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✍ Grab these players on your waiver wire

✍ Grab these players on your waiver wire

Trade for the others

Joe Holka
October 03, 2023

WE ARE BACK.

It's The Touchdown Press Newsletter. Your #1 source for all things fantasy football, DFS, and sports betting, along with 10,000+ fellow degenerates.

Tuesday may not be everyone’s favorite day of the week, but it is a sign that you somehow survived Monday.

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

Week 4’s Fantasy Studs and Duds ⭐
Waiver Pickups to boost your squad 📈
Players worth considering trading for 🤔
The latest news from around the NFL 🏈

Stud RB: Christian McCaffrey (SF)

CMC is still the beast you remember on one of the best teams in the league. With 27 total touches for 177 yards and 4 TDs, he’s the easy pick for stud RB of the week.

His usage stats should keep owners confident:

19% target share (2nd)
Playing 80% of team snaps (2nd)
Runs a route on 74% of pass plays (2nd)

In fact, check out the utilization tool from Fantasy Life to get a sense of how elite his numbers really are:

Dud RB: Aaron Jones (GB)

Maybe it’s not totally fair to put him here.

Jones got just 5 carries and 1 reception last Thursday as he works his way back from a hamstring injury.

Still, fantasy owners were hoping for more once he suited up against the Lions. 2.4 PPR points isn’t going to cut it.

The Packers had a rough game. That won’t happen every week. Jones should ramp up his touch share going forward and get back to his usual performance. Even in this one, he was more efficient than A.J. Dillon.

Stud WR: A.J. Brown (PHI)

After a so-so first 2 weeks, Brown is heating up.

It culminated with a monster performance this Sunday, when he caught 9 passes for 175 yards and 2 TDs against the Commanders. That’s what we want to see from him from a fantasy standpoint going forward.

Dud WR: Tank Dell (HOU)

Well, it’s becoming more apparent that Nico Collins is the more consistent guy in Houston.

After two straight weeks with PPR scores in the 20s, Dell crashed back down to earth. He caught just one ball for 16 yards, and rushed twice for another 13. In PPR terms that’s just 4.9 points. Not enough for us.

It’s not the kind of performance we were hoping for after he showed all that promise in Weeks 2 and 3.

Stud QB: Josh Allen (BUF)

I wrote last week that Allen typically has success against the Dolphins, and he also usually does well against Vic Fangio defenses. Boy did that play out on Sunday.

Allen hit his no. 1 WR Stefon Diggs for 3 TDs, and tossed another to Gabe Davis in an efficient 320-yard passing day. When he has the Bills rolling, they look like they are capable of beating anyone, and should remain one of the best teams in the league for the rest of the season.

Dud QB: Mac Jones (NE)

No one ever thought Jones was going to be a great fantasy football option, but he had held his own through 3 weeks as a QB2 option at least. He even finished as Week 1’s second-highest scoring QB.

The Cowboys exposed him and the rest of his offense in Week 4. Jones has the ability to make some throws, but it looks like he has no offensive line and the Patriots are severely lacking in playmakers on the offense.

Mac had just 2.7 fantasy points before getting benched.

Stud TE: Cole Kmet (CHI)

We knew the elixir for the Bears’ struggling offense might just be the team that gave up 70 points in Week 3. For a while on Sunday that looked to be the case.

Justin Fields finally woke up, and his teammates benefitted greatly. D.J. Moore finally gave us the stats we’ve been waiting for, and Kmet finished as Sunday’s overall TE1.

He finished with 7 catches for 85 yards and 2 TEs, which translates to 27.5 points. I’m willing to bet not many people had him starting in their season-long leagues, but you should expect to see more of him going forward.

Dud TE: George Kittle (SF)

For as good as the 49ers have been, Kittle has been a huge disappointment in fantasy football.

He was supposed to be one of the can’t-miss options at TE, but instead he’s put up PPR finishes of 4.9, 6, and Sunday’s low of 1.9 points. He had just a single target.

Kittle is undoubtedly talented and helps his team in more ways than just receptions, but we’re fantasy football guys, and we need to see more from him.

THE BEST TUESDAY LINKS

3 things your friends probably already read this week… so you’ll probably want to catch up 👇🏻

• 🏆 The only link you can find my redraft rankings this week

• 💥 My favorite PrizePicks & Bets this week

💰 The DFS Masterclass

A free e-book to teach you how to win more on DraftKings & FanDuel

#5: WR Jameson Williams (DET)

The maligned WR probably won’t see a ton of looks right away, but it’s a good idea to stash him as a piece of what’s been a terrific offense so far.

Jared Goff is playing some great ball right now, as he’s 8th in ESPN’s QBR metric, and 6th in weighted EPA when accounting for high-value plays.

Target competition won’t be easy to slice through for Williams, but he projects to work his way into a larger role, and we should see his fantasy football value creep up over the next few weeks.

#4: RB Jaleel McLaughlin (DEN)

Surprised to see Javonte Williams out with an injury again? It’s been an unfortunate story for him so far in his career. For the undrafted McLaughlin, it may present a huge opportunity.

Once Williams exited Sunday’s game, McLaughlin went to work showing off his overlooked skill set. He took 10 touches for over 100 yards and his first-ever NFL touchdown, and already looks better than Samaje Perine to the untrained eye.

Of course, his long-term value is directly tied to Williams’s recovery, but RBs are getting to be in short supply, and you’ll likely want to bid a few bucks for Jaleel.

#3 QB C.J. Stroud (HOU)

Stroud has earned a spot in this column for the 2nd week in a row. He’s been better than advertised and seems like the most pro-ready rookie QB out there so far this year.

The Texans are 4th in the league in terms of pass plays per game, and Stroud 3rd among starting QBs in yards per attempt (according to Fantasy Life):

#2: WR Michael Wilson (ARI)

The Cardinals have been better than expected and have continued to play as competitively as possible, even though they ultimately ended up with a decisive loss on Sunday.

Wilson looks like he’s going to be a part of whatever success Arizona can manage. He scored his first 2 NFL TDs on Sunday, and went for 76 yards, the third straight with 56+.

Perhaps most encouraging was the 7 total targets, which was 3rd on the team behind Marquise Brown and Zach Ertz. It looks like he’s passed Rondale Moore and if he can continue to make waves he’ll be a nice waiver pickup.

Click here for the #1 Waiver Wire target for Week 5

#5: RB Jonathan Taylor (IND)

If your league’s Taylor owner has held on to him this long, they’re probably feeling frustrated about it at the moment. If their record is poor, that’s even better.

The Colts are going to get JT back on the practice field this week, and how the situation shakes out is anyone’s guess. Does he immediately step in and take on the role that Zack Moss has excelled at? Does Indy find a trade partner and an offer that works for them?

We aren’t sure, but we do that he’s posted some videos where he’s looked healthy, and he’s been one of the most explosive play-making RBs in the NFL over the last few years.

If you want to stash a bona fide star for the stretch run, Taylor’s price is not going to be this low again.

#4: RB Breece Hall (NYJ)

There was a time when I didn’t hold out much hope for this offense at all, but Zach Wilson showed some real signs of life on Sunday night against the defending Super Bowl champions.

Breece hasn’t provided the type of return managers hoped for this summer when they drafted him (he’s just PPR RB32), but he is starting to show some actual pop.

He rushed just 6 times to Dalvin Cook’s 5, but it was clear who was the more explosive guy. Breece averaged 9.3 yards per carry on his way to 56 yards and added 3 receptions in the passing game so the versatility isn’t gone.

Now may be the time to pull the trigger before the Jets’ offense figures things out and it all starts to click.

#3: WR Marquise Brown (ARI)

Sometimes reputation distorts the truth. The Cardinals don’t get a lot of respect due to their QB situation, and therefore are overlooked by many fantasy owners.

The truth, however, is that Hollywood Brown remains a good WR2 or Flex option in any given week, and that Josh Dobbs has played solid football for the Cardinals.

Brown has been consistent, posting at least 16 PPR points for three weeks in a row, and is probably a better option than a lot of more popular-named guys who are struggling to find that consistency week-to-week.

#2: RB Aaron Jones (GB)

Jones appeared in this spot last week and even after a dud game, I’ll put him here again.

A.J. Dillon has had a shot the last couple of weeks to cement his own role, and he’s repaid his team by rushing for just 2.7 yards per attempt. The Packers clearly don’t see him as a receiving threat either, as he has just 3 catches so far this year.

Jones was still struggling this week as he recovers and he ran into a tough Lions team on a short week. I fully expect him to bounce back and return to his expected production.

He can be a solid RB2 for your team.

Click HERE for the #1 Buy-Low Trade Target of Week 5