Fantasy Football Waiver Wire, Week 5: Tight End Trouble Leads to Opportunity With Vance McDonald, Cameron Brate

The tight end position has been absolutely wrecked by injuries this year in fantasy football. Delanie Walker was lost for the season, Greg Olsen got hurt again, Jack Doyle has been out with a hip injury, Evan Engram is out, and Tyler Eifert and the emerging Will Dissly both had season-ending injuries on Sunday. O.J. Howard is now out for 2-4 weeks with an MCL injury. Rob Gronkowski is nursing an injury heading into a short week.

If you feel like you have been snake-bitten, you are not alone. But let’s look at some options, where you can try to piece together short-term solutions and matchups.

The #1 option this week is Vance McDonald (52%) if you want a good matchup start right away who can then be a starting option going forward. McDonald has been targeted 5 times each week since he returned in week 2, and has caught 9 passes the last two weeks. The Atlanta matchup is against a team that is decimated at the safety position and was giving up big plays in the passing game.

Cameron Brate (15%) is the upside play in the near short-term, if you can piece together something else this week, since Tampa is on the bye week. With Howard out, you probably have 2-3 weeks of Top 6 tight end production after the bye week.

The rest of the tight end matchups are addressed further below, and there are several that present a chance at points this week. Here are the rest of the recommendations.

RUNNING BACKS

Nyheim Hines (34%) has been the most productive Colts back to date, which is damning with some faint praise. But he’s been useful as a receiver and so if you are in a PPR format presents a flex option out of the backfield.

Corey Grant (12%) is your sneaky matchup play with Fournette’s re-injury. Obviously, if T.J. Yeldon is somehow available you want him for the matchup against KC, but Grant should eat as well. Grant had 19 carries/targets to Yeldon’s 29 in the two games Fournette missed, so it’s not like Yeldon has been used as a feature back. The Chiefs’ defense is giving up the most points to opposing running backs. Grant is a matchup start this week in the RB25-30 range.

Mike Davis (1%) probably earned more playing time, but Chris Carson should be back. Maybe he carves out time instead of Rashaad Penny but I’m not sure he has great value if this is a committee.

Nick Chubb (44%) broke some big runs but still only had three carries this week, so he’s a future lottery ticket if his usage increases.

Ronald Jones (27%) was active and got more carries than Peyton Barber in the blowout loss to the Bears. They have a bye week but he’s a low-end risk worth seeing if he improves and becomes the lead back coming up in Week 6.

If you want to go really deep, Lamar Miller has not looked good this year and the Texans’ running game is struggling. D’Onta Foreman started the year on PUP still recovering from last November’s Achilles injury but could be a decent gamble to get carries over the second half of the season.

WIDE RECEIVERS

All Keke Coutee (0%) did in his NFL debut was have 11 catches. Are there enough chances to make him valuable with DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller already in Houston? I think so because this team isn’t using the tight ends and backs heavily in the passing game and Coutee is a versatile player.

Dede Westbrook (39%) is a matchup play at Kansas City this week.

Antonio Callaway (62%) has gotten lots of targets over the last few weeks. Yes, the production hasn’t been there, but he stepped out at the 1, just missing a touchdown on a big play last week. Grab him before everyone jumps on board.

Christian Kirk (23%) has continued to see targets and the Cardinals’ offense needs a boost. He’s a bottom of the roster add if you need an upside young receiver.

TIGHT ENDS

Ricky Seals-Jones (22%) has 19 targets through 4 games and should continue to be a part of the Arizona passing game if you need to take a chance on a tight end.

Austin Hooper (40%) is a great matchup play against the Steelers this week, a team that has really struggled to cover tight ends.

Speaking of matchups, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins (43%) gets the Chiefs secondary in Week 5.

QUARTERBACKS

Blake Bortles (48%) is still lingering there, folks, in a lot of leagues. I feel like I should just auto-fill his name in my waiver recommendations the last two years.

Jameis Winston (35%) has been named the starter coming out of the bye week, and even despite the meltdown in Chicago against the Bears’ tough D, this is a passing offense that can produce numbers.

C.J. Beathard (8%) is your deep, two-QB option going against Arizona.

KICKERS

Caleb Sturgis (33%) vs OAK and Randy Bullock (9%) vs MIA are your two kicker streaming matchup plays this week.

DEFENSES/SPECIAL TEAMS

Lots of good waiver options this week if, say, you’ve been riding the Bears and want to add a second team on the bye. I’d lead with TITANS (55%) at Buffalo, but could also play 49ERS (5%) vs Arizona and the lowest scoring team in the league, or the PANTHERS (43%) vs NY Giants.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS

WR Keke Coutee (10%)
QB Blake Bortles (10%)
QB Jameis Winston (bye week- 10%)
WR Antonio Callaway (10%)
RB Nyheim Hines (10%)
TE Vance McDonald (10%)
RB Ronald Jones II (bye week – 5-10%)
TE Cameron Brate (bye week – 5-10%)
WR Dede Westbrook (5%)
RB Corey Grant (5%)
RB Nick Chubb (5%)
WR Christian Kirk (minimum)
TE Ricky Seals-Jones (minimum)
RB Mike Davis (minimum)
TE Austin Hooper (minimum)