Top fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 5

Yahoo: 31% owned | ESPN: 19% owned

We already know how dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks can be for fantasy purposes — it’s one of the reasons why Jalen Hurts and Daniel Jones find themselves in the top-six fantasy QBs so far this year, and why passers with some rushing ability typically find themselves atop the fantasy league leaders whether or not they’re as good as some of the other QBs around them — and that’s why Trey Lance is worth picking up. If you’re someone who streams quarterbacks, he could be a long-term solution, so long as Jimmy G’s injury keeps him sidelined for a while and Lance takes advantage of the opportunity.

He did so in Week 4, scoring over 20 fantasy points in just one half of action. As another reminder, dual-threat then-rookie Jalen Hurts took advantage of his opportunity in 2020 and was the No. 3 fantasy QB from Weeks 14 to 16, when he started and played the full game each week. That’s a good example of how quickly guys like these can put up points through a combo of the air and the ground, and there should be more to come from Lance in the Bay Area.

Yahoo: 8% owned | ESPN: 10% owned

David Montgomery had a tremendous outing in Week 4, picking up 106 yards and two scores on 23 carries. Unfortunately, a scary-looking injury ended his week prematurely and may have taken him out of action for a handful of weeks going forward.

If that's the case, Williams has a nice little situation for himself in Chicago, as Tarik Cohen is still out for at least two more weeks. And for as bad as the Bears offense has looked at times, they are still in the top ten in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and sit just barely outside the top ten in yards per attempt. Neither the Raiders nor the Packers, the Bears' next two matchups, have great run defenses, and the offense may have found some of its stride in Week 4 with Justin Fields getting more comfortable every game.

Yahoo: 47% owned | ESPN: 34% owned

Just when we thought Ty'Son Williams may have established himself as the running back to own in the Ravens backfield, the coaching staff goes and lists him as a healthy scratch, paving the way for Murray to have a big game. With 18 carries and a score, he clearly had the lead role ahead of Le'Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman. As of now, it seems that's how it will be going forward, meaning he's valuable in fantasy so long as Baltimore's offense continues to run and run and run like we're used to.

Yahoo: 24% owned | ESPN: 27% owned

With what looks to be a nice little resurgence underway at age 33, Green has been a fairly steady member of an otherwise inconsistent WR corps in Arizona. Though he isn't the clear-cut WR2 behind DeAndre Hopkins, it's hard to ignore that Green saw six targets in Week 1, six targets in Week 2, six targets in Week 3 and — you guessed it — six targets in week 4. He has double-digit fantasy points the past three weeks and though that won't be his floor, you do have to think that he's a more reliable contributor than either Christian Kirk or Rondale Moore at this point in time.

If you're in desperate need of a wide receiver or want a relatively safe guy on your bench when the bye weeks roll around, you can definitely do much worse than Green.

Yahoo: 6% owned | ESPN: 14% owned

As long as Marquez Valdes-Scantling is sidelined, which will be the case for at least two more weeks, Cobb seems to have some good value as Aaron Rodgers' WR2, and potentially third receiver in the pecking order behind Davante Adams and Aaron Jones. When your quarterback is last year's MVP and a proven future Hall of Famer, it's not a bad thing to be the third target in that offense.

Granted, this is Cobb's first good week of the year, so there's a possibility it was just a fluke. I tend to think that this won't be the case, though, as Rodgers and Cobb have a pre-existing chemistry from earlier in their respective careers, and a date with the Bengals in Week 5 could be a perfect time to strike for an even bigger flashback to their glory days together.

Yahoo: 26% owned | ESPN: 40% owned

Though the names that were receiving a lot of attention prior to the season were Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards, it's Renfrow who has been the most consistent producer on the outside for Derek Carr's offensive attack. Heck, he's toe-to-toe with Darren Waller after four weeks, though this likely isn't all that sustainable.

Renfrow has weeks of 10.0, 8.2, 16.2 and 13.5 points in half-PPR formats, which is rock-solid for a FLEX option and worth your consideration on the waiver wire if you're in a jam at the WR position.

Unfortunately, this didn't count for fantasy points, but I also wanted to mention this.

Yahoo: 47% owned | ESPN: 19% owned

We wanted to believe something was happening after Knox caught four balls for 41 yards in Week 1. We wanted to believe even more after he hauled in a touchdown in Week 2. Week 3 almost convinced us, after Knox had four catches, 49 yards and a touchdown, but we still weren't quite sold that all these performances would be the norm going forward.

After Week 4's performance, in which he was targeted eight times and turned those looks into five catches, 37 yards and two scores, it has all become a little too hard to ignore. In the shallow tight end landscape, Knox might legitimately be a low-end TE1 given his role in the offense and the lack of a definite, consistent WR2 behind Stefon Diggs or any real pass-catching threats out of the backfield. After all, in this high-powered offense, many pass-catchers should theoretically be supported by Allen's volume and skill, and that seems to finally be happening for Knox.