Week 5 saw the bottom completely drop out for the Giants an their season, with 3 major injuries to their top 3 receivers. Odell Beckham Jr. season came to an end in ugly fashion, as he fractured his leg/ankle late in Sundays game. Ankle injuries seemed to be the theme here, as they also lost Brandon Marshall to a season ending ankle injury and Sterling Sheppard to some type of ankle injury, albeit less serious. It’s a tough blow to a team that hasn’t been able to catch a break all season, and now will be relying on Roger Lewis and Evan Engram to carry the receiving corp against the Broncos this week.
NOTE: Players mentioned will be owned in 40% or less of ESPN leagues. MUST ADD will be a recommended add in all leagues. MAYBE ADD is for those in 12 team leagues or deeper. DEEP ADD is for those in 14+ team leagues.
QUARTERBACKS
No QB’s this week. For those desperate for a streaming option this week, Jacoby Brissett would be an option against the Titans, but with Andrew Luck returning in a few weeks, he isn’t really worth wasting FAAB or a waiver spot on.
RUNNING BACKS
Jerick McKinnon (Minnesota Vikings) – 28.9% OWNED – MUST ADD
Last night we got to see what Jerick McKinnon is actually capable of behind a formidable O-Line and he did not disappoint. He looked explosive as a runner and in the passing game, piling up 146 total yards on 22 touches, leading the Vikings in both rushing and receiving yards. The dynamic RB is the top waiver add and should be owned in all leagues.
Wayne Gallman (New York Giants) – 26.9% OWNED – MUST ADD
After an impressive week 4 for Gallman, he backed it up with another nice outing on Sunday and seems prone to take over lead back duties for the Giants. He’s now averaging 4.5 yards per carry on the year and has also been used as a pass catcher out of the backfield with 7 catches in 2 games. That trend should continue as well with the Giants losing their top 3 pass catchers this weekend.
Elijah McGuire (New York Jets) – 14.6% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
With Bilal Powell banged up and questionable at best to play this weekend, McGuire could be in for a big day against the Patriots Sunday. In a game that will probably see the Jets playing from behind and passing a lot, McGuires pass catching skill set should keep his floor high for the week. His value after that is up in the air, but for now, he is worth an add in most leagues.
Alex Collins (Baltimore Ravens) – 30.5% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
The good news for Collins and owners alike this weekend has to be that he saw a season high number of carries, which happened to be 12. He also didn’t put the ball on the ground. The bad news though would be that he lost goal line carries to Buck Allen, who wound up with 25 touches on the day. Collins is still worth a roster spot in most leagues, but he has yet to really put a dent in to Allen’s workload and could even lose some of his own carries when Terrance West gets healthy.
Marlon Mack (Indianapolis Colts) – 3.3% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
Mack went off against the 49ers defense on Sunday after missing the last 2 weeks with a shoulder injury and should be in line to see his role grow steadily going forward. Ideally, he keeps seeing more and more snaps/touches each week that by the time Andrew Luck finally returns, Mack will be the teams lead back. He’s a good fit for the offense and clearly has more to offer than aging Frank Gore at this point.
Matt Breida (San Francisco 49ers) – 7.1% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
With Carlos Hyde nursing an injury, Breida got extensive run on Sunday, playing close to 50% of the snaps against the Colts. Kyle Shanahan claims it was more about riding the hot hand than Hyde’s injury, but I don’t really buy that. Hyde will be the feature back as long as he is healthy, but Breida is still a solid speculative add in case the oft-injured Hyde stays banged up.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Roger Lewis (New York Giants) – 0.1% OWNED – MUST ADD
Lewis hasn’t shown much up until this point in his NFL career, but the 2nd year receiver is now primed with a big opportunity given the Giants WR mess at the moment. He should be 1st or 2nd on the team in targets until Sterling Sheppard returns and with slim pickings at the WR postion on the waiver wire up until this point, he can be treated as a must add for owners in need of help at the position.
Nelson Agholor (Philadelphia Eagles) – 19.5% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
Agholor still isn’t someone that can be trusted every week, but you can do worse than own the #3 option in the Eagles high powered passing attack. He’s a solid bye week filler, who has produced decent flex value in all but one game this year.
JuJu Smith-Schuster (Pittsburgh Steelers) – 3.1% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
With Martavis Bryant being ineffective, JuJu has now out snapped him the past 3 weeks, playing on 82% of the snaps this past weekend. He is becoming the #2 option in the passing game, although unfortunately that hasn’t resulted in much fantasy value with Ben Roethlisberger seemingly uninterested in playing football anymore. Until Ben gets his act together, it’s will be really hard to trust JuJu, but there is upside here if things start to click for that offense.
Ricardo Louis (Cleveland Browns) – 0.4% OWNED – DEEP ADD
After the Rashard Higgins disaster following week 2, its best to keep things in check here for another young Browns receiver. It’s tough to trust anyone in this offense really, with their being no consistency at the QB position.
TIGHT END
Austin Seferian-Jenkins (New York Jets) – 36.1% OWNED – MUST ADD
He’s not going to be a downfield threat or break 50 yards often, but ASJ should continue to be a solid play in PPR formats who see’s plenty of redzone targets. With the current TE situation being what it is, that makes him a borderline TE1.
Tyler Kroft (Cincinnati Bengals) – 9.9% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
Kroft followed up week 4’s big game with a mediocre 4-38 line this Sunday but still saw the 3rd most targets on the team. He should continue to be used similarly as long as Tyler Eifert is out and can be a decent streaming or bye week fill option.
Ed Dickson (Carolina Panthers) – 8.7% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
Dickson had himself a career game this weekend as the Lions decided to just flat out not cover him. This type of game will not happen again, but he has seen 9 targets the past two weeks, so there should still be some value here for those desperate for TE help.
David Njoku (Cleveland Browns) – 3.1% OWNED – MAYBE ADD
Njoku continues to be used sparingly in the passing game, but he flashed his upside on Sunday with a sweet one handed TD catch. With the passing game in need of a spark, it would make sense for the Browns to get him more involved going forward. But then again, its the Browns, so why would they do anything that makes sense.
George Kittle (San Francisco 49ers) – 1.1% OWNED – DEEP ADD
This weekends big game was more of an anomaly than an actual break out performance, but he still has an opportunity to grow in a passing attack that lacks talent. He should be watched for now, but isn’t a bad lottery ticket in deeper leagues.