Peter Howard takes a look for dynasty league waiver wire stashes for Week 5.
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Welcome back! On the Dynasty Waiver Wire, we are looking for under-owned or undervalued players in dynasty. For most waiver wire columns the question is how to react to the most recent developments in the NFL.
But while I try to keep to somehow relevant to the most recent week of games, in the end, that’s not our focus. We are less interested in who will fill in for Dalvin Cook after his unfortunate injury this weekend. Instead, we are trying to highlight potential breakout stars on the depth chart of NFL teams for future weeks and even seasons.
We’re not trying to finish first in this week’s waiver wire race. We are trying to find out where the finish line is for the next race.
Quick note: I use Josh Hermsmeyer’s (@friscojosh) website, airyards.com, to explore most of the efficiency metrics I look at each week.
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George Kittle (TE – SF)
With four weeks of data busily flowing into spreadsheets around the fantasy football community, we can start to make some guesses about buy lows based on efficiency. Tight ends, who usually get higher percentage targets, obviously pop up in this regard a little easier.
Still, George Kittle has been a hot name for good reason from his College Dominator rating (70th percentile) to athletic measurables (88th percentile SPARQ-x). But despite some splash plays, his production, as you’d expect from a rookie tight end on the 49ers, has been lacking. If he hits your waiver wire, I’d advise scooping him up.
Trent Taylor (WR – SF)
Trent Taylor was fifth on the team in targets heading into Week 4 but added another 10 targets (five receptions for 47 yards) to his total in the teams Week 4 loss to Arizona. A quick glance at his PlayerProfiler.com page tells us he has a 94th percentile Agility Score in the vein of Wes Welker and Jeremy Kerley. His potential fantasy outcomes are as wide as this range of archetypes would suggest FYI.
His usage is encouraging, especially as a rookie. In the first year of a new offense, the team is looking for players to claim roles and Taylor’s making a strong case.
Corey Clement (RB – PHI)
LeGarrette Blount looks almost to have turned a corner this offseason; he’s running with a lot more decisiveness (and outside of a New England offense no less). However, the depth chart still seems soft to me. I’m not a big fan of Wendell Smallwood’s chances of big fantasy level production.
So, while there are more than a few issues with his profile, I’m interested in stashing Corey Clement where I can. He has some interesting metrics, over both the player’s head of him on the depth chart including a 70th percentile College Dominator.
While he only ran a 4.68, his game speed has looked fine in the few chances he has had so far in 2017. He also managed a 68th percentile Agility Score per PlayerProfiler.
Jermaine Gresham (TE – ARI)
I made the same argument for Charles Clay and Jermaine Gresham in the offseason. Both have been productive in the past for fantasy, are at a historically good age range for tight end-age fantasy production. But while Clay has received the volume necessary to make him an every week top 10 player at the position, Gresham is still limited by a more downfield centered scheme.
Still, I’d suggest holding him anywhere tight ends are valuable or in need. All he needs is volume, and volume changes.
Michael Campanaro (WR – BAL)
It feels like I missed Michael Campanaro hype week. This column had already gone out by the time Danny Woodhead, sadly, went down to injury and the team speculated that Campanaro could take some of his receiving role. But, true to form, Campanaro quickly re-emerged on the injury report.
He has landed in 11th place on Baltimore’s target hierarchy according to 4for4’s target app, going into Week 4. He has, however, been very efficient on those (two) targets. Frankly, Campanaro is always someone I’m going to stash if he is healthy…if.
Russell Shepard (WR – CAR)
Unfortunately, since the player type we are targeting tends to get few to zero targets they are usually outside efficiency metrics sample criteria. But Russell Shepard, (eighth on the team in targets going into Week 4) did creep over the six target threshold in Week 5. He has been efficient on those targets, converting them into four receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown.
I’m not sure how much weight I’d put into it, though. He has a poor fourth percentile college dominator, and he has bounced around a few teams since 2013. Now 27, he has little history of real or fantasy production to show for it. However, he ran a 4.51 40-time at his LSU pro-day, which makes him faster than both Devin Funchess and Kelvin Benjamin.
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