Transcription
Welcome to the week five waiver show where injuries have already begun to mount. Not only that, but by-weeks as well in the Falcons, Bears, Packers, and Steelers.
I'm quickly going to microphone. There you go for audio purposes before we dive in. And just a heads up that this week's waiver wire is very touch-and-go as multiple injuries came down the pipe last night on the double-header Monday Night Football, which unfortunately we're going to have a lot of moving forward. Not only that, but all of the injury news that's coming out as well.
And let's start with that because once again for the second week in a row, Woody Marks is the number one pickup. Hopefully you got him last week for the suggested, I believe it was four to eight fab before he broke out. And that's why we try to stay ahead of these things because now if you were to check in with your league, the suggested fab I have in the column is actually 57 to 61%. I just imagine the situation I would be in one of my leagues if I have 73, 78 left over. Then Woody Marks is absolutely a player, especially if you need running backs that you want to grab. And so that 57 to 61, I imagine would be a winning bid. But as I always say, you know how much players go for in your league. I initially put down 26 to 31 for Woody Marks, but in some cases that wouldn't get him. So, just be aware of what your league mates would be willing to spend and make sure he's a player you win because we finally saw the true changing of the guard happen with Marks out touching Nick Chubb in carries 17-13. The touches, as I mentioned, 21 to 15, and then of course running more routes than Chubb as he did just last week. And it's also significant after Marks finished as the overall six in fantasy, 21 touches for 119 yards and two touchdowns from scrimmage because this was also the first week that DeMeco Ryans relinquished his play-calling duties in order to oversee all of Houston's operation, the offense included. You could say that's why Houston had their best offensive performance all year long. I think it's also because they played quite possibly the worst team in the NFL and the Titans. But also, we could attribute Woody Mark's sudden usage over Nick Chubb to the fact that DeMeco Ryans' got to look at his personnel and say, "We need the best players out there." And that, of course, is Marks. So once again, just to repeat myself, Marks will be the number one overall pickup.
Beyond that, it does get complicated because again, we're dealing with injuries. So, next up, I have personally, before I move on for running backs, the number two pickup is Darius Slayton. And just a reminder that we've already seen this before. Malik Neighbors missed two games last year and Darius Slayton averaged 11 targets and 19 fantasy points. This is why he was so heavily drafted in baseball because he was an entirely different player. The splits were similar to Mike Gesicki without T. Higgins and with him, an entirely different player without Neighbors on the field. And we need to be open-minded here because it's a new quarterback and it's Wandale Robinson, most likely, not guaranteed. It could still be Jalin Hyatt that enters two-wide sets, but it's Wandale Robinson we believe could enter two-wide receiver sets alongside Slayton with Jaxon Dart. And we've also seen Wandale's depth to target be used entirely different this season compared to last year. He's only had one good game against the Cowboys. But again, we're keeping open-minded and we are still picking up Wandale. Theo Johnson, for example, had a season-high 25% target share in this game last week that Malik Neighbors tore his ACL on that MetLife turf. But regardless, Darius Slayton's the one that I believe can actually carry a ceiling week to week as he showed us last year. So, that's the next pickup, number two overall.
The moving pieces I discussed though that are riddled throughout the top 10 that I want to touch on in this show because similar with Woody Marks ahead of week four. That way we're not spending all of our fab like we are this week for him. Rachaad White is apparently in a position to maybe handle the load here because Bucky Irving is undergoing an MRI for an injury we don't know the details of just yet. But in the one game that Bucky exited early last year, Rachaad White out-touched Sean Tucker 19-3. Rachaad White would obviously be an RB1, fringe RB1, especially with the by-weeks if Bucky Irving were to miss any amount of time. Having said that, you also want to pick up Sean Tucker and he's ranked accordingly among the running back pickups. But we saw as early as week six last year that Sean Tucker has a ceiling that includes finishing as the overall RB1 in fantasy. As in week six against the Saints, alongside Rachaad, Bucky Irving, it was Tucker who had 17 touches for 192 yards and two touchdowns from scrimmage. So, we also want to pick up Tucker just in case he emerges in a timeshare with Rachaad White if Bucky Irving were to miss.
Kenneth Gainwell is another interesting one. I believe it's probably going to be ranked higher on a lot of waiver wires across the industry and that's probably because they're not observing that the Steelers are on bye this week. And since the Steelers are on bye, picking up Kenneth Gainwell blocks us basically for the next 14 days for stumbling into another injury. But if you have Jaylen Warren, I understand skipping out on Blake Corum, Kendry Miller, for example, and just picking up Gainwell behind Warren just in case, just in case the Steelers return and Warren is still injured because we saw Kenneth Gainwell move into the exact role that Jaylen Warren had on Sunday morning in Dublin. Kenneth Gainwell out-touched Caleb Johnson 25-6 as a top 12 workhorse. So if the Steelers are going to return in week six from their bye with the same injury status, then yes, we will want Kenneth Gainwell on our roster.
And then last night we also saw Breece Hall injured his knee, quickly ruled out, which never is good. And Israel Abanikanda is interesting from that point forward. After Breece Hall was ruled out, Breece Hall out-touched Israel Abanikanda 15 to 4. But Abanikanda still ran just seven fewer routes than Breece Hall. And the upcoming matchup for the Jets is the one that everyone gets there in against the Cowboys. A situation where if even if Breece Hall were injured, or we saw on the opening drive that Breece Hall had four touches against the Dolphins on Monday night, Breece Hall had four touches, and then Israel Abanikanda had one. What if it's also a committee with Abanikanda against the Cowboys? Then suddenly that's also a player we want because he's now in a 50-50 timeshare with Breece Hall moving forward. So Israel Abanikanda is also on the waiver wire list.
For the wide receivers that are riddled throughout. If Elijah Moore is still out there, which he is in 69% of Yahoo Leagues, certainly someone that we want to continue to target, not only a condensed target tree for Cam Ward, but in changing play-calling duties with Brian Callahan relieving himself from the offense, which is odd since Brian Callahan was an offensive coordinator as his background, that we saw not only lead the Titans with a 30% target share for the first time, but also lead them in routes run. He basically took on the role that Calvin Ridley was initially expected to have at the beginning of the year as Tennessee's wide receiver one. And so that's a player we want to continue to target.
Behind him on the waiver wire, you'll see Adonai Mitchell listed. And Mitchell is a tumultuous one because it all comes down to whether Alec Pierce stays in concussion protocol. Pierce did not practice at all last week. So, it seems like he could miss another game, if not two. We don't know how serious the concussion is. We've seen it linger multiple games for a number of people dating back the last couple of years. But Adonai Mitchell is someone who was mentioned on last week's waiver wire because of how he's been treated historically with the Colts. Going back to last year with Alec Pierce off the field, Adonai Mitchell has a 95% route participation. And heading into last heading into last week from Daniel Jones, he was targeted on 44% of his routes without Pierce on the field in 2023. Only a 12 and a half% target share. Four targets to Michael Pittman's 10 this past game. But in doing so, Adonai Mitchell is so talented that he led the Colts in receiving yards. And as we all know, the fantasy points and box score would have looked a lot different as well had he not pulled a DeSean Jackson, celebrated and fumbled the ball before he reached the end zone. So if Alec Pierce is out, Adonai Mitchell is a player in one of the league's best and most efficient offenses that we continue to want to target.
As we talked about ever-changing situations, Malik Washington is someone who also comes up. Tyreek Hill now done for the year. And there are so many moving pieces for the Dolphins that perhaps the offense just could bottom out altogether. That's my biggest concern here for everyone. But Malik Washington quietly has eight carries this year. Ran two more routes than Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and we believe that for the first time ever, Malik Washington's going to walk into two-wide receiver sets now in place of Tyreek Hill. Even as a prospect, Washington was an after-the-catch burner and so if he's used similar to Tyreek Hill where he's peppered underneath near the line of scrimmage, as he's practically been used this year, and then asked to turn upright for explosive catches, that could still be someone who emerges as a wide receiver three flex in place of Tyreek for the rest of the season.
Not to mention Darren Waller, who only ran a route on a third of the team's drop backs last night, but similar to Jonnu Smith, was used in the red zone, scored two touchdowns, and if he stays healthy, which I do believe is a big if considering he hasn't played football in a calendar year before last night, his role we could see growing. So, Braden Strange, when we're talking about tight ends, because his target share has increased every week so far this year, all four games. Darren Waller, and we mentioned Theo Johnson with that season-high 25% target share from Jaxon Dart. Another deep sleeper also I mentioned in the waiver column is Isaiah Bond. Cedric Tillman with a hamstring injury expected to miss multiple games. And so far this year, the leading receiver in fantasy points for the Browns has been in order: Cedric Tillman, Cedric Tillman, Cedric Tillman, and Isaiah Bond. Notice how I didn't mention Jerry Jeudy at all there. That's not to say that Jerry Jeudy will now not go out and lead this receiving room in fantasy points, but so far that's what's happened. So, a deep sleeper to think about.
Also, be sure and check out if the Colts defense is on your waiver wire since they have a tremendous matchup this upcoming week. The number one matchup in my opinion against the Raiders, who will be missing offensive lineman Kolton Miller. And we could also see that offense bottom out this week against a strong pass rush.
That is the bye-week and injury-riddled version of the waiver wire episode. As I mentioned, be sure to check out the entire column because it's probably going to change, quite honestly, throughout the day. But also for all these injuries, we'll find out throughout the afternoon on Tuesday. The rankings will continue to shift and we'll try to stay ahead of the market throughout. So, I'll be back for the Waiver Wire Discord at 5:00 PM Eastern where hopefully we have some more concise and clear answers for everyone. And then, as always, the column will be swept around 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That way we can all see before we go to bed the final results here where to put in our waiver bids. Stay strong. Lots of injuries. It's only week five, the first bye, but we're definitely going to plug those points into our lineup. So until then, you know the rules. Be a little bit kinder than what's required.