pick and oh my god … shut up and listen: you can and should go add Keon Coleman, but don’t go nuts. He has never, and I mean never shown that he can sustain the kind of target volume in this offense to be playable week-to-week. He was benched, shunned and embarrassed by the team leadership last season in an incredibly unprofessional showing by owner Terry Pegula, and then the Bills traded a second-round pick for D.J. Moore because they didn’t feel comfortable with Coleman as an X receiver. If Moore misses more time with injury, Coleman may be an emergency flex. But he’s not some season-altering add.
Tight end waiver wire targets
- T.J. Hockenson (Vikings)
- Hunter Henry (Patriots)
- Brenton Strange (Jaguars)
Our third and final over-50-percenter is T.J. Hockenson, rostered in 54.7 percent of leagues but certainly worth 100 percent of your attention if he’s sitting on the waiver wire. The man had 13 catches for 119 yards in Week 4 and looked to all observers like Kyler Murray’s new favorite target. That’s obviously in no small part because Justin Jefferson missed the game with injury, but Murray has a long history of utilizing tight ends over the middle.
Beyond Hockenson, welcome back to the status quo. We’ve all added and dropped Hunter Henry seven different times each the last six years — he’s never a TE1, he’s never unplayable. If you’re in dire straits, he’s a fine option. Brenton Strange is a talented player who showed out in Week 4, but I don’t know if we can project him the kind of volume that we want for other tight ends; he has major target competition in Jacksonville.
Quarterback waiver wire targets
- C.J. Stroud (Texans)
- Aaron Rodgers (Steelers)
Quarterback is usually a solved game by Week 5, but with Lamar Jackson suffering an apparent ankle injury, there’s a chance you have a need. C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans are having the worst season ever, and they also can’t run the ball … which is good for those of us wanting Stroud to throw the ball a lot to win fake football games if they can’t win any real ones. Aaron Rodgers has posted 20+ fantasy points in each of his last two games, and is playing the less-than-intimidating Indianapolis Colts in Week 5. Can’t believe I just suggested adding Rodgers. Whew.
Defense streaming advice
The rule of thumb for this year is anyone playing the Dolphins, which for this week means the lately shoddy Texans D/ST. Otherwise the Vikings D/ST remains dominant, and I wouldn’t say no to the Broncos D/ST either, facing the 0-4 Los Angeles Chargers, who must just be over it at this point.
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