Sean Koerner — the No. 1 in-season fantasy football ranker in three of the past five seasons according to FantasyPros — outlines his thoughts on the top waiver wire candidates heading into Week 5.
Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Panthers
Teddy is my top streaming play at QB this week, and he has the potential to turn into a low-end QB1, so I'm not opposed to a small bid to get him. He has plenty of weapons at his disposal in Carolina — including wide receivers D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson — and he's recently flashed the rushing ability we haven't seen since his career-threatening injury in 2016.
The Panthers should offer plenty of pass-heavy, trailing game scripts from now on.
Damien Harris, RB, Patriots
Harris warrants a pretty significant bid on the waiver wire this week. He missed the first three games due to an injury to his pinky finger, which is a big reason he's available in 68% of Yahoo leagues. But after his 17 carries for 100 yards on Monday night, that will change.
Sony Michel was placed on IR due to a groin injury and won't return until the second half of the season, which should give Harris a chance to run away with the job.
If you're desperate at RB, I would be fairly aggressive with Harris.
Latavius Murray, RB, Saints
Chase Edmonds, RB, Cardinals
As A-graded backups in my preseason RB Upside Ratings, neither of these backs should be available in your league — they both have RB1 upside if their team's starter were to sustain an injury. Regardless, both are capable of offering Flex value if their roles continue to grow.
Murray has no chance of leapfrogging a healthy Alvin Kamara, though Edmonds could eventually leapfrog Kenyan Drake.
D'Ernest Johnson, RB, Browns
I would be cautious bidding on Johnson — he's going to provide some value with Nick Chubb on the shelf, but we can't base our expectations on Johnson's 95-yard outburst last week: Kareem Hunt was nursing a groin injury, and the Browns won't face the Cowboys every week.
It's reasonable to project Johnson for 8-10 touches from now on, but I don't think it warrants a massive bid. He'll be the next man up in Cleveland if Hunt were to miss any games.
Joshua Kelley, RB, Chargers
Justin Jackson, RB, Chargers
Both Chargers' backs will see a boost with Austin Ekeler expected to miss four to six weeks with a hamstring injury, but Kelley is the more valuable of the two and should provide low-end RB2 value as long as Ekeler is out.
Kelley should already be rostered in a majority of leagues, but Jackson should be able to command 10-15 touches per game and could provide Flex value. He deserves a smaller bid as a "wait and see" bench stash.
Tee Higgins, WR, Bengals
Higgins is the one WR worth targeting on the waiver wire this week. He was drafted to be the long-term A.J. Green replacement, but we may have already seen that transfer occur.
Green has been hogging targets and air yards, but coming up mostly empty, so we could start seeing more of that usage go Higgins' way. He's the clear-cut No. 2 WR in this offense behind Tyler Boyd — the window to pick up Higgins closes tonight.
Robert Tonyan, TE, Packers
Tonyan leads all tight ends (!) in fantasy points this season.
Yes, you read that correctly.
After his three-touchdown game on Monday Night Football, I would expect TE-needy teams will aggressively bid on him tonight, but I would be a bit careful and not go overboard to land him.
Tonyan has the potential to be a low-end TE1, but I bet opposing defenses start taking him seriously now. Davante Adams will also return after Green Bay's Week 5 bye, which will likely eat into Tonyan's target share. However, it's Allen Lazard's injury that probably opened the door for Tonyan to see an increase in targets. The TE should be Rodgers' No. 2 target until Lazard returns in six to eight weeks.
I would place in a bid if you're desperate at TE.
