If this article was a game of darts, we would've hit the bullseye. Last week was a pretty successful one for readers of Like/Love/Leave, with hits on Brissett, Johnson, Cohen, Godwin, and Agholor. More on those in a bit. We are coming up on week 5 and if you have 1 win or less, you should be thinking about nuking your roster. Start sending out a trade to everyone, rotate your bench players and give that team a makeover. If you have at least 3 wins, you can be a little more passive but don't ever stop trying to improve. There are always good deals to make if you're looking.
The like column is waiver picks that you shouldn't have to fight for. My love picks are players you should make trades for, and the leave picks are players I'm trading away. My goal is to give you options to improve your roster that not every single analyst is touting. These are all players that should be under the radar and easier to get than your typical NFL.com player.
Players I Liked in Week 4:
Jacoby Brissett: 24/46. 265 Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 1 Interception, 26.5 Fantasy Points
Start. Brissett is tied for the league lead in touchdowns this year, with multiple in every single game. He also has matchups upcoming against KC, HOU, and MIA.
Justin Jackson: Inactive
Drop. With Gordon back, Jackson is now an afterthought.
Preston Williams: 4 catches, 7 targets, 46 yards, 7.6 Fantasy Points
Hold. Williams now has 29 targets through 4 weeks and has a matchup against Washington in Week 5. He will be a great start for a struggling team then and you don't want him to get poached.
Dionte Johnson: 6 Catches, 6 Targets, 77 Yards, 1 Touchdown, 20.7 Fantasy Points
Start. Johnson is The Man. Since taking over in the slot 2 weeks ago, he has9 catches on 12 targets for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rudolph is most comfortable throwing short passes and deep balls and Johnson works both of those. Keep starting the rookie with confidence.
Vernon Davis: Inactive. Kidding, 1 Catch, 4 targets, 5 yards, 1.5 Fantasy Points, yuck
Nuke. Uncle Vern was a failed experiment. I'd go as far as 4to say that you don't want any part of this team outside of McLaurin. We have now reached Dolphins level bad and I'm jumping ship.
Players I Like in Week 5:
Cole Beasley:
Beasley has at least 14 points in 3/4 weeks this season. In his next 6 games, he plays Miami twice, Washington and Philly. Get ahead of the curve and pick him up now.
Andy Isabella:
Christian Kirk was hurt last week. It should finally be Andy's time since he's been running as the backup slot receiver. Isabella is a second-round pick with some serious wheels. This is more of a stash pick for me, but if he has a big game, you won't have to fight for him on waivers next week.
Auden Tate:
Tate has 10 catches on 16 targets for 138 yards in the last 2 weeks. He's played on no less than 89% of the snaps and now Ross is hurt which should open him up even further. Tate is one of my favorite pickups this week.
Ricky Seals-Jones:
Tight end is, well, tight. If you need one, I recommend trading for one. If that isn't an option then RSJ is probably your best bet. In his first week as the starter, he caught all 3 of his targets for 82 yards and a touchdown. Hopefully, s Baker gets more comfortable with the 24-year-old move tight end, more targets come.
Tampa Bay:
Tampa has had at least 10 fantasy points in every game of the year and has been underrated this year. In the next 2 weeks, they play backup quarterbacks and then come back from their bye against Mariota. This might be your last chance to get them on the waivers.
Players I love In Week 5:
Josh Allen:
Allen currently has a concussion so he shouldn't be terribly hard to get. Allen has Tennesee, Philly, Miami, and Washington in the next 4 weeks with a bye after Tennesee to get healthy.
Ronald Jones:
Jones had 2 long runs and a touchdown negated by a penalty and still had 15 points. After his horrible rookie year, he carries a stigma and not many people want to touch him. He finally seems to be coming into his own and is still cheap.
Austin Ekeler:
The Ekeler owners are panicking because Gordon is coming back, take advantage. Ekeler should remain involved after the first 4 games he has had and currently comes at the price of a backup. It's worth the chance to send out feelers for him.
Allen Robinson:
Usually, backup quarterbacks spell bad news on receivers, but not in this case. Trubisky has been Bortles 2.0 and having the more accurate Chase Daniels bodes well for Robinson's totals. He still got 7 targets and I would expect him to continue as the focal point of this offense.
Brandin Cooks:
The Rams passing offense is lethal. Woods and Kupp have been dominating with multiple 20+ point days. This has made Cooks the forgotten man, but his time is coming. Cooks has 31 targets this season and 21 in the last 2 weeks. He has also gone over 70 yards in 3/4 games. Buy before his blow-up game comes.
Darren Waller:
Waller is no longer a secret in the fantasy football community, but he is still undervalued. Waller has yet to find paydirt so he hasn't hit his ceiling but it is coming. He has at least 7 targets in every game and no less than 53 yards, which was just last week maybe lowering his value just a little. Most people that took Waller to have him as a second tight end which could allow you to get an up and coming star.
Players I'm leaving in Week 5:
Wayne Gallman:
Gallman is bad. The Redskins made Gallman look like Barkley but don't confuse him now. Take advantage of a 2 touchdown game that won't come often for bad players and level up. The touches should continue to be there and he can be a pure volume starter, but some people may see him as more after his 29 point performance.
James Conner:
Why would you trade Conner after his best game of the season? Easy. Jaylen Samuels. Samuels played on 46% of snaps and got 18 touches. That's really concerning for Conner's workload going forward.
JuJu Smith-Schuster:
Rudolph does not do well in the intermediate parts of the field. You know? Where JuJu does his best work. Unless JuJu gets lucky and houses a short pass, his upside is very limited in this new-look offense. My favorite receiver on this team is Dionte Johnson and he's a player you should be getting your hands on. Don't undersell yourself on a premier player, but instead send him out in 2 for 2 trades so that you can upgrade another position for him. JuJu will still hold name-value even if the numbers don't support it.
Stefon Diggs:
When you drafted Diggs this was the kind of performance you expected to get, but I've got bad news. These performances won't continue and won't happen consistently. The Vikings offense is built to run and run they do. Cousin's is not good under pressure and has a terrible offensive line as well. I would be looking to move off of this entire passing game.
Eric Ebron:
Ebron had a 0 for the entire game until the last drive. He got lucky and caught a short pass and somehow turned it into a 50-yard touchdown. With Hilton coming back soon, Doyle showing life and the Colts being committed to spreading the ball around, I want off of this train as soon as I go on it.
With all of that out of the way, I'm signing off. I hope this article has convinced you to take a stand on at least one player who many aren't thinking about one way or another. I hope you get a waiver pickup that goes off that your league-mates missed. Most importantly I hope you're learning to be a winning fantasy football player and make smart decisions. If you want to stay up to date on my fantasy and DFS content, or you just want to hang out and chat follow me on Twitter @HessDfs. I look forward to hearing from you. Now get out there and get yourself some wins!