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Week 5 Free Agent Auction Targets

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Author: Jay Poundsee (@JaypoundsNFL)

We are officially one quarter of the way through the season and it sure has been a wild one up to this point! We can finally start to understand teams and players for what they are as most have settled into their roles making it a little bit easier to predict moving forward. There are certainly more surprises to come in this NFL season, but for the most part, barring injury of course everything can be summed up by one Dennis Green quote “they are who we thought they were”.

We now know the Browns are going to rely heavily on their run game, the Broncos are going to throw no matter who is under center, and the Jets are just plain awful, which is putting it in generous terms. One thing that can never be predicted is injury, if you have been hit by the old injury bug than look no further as two of these guys should be viable fantasy assets over the next few weeks, if not longer.

Tim Patrick (1 Year – $750,000) 24.74% Owned

I have to go with Broncos wide out Tim Patrick as my number 1 free agent target heading into week 5, with Patrick having season long value. Tim Patrick may not sound all that appealing but Thursday night on national television in the toilet bowl, the kid balled out. They played the Jets who are pretty bad at everything they do which will no doubt be the biggest knock on Patrick heading into Week 5. The Broncos have to throw the ball to someone and Patrick has looked the part after Sutton went down with a season ending injury. Patrick has had 4 targets in each game this season, which seems likely to go up moving forward with no Sutton and Jeudy not exactly looking spectacular up to this point.

The Broncos did not seem to have much of an issue letting Driskel or Rypien throw the ball the past two weeks with over 30 passing attempts in both games. Patrick seemingly made the most of it scoring in both games posting a stat line of 6 catches for 113 yards and a score against the Jets in week 4. A few other factors working in Patrick’s favor are, Lock coming back sometime in the next few weeks, stud tight end Noah Fant going down to an injury, and a somewhat easy schedule moving forward in terms of pass defenses. I see Patrick averaging 8-10 targets per game while Fant is out so grab him while you can he wont be there long, at least he shouldn’t be!

D’Ernest Johnson (2 Year – $585,000) 0% Owned

Johnson slots in easily at number 2 here with Nick Chubb going down to injury, as well as how much the Browns have leaned on the run this season. Johnson ended up leading Cleveland in touches and rushing yards in week 4, while looking fantastic doing it. Johnson managed to post a stat line of 13 carries for 95 yards at a whooping 7.3 yards per tote, all while Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt played in the same backfield. Things wont go nearly as smooth for Johnson moving forward as there were wide open lanes for him to run against the Cowboys suspect defense, but the schedule is favorable and he should still see something along the lines of 7-10 touches while Chubb is out.

I don’t want to take anything away from Johnson with the wide open lanes comment, so I will recommend going back and watching the Browns vs Cowboys game or highlights and watch the few runs Johnson makes happen, because they were very impressive for someone few had ever heard of. As I mentioned earlier we know what the Browns are and what they want to do, look for Hunt to take Chubb’s role with a little more receiving work than usual, with Johnson having Hunt’s role without as much receiving work, until Chubb is able to get back on the field.

Damiere Byrd (1 Year – $1,350,000) 41.24% Owned

I have Byrd slotted in the 3rd spot here with a big Monday night performance against the defending super bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Byrd was a very steady presence for the back up quarterback options of Hoyer and Stidham totaling 10 targets with 5 catches for 80 yards albeit unable to find the end zone, which would have made for a nice fantasy week. The Patriots need a 3rd wide out to step up and it’s starting to look as if Byrd is the one to do it stringing a few solid performances together.

Byrd had a great day in week 2 with a stat line of 9 targets 6 catches for 72 yards. Byrd did have a quiet and unproductive week 3, but I am assuming everyone had a quiet week 3 for the Patriots as Rex Burkhead is still dancing after all the touchdowns he scored last week. I would look for Byrd to be a bench option for bye weeks the rest of the season, possibly even starting in a great match up while being in a pinch. With all of the injuries and Covid scares I highly recommend stashing players like Byrd who could potentially win you a week if things fall into place for him.

Cedrick Wilson (1 Year – $540,000) 32.99% Owned

I will slot Wilson in at number 4 for many of the reasons I have Byrd at 3. Wilson has had a lot of trust shown in him the past two weeks seeing 7 targets in Week 3, and 6 targets in Week 4 most while his team was trailing. Wilson is one injury or benching away from being a weekly flex option right where Gallup and Lamb have been slotted in rankings the past few weeks. In week 3 Wilson posted a stat line of 7 targets with 5 catches for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns in a losing effort to the Seattle Seahawks and caught 3 more balls for 34 yards against the Browns in week 4. At the moment Wilson is not a start-able asset, but with how things are going in Dallas they may shake things up and I see Gallup being the odd man out leaving Wilson a role similar to Cobb last year.

Wilson has looked great with the targets he has got this season, as well as producing when getting them. Look for his role to continue to grow with the demise of Gallup and Dallas trying to break the total points record every week because of their defense and game plan. Dak has put up unreal fantasy stats through four games so grab any cheap piece of this offense you can and hope they see the field a lot in the future.

Nelson Agholor (1 Year – $1,047,500) 43.3% Owned

I am slotting Agholor here at number 5 as a possible flex or bench play with Ruggs and Edwards out. Carr has seemed to trust Agholor in the red zone this season with Agholor catching 2 touchdowns through 4 weeks. Agholor has played on 85% or more of the Raiders snaps over weeks 3 and 4 giving him somewhat of a fantasy floor moving forward. His production and targets have went up each of the past 3 weeks as well making for a nice little trend that may interest some fantasy owners.

Darren Waller has seemed to have 100 targets per game this season and it cant keep up can it? The Raiders have depended on Waller so much this season and will almost certainly have to spread the ball around a little more to win football games with a tough schedule the next few weeks. Agholor may only be a viable play for a week or two but you will be able to get him for the minimum bid and he may end up finding the end zone another time or two for your Dynasty Owner team.

I would like to take a moment and mention Isaiah Ford again as a free agent auction target who continues to inch closer to securing the number 2 role in Miami moving forward. Ford just missed the cut being over 50% owned, but if he’s there and you can, grab him. He is young and producing when given the chance thus far in his career and definitely worth a stash.

I hope you all had great weeks and don’t need any of these waiver pickups, but we all know that’s not the reality of Dynasty Owner. Good luck on your Chase For The Ring!

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