Waiver Favors™: 2021 Week 5 Fantasy Football Pickups

By Ha Kung Wong  Week 5 Fantasy Football Pickups

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

As I do every year over the last 9 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors™ article!  And I’m assuming if you’re reader right now, you won your fantasy football playoffs last year, so congratulations!

I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 5 of the 2021 fantasy football season that hopefully will keep your team running.  You’re welcome.  Again.

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.

Players I’ve suggested before that deserve a look again this week include:

• Damien Williams – RB – Chicago Bears
• Michael Carter – RB – New York Jets
• Alexander Mattison – RB – Minnesota Vikings
• Chuba Hubbard – RB – Carolina Panthers

And here are some new players I’m recommending this week:

Alex Collins

RB – Seattle Seahawks – 37% Owned

With Chris Carson out due to a neck injury, Alex Collins got the start and played 71 percent of the Seahawks’ offensive snaps totaling 15 carries for 47 rush yards and 2 receptions for 25 receiving yards. It’s clear that DeeJay Dallas will also mix in, but Collins should get the lions share of the work so long as Carson remains out.  Collins should be picked up by all Carson owners, and all RB needy owners who have room to speculate on a starting RB in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Devontae Booker

RB – New York Giants – 5% Owned

16 carries for 42 rush yards and a TD, and 3 of 4 targets for 16 yards and a TD

Saquon Barkley twisted ankle in game and had to be carted off during the game, appearing on crutches after the game was over.  Devontae Booker stepped in and totaled 16 rushes for 42 rush yards and a TD, adding 3 receptions for 16 receiving yards and a TD.  The fact that Booker was used in both the ground game and through the air provides some safety in likely negative game scripts playing for the Giants.  Go get him in all 10-team leagues or deeper.

Khalil Herbert

RB – Chicago Bears – 19% Owned

With David Montgomery out, Damien Williams took over and did not disappoint.  But rookie Khalil Herbert also chipped in significantly with 18 carries for 75 yards.  It appears that if it’s grinding it out on the ground, the Bears prefer Herbert, while they use Williams a little more dynamically.  He may not be consistent, but 18 carries is 18 carries and well worth your attention, particularly since he did have several red zone carries.  Check him out in all 14-team leagues or deeper.

Chris Evans

RB – Cincinnati Bengals – 2% Owned

Uh oh.  Joe Mixon is still nursing an ankle injury and Samaje Perine has now been placed on the COVID-19 list.  Next man up is Chris Evans, and he may be worth a pick up for those speculating (or are Mixon owners) in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Kadarius Toney

WR – New York Giants – 16% Owned

We all knew that Kadarius Toney was fast and and was a YAC (Yards-After-Catch) monster.  But a preseason injury slowed things down significantly for him, plus being buried on the depth chart.  But with Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard having injuries in recent weeks, and Kenny Golladay going out with a knee injury, he finally got his opportunity and caught 10 of a whopping 13 targets for 189 yards.  He did get ejected for threw a punch at a Cowboys defender late in the 4th quarter, and Daniel Jones is in the concussion protocol, but the Giants don’t have a lot of depth at WR, so Toney can be a target monster for the rest of the season.  He managed to catch 6 of 9 targets for 78 yards in Week 4, so this doesn’t appear to be an aberration.  Got get him in all 10- team fantasy leagues or deeper.

Josh Gordon

WR – Kansas City Chiefs – 39% Owned

Just a friendly reminder that Josh Gordon was REALLY GOOD when he played for the Browns in 2012 and 2013.  And he’s now playing for one of the top offenses in the NFL, the Chiefs.  Just sayin’, your window to stash him may be closing soon.