Waiver Favors™: 2024 Week 5 Fantasy Football Pickups
By Ha Kung Wong Week 4 Fantasy Football Pickups
Twitter: @FBGarbageTime
As I do every year over the last 12 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’re in your fantasy football playoffs, so congratulations!I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 5 of the 2024 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.
And don’t forget that I have my previous recommended pickups this season at the end of the article, categorized by which leagues I would still pick them up in.
Last week, I made a number of suggestions for pickups, and many of those still stand if their available in your league, such as Chase Brown and Wan’Dale Robinson. Here are the new waiver wire suggestions:
Kirk Cousins
QB – Atlanta Falcons – 51% Owned
Last chance, everyone. Kirk Cousins might not be consistent, but he can be explosive, which is exactly what he did in Week completing 42 of a 58 passes for a whopping 509 yards with 4 TDs and an INT. Drake London, Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts are rounding into form as a potent 1-2-3 punch in terms of receiving targets and the Falcons look like they’re getting into some serious shootouts. You’re not going to see this every week, but in good matchups and in bye weeks, you could do worse.
Trey Sermon
RB – Indianapolis Colts – 52% Owned
With Jonathan Taylor out with an ankle injury, Trey Sermon stepped in with 10 carries for 38 yards and a TD, adding 6 receptions for 25 receiving yards. The ground totals weren’t great, but those receptions are fantastic. If Taylor remains out, Sermon would be a serviceable RB2/Flex in Week 6. Go get him in all 12-team leagues or deeper.
Tyrone Tracy Jr.
RB – New York Giants – 23% Owned
With Devin Singletary out with an injury, rookie Tyrone Tracy had 18 carries for 129 yards in Week 5, adding one catch for a yard. Eric Gray was also in the mix, but after a goal line fumble that was a returned by a TD was used a lot less. It’s unclear what his share will look like once Singletary returns, but it appears he’ll at least have a role after this breakout performance. Grab him in all 12-team leagues or deeper and certainly in any league that you own Singletary.
Tank Bigsby
RB – Jacksonville Jaguars – 22% Owned
Travis Etienne is likely still the lead back in Jacksonville, but it was Tank Bigsby who led the way in Week 5 totaling 129 total yards and 2 TDs. With an incredibly efficient 7.8 yards per carry you can bet that Bigsby will be part of the Jags plans going forward. Go ahead and pick him up in all 12-team leagues or deeper and in any league as a handcuff for Etienne.
Darnell Mooney
WR – Atlanta Falcons – 48% Owned
Although Cousins isn’t consistent, one this is for sure and that’s Cousins is looking for Darnell Mooney. Mooney caught 9 of a whopping 16 targets for 105 yards and 2 TDs in Week 5, but even before that, Mooney was averaging 6 targets per game. After last week’s performance, you can bet that those targets are only going to climb, so go grab him in all 12-team leagues or deeper.
| Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Team | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Ctch% |
| 2024-10-03 | ATL | TAM | W 36-30 (OT) | 16 | 9 | 105 | 2 | 56.3% |
| 2024-09-29 | ATL | NOR | W 26-24 | 6 | 3 | 56 | 0 | 50.0% |
| 2024-09-22 | ATL | KAN | L 17-22 | 8 | 8 | 66 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 2024-09-16 | ATL | PHI | W 22-21 | 7 | 3 | 88 | 1 | 42.9% |
| 2024-09-08 | ATL | PIT | L 10-18 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 33.3% |
Josh Downs
WR – Indianapolis Colts – 40% Owned
Coming off Week 4 where he had 8 of 9 for 82 yards and a TD, Josh Downs secured 9 of 12 targets for 69 yards in Week 5. Clearly, Downs is in the Colts’ offensive plans going forward, and even though most of his targets over the last two weeks came from backup Joe Flacco, he’s sure to continue his target share when Anthony Richardson returns. Go grab him in all 12-team leagues or deeper.
Tucker Kraft
TE – Green Bay Packers – 62% Owned
This is one is kinda cheating since Kraft was supposed to breakout this season, but underperformed over his first 3 games of the season, in part because of Malik Willis. But he did it again in Week 5 with 4 receptions on 5 targets for 88 yards and 2 TDs, not totaling 10 receptions on 14 targets for 141 yards and 3 TDs over the last 2 weeks. He’s probably already gone in your league if its competitive, but if not, go grab him fast in all 10-team leagues or deeper.
Tyler Conklin
TE – New York Jets – 30% Owned
It’s not amazing, but Conklin had six receptions in Week 5, which is his third straight game of four or more receptions. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been amazing, but he keeps looking for Conklin, which means you should look to Conklin too if you need TE help in all 12-team leagues or deeper, particularly if your league is PPR.
UPDATE for Monday Night Football
JuJu Smith-Schuster
WR – Kansas City Chiefs – 6% Owned
There were plenty of questions for the Chiefs WRs coming into Week 5 with both Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown on IR, and the answer was basically JuJu Smith-Schuster, who managed to snag 7 of 8 targets for 130 yards, leading the Chiefs in receiving yards. You’ll have to wait through the upcoming bye week to see if it sticks, but this is Smith-Schuster’s 3rd season with the Chiefs, so it’s not like it’s out of nowhere, and its clear that Patrick Mahomes can make any WR relevant. Stash him in all 12-team leagues or deeper.
Here are pickups that I’ve discussed in previous “Waiver Favors” and where I think they should be picked up:
10-Team Leagues
RB – J.K. Dobbins, Jordan Mason
12-Team Leagues
QB – Derek Carr
RB – Cam Akers (subject to Joe Mixon injury), Braelon Allen, Chase Brown, Kareem Hunt, Bucky Irving, Dontayvion Wicks
WR – Tutu Atwell, Jauan Jennings, Jerry Jeudy, Quentin Johnston, Darnell Mooney, Rashid Shaheed
14-Team Leagues
QB – Andy Dalton
RB – Jeremy McNichols, Samaje Perine, Carson Steele
WR – Brandin Cooks, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyler Johnson, Allen Lazard, Xavier Legette, Mike Williams, Jalen Nailor, Alec Pierce, Demarcus Robinson, Wan’Dale Robinson
TE – Hunter Henry, Isaiah Likely
16-Team Leagues or Deeper
WR – Calvin Austin III, Greg Dortch, Devaughn Vele
Check back every week for more Waiver Favors!