Welcome to our week five edition of hot pickups. As always there a couple of names that did not make our weekly cut off of 55 percent availability such as Geronimo Allison and Chris Godwin who both currently sit at 47 percent ownership. Two other players that we feel the need to mention since they need to be owned in all leagues are Aaron Jones who is still available in 28 percent of yahoo leagues and Sony Michel who is still available in 16 percent of yahoo leagues.
Jameis Winston will likely be our only quarterback featured in our hot pickups column this season as the majority of the other QB options under 50 percent ownership are more streaming options as opposed to potential every week starters. There are no numbers to wow you here from this season seeing as Winston just came off of suspension and threw only one touchdown to two interceptions in relief of Ryan Fitzpatrick this past Sunday versus the Chicago Bears. With that said however what Fitzpatrick did do is highlight the upside of this offense and its pass catching corps. There is also hope for the Bucs run game as they finally activated rookie Ronald Jones who quickly proceeded to lead the team in rushing in his NFL debut. Winston is one of the only quarterbacks to throw for more than 10,000 total yards in his first three NFL seasons and while his counting stats were down last season he did actually post career highs in completion percentage, QBR, passing yards per game and yards per attempt with 7.9. Winston is at the helm of one of the most talented and explosive receiving corps in the league, one that should even be able to weather the OJ Howard 2-4 week injury due to the presence of veteran tight end Cameron Brate. Add the 89 percent available Winston wherever possible, even if it is just to block rival owners.
Taylor Gabriel is available in 95 percent of yahoo leagues and should be one of this week’s hottest adds with Mitch Trubisky and the Bears offense finally showing some signs of life. Gabriel went off for 104 yards and two touchdowns while corralling all seven of his targets in week fours contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gabriel has emerged, along with Tarik Cohen as Mitch Trubisky’s safety valves (sorry Trey Burton owners) and should only continue to strengthen his hold on the number two receiving job when the Bears come out of the bye in week six. Anthony Miller is still someone who will cap Gabriel’s upside when he is healthy but Gabriel is the one you want to be starting as a flex option during the byes. Add Gabriel where available.
Antonio Callaway who is currently available in 62 percent of Yahoo leagues saw another high target, low efficiency game this past week versus the Raiders and while his catch rate needs to improve for him to become a viable weekly option the opportunity is there. Over the past two weeks Callaway has sported a top fifteen in the NFL 25 percent target share (same percentage as JuJu, Christian Kirk and Keenan Allen) and a top seven Weighted Opportunity Rating of .68 according to airyards.com. Callaway who is third in the NFL in air yards over the past two weeks should remain heavily involved in the offense going forward and with the Browns secondary doing them no favors we could see plenty of shootouts for Callaway and the Cleveland Browns. Add Callaway as an upside flex/flex2 option going forward who is destined to start converting some of those air yards in the coming weeks.
Available in 88 percent of Yahoo leagues Christian Kirk has ascended to the number two receiver role for the Arizona Cardinals and has responded with a 25 percent target share over the past two contests, a number that ties him with WR1’s such as Keenan Allen and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Armed with arguably the top passer in this rookie class Kirk should see marked improvement over his pedestrian and utterly forgettable four reception, 28 yard week four contest against the Seattle Seahawks. Kirk and Rosen sport a solid rapport both on and off the field and we should see the two rookies bloom together before Kirk’s expected takeover as the Cardinals number one receiver in 2019 when Larry Fitzgerald retires. Add Kirk as a bye week filler who could morph into an every week flex option before long.
Duke Johnson is available in 58 percent percent of Yahoo leagues. Quite an amazing statement considering his fantasy success last year but with Carlos Hyde locked into a workhorse role their had only been scraps available for the Browns other backs leading into week four. Now while whether this was because or correlated to gameflow Duke amassed four receptions off of six targets for 45 receiving yards in week four compared to only a total of only five receptions off of ten targets for 39 yards in the three games Tyrod Taylor started. Hopefully this is a positive sign of things to come after coach Hue Jackson went on record in week two stating he wanted to get Duke Johnson more involved in the offense. Duke is a mega upside RB2 level ppr stash who has some bye week filler appeal depending on league size.
Taywan Taylor is somehow still available in 97 percent of Yahoo leagues despite Rishard Matthews asking for and being released by the Tennessee Titans. Taylor is a very talented sophomore receiver who needs to be owned in a much larger share of yahoo leagues, especially dynasty and keeper formats where ownership numbers dictate he is still available in quite a few of them. For redraft purposes Taylor looks like a flex2 the rest of the way and not just during the byes. I honestly have no explanation to as whyTaylor is still available in so many leagues expect to opine that owners across the globe were so put off by the Titans anemic passing attack that they preferred a wait and see FAAB spend approach to a stash and laugh approach.
Available in 94 percent of Yahoo leagues Donte Moncrief finally showed some signs of a burgeoning rapport with Blake Bortles. With opposing defenses now keying in on Keelan Cole as the teams top receiver expect Bortles to target Moncrief and the 83 percent available DeDe Westbrook with regularity. Both Moncrief and Westbrook make for solid high upside bye week fillers with both also boasting potential starting fantasy ceilings even when the bye weeks are over. On a pure talent basis both Moncrief and Westbrook trump the more consistent Cole but the Jags passing attack promises to be both unpredictable week to week and inconsistent in terms of how many fantasy relevant performances Bortles can coax out of his receivers weekly. With that said these two players should be owned with the byes coming in fast and furiously.
Keke Coutee will be one of the hottest adds this week after exploding onto the fantasy scene with eleven receptions for 111 yards coming off of fifteen targets. It is true Will Fuller missed a portion of this game with a hamstring issue but Coutee had the entire Texans staff excited all summer and now we can see why. Coutee of course can not be relied upon for high volume targets weekly but he should keep himself in the ppr flex2 conversation during the byes and could emerge as a weekly flex option by the time they are done. Coutee is available in 99 percent of yahoo leagues and could be in for another monster week if Fuller is forced to miss time with the aforementioned seemingly chronic hamstring issue. Add Coutee where available and let everything else sort itself out.
A week after playing 73 percent of the teams snaps and have nothing much to show for it Nyheim Hines exploded with TY Hilton in and out of the game to the tune of nine receptions off of eleven targets for 63 yards and two touchdowns. Hines also added 10 rushing yards on four attempts. Even with Marlon Mack looking likely for week five Hines has now carved out a role for himself in this offense as the receiving specialist back he was drafted to be. There are a couple things to note here when considering your FAAB bid size aside from Mack’s return. The number one thing is Andrew Luck attempted a career high 62 passes in this one and number two, both Jack Doyle and TY Hilton, Luck’s favorite targets, missed or missed parts of the game. Hilton is now expected to miss at least next week with his injury making Hines an even more attractive option for the Colts week five date with the New England Patriots. Hines is available in 83 percent of yahoo leagues and looks like a boom or bust flex2 play for the byes.
Mohamed Sanu who is currently available in 86 percent of Yahoo leagues remains a solid bye week filler. We highlighted Sanu here last week but he remains available in far too many leagues when he is one of the stronger bye week flex2 options. Sanu went off against his former team to the tune of 111 yards (more than he had all season) coming off six of his nine targets. The Falcons promise to be in another high scoring affair this weekend strengthening Sanu’s appeal. Calvin Ridley will indeed remain the number two option in this offense but Sanu is playing the possession role and seeing more targets and should help provide solid value for fantasy managers in a bye week crunch. Add the veteran wide receiver where needed.
Ryan Grant is somehow still available in 96 percent of Yahoo leagues despite a week one performance that saw him emerge as the Colts number two receiver. Granted Grant did follow up his solid week one with a measly five receptions for 65 yards total over weeks two and three but he did find the end zone in week three and has now managed five receptions or a touchdown in three of his four games this season. Grant is not exactly a world beater or someone to get overly excited about but he is a strong route runner and a solid ppr bye week filler in deeper leagues who could step in as the team’s defacto number one if TY Hilton does indeed miss week five as expected. Add Grant where needed.
Available in 94 percent of yahoo leagues Courtland Sutton is the mega upside stash at the wide receiver position. Currently number three on the Broncos depth chart Sutton has still seen a 72.4 percent snap share with the Broncos more often than not going three wide. As mentioned Sutton is more of a stash right now due to his current usage (just over four targets per game) but he is an injury or big game away from having a larger weekly role. Add Sutton where possible.
Michael Gallup is available in 91 percent of Yahoo leagues and frankly that is no surprise. With the way Dak Prescott has been playing the last couple of years the only player currently on the Dallas Cowboys roster worth owning in fantasy is Zeke. With that said however ‘better must come’, better times are sure to be ahead for the rookie receiver who by all accounts should have already emerged as the teams clear cut number one receiver. A Prescott led Cowboys offense promises to remain bizarro land and Gallup will have to continue to fight for scraps with replacement level receivers Cole Beasley, Allen Hurns, Deonte Thompson and Tavon Austin. Gallup did see a career high 45 receiving yards in week four but is currently tied for fifth on the team in targets a trend that needs to continue to change for him to realize his potential (he tied for team lead in targets against the Lions). Gallup is nothing more than a high upside stash at this point, but the upside is palpable and thus worth a stash and laugh add.
Available in 81 percent of Yahoo leagues Nick Chubb exploded for 105 yards and two touchdowns off of only three carries in week four versus the Oakland Raiders. While he is still mired at third on the running back depth chart Chubb appears to have earned himself weekly carries going forward and is one of the highest upside handcuffs for fantasy purposes. Chubb has only 10 carries this season and has only seen 15 snaps but with his week four performance he could see as many as 10 carries per game depending on gameflow. With a week five date against the Ravens the Browns may look to employ a ground heavy attack against one of the most underrated defenses and offenses in the NFL leading to potential opportunity for the talented rookie. Chubb will remain blocked by Carlos Hyde but is only an injury away from sniffing weekly RB2 value.
Available in 99 percent of Yahoo leagues Marquez Valdes-Scantling drew the start for the injured Randall Cobb and is the only one of the Packers rookie receivers to be active all four weeks. While MVS severely disappointed in his start drawing a meager three targets, only one of which he converted for 38 yards, there were some positives here. MVS got the start over his fellow rookie, saw a long compeltion and saw a healthy dose of snaps out of the slot. Now while it is evident Aa-Rod does not trust him enough yet to feed him heavily his depth chart position and desired spot within the Packers three wide scheme belie significant upside if any of the Packers top three receivers are to miss games or be traded.
Deep league specials: Chester Rogers and Zach Pascal come in at 99 percent availability and will push each other for targets with TY Hilton expected to miss week five; Cordarelle Patterson at 99 percent availability is an ocean deep league dart throw; Phillip Dorsett who currently sits at 91 percent available is set to see less snaps with Julian Edelman due back next week but still retains his low floor, boom or bust bye week filler appeal; 92 percent available John Ross’ poor start to the season coupled with Tyler Boyd’s strong play has seen the promising sophomore concede the number two role but he still has a path to weekly targets especially with the Bengals top tight end Tyler Eifert lost for the season; Willie Snead at 95 percent availability, barring injury is going to spend the season at third on the depth chart but with six plus targets a game so far this season Snead, at the very least has bye week relevance; Jordan Matthews at 97 percent availability appears to have had a seamless reintegration to the Eagles offense and should be the third receiver going forward; Laquon Treadwell at 99 availability is seeing plenty of snaps and should see his role grow as the season progresses and Kirk Cousins gains more trust in him; Zay Jones is 99 percent available and is worth a stash if for nothing more than his role as the number two target for an improving Josh Allen; Martavis Bryant at 95 percent availability is solid mega upside bench depth while we await more news on his suspension and appeal date.
