Inside the Lines fantasy football Week 5 Waiver Wire pickups: Buy low on Aaron Rodgers, pick up Woody Marks
Which players should you be targeting on waivers ahead of Week 5?
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When you can pick the spread and totals well, you can predict completions, yards and touchdowns well. Our first waiver wire report had some clear hits (Daniel Jones, Wan'Dale Robinson, and Quentin Johnston). We also recommended Calvin Austin, Hunter Henry and Brenton Strange two weeks ago.
Players to Target
The waiver wire has some high priced, big named talent on it this week, especially at quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers (40%): All of a sudden he is arguably the best quarterback for fantasy in the AFC North. Joe Burrow is out and may not come back, especially if the Bengals are out of playoff contention. Lamar Jackson has a hamstring injury and if '21, '22 are any indication, he is not a fast healer. The Browns are ready to move off of Joe Flacco. Rodgers will likely be no better than QB15 after MNF and has a bye week in Week 5. But after that, he gets games vs. Cleveland, Cincinnati and Green Bay.
Trevor Lawrence (56%): The Jaguars are having a good season and the fanbase likes the way Trevor is playing. The new regime has the team averaging 24 pts per game (way up from 19 last season). They've done this despite Lawrence completing a career low 58.3% of his passes, the worst TD:INT ratio since his rookie season and just 32 rushing yards total. He is 1.5 standard deviations statistically from where he will likely end up at seasons end. Expect to see a few 70% completion, 2 pass TD, 30 rushing yard games on his horizon.
Romeo Doubs (58%): Doubs was on our first Waiver Wire article when he was at 36% rostered. He's had 4 touchdowns and he'll still be a popular pickup even if Christian Watson is ready after the bye. Doubs clearly is Jordan Love's go-to receiver in the red zone and he is projected to be WR37 based on average PPR points over the next month.
Kenneth Gainwell (22%): He had a monster game vs. Minnesota. I especially loved seeing his six receptions on six targets. Kaleb Johnson is still a rookie getting used to the league and had that boneheaded mistake on the kick return vs. Seattle. It looks like Gainwell could end up getting 45% of RB usage even when Jaylen Warren is healthy. If Warren is out then Gainwell could be RB20 consistently.
Evan Engram (56%): He's gotten off to a slow start in Denver with Bo Nix struggling unexpectedly and injuries. But he should be healthy tonight and don't be surprised if he has a strong game vs. the Bengals. We saw how Nix played down the stretch last season, and with only Lucas Krull and Adam Trautman behind him he could be in for a 20% share of receiving stats. Last year's trio of TEs combined for 60 receptions, around 450 yards and five touchdowns. Engram has potential to be a consistent four reception, 40 yard and 0.4 TD performer if he gets 75% of the TE receiving pie while also elevating the overall production.
Darren Waller (14%): One reason why Tua Tagovailoa is struggling in key moments on short fields is his favorite target in those situations last season, Jonnu Smith, is on the Steelers. Smith had a monster 111 target, 88 reception, 884 yard and eight TD season last year for Miami. Waller produced an impressive 52 rec, 552 yards and 1 TD in 12 games with one of the lousiest QB situations in history (Giants 2023). He still has enough physically, and I assume he wouldn't come out of a happy retirement if he wasn't hungry to prove he's still got it.
Woody Marks (54%): As of today, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said "[Joe] Mixon is not close to a return to the field". Aging RBs with foot injuries are not the most bankable assets. Nick Chubb clearly is a shell of himself. Houston finally had a good offensive outing because Marks was the lead RB with 119 rushing + receiving yards (17 rushes, 4 receptions) and scored both on the ground and in the air. Do not be surprised if he is RB1 producing comparable stats to Joe Mixon in 2024. Week 5 should be a huge game for him vs. the porous Ravens defense.
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