Welcome to Week Five, the beginning of the bye-week plug-ins. The first crop of teams with bye-weeks include, Atlanta, Denver, New Orleans, and Washington. This likely means you need to find replacements for Devonta Freeman, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, among others.

Now, hopefully you were savvy last week, looked ahead at who to possibly pick up, and are prepared for our first wave of players to have a week off. If not or if you ran into some injuries troubles this past week don't worry, we've got you covered here.

With the bye weeks you're not the only team that needs to fill starting spots so pick and choose your waiver claims wisely, per usual. How you handle bye weeks is critical and it also allows you to show off some of your rosters depth, giving an opportunity for your bench players to shine.

Quarterback:

Deshaun Watson (HOU, 30% Owned in ESPN Leagues):

Well, we can't be right about everything, we are in fact human after all. So far, I've been pretty darn wrong about Deshaun Watson. He proved himself pretty well going into New England and almost pulling the upset against the defending Super Bowl Champs. But this past weekend he took it to the Tennessee Titans to the tune of 283 yards and four touchdowns through the air along with 24 yards and a score on the ground. He clearly brings a dynamic to this team that they've been missing and it may very well save Head Coach, Bill O'Brien's job. He's widely available and a great bye-week plug in, although he's got a tough match-up at home against KC this week.

 

Running Backs:

Aaron Jones (GB, 1% Owned):

Last Thursday's win over the Chicago Bears at home was a costly one in terms of injured players for the Packers. After a rip-roaring start to the game, Ty Montgomery sustained a rib injury on the first series and his backup, Jamaal Williams later had to leave the game due to a knee injury. The only man left standing was another rookie, Aaron Jones out of UTEP and a guy who Aaron Rodgers had mentioned to Jim Nantz and Tony Romo in their pregame meetings with him. Jones proved worthy of the praise as he filled in admirably at running back, all be it against the Bears. This week will be a tougher opponent in the Dallas Cowboys and if Montgomery and Williams can't go it'll be the Jones show once again, scoop him up as a plug-in player.

Latavius Murray (MIN, 17% Owned):

What happened to the Minnesota Vikings rookie running back, Dalvin Cook on Sunday is a tragedy. The young pup tore up his ACL and will now be on the long road to recovery to hopefully be good to go by next year. Enter, Latavius Murray the man who the Vikes signed from the Oakland Raiders to a three year, 15 million dollar deal in the off-season. They're about to find out about their investment moving forward. Murray, who had off-season ankle surgery, has been slowed due to his recovery from that but it's believed he feels good enough to take on a larger workload. He'll be the guy in Minnesota and is definitely worth owning, especially with Case Keenum at quarterback.

Alvin Kamara (NO, 43% Owned):

I think it's officially confirmed because we heard it from broadcaster, Kevin Burkhardt's mouth, that Saints Head Coach Sean Payton officially has a man crush on rookie back Alvin Kamara. I really wanted to see what this offense could look like with Kamara occupying a larger role and that's exactly what we got on Sunday morning. Kamara led the team in catches with ten for 71 yards and a touchdown. He's clearly more of a threat as the receiving option out of the backfield for New Orleans and I think Payton finally realizes that the best thing for this offense right now is to limit Adrian Peterson unless Mark Ingram gets hurt. I know Kamara's on a bye this week but that could mean he'll be less attractive to someone looking to pick up a running back. Please, I'm begging you, take advantage of that fact and stash him away until next week.

Elijah McGuire (NYJ, 1% Owned):

The former Ragin' Cajun running back showed out on Sunday when he finally got an opportunity to run the football for the New York Jets. He made the most of his ten carries, going 93 yards with them and a score, including a 69 yard scamper that led to his touchdown. He won't be the main back for the Jets but as long as Matt Forte is sidelined, you might be able to count on McGuire for some usage in deep, deep leagues behind Bilal Powell.

 

Wide Receivers:

Tyler Lockett (SEA, 28% Owned):

The Seattle Seahawks offense seems to be finally finding a little bit of a groove, especially after that explosive second half that they had against the Indianapolis Colts. As of now, Tyler Lockett seems to be the number two option at wide receiver for the Seahawks but their number one guy Doug Baldwin is dealing with a groin injury. If that injury were to cause Baldwin to miss time that could mean many more targets, receptions, yards, and not to jinx it but touchdowns for Tyler as well. Have a little bit of forward thinking here with Lockett, he could become even more valuable than he currently is.

Jaron Brown (ARI, 10% Owned):

The Cardinals offense was supposed to be this dynamic balance between running the ball with David Johnson and the wily vet at quarterback in Carson Palmer. However, Johnson went down with injury, the offensive line has been BAD, and a lot of the offense relies on the old shoulder of Carson Palmer. This fact makes someone like Jaron Brown very intriguing as a pass catching option. He's seen his target rate this season jump to 9.7 targets per game over the past three weeks and is a perfect play in deeper PPR leagues.

Geronimo Allison (GB, 3% Owned):

With Packers wide receiver Devante Adams suffering a concussion on that vicious hit by the Bears LB Danny Trevathan, we're not sure if he'll be able to go this weekend. If that's the case we've already seen Geronimo Allison be able to fill in admirably. Example A, in week three when Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb were out of the game Allison racked up 122 yards on six catches. It's clear that if inserted into the game Aaron Rodgers feels like he can trust Allison to make plays and that's huge in this vaunted Green Bay offense. Wait and see on Adams status for next week.

 

For all my sports posts and to hear my inner sports thoughts, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

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