2021 Fantasy Football: Week 5 Waiver Wire Running Back Pickups
Welcome to Week 5! I hope you are still undefeated after using FantasySP’s Predictive analytics. To access this tool, log into your account, and utilize the Fantasy Assistant. From there, you can see the predictive analytics for adds, drops, trades, and FAAB.
We’re almost a quarter of the way to the fantasy playoffs, so it’s time to start making some big waiver wire and FAAB moves if you started the season with a less than stellar record. Anybody 1-3 (or worse)? It’s not time to panic though. Do not swing for the fences if you’re sitting at 2-2 or better, but there are always some roster improvements out there.
While we were THIS close to a huge FAAB splurge this week (and might still be), there are some injury updates we’ll have to pay attention to throughout the day. And we have the perfect place to do so with our news feed here at FantasySP. Catch up on all the latest injury news and dominate your league’s waiver wire.
Predictive analytics in a nutshell is a game-changer for fantasy players. No one else in the industry offers these types of insights. You will now be able to analyze the most important fantasy metrics of the current week BEFORE waivers are processed.
Find out the Expected Waiver Interest (EWI) of each player, as well as how much of your FAAB budget it would take to get “your guy” in the average league. You will now have unique insights into which players fantasy owners are giving up on and which players fantasy owners are fighting for in the current week.
Let’s dig into the ramifications of some of those injury updates and decide where to invest our FAAB dollars...
Running Backs
Damien Williams, Chicago Bears
Here’s the biggest injury news to watch as we progress through the early part of the week. If David Montgomery is going to miss the majority of the season, Williams becomes an absolute must-add. I’m talking about spending close to 80% of your FAAB budget. That’s how good he can be, which we could see on his second-half touchdown run in Week 4. Khalil Herbert looms as a nice consolation prize, but I think Williams is still the guy to grab here. He could easily serve as an RB2 moving forward or at the very least a solid flex option.
Kenneth Gainwell, Philadelphia Eagles
He’s been in this column before but he is available in fewer and fewer leagues as we progress through the season. The rookie is coming on strong in Philadelphia and is pushing for a timeshare (at minimum) with Miles Sanders. He’s got the added bonus of being a great pass-catcher to give you an extra boost in PPR leagues.
Samaje Perine/Chris Evans, Cincinnati Bengals
Another injury spot to watch if we see that Joe Mixon is going to miss any time. Perine is the logical pickup as he should be the every-down back, but I think Evans might actually provide the most value as the third-down/pass-catching back. Both are worth a pickup, but I especially like Evans in PPR leagues.
Giovani Bernard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Gio ended up missing the Patriots game with a minor knee injury. Although Leonard Fournette played well against New England, Bernard is still poised to be Tom Brady’s favorite pass-catching back (the new James White) and is probably still available in a lot of leagues after sitting last week. Now is the time to buy low.
Jeremy McNichols, Tennessee Titans
McNichols is an interesting handcuff for Derrick Henry owners. He has proven to be a more than capable pass-catcher out of the backfield. McNichols has value so long as A.J. Brown and Julio Jones remain out for the Titans.
