This week, the degree-of-difficulty in our game jumps a level. The byes are beginning, with four teams resting in Week 6. None of your Niners, Saints, Falcons or Jets can help you next Sunday. So we’ve got work to do.
Let’s make some good add/drop decisions today, folks. Every player mentioned below is available in a majority of Yahoo leagues; all are approved for immediate use.
Wide receivers and tight ends deserving attention
For the second straight week, Toney produced multiple wow plays for the Giants. The rookie is routinely blazing through NFL defenses…
Toney is live-wire quick, almost untouchable. There’s simply no way New York can fail to give him at least a half-dozen touches per week moving forward — he’s too dangerous. He’s caught 16 balls for 267 yards over his past two games, including a 10-reception, 189-yard performance at Dallas. Unfortunately, his afternoon ended with an ejection for throwing a punch (at a helmet, which is never a good idea), so he’s surely facing some sort of discipline.
In any case, Toney has taken full advantage of additional opportunities that have arisen because all other key Giants receivers have been sidelined. Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton were inactive on Sunday and Kenny Golladay suffered a knee injury against the Cowboys. But, again, Toney really needs to be fed targets without regard to anyone else’s health status. He’s electric.
Recommended waiver offer (assuming $100 budget): $31
That’s right, we’re doing it again. It’s possible you guys will never fully embrace Patrick, no matter how consistently playable he proves to be. [shrug]
Patrick caught a season-high seven balls on nine targets on Sunday, gaining 89 yards. With five weeks now in the books, he’s delivered either 80 yards or a touchdown four times. Patrick has size (6-foot-4), separation ability and rapport with his quarterback. Denver’s receiving corps is dealing with a medley of injuries at the moment, so Patrick’s services are desperately needed. This week’s matchup with Vegas shouldn’t scare anyone off.
OK, good talk, everyone. Let’s meet back here next week to chat about Patrick yet again.
Offer: $8
Additional WRs of interest: Marquez Callaway (FINALLY, the big week happened for this legend of the 2021 preseason, thanks in no small way to this fabulous/ridiculous end-of-half bomb; he’s on bye this week, unfortunately), Rondale Moore (he makes one of the best catches of the season after all you non-believers mass-dropped him, smh), Rashod Bateman (the rookie is a near-lock to make an impact in the Ravens’ receiving corps when elevated from IR), Amon-Ra St. Brown (he’s drawn eight targets in back-to-back games, hauling in 13 for 135 yards), Adam Humphries and DeAndre Carter (these two have a path to volume in Week 6 with Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown and Logan Thomas injured).
If you’re in the market for a new TE: Hunter Henry (he’s made house-calls in consecutive weeks, catching 10 of 13 targets), Ricky Seals-Jones (with Thomas unable to go, RSJ saw eight targets and produced 41 receiving yards; next week’s matchup with KC is as good as it gets), David Njoku (for those who like to chase last week’s touchdowns, here you go; Cleveland has spread the receiving wealth so far, making it unlikely he’ll repeat as a volume pass-catcher).
Running backs on the wire
It brings us no pleasure to discuss Booker in this space, because of course that means Saquon Barkley is injured again. Barkley rolled an ankle early in New York’s nightmarish loss at Dallas, and we have to assume he’s at risk of missing next week’s matchup with the Rams. It was an ugly sprain and Barkley was immediately ruled out.
In Saquon’s absence, Booker was … well, he was fine. He carried 16 times for 42 yards, which is gross, but his fantasy day was propped up by a short rushing score and a garbage-time receiving TD. You all basically know what you’re getting with Booker; we’ve had this drill before. He’s perfectly functional. Give him a full workload and he can give you a useful fantasy line.
Offer: $14
Williams is headed for an uptick in usage following Sunday’s loss to Buffalo, because Clyde Edwards-Helaire suffered a knee injury that immediately ended his night. CEH was carried from the field by teammates after being tackled by a crowd of Bills in the third quarter. Williams remains the clear backup in KC’s backfield and he’s reached the end zone twice this season on limited touches. He may lack flash, but he’s about to see 15-plus touches per week in an upper-tier offense with CEH expected to miss a few weeks. You have no choice but to try to make the add.
Offer: $20
Alex Collins, Seattle Seahawks (37%)
Over the past two weeks, facing quality opponents, Collins has produced several fun/angry/clever runs, including this 14-yard score against the Niners…
We don’t yet know Chris Carson’s status for Sunday’s trip to Pittsburgh, but we can safely assume Collins will handle a decent share of the backfield work. With Carson active two weeks ago, Collins played 39 percent of Seattle’s offensive snaps and handled a dozen touches. He’s not likely to go away any time soon. Collins was plenty active when the Seahawks entered pass-heavy hurry-up mode on Thursday night, so we shouldn’t think of him as a player who’s unusually reliant on game-flow.
Offer: $14
Khalil Herbert, Chicago Bears (19%)
We knew that Damien Williams was teed up for a significant workload on Sunday with David Montgomery sidelined, and he delivered as expected, gaining 84 scrimmage yards and finding the end zone once on 18 touches. We had not assumed, however, that Herbert would be equally involved. The sixth-round rookie carried 18 times for 75 tough yards as the Bears gave us an old-school run/pass ratio of 37 to 21. Herbert obviously wasn’t hyper-efficient, but he was decisive and powerful. He rushed for 1,183 yards at Virginia Tech last season, averaging a conference-appropriate 7.6 yards per carry.
It seems unlikely Chicago will have the luxury of running the ball 35-plus times against Green Bay this week, but Herbert has established himself as an important piece of the Montgomery replacement plan.
Offer: $6
Other RBs of interest: Kenneth Gainwell (he should see a batch of targets this week against Tampa, a game in which Philly should have little success on the ground), Samaje Perine (shared the backfield work with Joe Mixon on Sunday as Cincy’s featured back was returning from injury), Mark Ingram (when things go according to script for Houston, which isn’t often, he’s looking at 15-plus carries), Rhamondre Stevenson (he went nowhere on 11 carries against the Texans, handling double-digit carries in relief of a fumbly and lightly injured Damien Harris).
[Play in Yahoo’s Week 6 Million Dollar Baller DFS contest]
Quarterbacks to prioritize
Taylor Heinicke, Washington Football Team (16%)
Heinicke is about to face a Kansas City defense that entered Week 5 allowing an obscene 6.9 yards per offensive play and 8.8 yards per pass attempt. The Chiefs have allowed 300-yard passing performances to Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen; they were shredded and beaten by Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, too. So Heinicke’s matchup definitely works.
We’re not going to try to convince you that Heinicke was surgical as a passer against New Orleans on Sunday, because he was, um … not great (248-0-2). He’s rushed for at least 40 yards in back-to-back weeks, however, so he has a degree of dual-threat appeal. Heinicke has already produced three multi-touchdown games, demonstrating that he can crush in a favorable spot. Keep him in your plans if you’re facing bye-week problems.
Offer: $5
Various other QBs of interest: Trevor Lawrence (interestingly enough, the rookie’s roster percentage has slipped to 50 percent, so there’s a decent chance you can add him for his upcoming matchup with the reeling Dolphins), Geno Smith (he was stunningly effective against the Rams on Thursday night, and, well … he’s the guy who gets to throw to Lockett and Metcalf), Carson Wentz (we don’t necessarily recommend that you watch the Texans and Colts next Sunday, but there’s no denying the quality of Wentz’s matchup).
Defense to target
Cincinnati Bengals (9%)
Cincinnati travels to face the 0-5 Lions this week, so the matchup is friendly enough. This defense has allowed just 20.0 points per game this season and it held its own against Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. Trey Hendrickson (4.5 sacks) has been a clear difference-maker for a pass rush that rarely touched a quarterback last year; Cincy has already recorded 13 sacks after managing only 17 in all of 2020. Stream as needed against Jared Goff and friends.
Offer: $1
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