Another week, another full slate of games, and more injuries. Time to dive in and see who to claim on the Week 5 Waiver Wire. As opposed to our Tight End heavy Week 4, Week 5’s additions include every position but Tight End. Let’s jump in.

In general, these players will be injury replacements or those who I think have a chance to breakout.  Remember, it’s unlikely that someone here will be this year’s James Robinson, but you should find some low-end RB2s or WR3s and bye week starters with upside potential. Any players listed will be less than 50 percent owned according to fantasypros.com consensus roster percentage.  

A quick aside: Once again, take a look at Tim Patrick, as I advised in Week 2.  Patrick is averaging 12.1 PPR points per game and only owned in 39.7 percent of leagues despite my efforts.

Check out my previous suggestions below, who knows, those players may still be available:

Free Agent Fill Ups

Week 3

Week 4 (Changed the naming system to reflect the upcoming week)

Without further ado, here are players to consider claiming this week:

Damien Williams, RB, Chicago Bears

David Montgomery has a knee injury.  While it appears that it is not his ACL, there is no word on the severity of the injury and he should miss multiple weeks.

 

Bears don’t believe RB David Montgomery tore his ACL, but they are doing further testing today to determine the extent of the injury, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 4, 2021

With that, Damien Williams makes a viable replacement.  He sat out 2020 due to Covid concerns, but in 2019 he averaged 13 PPR points per game.  Williams played 11 games that year, but he was a backup in five of them behind LeSean McCoy. Tarik Cohen is still recovering from a torn ACL and isn’t due back until at least Week 7, leaving rookie Khalil Herbert as the only other healthy running back in Chicago.  Damien Williams is owned in 9.6 percent of leagues, so there’s a good chance he’s available in yours.

As a side note, deep leagues may want to look at Herbert.  As a rookie, he is probably rostered in most dynasty leagues, but in deep leagues, he might be a free agent and is worth consideration if Bears’ backs continue to get hurt.

Jamison Crowder, WR, New York Jets

When I saw that Jamison Crowder is owned in a mere 17.3 percent of leagues, I was surprised.  He has averaged 11.1 PPR points per game for his career and is clearly better than any other receiver the Jets have.  He missed the first three weeks of the season but made a statement on Sunday with 19.1 PPR points while leading New York in both catches and targets.

Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Quietly Kenneth Gainwell has become the RB24 through four weeks of the season.  He averages 11.7 PPR points per game and is 26.8 percent owned.  Like Dallas with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard (see Week 2 article above), Philadelphia splits carries enough between Miles Sanders and Kenny Gainwell to make both running backs RB3s with RB2 potential.

According to playerprofiler.com, Gainwell is currently on the field for 30.9 percent of the snaps and gets 37.7 percent of the running back carries and targets (opportunity share).  Meanwhile, Sanders has 64.6 percent of the snaps and 59.4 percent of the opportunity.

Trey Lance, QB, San Francisco 49ers

Jimmy Garoppolo is week-to-week with a calf contusion, but Lance’s potential to be the starter cannot be ignored.  With Lance’s rushing upside, 41 yards on seven carries Sunday, he could easily become a legit second QB in 2QB/Superflex leagues with QB1 upside once the 49ers finally make him the everyday starter.

Josh Gordon, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Josh Gordon is a long shot but still deserves a mention.  He hasn’t played since 2019 and didn’t look that good then (6.7 ppg in 11 games), but he’s still worth a flyer if you have the roster spot.  We all know how good Gordon can be…12.7 PPR points per game for his career, even with down years since 2014.  He’s only 30-years old and has apparently looked good since joining the Chiefs.

Kansas City does not have a legitimate second receiver after Tyreek Hill.  Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle…all of these have had good games, but none have shown any consistency.  Maybe Josh Gordon can succeed where these others have failed.

  

May your waiver spot be high enough to get whomever you want to fill up your roster!